"Democracy" in the Philippines

...as the SIst state, and on June 16 won about 4 percent of the vote...

...Foes of the regime discourse just as solemnly about their efforts to "restore democracy...

...Not that Communism is all that immediate an issue for most people...

...Things are not about to explode yet...

...In this freewheeling, free-enterprising country, the media trumpet news and advertising in Americanized slang, cassette-players in the smallest villages blare out the latest pop songs, and tiny, cluttered stores peddle local imitations of foreign fads and fashions...

...Acknowledging "a split on tactics," he maintains that Church leaders universally agree on the government's iniquity, and priests do unhesitatingly cite cases of injustice, harassment and brutality by government agents despite their often close relations with local officials...

...Nothing has changed around the countryside," says Sister Mariani, who was jailed for 47 days as a " subversive" soon after the imposition of martial law...

...Talking to a visitor in his spacious study and gazing out the picture window onto the carefully kept lawn, he often employs the jargon he acquired while a student at Yale Law School in the' 50s...

...It is the epitome of all the corruption and graft of the pre-martial law days...

...Under the circumstances, there is deep skepticism about the purposes of the government organizations that today control the purchases and sales of sugar, cocoanut, rice and corn-the mainstays of the economy...

...The newspapers, almost all of them published in English, feature stories about shootouts, slayings and holdup sieges as often as they report the doing of "FM," President Ferdinand Marcos, or "the First Lady...

...They ask people to fill out forms giving their backgrounds and family histories...

...The club is a group of politicians, businessmen and journalists who meet for coffee every morning, 365 days a year, at the Intercontinental Hotel in Manila's startlingly modern Macati district-A cluster of steel, aluminum and glass office buildings...

...Hundreds more languish in approximately 95 detention centers around the country, she asserts, the government's show of releasing all except the most intractable political prisoners notwithstanding...

...The most intriguing aspect of the report is not its invective, but the details it offers about arrangements among families and friends...

...Outside the capital, though, zealous priests and nuns go on lengthy, dangerous missions to accumulate evidence of arrests and atrocities ignored by the national media...

...As the priest observed, however, a leader to effectively channel this discontent is conspicuously absent...

...That is a familiar pattern in the recent history of postcolonial nations, and one that Macapagal thinks would lead to disaster...

...He quotes one Army colonel urging "subversives" to surrender unless they wanted to see "a repeat of what we did" in another village where a massacre had taken place...

...a stockbroker with seemingly "impeccable credentials" vanished with millions of dollars, and so on and on...

...Veteran priests, elderly nuns and young divinity school students alike consider the inequities of life in the Philippines????the only predominantly Catholic nation in Asia-A spiritual challenge and do not hesitate to express themselves...

...Marcos's brother, Benjamin "Kokoy" Romualdez, who serves concurrently as an ambassador, the governor of a Philippine province and the publisher of a major daily newspaper...

...The only difference is that the graft and corruption we are at present experiencing is more centralized and therefore more efficient...

...Small wonder, then, that he drew little solace from the presence of Vice President George Bush at the inauguration of Ferdinand Marcos...

...Father Mayo accuses the government of "censorship through its editors on the papers," even though there is no longer martial law...

...Marcos in an interview several years ago to explain why some families had acquired great wealth very rapidly...

...Given the incumbent's control Donald Kirk regularly reports for these pages on Southeast Asian affairs...

...It is a reflection of the alliances between Church activists and other opponents of the regime that Sister Mari-ani's Task Force works closely with one of Marcos' most outspoken critics, former Senator Jose W. Diokno, who spent three years in jail under martial law...

...He wanted to run even though he knew he could get only 20 per cent of the votes...

...But in Manila and other major centers the Communists have found passionate support for some of their causes in what is by far the single most influential organization outside the government-the Catholic Church...

...He believed the race could have popularized the message against the President and drummed up support for UNIDO candidates in subsequent National Assembly elections...

