| |
|
|
| |
Home
>
World
> South-East Asia
> Philippines
|
History and Government
History: The earliest inhabitants of the Philippines were the Negritos. Other tribes later arrived from Malaysia and Indonesia. In 1521, the Portuguese navigator, Ferdinand Magellan, financed by the King of Spain, landed on the islands and named them after Philip II of Spain. Friars converted the inhabitants to Christianity and today the Philippines is the only predominantly Christian country in South-East Asia. Spanish explorer Miguel Lopez de Legaspi established the first Spanish settlement in Cebu in 1565; he moved north and defeated the Muslim Rajah Sulayman and established a Spanish base in Manila in 1571, extending the area under Spanish control. In 1896, a revolution against Spanish rule led to the establishment of the first Filipino Republic in 1898, under General Emilio Aguinaldo. Later, the United States took control of the islands and a constitution was drawn up in 1935, giving the Philippines internal self-government.
The islands were occupied by the Japanese between 1942 and 1945, during World War II, only achieving independence in 1946. During the next two decades, there was a succession of presidents who maintained strong links with the United States. In 1965, Ferdinand Marcos of the Nacionalista party won the presidential elections and began a programme of rapid economic development. Before his maximum of two terms in office were over, in 1972, Marcos instituted martial law and suppressed all political opposition. He also set about large-scale looting of the country’s exchequer to fill his and his family’s own foreign bank accounts. Opposition to Marcos evolved in two distinct forms: the ‘constitutional’ opposition, organised around dissenting senators such as Benigno Aquino; and the Communist Party, which, linking with various tribal groups, launched an armed insurgency based in the southern islands, particularly Mindanao.
By the mid-1980s, the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of the Communist Party, was able to sustain a major insurrection right across the country in both rural and urban areas. The turning point for the regime came after the assassination of Benigno Aquino upon his return from exile in 1983. Public opinion rallied behind his widow, Corazon Aquino. A massive campaign of demonstrations and non-violent protest, popularly dubbed ‘People Power’, confronted Marcos. Equally important, President Reagan faced a groundswell of American public opinion in favour of Aquino and withdrew his backing from Marcos. The Filipino military, Marcos’ last bastion of support, followed suit and Marcos left for Hawaiian exile in February 1986. He died there in September 1989.
His widow, Imelda, has since been sentenced to 24 years imprisonment for ‘political graft’, although she remains at liberty pending appeal. Lacking any political experience whatever, Corazon Aquino took a while to settle into the presidency. Relations between the new government and the military were the most pressing problem. The army sheltered an influential rump of support for Marcos, which busied itself plotting against Aquino and had, by the end of 1989, made no less than six coup attempts. All were put down and Aquino kept the bulk of the military on her side, not least by supporting a hard line in the counter-insurgency campaign against the NPA, whose campaign has since all but fizzled out.
Military issues also dominated the Philippines’ key foreign relations with the USA. The Americans had maintained two large bases on Luzon Island at Subic Bay (navy) and Clark Air Base, plus a handful of smaller facilities, since the end of World War II. However, the agreement permitting their use was due to expire in 1991. The problem was partly solved by the volcanic eruption of Mount Pinatubo, dormant for 600 years, in the summer of 1991. Clark Air Base, situated 16km (ten miles) from the volcano, was damaged so badly that the Americans decided to abandon it. In 1994, after an agreement negotiated between the two governments, they also pulled out of Subic Bay. In October 1991, the Philippines senate accepted a deal carved out between the government and the USA, allowing for a total pull-out by 1994. By this time, the presidency had passed to Fidel Ramos, Aquino’s erstwhile Defence Minister and a key figure in recent Filipino politics.
Although the NPA threat had all but vanished, there were continuing problems with smaller Islamic insurgent groups, notably the Moro National Liberation Front. Negotiations proved more successful this time and the conflict was settled in 1996. In November 2001, serious fighting broke out between Islamic guerrillas and army units on Jolo. Since the 11 September 2001 attacks in the USA, much attention has been focused on the Abu Sayyaf group, based and mainly active in the southern part of the archipelago, which is believed to be affiliated with Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaeda (The Base) terrorist network.
The economy continued to perform reasonably well until the closing months of 1997, when the Philippines was one of the main victims of the Asian currency crisis (see Business Profile section). The crisis hit just months before the scheduled presidential election in May 1998, giving opposition candidates a significant potential advantage. And it was one of these opponents, Joseph Ejercito Estrada, leading a new political party, Laban ng Masang Pilipino (Struggle of the Filipino Masses, LMP), who won the poll by a comfortable margin.
Estrada enjoyed massive support among the urban poor but proved to be an incompetent and corrupt leader. In January 2001, he was formally thrown out of office by the Supreme Court and replaced by his deputy, Gloria Arroyo – daughter of Diosdado Macapagal, the president during the early 1960s. Arroyo has presided over a steady economic improvement but, to general surprise, declared that she will not seek re-election in 2004.
Government: The constitution adopted in 1987 provides for a dual-chamber congress comprising a 24-member Senate and a House of Representatives with a maximum 250 members, of whom 200 are directly elected. The president, who holds executive power, is elected for a six year term.
Copyright © 2003 Columbus Publishing Ltd.
Terms and Conditions apply.
|
|
|
|
|
