PHILIPPINE SOCIAL

MOVEMENTS
BEFORE MARTIAL LAW
PHILIPPINE SOCIAL
MOVEMENTS
WHAT IS SOCIAL MOVEMENT?
➢A sustained and purposeful collective mobilized by an
identifiable, self-organized group in confrontration
with specific power structures and in the pursuit of
socioeconomic political change
➢A social movement must have the capacity to
mobilize constituency or membership and second,
such mobilization must be sustainable over a period of
time
2 Frameworks of Social Movements
•1. Political Opportunity Structure
➢ Include opening up of “access to power
shifts in ruling alignments brought about
by cleavages within and among elites, and
the availability of influential allies
2. Collective - Action Frames

➢ Refer to the outcome of the framing

process of individuals. That is, the manner
in which individuals frame the nature of
their problem, the sources of this problem
and the means by which resolutions can
be arrived at.
From Communal to National Resistance in
the Spanish Period
➢ The Spanish period aggravated the socioeconomic
inequalities that existed in pre-Spanish Philippine society
between the landed and the landless
➢ System was characterized by quasi-feudal
➢ Two classes :
▪ DATU
▪ TAO
➢ Peasant agitation was aggravated during the
Spanish period
➢The King gave tremendous land grants for the
nobles and friars
➢ This arrangement resulted in the tenant’s low
standard of living.
➢The peasants were forced to borrow from the
landlords or the money lenders
➢ The exploitative situation spawned early
revolts in the 16th and 17th centuries. Which can
be broadly categorized into two types :

• Those that aspired for a return to the pre-Spanish past

• Those that were consequences of the extraction of
surplus for colonial needs
➢ Similar revolts were carried out by local
religious leaders who, aside from their political
leadership, wielded immense power as
ideologies of the community displaced by the
friars and the onslaught of Catholicism
➢ The “restorative” revolts fell short of social
movements
RESISTANCE IN THE FORM OF MILLENARIAN
MOVEMENTS
➢ During the middle of the Spanish era, a new type of resistance
emerged in the form of milleranian confrontation against Spanish
colonialism.
➢ Millenarian Movement – Social movements that attempted to
address the economic problem by the people during the Spanish
period
➢ Lasted longer than the sporadic priest-led revolts
Political resistance through the Principalia
Class
➢ Philippine insertion to the world market leads to the rise of local
entrepreneurial class.
➢This class was the primary beneficiary of colonial rule
➢ The principalia framed their issues against the Spaniard in a different
manner
➢ Recognition = more political power
Resistance through the propaganda
movement
➢ Ilustrados
➢ The ilustrados took advantage of the economic opportunity
➢ Create the sense of being a filipino
➢ Recognition of the Philippine as a province of Spanish empire
The Philippine Revolution of 1896
➢ The writings of ilustrados ,provided the guiding light for the
Kataastaasan, Kagalanggalang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan.
➢ KKK – An underground organization led by members of
semiproletarian class
➢ Execution of Rizal helped ignite the Katipunan
The Socialist/ Communist Movements
during the American Period
➢ Spain sold the Philippines to US under the Treaty of Paris (1898)
➢ American rule worsened the existing socioeconomic inequalities in
the Philippine Society.
➢ US failed to enforce an effective land reform program
1. Americans inherited the problem of the friar lands
➢ US bought friar estates using the money raised from the sale of
Philippine government bonds.
➢ The land was supposed to be sold on landless peasantry but it went
to the caciques
2. Their interest lay “in promoting the rapid growth of agricultural
exports”
➢ American advocacy for land reform only referred to areas planted to
rice and corn.
➢Americans did not advocate for coconut and sugar lands because
these products were important exports
3. The US was politically dependent on the land-based Filipino elite to
implement American interest in the country
➢ The landowner also benefited from the free trade relations instituted
by the US government
➢ Educational system polarized the landed class from
landless class
➢ Used English as a medium of instruction which
succeed in separating the Filipinos from their past as
well as the educated filipino in the masses
➢Failed to address the popular economic grievances
caused resistance to the American rule which is also
against the Filipino elites who benefitted from
American colonial rule
Socialism in the Framework for Resistance
➢ Popular resistance was framed differently
➢ Inspired by the emergence of socialism movements in Europe
➢ Pedro Abad Santos
➢ They attempted to assert their influence through electoral system
➢ The socialist party’s program called for the outright expropriation of
all church estates
➢ Attracts tenants and farmers
➢ 1940 Elections
Emergence of other socialist / communist
movements
➢Experience of socialist party brought about the realization that
genuine “liberal democracy” cannot be attained in a country where
majority are poor
➢This socially explosive situation provided the political opportunity for
the emergence of organizations with socialist / communist ideas
➢ Kalipunang Pambansa ng mga Magbubukid sa Pilipinas (MPKP)
➢Can be traced when agricultural workers in Central Luzon and nearby
areas formed their own unions
➢Efforts of KPMP were complemented by other trade unions
➢ Launched strikes and demonstrations because of their constant
defeat in the court each time they brought a case against the ruling
class
➢Major issue includes 50-50 crop sharing
➢ Filipino protelariat emerged because of American-sponsored colonial
development consolidated its hold over the economy, increasing
manufacturing, service and extractive industry
➢ UOD – Union obrera demcratica ( union of democratic workers) was
organized
➢ Denounced American imperialism and accused colonizers of
landlordism
➢The movements seem to have culminated in the emergence of the
PKP ( Partidong komunista ng pilipinas )
➢ The party was declared illegal by the Supreme Court of the
Philippines
➢1938 – Communist party emerged again as CPP (communist party of
the Philippines )

