Corruption, violence, kidnappings: The four post-Marcos presidencies, 1986-2010

With only three weeks to go before the national elections, it’s worth reflecting on the catastrophic record of four recent Presidents and the consequences of allowing their depredations to go unchecked. Just a cursory cycle through the performance of four Presidents in the post-authoritarian era – Corazon Aquino (1986-1992), Fidel V. Ramos (1992-98), Joseph Ejercito Estrada (1998-2001), and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (2001-2010) – recalls nightmarish scenarios of corruption, murder, and kidnappings. Even after the toppling of Marcos, the vast majority of the Filipino poor ended up being very badly short-changed.

The Aquino administration inherited a bankrupt state, a discontented military, and was beleaguered by multiple coup attempts. Cory did, however, enjoy broad support and promised to address inequality and poverty, principally through a long overdue comprehensive agrarian reform program. But implementation was slow and partial, and she ensured that her own extended family’s vast holdings remained untouched. Mass protest demonstrations ended in the bloody massacre of 13 peasant farmers on Manila’s Mendiola Bridge in 1987. Resources were poured into her armed forces whose counter-insurgency campaign amounted to “total war” on communist rebels and Moro secessionists. General Fidel V. Ramos, a cousin of Marcos who headed the much-feared Philippine Constabulary during martial rule, was her chief security adviser. Anti-communist vigilante and militia groups flourished. Two of the most notorious were the Alsa Masa, composed of rebel defectors who terrified Davao’s citizenry, and the Tadtad, a pseudo-Christian cult that relished beheadings and hackings, and operated in Mindanao and Cebu.