THE 1986 CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE CAMPAIGN

By Philip M. Lustre Jr.

On February 16, 1986, or 31 years ago, the political opposition launched what could be regarded a successful civil disobedience campaign.

Opposition presidential candidate Cory Aquino led the launching of what was billed the "Tagumpay ng Bayan," or “victory march,” where hundreds of thousands of people (police estimated the crowd at one million) filled up the Luneta Grandstand and adjacent Rizal Park to protest the move of the Batasang Pambansa to proclaim dictator Ferdinand Marcos and Arturo Tolentino, his running mate, as victors in the Feb. 7, 1986 “snap” presidential polls. 

Its launching fell on a Sunday, enabling throngs of humanity to go to Luneta to protest.

Massive vote buying, blatant cheating, mass disenfranchisement of registered voters (Namfrel chair Jose Concepcion said 3.3. million voters failed to vote), and prevalent use of violence had characterized the victory of the Marcos-Tolentino ticket. 

Even the international community deplored the tainted conduct of the snap presidential elections. Many democracies led by the United States and France questioned the purported Marcos victory in the presidential polls.

But the rubber-stamp Batasang Pambansa, dominated by members of the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) coalition, ignored all protestations and railroaded the proclamation of Marcos and Tolentino, earning the people’s wrath and triggering massive protest by the people. 

Under the 1973, which served as the constitution of the Marcos authoritarian rule, the Batasang Pambansa had the power to proclaim winners of presidential elections.

Two days before this event, or on Feb. 14, 1986, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) issued a pastoral letter, describing the election of Marcos and Tolentino as “tainted” by cheating and violence and refusing to accept them as winners.

It described Marcos’s victory as “without moral basis.”

On this day, Cory Aquino asserted that she and Salvador Laurel, her running mate, were winners in the presidential elections and launched the massive civil disobedience campaign to force Marcos to step down.

Cory Aquino urged the Filipino people to defy the Marcos dictatorial regime not through the use of violence but by a series of concerted nonviolent means similar to what Mahatma Gandhi did when he led the fight for Indian independence from British colonial rule.

Cory Aquino urged the Filipino people to refuse paying their taxes and even their electric bills (Meralco was then controlled by the group of Ambassador to the U.S. Benjamin “Cocoy” Romualdez, Imelda’s favorite brother), and to boycott crony firms – their products and services.

Cory Aquino urged the people to boycott the crony media (mainly the Daily Express, Bulletin Today, and Times Journal), crony banks (UPCB, Republic Planters Bank, Traders Royal Bank, Union Bank and Commercial Bank of Manila, and two others, all identified as owned and controlled by Marcos cronies), and crony firms like Rustans and San Miguel Corporation.

She also called for a one-day work stoppage on the day of the inauguration of the dictator as re-elected president.

The succeeding days saw the success of the Cory Aquino-led civil disobedience campaign.

The crony banks were swamped by huge withdrawals and the funds, subsequent transfers to other banks not identified with Marcos.

The crony newspapers experienced drastic drops in their circulation; newsboys stopped peddling their copies. Restaurants and hotels stopped serving SMC products, which included the world-famous San Miguel beer and soda drinks.

The civil disobedience campaign was so successful to the point that even crony firms were alarmed that had the boycott persisted for a month, they would suffer irreversible losses that could lead to insolvency and bankruptcy.

The civil disobedience campaign succeeded, making the entire country ripe for EDSA People Power Revolution six days later. It was a prelude to the main event - the EDSA People Power Revolution.

It was indeed a major antecedent for the near bloodless people’s uprising that toppled the Marcos dictatorship. Even other countries have copied the Philippine experience.