➢The major grievances still had to do with socioeconomic inequalities

and social injustices which stems from land tenure
The guerilla movement and resistance to
Japanese occupation
• - The strength of the socialist/communist movements, particularly in
Central Luzon, was highlighted during the outbreak of World War II
and the Japanese occupation of the country. This was dramatized in
March 1942, when "left-wing labor and peasant leaders and
intellectuals established the "People's Army to fight Japan" or the
Hukbalahap (Hukbo ng bayan Laban sa mga Hapon or Huks).
• -The Hukbalahap was initially a military force, but a civillian
counterpart, the "United Front Movement" (UFM) was soon formed
as the political arm of the Huks. The combined organization then
consisted of military, political, and "mass" sections: the military
assured the force, the political provided the propaganda, and the
"mass" supplied the men as well as food and money.
• Their political power was seen with the liberation of the country from
the Japanese occupation whereby the Huks took charge of all
government units in Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, and parts of Tarlac,
Bulacan, and Bataan. The Japanese war thus provided the political
opportunity to consolidate the socialist/communist movement
particularly in Central Luzon under the leadership of the Huks.
The Elite and American Colonial Counterface
against the Socialist/Communist Movements

• The Huks, in particular, and the socialists/communist movements, in

general, did not prove strong enough to consider the prevailing view that
Filipinos should resist the Japanese and that independence could be gained
under American tutelage.

• It did not help the Huks at all that the Americans were hostile towards
them because of their leftist and Marxist learnings.

• After the war in 1954, the US embarked on systematic arrest of Hulk

leaders.
Consolidating American and elite-domination
of the economy
• US economic dominance was reinforced in the country through the Bell
Trade Act of 1946, which established a system of preferential tariffs
between two countries.

• In 1955 the Bell Trade Act was replaced with a new treaty, the Laurel-
Langley Agreement. This agreement removed some of the more blatant
infringements on Philippine sovereignty and introduced a meticulous
reciprocity, but in fact extended the protection accorded to US capital.

• During this period, was the retention of US military bases in the country. In
return the United States provided the Philippines elite with military aid
needed to reassert its authority over the radicalized peasants of Central
Luzon.
Electoral Politics and Huk Movement
• Despite the Weakening of the Huk movement, it still provided the
resistance the government had to contend with. Because they were no
longer a strong force, the Huks concentrated on nonviolent political tactics
immediately after the war. One major venue was electoral politics.

• In July 1954, the Huks, the PKP labor arm (the Congress of Labor
Organizations), and the party's peasant union helped form a new political
party, the Democratic Alliance. The Alliance put up a score of candidates
for Congress and decided to support Sergio Osmeña for president in his
unsuccessful bid against Manuel Roxas, who was accused as a Japanese
"collaborator".
Government Strategies to address the Huk
rebellion
• Despite the Huks' absence in electoral politics the elites could not
ignore them. The elites knew that the issues raised by the Huks were
concerns that the masses could identify with, particularly the tenants
in the haciendas. The government thus embarked on a series of
strategies to address the Huk rebellion.

