Eun-hee Eom
Institute of Social Sciences, Seoul National University

1. Country Overview - The Philippines: Close but Unknown Country

Historically, all of the outside civilizations that had impact on Southeast Asia came from the West. For example, Hinduism and Buddhism came from India, and Islam was from Western Asia, which is also called the Middle East.

Geographically, the Philippines is located at the northeastern edge of Southeast Asia and faces the Pacific. It may have taken longer till western civilizations spread to the Philippines as it is the farthest place in Southeast Asia. That is why there are no historical records that state the existence of influential ancient dynasties based on religion in the Philippines until the 15th century.

Due to its location, the way the Philippines has exchanged with outside civilizations was different from that of the other countries in the region. European empires that colonized Southeast Asia came from the West through the Cape of Good Hope in Africa and across the Indian Ocean after the 16th century.

On the other hand, the western colonial powers that dominated the Philippines all came from the East across the Pacific Ocean; Spain in the 16th century and the US in the 20th century. The map on the right shows the sailing route of a trade ship called the Manila Galleon. This route crosses the Pacific Ocean, connecting from Manila, Philippines and to Acapulco, Mexico. From the 16th to the early 19th centuries, the Philippines was incorporated into the global economy through this route.

Both Spain and the US left significant socio-cultural legacies in the Philippines. As for Spain, the state name of the Philippines, Catholicism, and the Hacienda system, which refers to sugar-producing plantations, and the indigenous elite ruling class are its legacies.

After Spain was defeated in 1898, the US began its colonial rule over the Philippines. The US had a profound influence on administration, politics, and education system, and English now used as an official language in the Philippines is another important legacy.

Though colonial heritage, Catholicism and English have been part of the Philippine society and culture over a long period of time and have virtually become the assets of the Philippines today.

In the Philippines, Catholic architecture and anniversaries are important tourism resources and public celebrations. The picture below shows the Magellan's Cross at Santo Niño Basilica on Cebu Island in the central Philippines, and it is said that the Cross was brought by explorer Magellan when he arrived at the island in 1521. Magellan was the first man who introduced Catholicism to the Philippines

English is another important asset. The Philippines is a popular destination for language training and online English education. The Philippines is also the hub of call centers for English-speaking countries. For instance, if you call Pizza Hut from the US to order a pizza, your order is most likely to be taken and processed in the Philippines. Revenues from this sector account for 10% of the Philippines' total GDP. Fluent English does help the national economy.

2. Current Political Systems of Southeast Asian Countries

• Political Situation of Each Country

Country	State leader	Political (party) system
Brunei	King Hassanal Bolkiah	hereditary monarchy, despotic monarchy
Cambodia	King NorodomSihamoni Prime Minister Hun Sen	constitutional monarchy, one party state
Laos	President Bounnhang Vorachith	socialism, single communist party
Indonesia	President Joko Widodo	democratic republic, multi-party system
Malaysia	Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Muhyiddin YassinMuhyiddin Yassin	constitutional monarchy(elected monarch), consensus-based hegemony party system
Myanmar	-	democratic republic, currently under military coup
the Philippines	President Rodrigo Roa Duterte	democratic republic, multi-party system
Singapore	President Halimah Yacob Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong	parliamentary cabinet, hegemonic party system (under easing)
Thailand	King Vajiralongkorn Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha	parliamentary cabinet, multi-party system (strong influence of the military)
Vietnam	General Secretary of the Communist Party Nguyễn Phú Trọng President Nguyen Xuan Phuc	socialism, single communist party

In the broad context of world history, Asian countries mostly came under colonial rules during the transition from the 19th to the 20th centuries. As a result, the introduction of democratic systems was progressed in a very condensed manner in these countries, from decolonization to foundation of a nation-state, and legislation of the Constitution, and adoption of an electoral system.

However, the paths they have taken to achieve democracy varied depending on their socio-political structure and the dynamics among political and social forces within the countries. For instance, countries in the region have different political systems and situations; monarchy, single socialist party, competitive elections, or military regime.

These situations are the legacies of colonialism. At the same time, politics, economic system and socio-economic situations after they gained independence have also played a part. Unfortunately, most Asian countries have been through a period ruled by military regimes or dictators, such as the brutal military of the Philippines which slaughtered civilians during the coup in February this year. In fact, Thailand has seen quite a progress on democracy before, but since the coup in 2014, its political situation has been a far cry from what is regarded as a normal democracy.

3. History of democracy in the Philippines (compared to Korea)

Colonial rule (Spain, US) (1565-1946)

Independence & Modern State (1898/1935/1946)

Marcos’ dictatorship (1965/1972~1986)

EDSA Revolution / restoration of democracy (1986~)

Japan’s colonizl rule (1910~1945)

Independence, modern state, Korean War (1945~1953)

Park Chung-hee’s military dictatorship (1961/1972~1979) Military Government (1979~1987)

87 Uprising & restoration of democracy (1986~)

Democracy is not an issue of a single country. That’s why we need to take interest in the other Asian countries, which have walked on a similar journey of democratization to ours, from a comparative point of view.

