IT'S XIAOTIME!

Michael Charleston “Xiao” B. Chua

20 May 2025

IN 2008, President Corazon Aquino was diagnosed with cancer, and there was an overwhelming sympathy that was accorded to her by the people. The next year, she died. Suddenly, there was nostalgia about her time in office. The people recognized that she may not have been a perfect leader, but at least her name was not connected to any corruption issue. For the minds of many, she became the antithesis of the incumbent president, Gloria Arroyo. Cory’s funeral was both a show of love for her and also a protest.

The next year, the people elected her unassuming and reluctant son, Benigno S. Aquino III, or Noynoy, to be their president. Invoking the memory of People Power and proclaiming, “Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap” and “Sama-sama po tayo sa Daang Matuwid.” That “katuwiran” leads to “kaginhawaan.” It was People Power, but manifested in the ballot. At his inaugural, he promised, “Kayo ang boss ko!” and “Walang wangwang, walang counterflow, walang tong.” He waived his privilege as president to use sirens, and this leadership by example resonated with many people until the end of his term.

As a student of the economy, PNoy was more of a manager than expressing grand gestures of the theatrics of “kasipagan” and “malasakit.” He always brought with him a copy of the Philippine Constitution and a calculator, tasking every Cabinet member to explain every number, every data, every peso spent for projects. With this, he was able to do very hard reforms, like implementing the K12 reform in basic education, anti-corruption measures for public works (although this meant a lot of his infrastructure projects were began midterm and were credited to the next administration), pushed for the Reproductive Health Law and the Sin Tax Law, successfully pursuing peace talks with a major secessionist group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which became the basis for the formation of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. His administration also got the admiration of the world by filing a case in the Permanent Court of Arbitration to clarify and stand up against the legality of China’s nine-dash line claim and encroachment of our exclusive economic zones based on Unclos, pushing for a law naming the West Philippine Sea.

Despite all these achievements, there were a lot of challenges like the onslaught of the strongest typhoon to hit land, Yolanda, and the devastation it brought to Tacloban City; and the death of 44 police Special Action Force members in Mamasapano, the government unable to rescue them for fear it might reverse the gains of the peace process in Mindanao, and some missteps like the disbursement allocation program. Yet, his administration oversaw and passed on to the next administration what would become the longest sustained economic growth in decades.

An effort to cast doubt on the narrative of the 1986 People Power, which helped bring forth the PNoy administration, intensified by 2011. But disinformation and historical distortion can only help fuel dissatisfaction a bit. People’s frustrations with a democratic system that was hijacked by a very few in the elite and hampered the further development of the Philippines, including the looming threat of criminality, created a new electoral People Power. Promising that the blood of drug criminals would flow, Davao’s legendary mayor Rodrigo Duterte was elected president in 2016, and just like Aguinaldo’s local political touch, his mayoral political style commanded the loyalty of many.

His colorful language encouraged the killing of drug suspects when they resisted being arrested by law officers, but one wonders how 6,000 of them did the same and were killed. It was a tragedy in our country’s human rights record. Add to the mix drug syndicates eliminating their own. Although it did not totally stop the drug problem, some felt that the petty criminals cowered, and it was safer to walk on the road at night.

Ironically, the guy who made rape jokes signed the “Bawal Bastos Act” and the “Free College Education Act” into law. He also realized that people only remember infrastructure projects if one is president, and so he launched his own “Build Build Build,” but many of the projects were facilitated by China, to which his administration pivoted, much to the disappointment of the defenders of the West Philippine Sea. Also, despite a promising start with the peace process with the extreme left, even placing two of them in his Cabinet, it easily turned sour, and his regime turned to the right and “red tagged” dissenters of different colors. Meanwhile, his vice president from the opposition, Leni Robredo, despite being set aside in the Duterte administration, was able to show how people working together can really help the grassroots.

We will never have an indicator of the economic gains of the Duterte administration because the Covid-19 pandemic happened in early 2020. Despite all his sincerity and hard work, Rodrigo Duterte left a country divided with the kind of rhetoric he encouraged. Yet, when push comes to shove, the Filipino people exhibited resilience and “bayanihan” to maintain “kaginhawaan” in the worst of times, even offering pakikipagkapwa to the world through our medical professionals during one dark time in world history. That we survived the pandemic together was the real People Power!