• One was to crush it militarily with US support

• Second was to launch an anticommunist campaign and

• -third, through agrarian reform.

• The government, however, also knew that these efforts were not enough
to totally obliterate the Huks movement or to prevent a similar movement
from reemerging. A long-range objective, therefore, was to implement a
land reform program. In this, they failed dismally.

• The failure to implement a land reform perpetuated the domination of

Philippine society by a small wealthy elite combining landholders and a few
powerful industrial and commercial entrepreneurs and their lawyers.
The Revival of Radicalism

• -It did not take too long for a radical nationalist movement to rise from the
ashes of the Huks movement demanding an end to neocolonialism and the
domination of Philippine society.

• This political dispensation gave rise to a nationalist movement whose

members were not necessarily socialist or communist. These included
members of the elites, such as Senator Claro M. Recto.

• The fight against neocolonialism was optimized by the Vietnam War in the
1960s, which was opposed by majority f American people themselves.
Thus there was the presence of an external political opportunity structure
which was seized upon by this nationalist movement.
• Such situation gave the PKP the political opportunity to reconsolidate,
taking into consideration "the upsurge of activism on both on the
student and labor fronts.

• This effort culminated in the PKP's launching of the Kabataan

Makabayan (KM - Youth for Nationalism in 1964).

• This signaled the attempt of the PKP leadership "to revive itself"
through fresh recruits from the students who had developed their
ideology underoinning their autonomy from the Party.
Philippine Social Movements
during Martial Law
Background
• Martial Law was declared via
Proclamation no. 1081, to put a
temporary stop on the ongoing student
activism.
• Marcos reasoned that he declared martial
law because of a conspiracy between the
leftists and the oligarchs to destabilize the
state.
Social Movement’s Arrest
• Marcos is determined to crush any opposition of his rule.
• The hardest hit was the mass organizations like the Communist Party
of the Philippines (CPP), known as the National Democratic
Movement.
• Anti-Marcos politicians, who have private armies that has been
dismantled by Marcos
• Military offense was launched against bourgeois politicians and their
private armies.
• Bloody methods like salvaging, hamletting, and torture were used to
gather and punish political prisoners.
MNLF – Strong resistance from the regime
• Muslim groups formed the Moro National Liberation
Front to show opposition against the Marcos Regime.
• It acted as a political and religious organization
• Even with external support from Arabic states, it did
not match the military forces of the Marcos
government.
Perpetuation of Underdevelopment
• Certain policies were pacified to some civil unrest to
match the military control implemented by Marcos
• Economic reforms had to be coupled with political and
military oppression.
Failure of the Agrarian Reform Program
Marcos’ Policy Issues Effects
• Limited to rice and corn fields,
• A small number of the
leaving other estates to the
eligible farmers were only
scope of the program
awarded with titles.
• 396,000 out of the 7 million
The Agrarian • 30% decline of wages to
farmers are only eligible to
Reform Program farmers for the last 25
become land owners
years.
• Small land lords slowed down
• Land was used to
the process of the Agrarian
cultivate export crops
Reform Program
Perpetuation of Underdevelopment

