The Corazon Aquino "Miracle" and the Philippine Churches

Abstract

Concomitant with Corazon Aquino's elevation to the presidency of the Philippines has been a rise in the power and prestige of the Philippine Roman Catholic church and, to a lesser extent, of the Philippine Protestant churches affiliated with the National Council of Churches of the Philippines (NCCP). The heightened power and prestige of the Philippine churches over the past year and a half are a direct consequence of the role played by church leaders and institutions in bringing to an end the 20-year rule of Ferdinand E. Marcos in February 1986, and of the continued support Aquino as the president receives from these same leaders and institutions. The churches have also benefited from the fact that Aquino, a deeply religious Roman Catholic, is herself a religious symbol who engenders respect and sympathy for her courage in standing up to the Marcos regime after the 1983 assassination of her husband, former Senator Benigno Aquino, Jr., while he was in the custody of the military, and who frequently makes religious references in her public and private appearances. Ironically, the increased power and prestige of the Philippine Roman Catholic church comes at a time when the Vatican is cautioning against church involvement in politics, yet is supporting a variety of social justice programs as part of its preferential option for the poor. To provide some understanding of how these two seemingly incompatible objectives are interpreted by Philippine church leaders in a context of close cooperation between the Philippine churches-especially the Roman Catholic