’81 visit sowed seeds of RP revolt

In the Philippines, a conservative Roman Catholic nation of 84 million people, Pope John Paul II holds a special place in the hearts of most Filipinos.

Although he only visited the country twice, he had a deep affection for the country and its people, especially the poor.

Unlike in other Catholic nations today, the Church still holds considerable sway over the lives of the country’s estimated 65 million Catholics.

The Pope’s first visit to the Philippines was in 1981 during the dark years of Ferdinand Marcos’ dictatorship.

The second was in 1995 some nine years after democracy had been restored and Marcos sent fleeing into exile in the wake of the Church-led people power revolt.

Although the Vatican did not officially sanction the Church’s involvement in the political events of 1985-1986, which would see the wife of assassinated opposition leader Benigno Aquino Jr. succeed Marcos, its silence said it all.

On each visit, millions greeted the Pope in this Southeast Asian bastion of Roman Catholicism, which was introduced to the Philippines by Spanish colonialists in the 16th century.

It was the Pope’s first trip, many say, that set the Church’s agenda in the Philippines.

And he used an elaborate dinner hosted by Marcos and his flamboyant wife Imelda at the presidential palace in Manila to state the Church’s case.

Father James Reuter, head of the Church’s media bureau, said the Pope never openly criticized the Marcos administration but he always spoke of "justice and freedom and inevitably, all of those listening felt he was condemning Marcos."

In his speech, which was televised around the country, the Pope said: "Even in exceptional situations, one can never justify any violation of the fundamental dignity of the human person or of the basic rights that safeguard this dignity."

The state, he also said, could never justify subverting human rights in the name of its own security or survival.

He called on the country’s leaders to introduce reforms that would "allow ordinary Filipino men, women and children to live in dignity... especially the poor."

American journalist Robin Wright, who covered the Papal tour, later described the speech as a "ringing and humiliating rebuke" of Marcos’ dictatorship.

"During Marcos’ 21-year rule, no other visiting chief-of-state, before or after the pope, was ever so publicly candid," Wright said.

"The pontiff then reinforced the message in meetings with small farmers and sugar cane plantation workers, university students, professionals and slum-dwellers, in masses, and even to lepers," saying the Church would take up the cause of the poor.

Wright added: "The Pope’s visit altered the political environment; the Philippines leadership was publicly held to account. The tone, as well as the content of the six-day trip, helped to lay the foundation for Marcos’ demise five years later."

The 1981 tour came less than a month after Marcos supposedly lifted martial law but retained virtual one-man control over the country.

During those nine years of military rule, priests, nuns and lay community workers throughout the country had been arrested, tortured and even executed without trial on suspicion of being anti-Marcos.

Father Ireneo Gordoncillo, then the diocesan social action director in Bacolod, the capital of the country’s once rich sugar province of Negros, said recently that the pope’s visit restored hope during "turbulent" years for the local Church.

"At the time of the visit, priests were being pushed to believe that armed revolution was the only means to liberate people from the oppression they suffered under the military and their landlords," he said.

The priest said the Pope’s message "gave strength to the Church here in Negros to continue its work among the poor, in defense of human rights and other justice and peace work."

That first trip many say laid the foundation for the so-called People’s Power Revolution led by Rome’s point man in Manila Cardinal Jamie Sin.

As one priest, who asked not to be named, told AFP, "If one were to look at when the seeds of people power were sown it was back during that 1981 trip.

Even after democracy was restored to the Philippines, the Pope never lost interest in the country, its people or its politics.

Last year, on the eve of the May 10 presidential elections, the Pope told Ambassador to the Vatican Leonida Vera that "building a society based on human dignity can only be achieved when those in authority espouse the principles of right governance and honesty in their personal and public lives and offer unconditional service to their fellow citizens for their common good." — AFP