•Repression of the Labor Sector

•Emergence of Crony Capitalism
•The Debt Trap
The Democratic Struggle
• Since Martial Law did not resolve some major issues of the country,
increased repression, and curtailment, opportunity for social
movement is provided.
• CPP resolved that armed struggle was the only framework for
overthrowing the current regime, thus building up the New People’s
Army.
• The failure of the Marital Law to deliver its economic development
promises gave the CPP-NPA the opportunity of propagate the armed
struggle. Such opportunity is very attractive to the peasants.
• Peasants associations are formed such as the National Peasant Union,
Kilusang Makabukid ng Pilipinas, and more.
The Democratic Struggle
• Increased Militarization provided CPP-NPA the opportunity to have an
underground recruitment.
• Social Democrats also have a framework of resistance, but was guided
by Christian Principles.
• Some movements have their own youth arm such as the Federation
of Free Farmers (Khi Rho Movement)
The Democratic Struggle
• Indigenous People also had a resistance against the regime. A
celebrated example is the Chico Roces River Dam Project brought up
by the Kalinga Resistance, which was funded by the World Bank Loan.
• Economic exploitation and political repression was also the key issues
of some indigenous group, similar to the CPP-NPA.
The Democratic Struggle
• Indigenous People also had a resistance against the regime. A
celebrated example is the Chico Roces River Dam Project brought up
by the Kalinga Resistance, which was funded by the World Bank Loan.
• Economic exploitation and political repression was also the key issues
of some indigenous group, similar to the CPP-NPA.
Alternative framing process
• “United Front” politics posed as a strategy,
enabling CPP to take advantage of the political
opportunity presented by other emerging
groups.
• The National Democratic Front acted as the
umbrella organization for a much broader united
action against the martial law regime.
Democratic Struggle and “New Politics”
• Old disenfranchised politicians, members of the
Church hierarchy, businessmen framed within
the context of old political order.
• New Politics takes its foundations to
marginalized groups or sectors.
Democratic Struggle and Anti-Dictatorship
Movement
• Senator Jose Diokno and Senator Lorenzo
Tanada formed a group that primarily concerns
about the restoration of democracy and fall of
the dictatorship.
The Aquino Assassination and Marcos Resign
Movement
• The assassination of Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino,
Jr. on August 21, 1983 was the catalyst of a new
movement that calls for the resignation of President
Marcos
• Key players include the opposition party
organizations, former Marcos politicians, and other
defectors.
• The UNIDO (United Democratic Opposition) is the
dominant expression of the Marcos Resign Movement
Electoral Politics as an opportunity for
change
• The first instance was during the elections of the
members of the Interim Batasan Pambansa, where a
handful of opposition members won seats in the
parliament, but such results did not do much.
Succeeding elections of the parliament, even in the
1981 Presidential elections were considered
fraudulent
Electoral Politics as an opportunity for
change
• The 1986 Snap Elections is a move of Marcos to establish
his legitimacy in Malacanang.
• Traditional politicians have no problem in running for the
Snap Elections since electoral politics is their battle arena.
• Corazon Cojuanco-Aquino is the main opponent of Marcos.
• Even if Aquino won the elections, it will only stop the
repressive government, not socioeconomic structural
change, which the CPP hoped for.
 Chapter 3
Philippine Social Movements after
Martial Law
Introduction
• Social movements persisted after the end of martial law as there
remained a need to address basic issues such as poverty,
underdevelopment, socioeconomic inequalities and social injustice.

• Just as in the pre-Martial Law and Martial Law periods, social

movements during the post-Martial Law period–organizations, and
undertakings that sought to either preserve, reform, or radically
transform existing political, economic and social institutions and
processes–remained to be popular forces.
Introduction
• The difference, however, in the post-Martial Law period is that the
issues they raised were framed in the context of a period of transition
from authoritarianism to democracy.

• The challenge for the social movement was how to take advantage of
the political opportunity structures available under a new political
dispensation, taking into consideration the resources at their
disposal.
Redefining the Role of Social Movements under an
“Elite Democracy”
• An immediate challenge for the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP)
in the advent of the Aquino administration was how to frame its issue of
engagement with the popular government that has restored formal
democratic institutions in the country.

• Although the CPP viewed the Aquino government as elitist, it also realized
that going against the highly popular Aquino government would be unwise.

• The majority believed that the 1986 People Power Revolution was
authentic in the sense that it was an extraconstitutional process whereby
“the masses played the decisive role and the change of ruler opened up a
vast ‘democratic space’ for the continuing of struggles for fundamental
changes in society.
Redefining the Role of Social Movements under an
“Elite Democracy”
• Philippine redemocratization witnessed the vast expansion of many
groups aligned with the Left. The “Left” thus came to refer to a broad
and varied spectrum of factions from progressive pro-Aquino group to
the communist National Democratic Front (NDF).
• Left - relating to a person or group favoring liberal, socialist, or radical views.