Let’s compare the Philippines and Korea. You may think that Korea and the Philippines have been through different paths and that our position and role are different from theirs in the world order. However, in a broader context of world history, both the countries have shared similar experiences.

Both the countries were under the colonial rule until the first half of the 20th century. While the period and the colonial power were different, both Korea and the Philippines had to achieve the same goal of de-colonization in order to gain independence and establish a modern state. They also suffered chaos after the foundation of an independent government. Perhaps, Korea may have suffered even greater confusions after independence because we had to fight a three-year war that devastated the entire country from 1950.

It is also unfortunate that both the countries suffered from dictatorship around the same time. I will get back to this point later on, but Marcos, the dictator of the Philippines, and Park Jung-hee, the dictator of Korea, were born in the same year. They became the president around the same time and declared martial law in the same year. The only difference is that after President Park died, another new military regime took the rein for eight years, while in the Philippines, one dictator remained in power for a long time. Both the countries also achieved democratization around the same time, 1986 in the Philippines and 1987 in Korea. This point is often mentioned when people discuss democracy of Asia.

4. Dictator Marcos Ruled for 21 Years (1965-1986)

Before talking about the democratization movement, let me touch upon dictator Marcos, who was the cause of many structural problems facing the Philippines today. Marcos is often compared to Park Chung-hee of Korea, but in fact there are several surprising facts about Marcos.

First of all, he was not a soldier but a lawyer. He was also a reformist politician in the early years. During his first term in the office, Marcos established diplomatic relations with communist countries, which are the opposite axes in the Cold War, thus changing the pro-US, anti-communist diplomacy of the country. In 1966, he negotiated with the US and had the period of US forces deployment to the Philippines cut from 99 years to 25 years. He is the first and only president re-elected for the second term in the Philippines’ history.

However, during his second term (1969-1973), he grappled with an economic crisis and intensifying domestic conflicts, and hence declared martial law in 1972 which meant the beginning of dictatorship.

The man in this black-and-white photo is Marcos' archenemy, Senator Ninoy Aquino. He had a close connection with Korea. He came to Korea as a war correspondent during the Korean War. He emerged as a leading figure of the anti-Marcos camp during the late 1960s. He was arrested shortly after martial law was announced in 1972 and sentenced to death. And in 1980 he went to the US to seek asylum.

Don’t you think he is similar to someone we know in our history? Yes, that’s former President Kim Dae-jung. In fact, they closely exchanged with each other during their exile in the US.

Amid protracted dictatorship, Marcos took some appeasement measures in the 1980s and suggested a general election in 1983. Senator Aquino returned to the country in order to run for the election, but he was assassinated while walking down airplane traps at Manila Airport.

Senator Aquino has since become the symbolic figure of the Philippines’ democratization. People began to honor him by wearing yellow clothes and tieing yellow straps around their wrists.

5. EDSA Revolution in 1986

The democratization protest of the Philippines, which compares to the 1987 June Uprising of Korea, took place in 1986. This uprising is called by several names; “People Power”, “Yellow Revolution” or “EDSA Revolution” called by the Filipinos.

“EDSA” is the name of the most important avenue in Manila, which connects the southern and the northern parts of the capital. EDSA is comparable to Sejong-ro, Hangang-daero, and Gangnam-daero combined in Seoul. From February 23 to 25, 1986, more than 2 million citizens gathered to demand the resignation of Marcos’ dictatorship.

Why did this happen? I mentioned earlier that Marcos’ dictatorship lost public support after the death of Senator Aquino. Hence, Marcos proposed to hold a presidential election on February 7, 1986 and declared he would step down if he loses. The election took place with a confrontation between Marcos and the late Senator Aquino's wife, Corazon Aquino.

Right after the election, the National Election Commission declared Marcos’ victory, but in fact the vote counting result was manipulated by prevalent violence and obstruction. A few days later, 30 computer technicians from the National Election Commission made a confession that the vote counting result was rigged. Nevertheless, Marcos pushed ahead with his inauguration ceremony.

In protest, 2 million citizens turned to the streets demanding the resignation of the dictatorship. On February 25, 1986, Marcos received a call from the US and canceled his inauguration. He left lonely to seek asylum in Hawaii and it was the victory of the public.

6. Significance of the EDSA Recolution to Asia

Its significance may have been faded given the current situations of Korea and the Philippines, but the EDSA Revolution in February 1986 was a historic incident that took place at the forefront of Asia’s post-authoritarianism or the Third Wave of Democratization, which refers to a series of incidents, from the June democratization uprising in Korea in 1987, the cancelation of martial law in Taiwan in July 1987, and the Tiananmen Square Protests in China in June 1989.

