A Course for Aquino

What kind of government does the Philippines have? A popular one, certainly, but also one whose legal status remains troublingly equivocal. For while Corazon Aquino undoubtedly won the votes of a majority of Filipinos in her contest for president against Ferdinand E. Marcos, that outcome has never been legally affirmed by an official count or ratified by the Marcos-dominated National Assembly. This hasn’t prevented a lot of governments, led by the United States, from giving de facto recognition to the Aquino administration. But it does point up the need for early steps to legitimize the new regime.

Aquino will probably formally proclaim a revolutionary government soon, perhaps as early as next week. That would allow her to act without reference to the political agencies and processes that stem from Marcos’ 1973 martial-law constitution. The proclamation of a revolutionary government would be accompanied by the promulgation of a provisional constitution, which would be in effect until a successor constitution could be drafted and submitted to a plebiscite. That process shouldn’t take more than six months.

In the meantime Aquino could proceed with the replacement of Marcos loyalists throughout the government. She has already obtained the resignations of most judges, and has replaced a number of mayors and other local officials. This has not been accomplished without political rancor. Aquino’s vice president, Salvador Laurel, is unhappy that his followers have not received more senior positions in the national government or at the local level. Laurel has made noises about breaking up his coalition with Aquino. Aquino’s response is that her only political debt is to the people who voted for her and later took to the streets to help force Marcos from power.

Aquino seems sincerely committed to restoring democracy and full civil rights. To achieve that she must get rid of the vestiges of Marcosism, and that makes a revolutionary government necessary. The trouble is that revolutionary governments have a way of lingering on well past their time of need. Throughout most of the Marcos years the political opposition was denied an effective share of power and the patronage that goes with it. The “outs” who have now become the “ins” may well feel that it is only fair to do to their enemies what Marcos did to them. If that sentiment becomes controlling, real democracy in the Philippines won’t have been achieved.

Six months is a reasonable time to prepare and get a new democratic constitution approved and to hold new local elections. It is a timetable that the Aquino government would be wise to hold to.