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History
The first inhabitants of the Philippines arrived
up to 300,000 years ago, probably migrating over
a land bridge from the Asian mainland. The Negrito
or Aeta arrived 25,000 years ago, but they were
driven back by several waves of immigrants from
Indonesia, followed by maritime immigrations of
Malayan people. In 1380, the Arab-taught Makdum
arrived in the Sulu archipelago and began to establish
what became a powerful Islamic sphere of influence
over the next hundred years.
Ferdinand Magellan arrived in
1521 and claimed the archipelago for Spain. Magellan
was killed by local chiefs who quite naturally
disapproved of this notion. Ruy Lopez de Villalobos
followed in 1543 and named the territory Filipinas
after Philip II of Spain. Permanent Spanish occupation
began in 1565, and by 1571 the entire country,
except for the strictly Islamic Sulu archipelago,
was under Spanish control.
A Filipino independence movement grew in the
19th century and Filipinos fought on the side
of the Americans in 1898 during the Spanish-American
War. When the Spanish were defeated, General Aguinaldo
declared the Philippines independent. The USA,
however, had other plans, and promptly purchased
the islands from the Spanish for US$20 million.
The USA eventually recognised the Filipinos' desire
for independence and Manuel L Quezon was sworn
in as President of the Philippine Commonwealth
in 1935 as part of a transitional phase pending
full independence. Japan invaded the Philippines
in 1942 brutally interrupting this process and
ruled until the USA re-invaded two years later.
The Philippines received full independence in
1946.
Ferdinand Marcos was elected president in 1965,
declared martial law in 1972 and ruled virtually
as a dictator until 1986. His regime was attacked
by both communist and Muslim guerrillas, and he
was accused of ballot-rigging and fraud. The assassination
of prominent opposition figure Benigno Aquino
in 1983 sparked massive anti-government protests.
A snap election in 1986 saw the opposition parties
rally around Aquino's widow, Cory. Both parties
claimed victory, but Aquino was widely believed
to have polled most votes. She initiated a programme
of nonviolent civil unrest which resulted in Marcos
fleeing the country.
Aquino re-established the democratic institutions
of the country, but failed to tackle economic
problems or win over the military and the powerful
Filipino elite. US strategic influence in the
country diminished following the 1991 Mt Pinatubo
eruption which destroyed the US Clark Air Base,
and after the Philippine Senate refused to ratify
the lease on the Subic Bay Naval Station. Aquino
survived seven coups in six years and was succeeded
by her Defence Minister Fidel Ramos in 1992. Ramos
attempted to revitalise the economy, attract foreign
investment, cleanse corruption and expand provision
of utilities.
The Philippines government and the Moro National
Liberation Front signed a peace accord in September
1996 ending, formally at least, the MNLF's 24-year
struggle for autonomy in Mindanao. The peace agreement
foresaw the MNLF being granted considerable autonomy
in many of island's provinces. Peace in the area
remains elusive however following the rise of
a splinter group, the militant Moro Islamic Liberation
Front (MILF), which opposes the agreement. The
government continues to conduct military operations
in MILF-held areas in Basilan and Sulu.
In 1998, Ramos was replaced as president by the
Philippines' answer to Bruce Willis, Joseph Estrada.
Estrada, a former movie star elected more because
of the popularity of his on-screen persona than
because of any political experience, promised
a lot economically and delivered it - not to the
general population, however, but into his own
pocket. He was impeached and brought to trial
in late 2000 on charges of taking bribes from
gambling syndicates, and using the proceeds to
line his own dens and to build extravagant houses
for his mistresses. When Estrada and his political
allies tried to derail the trial by blocking prosecutors'
access to his financial accounts, the people decided
they'd had enough and staged mass demonstrations
in the streets of Manilla.
Estrada finally threw in the towel on 19 January
2001 and the next day his former vice-president,
Gloria Arroyo, was sworn in as the new president
of the Philippines. In an inauguration speech
which must have sounded eerily familiar to the
people of the Philippines, Arroyo promised to
wipe out poverty and corruption; she refused to
grant Estrada on amnesty for his crimes with the
intention of letting the courts decide his fate.
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