The missed opportunity of the 1986 EDSA Revolution

I feel like writing this piece as it is the anniversary of the 1986 EDSA Revolution which toppled Ferdinand Marcos from power with the promise of a brighter future from the country after the “darkness” it experienced during the Marcos regime.

Yet here we are 33 years later, with the promised “brighter future” still far from sight as the political system in the country is still as broken as ever (if not worse). Then we have the Marcoses in the midst of a sort of “comeback” as many Filipinos are now looking at the Marcos regime a bit more favorably, especially in light of what has transpired since 1986.

Many historians and analysts have shared their own takes as to why and how this shift happened. While I don’t have an answer specifically to those questions, I can share a turning point as to when this shift began to happen:

When Cory Aquino started playing politics in March 1986.

To understand the context of that statement, it is important to learn first the historical background here.

The original agreement

When Ferdinand Marcos declared a snap presidential election in 1986, the opposition was scrambling to field a viable candidate who can successfully challenge Marcos. At one point, the opposition was split between two polar opposite candidates.

On one corner was Salvador Laurel, son of former Philippine President Jose P. Laurel and is himself skilled and experienced in politics and governance but lacked the mass appeal. On the opposite corner is Corazon Aquino, widow of the slain senator Benigno Aquino Jr. and a figure with growing popularity but had no experience in governance and politics. Eventually, Aquino and Laurel formed an agreement in which Aquino would run as president and Laurel her vice president on the premise that should Aquino win, she would serve as the ceremonial president while Laurel becomes the head of government as prime minister.

It must be noted that during this time, the constitution in effect in the country was the 1973 Constitution which was originally conceived to have a purely parliamentary form of government, with the president acting as ceremonial head of state (like the British monarch, Japan’s emperor, and the President of Singapore) and the prime minister handling the day-to-day affairs of the government as head of government. But the declaration of Martial Law in 1972 and Marcos’ amendments transformed into a semi-presidential form of government, with Marcos as both head of state and of government. Even with Cesar Virata‘s appointment as prime minister, Marcos held the real power as head of government with Virata’s role confined only to being his portfolio as concurrent Finance minister and head of the National Economic and Development Authority.

The ascent of the Aquino-Laurel government on February 25, 1986 was an opportunity to revisit and fully realize the original intent of the 1973 Constitution before Marcos ”messed it up”. And it was a fitting one at that. Aquino, with her popularity and inexperience in governance, would make for a fine head of state while Laurel’s experience in politics made him a good fit as head of government.

Agreement reneged

However, Aquino, with the prodding of her allies and cronies, decided to get rid of the 1973 Constitution and draft a new constitution altogether. A transitional constitution called the “Freedom Constitution” was promulgated in March 1986 which got rid of the office of the Prime Minister and gave broader powers to the President. Eventually, those greater powers of the President were established with the 1987 Constitution.

Reportedly, Cory and her team reasoned out that the events of the 1986 EDSA Revolution effectively “invalidated” the agreement before and that it was an opportunity to write a supposedly “new” chapter in the country’s history. There was also a supposed distrust of Laurel for one reason or another among those close to Aquino. Some in Cory’s circle believe that Laurel’s politics was detrimental to the promise of good government that Aquino espoused. Whatever the case, Laurel was virtually shut out by his one-time partner and was rendered to be an “insignificant” player in Philippine politics.

What could have been…

The decision to “start anew” in light of the events of the 1986 EDSA revolution admittedly holds some validity in some aspects. But the decision to abolish the Prime Minister’s post and give greater powers to the President was a decision that was ill-thought of and was done with no understanding whatsoever of the original intent of the original 1973 Constitution (before the Marcos “amendments”).

I have long argued that a head of state should serve as a unifying figure for a country and never be a subject of division due to politics or their policies that a head of government usually foments. And the case of Cory Aquino provided a perfect example of that. The reason she rose to power was not because of her experience in politics but because she was seen as an icon in the resistance against Marcos and people looked up to her for that. In essence, she was elected because she was seen as a good head of state and not for being a good head of government. The moment she and her group consolidated power and effectively made the President more powerful, she effectively became a divisive figure and all the goodwill she raised in February 1986 as a unifying figure dissipated. And it began barely a month after.

Whatever Aquino’s apprehensions of Laurel were, the office of the Prime Minister and Laurel serving in this office should have been left alone, even with the 1987 Constitution. If there were any issues with Laurel, Aquino should have trusted the parliamentary system to take care of itself. If Laurel was found to have been corrupt or ineffective, he would be ousted by parliament then and there. With the composition of the government during that time, I’m sure there’s no lacking of people who were ready to take on the role, with the likes of Jovito Salonga, Raul Manglapus, Ramon Mitra, among many others.

On the part of Corazon Aquino, her legacy is more secured if she stuck to just being a head of state. In effect, the spirit of EDSA 1986 would not have dissipated unlike what is happening right now.

Unfortunately, it was not how things turned out. It was a missed opportunity for a better system of politics and government the Philippines could have had after the promise of People Power in February 1986.

Karl Aguilar is a self-confessed urban roamer, freelancing as a writer and photographer, who has once participated in a national game show and dabbles into heady stuff from time to time. He has a blog that deals with the sights, sounds, and stories of the urban landscape, Metro Manila in particular, called, of course, The Urban Roamer, which you can check out at www.theurbanroamer.com.