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April 25, 2002

Lessons from history: what can Zimbabweans learn from the Philippine experience?
Quotes from "Kingdoms in Conflict" by Charles Colson
Submitted by Mike Davies

In 1983 Philippine opposition leader Benigno Aquino was assassinated by the Marcos government. His wife Cory replaced him as leader of a popular opposition party. "Her (electoral) campaign stood for more than a political faction; it become a festival of democracy. And it was accompanied by a great deal of prayer." But despite the people’s ‘passion for democracy’ Marcos rigged the vote. Cardinal Sin anticipated this and two weeks before issued this statement: "If a candidate wins by cheating, he can only be forgiven by God if he renounces the office he has obtained by fraud. There will be no divine forgiveness for this act of injustice without a previous decision to repay the damage done".

The population reacted in the form of non-violent civil disobedience, supported by church leaders who argued, "A government that assumes or maintains power though fraudulent means has no moral basis. If it does not of itself freely correct the evil it has inflicted on the people, then it is our serious moral obligation as a people to make it do so."

The Minister of Defence, Enrile and a general, Ramos did not support Marcos and they announced their stance over radio. Although they had a few troops they knew that they could be easily overwhelmed and expected the worst. The same evening Cardinal Sin came on the radio and told all Christians to go and support and encourage them. Within thirty minutes two million people were on the streets.

The next day Marcos’s troops began to come... In the midday heat the tanks ground noisily over the Manila streets towards the camps. Thousands of civilians crowded around, shouting, beckoning. Some of the crowd began hurriedly pushing cars and buses into a major intersection ahead of the tanks. A barricade of dozens of vehicles forced the convoy to a temporary halt.

Groups of marines armed with automatic rifles leaped out of the trucks and jogged to the front. They took up menacing positions, guns ready. The general came forward with his bullhorn and ordered the people to disperse. The huge milling crowd, composed mainly of women and children, instead moved closer. Some held out crosses; others offered flowers. Still others were praying. An old woman in a wheelchair cried out to the soldiers; kill her if they must, but not their own people.

The soldiers did not know what to do. None of the rebels threw anything at them or even insulted them. Apparently they had no fear. Could they shoot? "We are all Filipinos!" shouted one woman. "What are you doing? Don’t kill us!"

One slender brave woman pushed her way between two bewildered soldiers right up to the general. She threw her arms around him calling his name. "You have a wife and children too! Don’t do it! Don’t kill us in the name of a dictator."

The general gently pushed her away. For some time he nervously surveyed the masses of people in front of him. Finally, he ceremoniously took off his bullet-proof vest. "We don’t want to kill civilians," he told one of his aides. "Our quarrel is with Enrile and Ramos." He climbed on top of a tank and with his bullhorn told the people that the tanks would have to pass. "We will not hurt you. We have orders to enter Camp Aguinaldo."

"No, no!" people cried. Many threw themselves to their knees and began praying out aloud. The general ordered his men to start the tanks. The people prayed louder above the roaring engines. The tanks jerked forward, their treads creaking and clattering. There were high screams of horror; men held their heads, anticipating the moment when the first bodies would be crushed. But just as the lead tank reached the first kneeling bodies—many of them priests and nuns—it stopped. For just a moment where was virtual silence. Then the crowd let out a prolonged cheer.

The top of the tank opened and a helmeted, bemused soldier poked his head out, looked around at the masses of happy people, and shrugged his shoulders, as though to say, "What can we do about this?"

By Monday morning there were dozens of such tanks on the streets and around the military camps, stopped not by antitank missiles but by the bodies of praying Filipinos. Young soldiers sprawled on top of their beached vehicles eating food offered by the people who had stopped them.

On Tuesday Marcos fled the country, defeated.

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