Spiritual Power Applied

I talked last week with a young Filipina who had spent seven years underground with the Communist Party. Intensely proud that her people have at last freed themselves from the Marcos regime by their own efforts and in their own way, she wept as she spoke of her husband and companions who, years ago, died in combat for the party.

She now faults the communists for failing to realize and respect the spiritual power that resides in the people, a power that enabled them to stop tanks in their tracks, to face marines with fixed bayonets, to hold their ground in the face of impending air and artillery bombardments, to spend sleepless nights at the barricades preventing with their bodies a bloody confrontation between brother Filipinos.

Behind this was something the Communist Party could never have anticipated, namely, the bond of solidarity that links the people with the soldiers on both sides. Last Sunday evening, for example, when the tanks blocked by masses of people began to withdraw for the night, I heard friendly applause and cheery shouts of “good night, see you in the morning” from the crowd. And later we learned that the officers commanding the tanks had quietly sent word to the leaders of the people, saying, “Please stay where you are. Because, if you go away, we shall have to obey orders and attack the rebel camp, which we don’t want to do.”

Key factors behind this unique revolution were the Catholic Church and the reform movement of the military. The church supported the policy of active nonviolence and the National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel); on election day the “Namfrel Marines,” made up of many hundreds of priests, seminarians and sisters in religious dress, had covered the most sensitive and dangerous precincts in an effort to minimize election violence and cheating. When their best efforts were to no avail, an unprecedented statement of the Bishops Conference--pointing to the failure of the election, stating that it could provide no basis for a legitimate mandate, but insisting once again on a nonviolent approach--set the stage for what followed. And in what did follow, the church people were the “front liners” in moments of danger while Masses celebrated at the barricades and rosaries recited before the tanks were a source of unity, courage and calm good spirits.

At the same time, military officers of the reform movement had been approaching other officers on a personal basis, discussing the role and responsibilities of the military vis-a-vis the people and the society. Prayer rallies and reflection sessions were organized among the troops and the younger officers; a conviction emerged that they would never obey orders to fire on the people.

The current moment is one worth savoring, for a nation that had almost lost confidence in itself. Yet the Philippines is by no means out of the woods. The gap between the wealthy and the middle-classes on the one hand, and the masses of the poor on the other, remains. The underground left and its allies, with their organized following among the urban and rural poor, remained on the sidelines during the election, in the expectation that an opposition defeat and disillusionment would strengthen their appeal. In the struggle of last weekend, men claiming to belong to the communist-led New People’s Army appeared at one barricade and attempted without success to sway people toward violence.

As it turned out, the leftists miscalculated badly and the current national euphoria is a setback for them. But they are maneuvering for position, in hope perhaps of riding to power on a future wave of disappointment when it becomes clear that President Corazon Aquino cannot solve problems overnight.

The new president will soon find herself in a race with the left for the support of the rural and urban poor. If she can win and maintain their support through a credible reorientation of government priorities in their favor, the road ahead will be difficult but fairly open; the appeal of the communists will be greatly reduced, and there may well be many defections among members of the New People’s Army. If she cannot achieve such a reorientation of priorities, and if the economic “scorched earth” left behind by the Marcos regime cannot generate a visible improvement in living standards for the poor, the victory just achieved may turn out to be only the first phase of a classic two-phased revolution.

The question then is whether the solidarity of Filipinos in a common cause--their willingness to risk and sacrifice--manifested this past week can be maintained. And whether the church, which provided a large part of both the ideological (in a sense of values, ideals and symbols) and structural underpinning for recent events, will be able to provide the same in the critical months ahead--an ideology of fairly radical reforms and an organizational structure capable of reaching the urban and rural masses. Some of the more socially active bishops who were the main architects of the post-election statements will be meeting again shortly; this challenge will be on their agenda.