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by L. Craig Schoonmaker, Chairman
Expansionist Party of the United States
As I write, the Philippines has declared a state of "rebellion" and started arresting opposition politicians after 40,000 predominantly poor Filipinos stormed the presidential palace to demand restoration of the popularly elected president Jose Estrada, who was forced out of the palace by other mass demonstrations in January 2001. In other words, a "president" who took office from an elected president by mob rule will not permit herself to be forced from office by comparable mob rule.
Estrada, hero of the poor, was impeached by the Philippine Congress but during his trial in the Senate, a free vote of Senators refused to permit admission of evidence deemed crucial by the prosecution. Thereupon the opposition to Estrada mounted mass demonstrations in the streets, in an attempt to repeat 1986's "people power" revolution that forced former dictator Ferdinand Marcos from office. Never mind that Estrada was not a dictator but a popularly elected President who had not been found guilty in an impeachment trial. They wanted to oust him before his term ended anyway.
Estrada fled the palace, but claimed that he had not surrendered office. His Vice President, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, from a different party, seized power and, backed by the army and a favorable — but dubious — ruling of the Supreme Court, declared herself "President". After some temporizing, her government arrested Estrada a week ago for corruption, the charge being "economic plunder", a crime punishable by death. Then it was HER opposition's turn to try to force a "president" from power by "people power" demonstrations. But SHE would not consent to 'mob rule' — by her opponents; only by her friends — so started rounding up opposition politicians and throwing them into jail! She boasted that she would "beat to a pulp" everyone who tried to oust her!
This is not the behavior of a mature democracy.
Arroyo's government (or perhaps we should say "regime", since she was not elected President; her predecessor did not resign, was not impeached, and stated plainly that he was not surrendering office, only evacuating the palace) rests upon the privileged classes of Filipine society, which suffers an ugly stratification in which the rich and middle classes live lives of great comfort but at least 40% of the population endures grinding, dehumanizing misery. She is the daughter of the president ousted by Ferdinand Marcos, and, tho she was educated in the United States, she plainly doesn't care a damn about the poor, nor is she really a democrat at heart: not a political democrat, not a social democrat. Instead, she looks for guidance as to her own behavior to the British monster Margaret Thatcher ("Attila the Hen"), who turned a cold heart to the disadvantaged and pursued a foreign policy every bit as vicious and militaristic as her male predecessors. So much for women bringing heart to government.
The military is playing an unseemly and improper role in choosing the president of what is supposed to be a democracy. And Ms. Arroyo seems to be trying to tilt the Senate elections scheduled for two weeks from now by rounding up the leaders of the opposition!
None of this would happen if the Philippines were part of the United States.
The United States changes Presidents by elections, not mobs, and the military does not oust one President and install another. If an impeachment fails, the President stays in office, as in fact happened recently. He is not driven from office by mob and military.
And no high official of the United States issues dyky proclamations that she will beat her opponents to a pulp.
Where is the Philippines headed? Where is the action for social change that alone will satisfy the alienated masses of the poor? Where's the land reform? the agricultural training and assistance? the quality education and healthcare and infrastructure for disadvantaged groups and backward regions of the country?
NOWHERE, that's where.
The Philippine Government doesn't care about anybody but the middle class and rich, and that's not good enough.
The result is a vote of no-confidence by investors, who are staying away from the Philippines in droves. The peso has dropped to over 51 per U.S. dollar! There is NO hope for the poor (for whom the minimum wage is $4.50 a day) in the present "order", and political turmoil affords the ruling class an excuse for not acting on basic changes to Philippine society.
Not good enough.
Independence has been a disaster for the Philippines. It has victimized the victims and rendered society incapable of renewing itself thru peaceful change. The classes are fighting for their own share of an economic pie that isn't growing but may even be shrinking. And the upper classes have the military behind them. The Moslem insurrection in the south has killed over 120,000 people to date, and is still costing lives!
Filipinos concerned about social justice must admit aloud that the noble experiment in Filipino self-governance begun in 1946 has not worked out and apparently never will, then move to restore the broken tie to the United States as the only way remotely likely to produce the kinds of rapid and favorable change the all-too-numerous downtrodden need.
Filipinos need to flood into the USA Statehood party of the Philippines, Filipino-Americans need to flood into the Expansionist Party, and, working together across the Pacific, agitate for Statehood for the archipelago.
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