People Power in the Philippines

[Keith Calara]

Last August, I received an email from the Filipino club on the University of San Francisco campus. It was an appeal encouraging their members and other Filipino Americans to write a letter to the California senators Barbra Boxer and Diane Feinstein about ending any aide the United States was sending to the administration of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo because of her use of extra-judicial arrests on journalists in the Philippines. This is just the most recent vignette I have heard about the corruption and human rights violations committed by her administration. It’s quite ironic that through an incredible phenomenon, The Second People Power Revolution, would result in the installation of another disappointing head of state and government.

Have the ideals of People Power died because of the disappointing results?

That concern led to the topic of my thesis that I am currently writing. My research deals with the different perspectives Filipinos have of People Power in the Philippines: it’s effects on politics and society, and it’s ability to bring justice. Understanding how Filipinos feel about People Power in the Philippines could help us understand how to bring greater justice to our country.

If you were in the Philippines during the 1986 People Power Revolution (regardless of if you participated or not) please take this anonymous survey about People Power:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=59q8x81C_2bQpb1eDhTaDvZA_3d_3d