Historical Context
The right of suffrage is the cornerstone of Philippine democracy.
This right essentially covers the sovereign choice of the people
to select their leaders and to participate in governance. This right
is most directly expressed through their participation in elections,
referenda, holding of plebiscites, recall processes and, uniquely
in the Philippines, through the avenue of people power.
The exercise of this right or its deprivation has led to major
political conflicts in Philippine modern political history.
The 1969 national election in which Ferdinand Marcos was reelected
president was considered a fraudulent exercise and led to a major
social upheaval now known as the “First Quarter Storm of 1970.”
The 1971 constitutional convention failed to satisfy the angry electorate.
Marcos then instituted martial rule through the proclamation of
martial law in September 21, 1972.
The Marcos dictatorship stirred up an opposition movement that
a series of mock elections and even a formal lifting of martial
law failed to stem. Increasingly beleaguered, Marcos tried to appease
the people by promising a genuine presidential election.
In 1986, Marcos held a fraud-ridden “snap” presidential
election. The angry Filipino people overthrew his dictatorship through
the now-historic EDSA people power revolution. Through the 1987
constitution, they instituted a broad democracy government in its
place that took cognizance of the decisive role of people power.
The 1992 and 1998 general elections were held peacefully and saw
an increasing percentage of voter participation. However, they also
revealed the structural problems of the Philippine electoral process
dating back to pre-martial law period and worsened in the Marcos
years. Traditional politics described in various terms as “elitist
democracy,” “politics of guns, gold and goons,”
or “money politics” returned with a vengeance. Graft
and corruption hounded every presidential regime, despite many attempts
to control them. Governance suffered even as poverty deepened among
the vast poor majority of the people.
In 2001, people power took to the streets again in EDSA II to force
then president Joseph Estrada to step down from his presidency amidst
charges of plunder and corruption at the highest levels.
EDSA I and EDSA II are fifteen years apart. Yet, the demand for
a broader people’s participation in democracy, as articulated
in President Macapagal-Arroyo’s inaugural speech, remains
pretty much the same. In this sense, EDSA II only urgently underscored
the need for political and electoral reforms required for the consolidation
and maturing of the post-EDSA democracy in the Philippines.
