THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND POLITICS

 “I believe you [Catholic Church] would be my very able partner…”

(VP Robredo)

Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) published online a catechism on the Church and Politics to provide in an easy question-and-answer format some of the more important church teachings relevant to our political situation today and signed by its President, the late Oscar V. Cruz, D.D., Archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan. Excerpted below is one crucial issue:

Catechism Question:

Is there any case when the Bishops can authoritatively order the lay faithful to vote for one particular and concrete option?

CBCP Answer:

Yes, there is, and the case would certainly be extraordinary. This happens when a political option is clearly the only one demanded by the Gospel. An example is when a presidential candidate is clearly bent to destroy the Church and its mission of salvation and has all the resources to win while hiding his malevolent intentions behind political promises. In this case, the Church may authoritatively demand the faithful, even under pain of sin, to vote against this particular candidate.  But such situations are understandably very rare.

My question: Was the 1986 EDSA Revolution fit into such an “extraordinary case” and “very rare situation”?

During that momentous event, what happened then may shed some light based on the following three spiritual phenomena as excerpted from the book “Kingdoms in Conflict: An Insider’s Challenging View of Politics, Power, And The Pulpit” by Charles Colson.

1. NINOY AQUINO’S CHRISTIAN CONVERSION AND SELF-SACRIFICE

“It was 1972. Moments before, the door had crashed shut on [Aquino] with metallic finality…With [Marcos Sr.] two-term limit as president due to expire in 1973, [he] had declared martial law, granting himself almost unlimited powers. He had thrown Aquino and other political opponents into prison. Marcos intended never to leave office – and so was determined never to let a popular Aquino challenge him… [Aquino] lost forty pounds. He suffered two heart attacks. When he was not longing for revenge, he wanted to die.

“His mother, deeply concerned, sent him a book. The memoirs of another prisoner. It was my story – Born Again… One night Aquino knelt in his jail cell and gave his life to Jesus Christ. Overcome with grief for his anger toward God, he begged forgiveness. His viewpoints, his life, most of all his bitterness – all changed. He had a sense that his life had suddenly moved into a different channel with another purpose.

“’You’re Mr. Colson,’ he exclaimed. ‘I must talk with you.’ Since we were blocking the aisle I offered him the empty seat next to mine. ‘I can’t believe I am meeting you,’ he said. ‘I wanted to die in prison until I read your book.’ I know when we had completed our flight, I had another Christian brother.

“After eight years in prison, Aquino had been released by Marcos under then-President Carter’s prodding... he needed triple-bypass surgery. Marcos would not let him return to his own country.

“Shortly before leaving [to return home in the Philippines], Aquino testified at a [US] congressional subcommittee:

“‘It is true, one can fight hatred with a greater hatred, but… it is more effective to fight hatred with greater Christian love… I have decided to pursue my freedom struggle through the path of nonviolence… Only I will suffer solitary confinement once again, and possibly death… But by taking the road of revolution, how many lives, other than mine, will have to be sacrificed?’”

Ninoy could have just stayed comfortably in the US, had he not converted – the phenomenon which kindled the EDSA revolution in the spiritual realm.

2. CARDINAL SIN’S “CROSSING THE LINE”

Cardinal Sin’s Meeting with Marcos.

Sin (S): The reason I have come is this, Mr. President. Your term of office is due to end next year. Why are you calling for a snap election?

Marcos (M): I want to have a fresh mandate from the people.

S: It is very dangerous for you to call a snap election. You may lose. You will be forced to step down.

M: You think that you understand politics, which they never taught you in seminary. So you interfere. When you should support your government in its struggle against Communists, you instead disturb the peace by criticizing. But you do not understand the way things are done. I cannot lose an election to an opposition that is hopelessly divided. They will tear each other to pieces.

S: Sir, I will unite the opposition in order that there may be a fair election. Goodbye. And may the Lord come down to protect our people.”

Cardinal Sin’s Meeting with Cory Aquino.

Sin (S): Why are you here?

Cory (C): I have decided to run.

S: Cory, under what political party? Who will be your running mate?

C: I will run alone.

S: Don’t do that. You cannot organize a political party now. There is too little time. You run under UNIDO, with Laurel as your vice-president. Will you do that?

C: But Laurel is planning to run himself.

S: I will get him to agree if you accept him first.

C: Yes, yes, I will run with him.

S: God bless you. Out of your weakness, this great man [Marcos Sr.] will come down. He has been insulting you, saying that women are only good for the bedroom. So you will win. I bless you and you will win.”

3. 1986 EDSA REVOLUTION’S MIRACLE

PLOT: Ouster of Marcos & his martial law dictatorship

THEME: Restoration of democracy

CHARACTERS: Pro-Cory opposition, Marcos regime, Rebels (Ramos & Enrile), the US, and over 2 million Filipinos on EDSA

SUSPENSE:

1. Ramos to join Enrile’s breakaway only if Cory installed as President with Sin & peoples’ support

2. US marines stationed in PH to be fielded if violence breaks out “to prevent a slaughter.”

3. The US worried about disaffected Ver’s military loyalists to preempt Marcos’ stepping down with desperate measure.

CONFLICTS:

1. Cory didn’t trust Enrile; thru his wife he asked Sin for support

2. Opposition didn’t trust the military.

3. The US was still vexed by Shah’s overthrow turning Iran from an Imperial state to Khomeini’s Islamic republic.

4. Marcos exile in Hawaii or Paoay-Ilocos? US officials worried Marcos to become a symbol in Paoay of military loyalists that may lead to civil war.

5. Cory oath-taking in Camp Crame or Club Filipino? Such was the early sign of military disunity that would stir up a lot of coups d’etat later during Cory’s presidency.

CLIMAX:

(Excerpted from the book “Impossible Dream: The Marcoses, The Aquinos, and the Unfinished Revolution” by Sandra Burton)

“Screenwriter Amado Lacuesta, who was among the people blocking the tanks, later recounted: ‘Panic sweeps over us all. Unthinking, I drop to my knees. Looking up I see only the general [Commander Tadiar] and his marines, disciplined, hard-eyed.’ As the armored vehicles lurched forward, Lacuesta described his emotions:

“‘I shout and raise my hands, daring them: ‘Go on, kill us!’ I am only dimly aware of angry booing and hissing, from the thousands on the streets, walls, and buses, of camera clicking, motor-winders whirring furiously. The metal mountain jerks forward. Defiant, nervous shouts all around. The praying voices rise another key. “’I wonder what it is like to be crushed under tons of metals. Then the engine stops. There is an astounding split second of silence. The crowd erupts into wild cheers and applause.’”

Marcos fled. It’s over.

Three years later, one million democracy-seeking and peace-loving youth occupied Tiananmen Square in 1989 and made a grave attempt to use people power versus the Chinese authoritarian government. Sadly, what had happened in EDSA didn’t happen. People’s Liberation Army massacred their own – the bloodiest crackdown in modern political history. While the world took its hat off to EDSA revolution, the Tiananmen massacre sent waves of shock across the globe.

The juxtaposition of the two monumental events above has unveiled the sum and substance of why EDSA revolution – a bittersweet story of a bunch of fiery characters and volatile plots sitting on a powder keg -- was a miracle: bloodless it was.

PROVOKING QUESTIONS FOR THE CATHOLIC CHURCH:

What if Cardinal Sin was not around then?

What if it’s no longer the same bloodless revolution the next time around?

           What can the Catholic Church do today to forestall such kind of revolution?