Michael Charleston “Xiao” B. Chua

13 May 2025

The Philippine Centennial on June 12, 1998, was the crowning moment of a nation. It was also celebrated in an election year, so just a few days after that, on June 30, the ceremony of transition happened from Fidel V. Ramos to Joseph Ejercito Estrada. Despite opposition from the elite and the Church, the election of the actor-politician was a breath of fresh air. He spoke in the language that people understood and vowed to be the president for the poor, “Ama ng Masa” — Father of the Masses. He is Erap, “pare,” friend. His inaugural address resonated to the people: “Walang kaibigan, walang kumpare, walang kamag-anak o anak na maaaring magsamantala ngayon. At ngayon pa lamang sinasabi ko sa inyo, nag-aaksaya lamang kayo ng panahon. Huwag niyo akong subukan.” But he was tested.

The media scrutinized his every move, making governance difficult. But he abolished the pork barrel for legislators during his term. His significant Cabinet picks gave his administration notable achievements. Horacio “Boy” Morales, the agrarian reform secretary, and William Dar and Edgardo Angara, his agriculture secretaries; implemented Agrikulturang Makamasa. Estrada signed the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA), instituted the Farmer’s Trust Fund and provided capacity-building and support services to beneficiaries of agrarian reform. This was able to increase agricultural output levels to 6 percent, a feat during that time. Mar Roxas, the trade and industry secretary, also brought business process outsourcing (BPO) to the Philippines, which created quality jobs for many Filipinos.

Despite Estrada’s sincerity to help the poor, he was perhaps hampered by his personal flaws. He woke up late and started work at noon, and would meet his friends in the late evening, prompting his chief of staff and admirer, Aprodicio Laquian, who came home from Canada to work for him, to joke that Erap had a “midnight cabinet.” Laquian was summarily fired. Although his love life was no secret, investigative journalists probed on their families’ lifestyles. He cracked down on the media by asking his friends in the movie industry to stop putting out ads in critical newspapers, prompting the brief closure of The Manila Times. Eventually, the rivalry on gambling of his friends prompted one, Chavit Singson, to detail Erap’s involvement in jueteng payola, which made his allies in Congress turn against him and resulted in an impeachment trial, which became for all of us a national learning moment on constitutional processes.

The EDSA heroes like Cory Aquino and Jaime Cardinal Sin went back to the streets calling for his resignation. But when Estrada allies in the Senate blocked the opening of a second bank envelope supposedly containing evidence against him, the people began messaging one another through SMS. And a spontaneous revolt called “EDSA Dos” occurred on the night of Jan. 16, 2001. After three days, the military and the police withdrew support from Estrada and the next day, Jan. 20, he was forced to leave the palace without writing a letter of resignation, which cast some doubt on the legitimacy of his successor, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s accession.

The turbulent division in the country became evident when, just about three months after, Estrada was detained on plunder charges and his supporters staged the bloody “EDSA Tres.” But Arroyo was a decisive leader. She was able to also foil the Oakwood mutiny of 2003, the war on terror, and was able to stop the spread of the SARS corona virus in the country. In her 2002 state of the nation address, she announced her vision of a “Strong Republic.” She wanted more coordinated growth through the super regions and also initiated the Strong Republic Nautical Highway, which literally united the islands in a series of roll-on/roll-off (RoRo) ports, which make possible the easy transfer of goods and vehicles from one island to another. To help heal the nation, she announced on Rizal Day 2002 that she would not run for the presidency as a supreme sacrifice. I was told by a friend of hers that breaking that promise was her greatest mistake. She defeated the King of Philippine Movies Fernando Poe Jr. in the 2004 elections but a telephone call from her to a Comelec official immediately after the polls would surface, which would haunt her for the rest of her term. There were a number of corruption allegations that surfaced, most notably the ZTE broadband deal, and with a dismal human rights record against activists, Arroyo just spent the rest of the term barely surviving the turbulent political climate. Yet to be fair, she built more public infrastructure than three of her predecessors combined and provided the sound economic fundamentals which were felt in the next decade until the pandemic happened.

Despite GMA being a stable leader, the turbulence of her time shaped the aspirations of the people for a next era, not just for kaginhawahan but also for katuwiran.

