1983 Philippines

1983: Philippines

Archives consist of articles that originally appeared in Collier's Year Book (for events of 1997 and earlier) or as monthly updates in Encarta Yearbook (for events of 1998 and later). Because they were published shortly after events occurred, they reflect the information available at that time. Cross references refer to Archive articles of the same year.

Philippines President Ferdinand E. Marcos retained his hold on the government this year but came under increasing criticism as a result of the August assassination of opposition leader Benigno Aquino, Jr. Economic problems worsened, and insurgencies persisted in portions of the archipelago.

Aquino assassination.

On August 21, opposition leader Benigno Aquino, Jr., was assassinated within minutes of his arrival in Manila, after having spent three years in the United States. Aquino—who had been warned that his life was in danger and who was wearing a bulletproof vest—had returned to the Philippines on a China Airlines flight that landed shortly after 1 P.M. Although his return was expected—thousands had gathered at Manila International Airport to greet him—the actual flight had been kept secret.

As soon as his plane touched down, three military guards boarded the craft and escorted Aquino onto the runway, where they were joined by other security forces. As Aquino was being led to a security van, a man dressed in the uniform of an airline maintenance worker reportedly got past the guards and shot the opposition leader in the back of the head. The alleged assassin was immediately shot and killed by the soldiers, and Aquino was taken to a nearby military hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

A former senator, the 50-year-old Aquino had long been an outspoken foe of the Marcos government. In 1972, following the president's declaration of martial law (which remained in effect until 1981), Aquino had been jailed and convicted of murder, rape, illegal possession of firearms, and subversion; he was sentenced to death. After Aquino had served almost eight years in prison, Marcos commuted the death sentence in 1980, and Aquino was given permission to travel to the United States for heart surgery. He and his family then settled in Newton, Mass., and Aquino served as a research fellow at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. When Aquino made known his plans to return to the Philippines this year, the government refused to renew his passport, and Aquino was told he would be arrested for entering the country illegally. In addition, in May he met privately with Imelda Marcos, the president's wife, in New York City; she warned him that some of her husband's followers might try to kill him.

After the shootings, critics of the regime raised questions concerning the events of August 21. Salvador H. Laurel, leader of the opposition United Nationalist Democratic Organization and a former senator, made a speech before the National Assembly in which he asked how the alleged assassin had been able to get so close to Aquino despite the presence of guards and how the assailant had known exactly where Aquino would be brought by government security forces. Marcos himself went on television to deny rumors that he had again declared martial law and that the government was responsible for the assassination; he later suggested that Communist or other 'subversive elements' were responsible. In another television appearance, Marcos sought to dispel rumors that he had a serious kidney disorder by lifting his shirt to show that he had no surgical scars or evidence of dialysis treatment.

On August 24, the president appointed Enrique Fernando, the chief justice of the Supreme Court, to head a board of inquiry into the assassination. Aquino followers charged that only Marcos supporters were represented on the commission, and the president then invited the archbishop of Manila, Jaime Cardinal Sin, to serve. However, the cardinal—an outspoken opponent of the Marcos government — refused, stating that his religious duties were too pressing. On August 30, police authorities identified Aquino's reported assassin as Rolando Galman y Dawang, described as a known 'gun for hire' and 'notorious killer.'

Meanwhile, after the assassination, Aquino's body was brought to his family's home in the Manila suburb of Quezon City. To allow more people to view it, it was then taken to a nearby church, to the provincial capital of Tarlac (where Aquino began his political career), and finally to Manila. Hundreds of thousands of Filipinos lined the roads to watch the motorcades pass. At all sites where the body was on view, thousands more filed past the glass-covered coffin; Aquino's blood-stained clothing had not been changed, and his bruised face had not been made up to hide the bullet's marks. The funeral was held on August 31 at the Church of Santo Domingo in Quezon City, with Cardinal Sin presiding. After the mass, the funeral cortege—with Aquino's body atop a flower-bedecked platform on a flatbed truck—slowly made its way for 10½ hours to the cemetery. At least 1 million people watched the procession along its 19-mile route, despite pouring rain.

On September 21, one month after Aquino's death, violence broke out in Manila following a peaceful protest rally attended by an estimated 500,000 people. Demonstrators, most of them students, marched toward the presidential palace throwing rocks, bottles, and firebombs. They were met by security forces, who opened fire. According to police, 11 people were killed and 200 wounded. Demonstrations continued in Manila and other cities.

On September 30, Enrique Fernando resigned from the board of inquiry investigating Aquino's murder. The commission had halted its work approximately two weeks earlier when opposition groups brought lawsuits contending that members of the commission had conflicts of interest. On October 10, the other members of the commission also resigned; in a letter to Marcos, four of them called for a new panel made up of 'members acceptable to all segments of society.' Marcos appointed a new commission made up entirely of private citizens on October 22; opposition leaders continued to charge, however, that no impartial inquiry was possible as long as Marcos was president.

At the same time, Marcos pressed ahead with constitutional changes aimed at persuading opposition parties to take part in parliamentary elections scheduled for May 1984. On October 28, a coalition of 12 opposition parties announced a list of conditions for its participation in the elections; among them were that Marcos give up the power to legislate by decree, reinstate the office of vice-president (abolished in 1972), and agree to hold presidential and vice-presidential elections. In a move intended to end 'doubts about the issue of presidential succession,' on October 31, Marcos—who had repeatedly denied rumors he was in poor health—announced that if he became incapacitated, the premier, Cesar Virata, would assume his duties. Opponents criticized the move as inadequate, however. Subsequently, Marcos's ruling party decided to restore the vice-presidency and, in the interim, make the National Assembly speaker first in the line of succession.

Guerrilla movements.

The New People's Army (NPA), a Communist guerrilla group especially active in parts of the island of Mindanao, continued to oppose the Marcos government. Mindanao was also the principal area of operations of the Moro National Liberation Front, a Muslim separatist group. In April, the government reported that in a major anti-guerrilla sweep, over 400 Communist and 160 Muslim rebels had been killed.

U.S. relations.

The United States and the Philippines signed a new five-year accord on June 1, providing for continued American use of Subic Bay Naval Base and Clark Air Base. As compensation for the use of the bases, the United States pledged to give Manila $900 million in aid; the Philippines government was also given an increased say in the running of the facilities.

On October 3, the United States announced that President Ronald Reagan's visit to Manila, scheduled for November, was being indefinitely postponed as a result of a demanding legislative calendar. Visits to Indonesia and Thailand, planned as part of the same Asian trip, were also put off.

The economy.

Faced with a foreign debt of $18 billion, the Philippines government agreed to cut spending as a condition for receiving International Monetary Fund loans. In June, it was announced that plans for five major industrial projects costing $3.1 billion were being postponed. Also in June, the peso was devalued by 7.3 percent, to a rate of 11 to the U.S. dollar.

In the aftermath of the Aquino assassination, economic problems increased. Business executives joined in antigovernment protests in Manila's financial district, speculation against the peso and the flight of capital out of the country intensified, and many foreign banks became reluctant to extend further loans. On October 5, the peso was devalued by a further 21.4 percent, to 14 to the dollar. On October 14, an advisory committee representing the Philippines' foreign bank creditors agreed to a 90-day moratorium on payments of the country's foreign debts. The next month, the minimum wage was raised 20 percent. (Slightly smaller increases had already been granted in July.) It was announced that efforts were being made to reschedule the foreign debt so that major commercial bank repayments would be delayed through 1985.

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Researcher: Jen, 18