God and Man in Manila

The opening words of the document sounded like a declaration of war: "The people have spoken. Or tried to. Despite the obstacles thrown in the way of their speaking freely, we the bishops believe what they attempted to say is clear enough. In our considered judgment, the polls were unparalleled in the fraudulence of their conduct."

After two days of agonizing, three rewritings and countless hours of prayer, the 104 Roman Catholic bishops of the Philippines last week openly accused the Marcos government of rigging the presidential election. They also suggested that Filipinos could use nonviolent civil disobedience to protest the...