...Marcos, in other words, has offended political sensibilities by his stubbornness in clinging to his post...

...People are starting not only to get fed up," alleges Laurel, still called "Senator" in deference to his membership in the Senate before Marcos disbanded it at the outset of martial law in September 1972...

...But please do not talk about it, the police will be very angry...

...The latter began by setting fire to especially odious symbols of entrenched power, such as a floating casino...

...Diokno sees little immediate likelihood of a revolution, though...

...It mattered little to the men around Marcos that Cabangbang's notion is widely considered hilarious...

...a financing firm issued fake stock certificates...

...Drawing upon her network of Church sources, she estimates that over the past few years more than 500 suspects have been "salvaged" in their own homes or in nearby fields, often in the presence of their families...

...Then, predicting violence as easily as he talks of "legitimate" change, Laurel warns: "If Marcos continues to cheat, don't be surprised if the comelec gets blown up...

...Meanwhile, the average Filipino earns roughly $800 per year and broods about the squalor, crime, graft and oppression in his native land...

...It is too open here, too many people will talk...

...Spend a couple of weeks in this country and you too may think you are witnessing a rather grotesque satire on Western-style politics...

...Some experienced observers, however, are not convinced by the rhetoric...

...In Manila there is not so much torture," says Mayo...

...Government officials speak of the "Constitution" and "elections" as if the terms had serious meaning...

...In such a war, the Communists, who have been getting stronger under the Marcos rule, have a good chance of winning...

...Nobody expected the radical movement to gain so much strength before 1972...

...Confronted by rising prices and unemployment, they seem quick to seek solutions in bribery, graft, thievery, and prostitution...

...In some barrios the military has imposed curfews from 10 in the evening to six in the morning," says Diokno...

...Some young people are losing patience...

...citizens...

...What Mr...

...In other barrios they make people carry torches at night to light up their whole bodies so they can see who they are...

...Few Filipinos, whether among the job-hunters and favor-seekers descending upon government offices, at raucous bars and discos, or along streets jammed from dawn to midnight regard Communism as a panacea...

...We caution moderation, but the extremes are overtaking us, and we are losing credibility...

...The facade was necessary because the United Democratic Opposition (unido), a coalition of the Nacionalista and Liberal parties, did not field a candidate...

...Urban guerrillas, split among some 20 different groupings, many of them linked with anti-government movements of Filipinos in the U.S., gave Marcos' men all the excuse they needed to round up opponents by initiating a wave of bombings-including one at a convention of the American Society of Travel Agents last October, and another in a posh department store that killed an American woman...

...The ultimate beneficiaries of the confusion, declares Macapagal, would be the Communists, loosely banded together in the New People's Army (NPA), and the Moslem insurgents of the Moro National Liberation Front...

...Whether Right or Left, in or out of power, the most loquacious political figures tend to offer their views in homes surrounded by high walls, where servants dispense tea and coffee and assistants scurry about performing more important missions, often pertaining to mysterious business interests...

...Farmers complain they have to sell their products at artifically low rates regardless of prices on world markets...

...The irony is that men like Macapagal do not represent extreme opinion...

...The opposition isn't organized...

...When that happens they will either swell the ranks of small rebel forces, or side en masse with more mainstream opposition political forces...

...The underlying reality as the entire opposition recognizes, is that despite his apparent lifting of martial law, Marcos has not in the least jeopardized his own position or that of his ambitious wife, Imelda...

...The idea titillated him...

...Yet both sides luxuriate in arguments backed up by largely unprovable figures purporting to demonstrate that, in an era of inflation and waning American power, the Philippines provides more or less freedom, more or less promise, than most other "developing" countires...

...He scoffs at UNIDO's claims that it would, or could reform a culture built on influence and exchanges of favors...

...He speaks quickly, amiably, with the confidence that comes from belonging to one of the nation's most distinguished families...

...And one of the better known individuals cited is Mrs...

