A country of missed opportunities

by: AMB. JOSE ROMERO JR., PH.D

Today the elite continue to refuse to open up the economy to safeguard their carefully erected monopolies which continue to dictate the cost to the public of public utility services even as they stubbornly refuse to promote genuine land reform. In the meantime our most precious resource, our manpower continues to be underutilized even as our rich natural resources remain underground and underdeveloped.

Today the country has all the appearances of a middle income state. We are the only Christian nation in South-east Asia and its first democracy. In terms of economic development we were only next to Japan after the war. Looking at it from a distance, we have all the apparatus to make a viable democratic state – the check and balances of the three branches of government etc. – but in truth and in fact these formal structures have of late been taken over by the informal structures – huge underground, non-taxpaying economy and influential non-state players that cast a giant shadow on the body politic.

This is a country of missed opportunities. The so-called Edsa Revolution was really a military coup perpetrated by its leadership because of serious in-fighting in the military establishment.

It was a more a matter of survival for Enrile and Ramos than a great desire to restore democracy in the country. As far as the populace was concerned, apart from the Makati Business Club, some members of the Catholic Church hierarchy with its small following of seminarians and nuns under the jurisdiction of Cardinal Sin, it was business as usual in most of the countryside with the exception of the big cities like Cebu, Iloilo Davao and Baguio whose upper middle class had become frustrated with the dictatorship. Closer to an uprising was the huge demonstration following the Aquino assassination three years earlier but this petered out as fast as it developed.

Again Edsa Dos was another coup orchestrated by the military brass who withdraws its support of its Commander-In-Chief. While it certainly had the support of Manila’s middle class it certainly did not have the sympathy of the masa who almost took over the palace shortly after.

What accounted for the seeming ambivalence of the Filipino nation to Edsa Uno and Edsa Dos? Some analyst attributes this to the patron-client relationships that characterize Philippine politics. Without a philosophy of government, local parties are like bottles with different labels. When Marcos demolished political parties he created personality politics – the strongman syndrome. Cory Aquino killed the two party systems that has served this country well before martial law and replaced it with a multi-party system, composed of ragtag bands surrounding charismatic leaders. In the language of the political scientist, these sectoral groups could hardly be described as political parties.

Ramos who was a minority president encouraged the ” rainbow coalition” put together by his chief political architect Joe De Venecia to be able to govern. Estrada produced the veritable political tower of Babel led by his midnight cabinet of businessman, show business personalities and opportunistic politicians. Today Arroyo can hardly patch up the leading administration parties now torn apart at the seams.

In sum this country wasted the democratic space handed her by Edsa People Power Revolution. The Cory Constitution of 1987 was the restoration of traditional politics and the restoration of political dynasties and warlordism. Her predecessor did nothing to change the political landscape. Today we are back in square one!