• This amalgamation of leftist forces that were not part of the CPP-NPA-
NDF came to be referred to as the “independent left.”
Redefining the Role of Social Movements under an
“Elite Democracy”
• The popular democrats were generally wary of the Aquino
government and opted for “critical collaboration.” In this sense, the
popdems shared the views of the national democrats of the new
leadership as an unstable coalition of “liberals” and “fascists” and
adopted a policy of “vigilant and “principled support” of the new
government being able to politically dominate the rightists.

• The Philippine Left as a whole, however, welcomed the formation of

the Aquino “rainbow” cabinet which consisted of members from the
various ideological forces in society.
Electoral politics as the arena of struggle
• In a time of democracy, the Left once again looked at elections as a
political opportunity by which power could be attained.

• The Left participated for the first time since 1946 in the May 1987
congressional elections.

• The Alliance for New Politics (ANP) was formed as an umbrella

organization for the Partido ng Bayan (PnB), which was created by the
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan or Bayan in late August 1986
specifically for the 1987 elections.
Electoral politics as the arena of struggle
• The PnB presented itself as different from the traditional political
parties by framing its issues within nationalist and democratic politics.
It advocated the practice of “new politics,” as espoused during
Martial Law.

• In the economic sphere , the PnB framed its issues within class
politics: it called for general and comprehensive agrarian reform and
workers’ rights. These have been concerns of social movements since
pre-Martial Law days.
Electoral politics as the arena of struggle
• Unlike the traditional political parties, which draw their strength from
the political and economic elite and their ward leaders, the PnB relied
on members of the cause-oriented groups and community
organization that have brought together people on the basis of issues.
The members are generally workers, peasants, the urban poor, and
middle-class professionals.
Peace talks and national reconciliation
• The Left also viewed the Aquino government’s reconciliation program
as a political opportunity to pursue the democratization process.
After the release of a number of its leaders such as Buscayno and CPP
founder and leader Jose Ma. Sison, the NDF opened itself to a
dialogue with the Aquino government and a possible cease-fire with
the AFP and the NPA.

• On November 27, 1986, the government and the NDF representative

signed a sixty-day cease-fire with peace talks to begin on December 8,
1986.
Peace talks and national reconciliation
• The CPP was aware of the scheme of Aquino’s military strategists, i.e.,
a cease-fire would give the AFP the opportunity to regroup.

• At the same time, however, the Party also felt that it could not spurn
Aquino’s offer of reconciliation particularly since it also wanted to
take advantage of the “democratic space” in Philippine politics.

• Moreover, peace talks, the CPP believed, would help “legitimize” the
Party and provide the opportunity by which it could explain to the
Filipino people what the communist movement was all about.
Problems Confronting the Social Movements after
Martial Law
• Two years after the February 1986 uprising, the “democratic space”
which the Filipino people enjoyed began to shrink. The elite
continued to dominate politics. As the socialist group Bukluran sa
Ikauunlad ng Isip at Gawa or BISIG pointed out, although the
replacement of Marcos by Aquino was most welcome.

• Being new in the game, the Left failed to dent the 1987 electoral
process. None of the Alliance of New Politics, the popular movement
supporting the Partido ng Bayan, made it to the Senate, and only two
out of the seventy-one House candidates won.
Problems Confronting the Social Movements after
Martial Law
• Peace talks with the leftist rebels also collapsed. This is because the
Left also had to contend with a military machinery that pressured the
Aquino government to forcefully carry out an anti-insurgency
campaign.

• The AFP under Gen. Fidel Ramos had never been comfortable with
the government’s peace talks with the communists and instead
pushed for a strategic counterinsurgency plan called “Mamamayan”
(People), which combined the goals of national reconciliation with
security and development.
Problems Confronting the Social Movements after
Martial Law
• Aquino did not need much persuasion. She supported the emergence
of paramilitary formations, i.e., anti-communist vigilante groups as
well as death squads in early 1986.
• One of the more infamous ones was the Alsa Masa (Masses Arise), which
arbitrarily killed suspected communists or NPA members in 1987.

• There was also the government’s failure to implement genuine

agrarian reform. A major cause of this was the continuing elite
domination of the Philippine economy; thus powerful landlords
prevented the enactment of an agrarian reform law.
Problems Confronting the Social Movements after
Martial Law
• Although the Aquino government passed the Comprehesive Agrarian
Reform Law (CARL) or Republic Act (RA) 6657, majority of the peasant
organizations rejected this.

