_________________________________________________________________________Swansea University E-Theses Strengthening post-authoritarian democracy, 1986-2001: The political impulses and interventions of the Philippine Catholic Church. Moreno, Antonio F How to cite: _________________________________________________________________________ Moreno, Antonio F (2003) Strengthening post-authoritarian democracy, 1986-2001: The political impulses and interventions of the Philippine Catholic Church.. thesis, Swansea University. http://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa42449 Use policy: _________________________________________________________________________ This item is brought to you by Swansea University. Any person downloading material is agreeing to abide by the terms of the repository licence: copies of full text items may be used or reproduced in any format or medium, without prior permission for personal research or study, educational or non-commercial purposes only. The copyright for any work remains with the original author unless otherwise specified. The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holder. Permission for multiple reproductions should be obtained from the original author. Authors are personally responsible for adhering to copyright and publisher restrictions when uploading content to the repository. Please link to the metadata record in the Swansea University repository, Cronfa (link given in the citation reference above.) http://www.swansea.ac.uk/library/researchsupport/ris-support/ STRENGTHENING POST-AUTHORITARIAN DEMOCRACY, 1986-2001: THE POLITICAL IMPULSES AND INTERVENTIONS OF THE PHILIPPINE CATHOLIC CHURCH Antonio F. Moreno Submitted to the University of Wales in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Development Studies School of Social Sciences and International Development University of Wales Swansea 2003 ProQuest Number: 10798157 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10798157 Published by ProQuest LLC(2018). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 ABSTRACT Theorising the relationship between the Church and democracy is at once an ancient and yet new proposition. Very recently, there has been a decline in interest in the post-authoritarian period owing to various changing endogenous and exogenous factors that have affected the Church’s political engagement in a democratic setting. While it has been suggested that the Church in many instances has politically demobilised in the post-authoritarian era, the Philippine experience continues to witness a church engaged in issues affecting democratisation. This study examines the capacity of the Church as an actor in strengthening democracy in the post-transition period using the Philippine Catholic Church experience and cases of the Diocese of Malaybalay and the Diocese of Bacolod. While both dioceses (local churches) are not typical representatives of the Philippine Catholic Church, they do provide some insights into the complexity of the Church as an actor in democratisation. Both were actively involved during the authoritarian period. But beyond that, both experienced similar and divergent political processes and yielded different outcomes. Three arguments are proposed to explain the Church’s capacity and role in democracy building. Firstly, hierarchy-laity interaction (church ad intra) creates and enhances a climate of participation as both leaders and members interact, define and pursue organisational goals. Secondly, church-civil society nexus (churchad extra ) sets new modes of positive interaction (animation, mobilisation and creative partnership) between church and civil society, widens the avenue of participation, and increases mobilisational resource in building democracy. Church ad intra and ad extra are closely connected, and they are crucial conditions for appreciating the Church’s capacity as an actor in democracy. Thirdly, engaged citizenship appears to be the single most important contribution of the church in post-authoritarian democracy building. The creation of an environmental constituency (in the Diocese of Malaybalay), and the formation of a peace movement (in the Diocese of Bacolod) made possible a new understanding and practice of citizenship. Citizenship engages both the State and society through electoral politics, interest articulation and representation, commitment to the rule of law, human rights advocacy, cultivation of a democratic culture and the promotion of good governance. Lessons from these cases have repercussions not only for other churches but also for civil society actors who profess to be protagonists in the democratic enterprise. DECLARATION This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not being concurrently submitted in candidature for any degree. Signed ................^ .y ............................................................................... (candidate) Date.................. ... 7 ^ 3 ? . STATEMENT 1 This thesis is the result of my own investigations, except where otherwise stated. Other sources are acknowledged by footnotes giving explicit references. A bibliography is appended. Signed... (candidate) Date...................... , / h y ^ r f f . STATEMENT 2 I hereby give my consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations. Signed (candidate) Date........................ TABLE OF CONTENTS Thesis Abstract ii Acronyms ix Acknowledgments xv Chapter One - Introductory remarks: Church, civil society and democracy 1 1.1 Research interest and scope 2 1.2 Clarification of concepts 7 1.2.1 The Church 8 1.2.2 Civil society 12 1.2.3 Democracy 14 1.2.4 Citizenship 16 1.3 Methodology 18 Chapter Two - Towards a theoretical framework explaining the church’s roles in democracy building 23 2.1 The Church during the period of democratic transition and church ad intra (hierarchy-laity interaction) 23 2.2 The Church’s interventions in building post-authoritarian democracy 35 2.3 Church ad extra (the Church’s involvement with civil society actors) and democracy building 43 2.4 The Church’s involvement in citizenship: a pathway to building post-authoritarian democracy 46 2.5 Possibilities and limits of the framework 54 Chapter Three - The Philippine Catholic Church under the authoritarian period: an actor in initiating democracy or acted upon by political exigencies? 57 3.1 Catholicism in the Philippines: then and now 59 3.1.1 Sources of church renewal: Papal social teaching, Vatican II interacting with historical realities 60 3.1.2 Extent of Catholicism 64 3.2 Actors within the church and their roles during the authoritarian period 65 3.2.1 Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) 66 3.2.2 National Secretariat for Social Action - Justice and Peace (NASSA) 67 3.2.3 Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines (AMRSP) 3.2.4 Mindanao-Sulu Pastoral Conference (MSPC) 69 3.2.5 Ideological cleavages within the church 70 3.2.6 Key Church leaders 73 3.3 Church roles in democratisation 74 3.3.1 De-legitimation of the National Security State (NSS) ideology 75 3.3.2 Defence and advocacy of human rights 81 3.3.3 Expanding sites of people’s participation through the Basic Christian Communities (BCCs) 85 3.3.4 Socialisation and mobilisation of the citizenry 89 3.4 Conclusion 97 Chapter Four - The Philippine Catholic church in the post-authoritarian period: returning to the sacristy or re-engaging with democracy? 104 4.1 The Church in a democratising context 105 4.2 Emerging church actors and ecclesiological cleavages 109 4.2.1 Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) and fundamentalist movements 110 4.2.2 El Shaddai, other Catholic renewal movements and Opus Dei 112 4.3 The Church’s support for the 1987 Constitution 115 4.4 Defending a fragile democracy 120 4.5 Church and elections 122 4.5.1 The 1987 congressional and local elections 123 4.5.2 The 1992 elections 124 4.5.3 The church-based electoral movements 125 4.5.4 The 1995 congressional and local elections 129 4.5.5 The 1998 elections 130 4.5.6 The electoral watchdogs: tensions and synergies 133 4.6 Shaping and promoting the peace agenda 137 4.6.1 Church’s engagement with the State and insurgency movement 138 4.6.2 The Church and the US bases, the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) 148 4.6.3 Church peace initiatives in Muslim Mindanao 150 4.7 The Church and human rights advocacy 154 4.8 The Church and charter change (cha-cha) initiatives 157 4.8.1 Ramos’ Charter change (cha-cha) 158 4.8.2 Estrada’s Constitutional Correction for Development (CONCORD) 162 4.9 The Church and People Power II 165 4.10 Concluding remarks 176 v Chapter Five - The Diocese of Malaybalay and post-authoritarian democracy building: an activist church or civil society animator? 183 5.1 General background of the Diocese of Malaybalay 184 5.2 The factors shaping the local church’s roles under the authoritarian regime 186 5.3 Church leadership