Marcos Against The Church: Economic Development and Political Repression in the Philippines by Robert L. Youngblood

The February 1986 call of Jaime Cardinal Sin, the archbishop of Manila, for Filipinos to surround Camp Crame and Camp Aguinaldo in support of a military revolt against President Ferdinand Marcos, was the culmination of a growing dissatisfaction within the Philippine Roman Catholic and Protestant churches with the Marcos regime. Thousands responded to Sin's call, and within days President Marcos was forced into political exile in the United States.

The role of the Philippine churches, especially the Roman Catholic church, in the events that led to the termination of Marcos' twenty-year rule, dramatically underscored the depth to which church-state relations had fallen since Marcos' first term as president (1966-69). This book examines church-state conflict during the Marcos years in the context of Philippine development policy and in the context of the churches' commitment, since the Second Vatican Council ( 1962-65), to work for social justice among the poor. Marcos' dealings with the churches remained cordial until the late 1960s, but following the imposition of martial rule in September 1972, church-state relations began to deteriorate with the loss of civil liberties, increased abuses of human rights by the military, and the rise of graft, corruption, and economic mismanagement. Inevitably government policies serving the interests of the president, his relatives, close associates, and other political allies clashed with church programs aimed at assisting the poor.

The way church leaders, especially Cardinal Sin, participated in ousting Marcos and returning the Philippines to democracy was uniquely Filipino. Yet many aspects of church-state relations in the Philippines leading up to the "EDSA Revolution" (EDSA refers to Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, which runs between Camp Aguinaldo and Camp Crame) have broader application. The renewed commitment of the Philippine churches to the poor and to social justice, that is, to a more equitable distribution of goods and services, is being duplicated simultaneously by churches in other developing countries, particularly in Latin America, and is resulting in similar conflicts with secular authority. Church-state relations during the Marcos years are thus an important case study for understanding the nature of socioeconomic and political change in the Third World.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cornell University Press; First Edition (January 3, 1991)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 238 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0801423058
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0801423055
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.08 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.98 x 0.69 x 9.02 inches