• In Aquino’s electoral campaign and after coming to power, she

emphasized that the redistribution of agricultural land was to be the
cornerstone of her administration’s economic policy yet she failed to
do so.
• Her failure to keep her promise could only be explained by the domination of
her cabinet, as well as Congress, by policy makers who came from the
conservative big-business class, political clans and landowning elite.
Problems Confronting the Social Movements after
Martial Law
• Although the Aquino government passed the Comprehesive Agrarian
Reform Law (CARL) or Republic Act (RA) 6657, majority of the peasant
organizations rejected this.

• In Aquino’s electoral campaign and after coming to power, she

emphasized that the redistribution of agricultural land was to be the
cornerstone of her administration’s economic policy yet she failed to
do so.
• Her failure to keep her promise could only be explained by the domination of
her cabinet, as well as Congress, by policy makers who came from the
conservative big-business class, political clans and landowning elite.
Problems Confronting the Social Movements after
Martial Law
• What sealed the doom of the peace talks was when peasants and
their urban supporters were brutally fired upon while staging a
demonstration in front of Malacanang on January 22, 1988.

• Known as the Mendiola Massacle, thirteen protesters were killed and

many more were injured. The massacre outraged members of the
cause-oriented groups, many of whom supported Aquino, and led to
a number of them resigning from their government positions.
The Debate Within the Left: What Strategies to Take
• The lack of political opportunities to make radical political and economic
inroads in the democratization and development processes led to a series
of debates within the CPP.

• The CPP’s July 1986 official publication, Ang Bayan, stated that “the
unarmed means of struggle… assume[s] greater importance, although
members were reminded that the armed struggle remains central.”

• The popular democrats, however, did not agree with this and found allies
with a faction of the Party known as the “insurrectionists” who also saw
the strategic value of united front and the shifting of the struggle from the
rural to the urban area.
Creating a broad coalition front through the legal Left
• The popular democrats argued in particular for the need to take
advantage of the current political dispensation to expand the
“democratic space” which people earned after the 1986 People
Power Revolution.

• Creating a broad coalition front based on issues was also perceived as

an easier way to gain support from the people. A popular concern, for
example an oil price hike, directly affects the masses, making it more
convenient for organizing and raising their consciousness.
Creating a broad coalition front through the legal Left
• In the Philippine popular movement, the Gramscian position allows for
what Morales defines as popular empowerment, i.e., the “transfer of
economic and socioeconomic powers complementary to or in competition
with the traditional centers.

• Spearheading this new movement were the popular forces that have
emerged during the post-Aquino assassination and had prevailed in the
advent of the new administration.

• It is within this context that social movements help promote an alternative

framework of development concerning the conduct of a set of less
conventional development practices, approaches, and lifestyles.
The decline of the CPP-NPA-NDF
• These political changed deepened the CPP debates on the role of
development work, particularly that carried by NGOs associated with
the NDF movement.

• The democratization process provided a political opportunity, i.e.,

through development work, to bring about change. This political
opportunity was further enhanced as the armed struggle became less
tenable as the main venue for attaining change because of the
gradual eradication of the CPP mass base in the mid-1980s.
The decline of the CPP-NPA-NDF
• The effectiveness of the AFP in neutralizing the NPA diminished the
power of the armed struggle. This was evident in the following
situations:
• One was the AFP’s capture of arms during its encounters with the NPA.
• Another was that after four years post-EDSA 1, the NPA was reported to have
lost about 40 percent of their territory.

• Another political opportunity structure that paved the way for other
strategies than the armed struggle during this period was that the
NPA support from its network of solidarity groups in North America
and Western Europe had been limited to propaganda and symbolic
material support.
The decline of the CPP-NPA-NDF
• Political opportunity structure outside of the armed struggle also opened
up because of the decline of the NDF. This could be attributed to the
following factors:
• First, in 1989, the Party’s united front coalition that was still struggling to consolidate
its forces had been losing ground since the 1986 People Power Revolution.
• Second, the legal movement lost prominent businessmen and professionals to the
Aquino government or had been disillusioned with the NDF.
• Third was the capture of ranking members and staff of the CPP’s United Front
Commission, which crippled urban protest in 1988.
• Fourth, the student movement, which the Party had spearheaded during the Marcos
regime, also experienced a decline.
• Fifth, bloody internal purges occurred in Mindanao and Southern Tagalog as a result
of the paranoia of “deep penetration agents”
• Sixth, the debate within the CPP on “democratic centralism,” which stresses the
supremacy of the Party, further debilitated the NDF.
The decline of the CPP-NPA-NDF
• The ultimate political opportunity that would further give impetus to
the exploration of other venues for change apart from the armed
struggle was the split in the CPP. This was announced on December
10, 1992, when a newspaper bannered the headline “CPP Split
Confirmed.”
Philippine Social Movements
after Martial Law
Development work through NGOs and POs
Development work through NGOs and POs

