The Philippines in 2001: High Drama, a New President, and Setting the Stage for Recovery

Abstract

Introduction The year 2001 was another year of high drama for the Philippines. In a move reminiscent of the People Power movement that toppled the regime of Ferdinand Marcos in 1986, the Philippines’s second People Power Movement sent President Joseph Estrada packing, abandoning the presidency to Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, then vice-president and one of the leaders in the move against Estrada. The transfer of power was later challenged by Estrada, causing turmoil in the ensuing months and turning the May 14 mid-term elections into a de facto referendum on the legitimacy of the Arroyo government. Estrada’s arrest in April, on the eve of the elections, sparked widespread demonstrations culminating in an assault on Malacanang Palace. It was a costly mistake that almost proved the new administration’s undoing. The May 14 elections were the most violent in the post-Marcos era. While not giving Arroyo total victory, they did give her a clear mandate and the mantle of legitimacy. The political turmoil did nothing to help an economy already suffering from past excesses and weakened global economic conditions. Reversing Estrada’s “all-out war” policy against the country’s largest Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), Arroyo set the stage for peace negotiations in the South. But other developments were disquieting. The mid-August plebiscite to expand the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) brought disappointing results. ARMM Gover-