Michael Charleston “Xiao” B. Chua

 6 May 2025.

THE EDSA People Power Revolution of 1986 toppled the dictator, Ferdinand Marcos Sr., its only real apparent goal. And in that sense, it was successful. Although I believe that considering the 14-year struggle which was full of violence and blood, the four-day revolt that was generally peaceful and was beamed live via satellite on television screens around the world, ushered in a new way of dismantling repressive regimes, which included the Soviet Union. I believe it resulted in the 1990s becoming a generally stable era in the world pre 9-11.

It also brought back confidence in our economy. From a negative 7.3 percent growth rate of our gross domestic product (at constant year 2000 prices, the lowest in the period between World War II and the Covid years), we were able to leap to 3.4 percent in 1986, peaking at 6.8 percent in 1988 under the leadership of President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino. But nine coup attempts against the Cory administration — the bloodiest happening in August 1987 and December 1989 — made it difficult for her to govern. Also, the resurgence of the economy prompted an increase in the demand for energy, which the government could not supply, and resulted in an energy crisis that was evident in the daily blackouts that lasted until about 1993. Add up the major calamities that happened: The July 16, 1990 Luzon killer quake and the June 1991 Mt. Pinatubo eruption (and Typhoon Diding) which, with for all its magnitude and destruction it wrought, killed only 847 people. It could have been worse, but the government was able to coordinate massive evacuation.

There were also unfortunate and tragic incidents like the Mendiola massacre of 1987, which killed 13 farmers, which I felt was due to the hangover from their previous unchecked power of some uniformed men, which disappointed even some of the president’s associates. Another misguided decision was to arm civilians to fight insurgency which led to the continuation of human rights abuses by some. There was also the infighting of Cory’s coalition Cabinet of left to right and all political spectrums in between — all of these pained the president and affected us all.

But, if there was a major achievement of the Cory Aquino administration and it was not an easy one, it was returning democratic space in the country, which she was able to do ironically by being an authoritarian leader for one year. She suspended the 1973 Marcos Constitution (she did not swear by it), fired local officials and replaced them with OICs and selected honorable people from all political blocs to write a new constitution that would decentralize power from the president (which Marcos Sr. had centralized in himself) to the three branches of government and the local governments. The new constitution also learned from history by imposing term limits, limiting the power to declare martial law and creating the constitutional commissions to check human rights, audit, elections and the civil service to prevent massive human rights violations, plunder and nepotism. The plebiscite of February 1987 was the overwhelming referendum and mandate for the People Power regime, 77.04 percent of those who voted favored it. This ushered in an era of freedom of the press and expression, strengthened volunteerism, peace talks and inter-faith dialogue, and representation in Congress of the marginalized sectors. Eventually, of course, the elite and powerful will find technical loopholes in the Constitution to divert the benefits of democracy to themselves.

President Cory Aquino, even if she could still run under the 1987 Constitution, paved the way for a democratically elected successor, her defense secretary, retired general Fidel V. Ramos, a peaceful transition that had not happened in 27 years. Having won a contentious election, Ramos, the military man, built bridges. He activated the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (Ledac), reached out to the opposition in Congress through the rainbow coalition of Speaker José de Venecia and fielded candidates on the same ticket in the 1995 mid-term elections. He pursued peace with the Moro National Liberation Front and signed an agreement with them in 1996.

Ramos was an effective leader; he institutionalized and completed staff work in the Palace, and he solved the energy crisis by giving sovereign guarantees to the private sector who lent a hand. He privatized the government-owned and -controlled corporations which were delivering terrible basic services at that time and toured around the world to secure much-needed foreign investments and opened up exclusive economic zones, which raised our GDP growth rate to 5.8 percent in 1996. We were not a tiger yet, but were dubbed a “tiger cub economy.” We also paid off the 22 loan packages we had acquired from the International Monetary Fund for 35 years.

There was a feeling of stability in politics and the economy toward Ramos’ dream of a Philippines 2000 (Ramos 1993). Unfortunately, the 1997 Asian financial crisis happened as we prepared to celebrate our 100th birthday. Still, a few days before he stepped down, June 12, 1998, was a beautiful day, a high point in our national experience. If history stopped that day of the Philippine Centennial, it would have been a good ending for our history books. But our saga doesn’t end, and history just continues.