...In his scenario, some of Marcos' hitherto nonviolent opponents would ally themselves with disaffected military elements, precipitating a "protracted crisis and struggle" that would "disintegrate into a nationwide civil war...

...SIMMERING OPPOSITION Democracy' in the Philippines BY DONALD KIRK SALVADOR LAUREL Manila To no one's surprise, President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos was returned to office on June 16 with better than 85 percent of the vote in the first Filipino election since 1969...

...Moreover, Marcos insured his authority through a constitutional amendment promulgated in 1976 that empowers him to issue any order he might deem necessary in a "graveemergency," even if martial law has not been declared...

...Romualdez, together with brothers and in-laws, directly controls properties and funds valued at hundreds of millions of dollars, the report avows, and his influence extends further through other closely related groups...

...Stories of vast chicanery are offered as proof: The son of a bank owner left for the U.S...

...Whether or not that is precisely the case, the President's tenacity clearly does irk...

...It is risky to walk at night along Roxas Boulevard beside Manila Bay, or to drive through obscure barrios after sunset...

...Their network of close friends, relatives, and carefully nurtured allies throughout the government bureaucracy, Armed forces and private business has not been checked...

...Sister Mariani speaks in the vaguest of generalities about the need for Filipinos "to control their resources," but she documents innumerable cases of almost casual killings of farmers suspected of collusion with the NPA...

...One reason why the sometimes heady forecasts of radical sympathizers seem unrealistic is that Marcos appears to have decimated the more violent organizations in the capital...

...Some go so far as to aver that this presages a revolution...

...The balloting marked the final step in the confirmation of the Marcos regime's legality under the 1973 Constitution, an early product of the more than eight-year-long period of martial law that ended last January...

...His view is seconded by a priest sympathetic to the extremists: "Real violence will depend on the economy...

...The real complaint is that these guys have been at the trough too long," says a foreign diplomatic analyst...

...One of them is published by the Apostolic Center, another by the Task Force for Detainees of the Philippines, run by a graying Franciscan nun named Sister Mariani Dimaraman...

...But so bereft was the campaign of overt opposition that Marcos aimed his stumping primarily at a movement to boycott the polls, although voting is compulsory in the Philippines...

...President Marcos "has no legitimacy, and everything he does now is null and void," says Salvador Laurel, the head of UNIDO...

...One result of the epidemic of cronyism and nepotism has been a series of scandals, notably the case of a textile manipulator named Dewey Dee who absconded with approximately $80 million in loans and overdrafts...

...The work is appropriately entitled, "Some are Smarter Than Others"-A remark made by Mrs...

...He collected several million signatures before the election on a petition asking that the Philippines rejoin the U.S...

...The situation is not comparable to Iran," he notes...

...We say Marcos and his candidates are not elected, they're com-elected," Laurel jokes, referring to the commission that supervises the voting and counts the ballots...

...People keep coming to us and describing the atrocities done to them, but people are resisting...

...Before the boycott strategy was adopted, Laurel wanted nothing more than to be on the ballot, according to a regular at the "365 Club...

...But Macapagal fears an attempt at a coup by the Armed Forces, which were built up under martial law from 46,000 men to 150,000 men, largely to fight the Moslem rebels in the southern island region of Mindinao, and "may be tempted to seize power for themselves...

...A professor at the University of the Philippines, a focal point of anti-Marcos sentiment, warns: "In Philippine history explosions often occur with few early symptoms...

...The Church has freedom by force," observes the Reverend Benigno Mayo, who is responsible for a wide range of social action programs as director of Manila's Apostolic Center...

...We want Marcos to realize that people no longer want him or his regime," he says...

...over the government and the media, it decided, participation would merely provide his inevitable victory with the appearance of legality...

...We lack resources and time...

...When the people are very hungry, violence will erupt, but so far we do not see a leader who can unite these groups...

...That's all government propaganda...