Professor Joong-seok Seo, who studied democracy of Korea, said in his book, (Stone Pillow, 2011), as follows;

“The ‘People Power’ in the Philippines was a proxy war of Korea’s democratization movement. Students and democratic activists of Korea feared that Korea’s democracy might fall into trouble for a while if the people’s revolution in the Philippines fails, and for the same reason, the Chun Doo-hwan administration was desperately hoping it would fail.” (121-122)

As such, the Philippines in 1986 and Korea in 1987 were connected to each other. Their democratization movements represented geopolitical turbulence in East Asia, which could not be noticed from the perspective of a single country, and became historic watersheds that made the US, which had the greatest influence on the region during the Cold War, inevitably revise its strategy toward Asia.

7. 35 Years After Democratization

source: PhilStar(2016.05.11.)

After successful democratization in 1986, the Philippines enacted a new constitution in 1987, which stipulated the presidential term shall be a single term of six years, so that they will never have another dictator. Thus far, there have been six presidential elections over the past 35 years. That is an achievement the other Southeast Asian countries could not follow. Competitive elections were guaranteed, regime has changed, with no interruption to the constitutional government.

Does that mean the Philippines did achieve social change and development through politics? As a foreigner, it is difficult for me to tell details, but democracy in the Philippines has unfortunately been swinging back and forth between stalemate and retreat.

8. Democracy Structure and Limitations of the Philippines

“Political dynasty” is a term that is mentioned whenever people talk about politics of the Philippines.

Dictator Marcos was ousted from power by the people’s uprising in 1986, but it was a tragedy in the Philippines’ politics that after he was gone, political dynasties which had existed long before him returned to politics. A movie star-turned politician, Joseph Estrada, claimed himself as a spokesperson for the poor and marginalized, and garnered popularity in 1998, but he didn't last long. He took populist moves but had much corruption, and eventually was impeached by political dynasties who kept him at check.

The political dynasties of the Philippines have existed since the Spanish colonial rule. It happened so often that the members of a particular political dynasty monopolize all elected positions of an area, such as senators, representatives, governors, and mayors. According to the election law, one can serve as a senator up to two terms and the other elected positions, including the house of representatives, up to three terms. When they can no longer run for election due to the restrictions, members from the same political dynasty ran for elections trading off their posts with each other, taking advantage of the loopholes of the election system. That way, the political dynasties kept their grip on political and economic interest.

9. The Duterte Government

Has the number of drug offenders decreased?: Yes(73%)

Opinion on the number of human rights abuses: Many(76%)

The incumbent President of the Philippines is President Duterte.
He was elected in 2016, and 2021 is the last year of his term in the office.
Yet, it is quite difficult to evaluate President Duterte.

He did make reformist moves taking side with the ordinary citizens against the political dynasties, and he declared independent diplomacy and changed pro-US diplomacy of the Philippines so that it maintained a balance in diplomacy between the US and China.

However, isn’t the most important role of a country is to protect the "safety and life of the people" above all else? In this respect, he shows two contradictory aspects by taking stern actions against drug offenders and committing human rights violations.

The chart on the right shows the results of a survey conducted just before the outbreak of the COVID-19 by SWS, a survey agency in the Philippines. Here, we can see how the public think of the Duterte government's “war on drugs” policy. When asked did this policy reduce the number of drug offenders, 73% of citizens said yes. On the question of do you think there were cases of human rights violations during drug crackdown, 76% said yes. These responses show the complex sentiments of citizens.

It seems certain that President Duterte is not a president respected by the people but one who is feared. Nevertheless, he still enjoys a high approval rating.

The Duterte government faces many challenges. It is struggling with managing COVID-19, and its human right violations committed during war on drugs would be taken to the International Court of Justice. The territorial dispute between China and the West Philippine Sea has not been resolved. Above all, the presidential election is slated for next year. In this country, the president holds absolute power and I am quite curious about who will run for presidency in the coming election.

10. For the Solitdarity of Civil Society between Korea and the Philippines

In the Philippines, democratic systems are working properly but they face many difficulties in stabilizing and developing democracy itself after the democratization movement. Democracy is not something they can achieve by putting in place systems but it requires continuous efforts of people to maintain and develop.

Also, democracy is not an issue of a single country, but a goal that should be achieved and developed together across the region, Asia, and even the entire world.

In that regard, there is one thing I would like to ask for the civil society of Korea. Let's learn more about our neighbor, the Philippines, and continue our efforts to join hands with them. As a researcher on the region, I will strive to provide relevant information to citizens of Korea, on politics, economic structure, social issues, incidents showing signs of change, and structural situations and changes in the Philippines.