One of the more popular avenues for change which the social
movements pursued was development work through NGOs (Non-
government Organizations) and POs (People’s Organizations).

- NGOs/POs provided leftist activists the opportunity to continue

“serving the masses.”
- Development work through NGOs provided a venue for harnessing
what the Left perceived as the “middle forces” that fought against the
Marcos dictatorship.
Development work through NGOs and POs

- Also allowed the integration of “new politics” issues.

- A broad coalition alliance was made through NGO development work.

The situation in the Philippines was reflected throughout the Asian

region.
- Korten conceives of 4 phases that NGOs have evolve into:
• Phase 1 (Relief, rehabilitation and welfare concerns)
• Phase 2 (Community development activities)
• Phase 3 (Undertakings for sustainable development)
• Phase 4 (The establishment of genuine people’s movements)
Development work through NGOs and POs

- One of the biggest development NGOs that emerged during the

postmarital law period was the Philippine Rural Reconstruction
Movement (PRRM).

- The social democrats also resorted to the establishment of

development NGOs. Among the NGOs they set up was the Agency for
Community Education and Services or ACES.
Problems NGOs confronted
Problems NGOs confronted

- Dependence on development assistance from industrialized

countries.
- Efficacy’s (the ability to produce a desired or intended result) of
NGOs.
- Rivalries between organizations.
- Needless duplication of activities and initiatives.
- A few NGO personalities behaved like politicians and bureaucrats.
- There had been a spate of spurious NGOs that merely took advantage
of funding sources.
- NGOs’ agenda could also run in conflict with one another.
Problems NGOs confronted

Despite all these problems, NGOs play a vital role in society.

Thus the 1980s in the Philippines was viewed as the decade

development of NGOs.
Advocacy work through NGOs
Advocacy work through NGOs

- Most of the NGOs frame their engagement in socioeconomic

activities not as an end in itself but as emanating from a political
vision.
- NGOs engage in advocacy work because of the continued existence of
societal structures.
- Their advocacy work is framed on various issues like:
• Environmental protection
• Gender awareness and promotion
• Human-rights protection
• Economic reforms
Advocacy work through NGOs

- Some of these organizations like the National Citizens Movement for

Free Elections (NAMFREL) and the Volunteers Against Crime and
Corrupution (VACC) call for:
• Good governance
• Transparency in public policy making
• Accountability of public officials
Advocacy work through NGOs

- The political opportunity for advocacy work was given impetus by the
enlargement of political space not only informally, but formally.
- The framers of this constitution perceived people’s organizations as
being the enabler of people “to pursue and protect, within the
democratic framework, their legitimate and collective interests and
aspirations through peaceful and lawful means.”
- Given that role, they were supported by some constitutional
provisions such as Section 16 of Article 13 that were complemented
by other legal instruments.
Other areas of social movements’
engagement of the state
Other areas of social movements’ engagement of
the state
- The other areas whereby social movements have exploited political
opportunity structures by which to engage the state are the following:
• Electoral Politics
- pursued since 1986
- given impetus by the party-list system as embodied in the 1987 Constitution.

• Acceptance of government positions in the Cabinet

- Demonstrated by Horacio Morales and Rigoberto Tiglao
Other areas of social movements’ engagement of
the state
• Extraconstitutional means
- Seen in the 1992 demonstrations against Ramos administration’s call for charter change.
- Also seen in the ouster of President Estrada in People Power 2.
- The resignation of President Arroyo.

• Emerging trends in Information and Communication Technology

- The Internet
- Mobile phone