Uprising in 1986 deposed Marcos, but corruption and poverty persist
Associated Press/
Philippine demonstrators display placards during a rally in Quezon city, northeast of Manila, Philippines, on Thursday to protest the country’s celebration of the 1986 “People Power” revolution. They contend little has changed in the 25 years since.
MANILA, Philippines | From the fist-pumping crowds to the anguished dictators, the pro-reform revolts reshaping Arab history resemble the 1986 Philippine uprising that booted a strongman 25 years ago. But the similarity ends with the killing of protesters from Tunisia to Libya.
The four-day “people power” revolt a quarter-century ago that Filipinos commemorate this week saw multitudes of civilians and rosary-clutching nuns and priests mounting a human barricade against tanks and troops to bring down dictator Ferdinand Marcos with little bloodshed as the world watched in awe.
The democratic triumph has been hailed as a harbinger of change in authoritarian regimes in Asia and beyond. Since then, democratic revolutions have ended autocracies and military rule in South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan and Indonesia in relatively peaceful feats that seemed unimaginable before 1986.
The Philippines also became a showcase of post-dictatorship pitfalls that revolt leaders say could provide lessons to Arab nations, which will have to grapple with daunting uncertainties once the euphoria wears off.
Aside from democracy, little has changed in this Southeast Asian nation of 94 million. It remains mired in corruption, appalling poverty, rural backwardness, chronic inequality, long-running Marxist and Muslim insurgencies and chaotic politics. A restive military often tries to undermine civilian rule.
Imelda Marcos, the dictator’s widow once reviled for the extravagance as epitomized by her vast shoe collection and eye-popping diamonds, has made a political comeback after winning a seat in the House of Representatives last year. Her daughter won as governor of the father’s northern provincial stronghold of Ilocos Norte. A son and Marcos‘ namesake won a Senate seat and has not ruled out a future run for the presidency.
“It’s 25 years after, and we’re still almost where we used to be,” former President Fidel Ramos said.
Mr. Ramos‘ crucial defection from Marcos as deputy military chief along with then-Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile in February 1986 sparked the strongman’s rapid downfall, after a two-decade reign condemned for widespread human rights abuses and alleged plunder of the economy.
While most of the uprisings rocking the Arab world appear to be leaderless - fueled by mobs of protesters often mobilized with the help of social-networking sites - Filipinos rallied in 1986 around pro-democracy icon Corazon Aquino, whose husband, an opposition leader, was assassinated three years earlier by soldiers under Marcos.
Aquino had agreed to challenge Marcos in a snap election in which she claimed victory, despite widespread cheating by pro-Marcos forces, and called for civil disobedience. Cardinal Jaime Sin, a hugely influential church leader in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation, helped summon the mammoth crowds against Marcos by appeals on church-run radio.
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