...Government officials insist the Dewey Dee scandal was "just an isolated case," but most observers describe it as "the tip of the iceberg...

...As much now as when martial law was invoked, the jagged, brawling edge to Philippine life threatens stability...

...Marcos' claim that he has suppressed lawlessness is belied by the frequency of crime...

...Violence is indeed common here...

...The allied rebels could obtain needed additional arms from abroad," Macapagal observes...

...Marcos has actually done has been to perpetuate himself in political power and extend his control to corporate life and consequently enrich himself, his relatives and his cronies," according to an anonymous report distributed by scholars at the University of the Philippines and priests at the Apostolic Center...

...Thus the two most famous movements, April 6 and Light-A-Fire, are now virtually inactive and remembered only for their names...

...with at least $3 million in bank funds...

...Left entirely unreported are the almost daily instances of "salvaging"-A curious term used to refer to the killing of suspects by agents of the police, the Army or the constabulary (a kind of national militia...

...It is a dramatic line, but it may yet be more than that in the charade that constitutes the Philippine power game...

...Nor does it inspire confidence that one of Marcos' closest friends, Robert Benedicto -who has interests in mining, broadcasting, publishing and banking-is in charge of sugar trade...

...Laurel loves crowds," the regular noted...

...Our reading is that it's getting worse...

...Under the system since the War, you're supposed to step aside every once in a while and let somebody else takeover...

...Before Marcos took power," the report claims, "Romualdez was generally unemployed and had no achievement to his name...

...The major danger is the economic situation," says a foreign analyst, who cautions that a collapse of leading corporations is not out of the question...

...A major paradox of Philippine society, of course, has been the acquisition of fortunes by some 60 families at a time when the nation keeps plunging deeper into debt...

...He drew huge crowds to his rallies with tantalizing promises of the welfare benefits and unemployment insurance that would accrue to Filipinos as U.S...

...It soon becomes apparent that the son of Jose Laurel, the nation's wartime President, hopes to follow his father's path to national power-or at least to emerge as a popular hero among Filipinos tired of 16 years of Marcos...

...Diokno accuses government forces of having gone " on a wild spree of picking up people and killing them" since martial law was ostensibly lifted last January...

...Critics blame him, among other things, for mismanagement and hoarding that has produced losses adding up to hundreds of millions of dollars...

...Our problem is that we are the moderates," bemoans Francisco Rodrigo, a former senator and commentator who was jailed for two and a half months at the outset of martial law...

...One can easily imagine Philippine inflation-conservatively estimated at 25 percent yearly-becoming too much for farmers and workers to bear...

...They are also getting courageous...

...A gruff, popular figure, largely independent of other politicians, he leads the Free Legal Aid Group for those charged with what amount to political offenses...

...As a matter of fact, the NPA has no real central headquarters, a very loose command structure, and probably no more than 5,000 regular members in strongholds stretching from their original bases in northern Luzon on south to Mindanao...

...In what may be an instance of wishful thinking, the country's President from 1961-65, Diosdado Macapagal, insists that his autocratic successor's downfall "is a question of time...

...For news of the haphazard conflict between radicals and government forces, the most respected sources are mimeographed, Church-supported newsletters...

...But Laurel contends that his desire to run openly against Marcos was not simply a matter of a Don Quixote tilting at a windmill...

...Owned by relatives or close friends of the "First Couple," the papers less frequently offer official versions of remote battles between government forces and Communist or Moslem guerrillas...

...Those aren't newspapers," he says, reiterating the widely held view of churchmen and critics of Marcos...

...The President's '"New Society' is far from a reformed society," the report concludes...

...An example of the political theater of the absurd frequently enacted here is the role played by Bartolome Cabang-bang, leader of a drive for statehood...

...The NPA is far away," says a taxidriver, veering crazily through a crush of trucks, buses, jeepneys, and motorcycles...

...That made it possible to point to him as an important "opposition" force and divert attention from the absence of meaningful challengers...