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Tomorrow is the 22nd anniversary of the so-called
‘people power 1 that toppled the authoritarian regime of former
president Ferdinand E. Marcos and brought the country from a brief
revolutionary regime to a constitutional democracy. Certainly, it
was a fine moment in human history that the country can be proud of.
More than seven years ago, the
strong political clamor to remove former president Joseph E. Estrada
on charges of corruption gave rise to ‘people power 2’.
Following a constitutionally-defined succession in which the Supreme
Court gave its stamp of approval, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo assumed
the post of chief executive.
While both versions of people
power are being held in high esteem by the international community
for the bloodless takeover of political regimes, there is no dispute
that they would have not succeeded without military intervention.
People power 1 and 2 were peaceful and bloodless because the top
guns of the military hierarchy chose to shift loyalties to a new
regime.
The sad reality is that no amount
of public expression and demonstration of protest and condemnation
even by a majority of the citizenry would topple a political regime
without military intervention. Political leaders are naturally
driven by the desire to preserve authority and power until all the
avenues are closed, which only the armed forces could bring about.
Take the case of the ensuing
‘people power 3’ to restore the Estrada presidency. It failed
not because it had no popular support, as in fact, Estrada obtained
the most convincing and strongest mandate of the electorate in the
country’s history when he got elected to the office. It failed
because former president Estrada no longer had the organized support
of the military generals.
In the current political
controversy hounding the administration of President Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo, the shifting of loyalties of the military
hierarchy seems close to impossible. The commander-in-chief is
astute enough to make the military leadership tow her line. Should
the disgruntled junior officers in the military establishment decide
to take matters in their hands, ‘people power 4’ would certainly
be bloody and does not deserve to be called one. It would either be
a rebellion, a mutiny or a coup d’etat.
The only constitutional mechanism
to replace a president who betrayed public trust is the process of
impeachment. But then again, this political process would not have
any chance to even take off because of the president’s political
dominance of the House of Representatives.
The church is calling for a
‘communal action’ or for a more meaningful or a new brand of
‘people power’ whatever that means. Certainly, street
demonstrations, prayer rallies, and similar expressions of public
protests would not bring about a new brand of ‘people power 4’
and make President Arroyo give up her office, even if the cardinals
and the bishops are able to physically gather a million Filipinos in
Luneta to call for her resignation. The minions of the
president have mastered so well the Machiavellian art of ‘divide
and rule’.
For people power 4 to succeed in
the same context as people power 1 and 2, but without the usual
military interference, there must be some collective political will
on the part of Filipinos to show that they are the sovereign
authority. This could be done perhaps by momentarily withholding
government support in the form of taxes, or by exercising the
framework of people’s initiative to constitutionally shorten the
term of the incumbent president, or a mass resignation or leave of
absence of government servants who still upholds morality in public
service. All these would be done only to put pressure to the
president to resign and allow the constitutional processes to take
shape. But obviously these are arduous paths to take.
In the meantime, a long-drawn-out
political deadlock is in the offing. This means some setback in the
economy and some political instability and maneuverings here and
there. The Filipino people need to sacrifice more in the ensuing
tug-of-war because whoever of the opposing camps blinks first loses
the game. If there is still a chance for ‘people power 4’, it
should be within the constitutional spirit that sovereignty resides
in the people and all government authority emanates from them.
Otherwise, people power 4 could be tragic.
www.soriano-ph.com
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