IT'S XIAOTIME!

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.