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Philippines: Trauma of a Failed Presidency

2001; Institute of Southeast Asian Studies; Volume: 2001; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1355/seaa01p

0377-5437

Alexander R. Magno,

Asian Studies and History

The year 2000 ended violendy in the Philippines, signalling a period of turbulence that puts the country's democratic institutions to the severest test. On 30 December, as Filipinos prepared to celebrate the start of a new year, five powerful bombs ripped through the Manila area. The bombs were set off on a crowded commuter train, a packed bus, near a hotel in the business district, a public park across from the American embassy, and in a restricted area close to the fuel depot of the airport. The bomb attacks, still unsolved at the time of writing, killed twenty-two and injured over a hundred. The sophistication of the explosives, the methodical execution of the terrorist operation, and the timing of the attacks raised many questions among a stunned public. The police went through the usual suspects: the armed communist factions, the Islamic separatist movements, and the military groups responsible for the coup attempts of the late eighties. Somehow, none of the usual suspects were acceptable explanations for the senseless bombing. The bombings, after all, occurred during a period of high political tension. President Joseph Estrada has become the first Asian chief executive to be formally impeached. On the last day of trial before the holiday break, a senior bank executive gave explosive testimony before the Senate sitting as an impeachment trial court. Clarissa Ocampo, senior vice-president of one of the Philippines' largest banks, told the court that Estrada, under a false identity, was the true owner of several bank accounts holding hundred of millions of pesos. Recalling the incidents of 1972, when Ferdinand Marcos ordered bombing attacks on the metropolis to justify his imposition of martial rule, many Filipinos feared that the 30 December bombings were a prelude to an adventurous scheme to retain Estrada in power in the face of mounting evidence of misdeed. The year ended with even more pessimism than it began. The bomb blasts and the explosive evidence being introduced in the Senate were not the only pieces of bad news troubling a confused population. The Finance Secretary announced at year-end that the national budget deficit could