The Philippines: The Sweet, Sweet Taste of Victory

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The lines began forming shortly before 7 a.m. and grew steadily longer as the sun rose higher. The wait was an inconvenience for many who were taking time off from work or household duties to vote. Still, the turnout at some polling stations was so heavy that officials ran out of ballots before closing time. For many Filipinos there was something special about casting a ballot for their nation's proposed new constitution, a sense of return to the spirit of People Power nearly a year before. Michael O. Bautista, a retired carpenter, queued up at a schoolhouse in the city of Olongapo with a tape recorder full of Tagalog love songs. "This," he said, "is a day for happiness."

By the time it had ended, the largest electoral turnout in Philippine history had resoundingly endorsed the new constitution by a vote of more than 3 to 1. When the plebiscite results were proclaimed Saturday, they showed the document had been approved by some 16.6 million votes, with about 5.2 million opposed, for a winning margin of 76%. The outcome was a personal triumph for President Corazon Aquino, who had turned the plebiscite into a nationwide referendum on her government. "We have surprised the world again," said the President. "The tremendous vote of confidence of Feb. 2 reaffirms the now unquestionable legitimacy and democratic power of our government."

Under the charter, which goes into effect immediately after the results are certified by the national Commission on Elections, Aquino will continue serving as President until mid-1992. Because the country has been without a legislature since Aquino dissolved the National Assembly in March, elections for a new 24-member Senate and a 250-member House of Representatives have been scheduled for May. The document also contains sweeping guarantees of human rights, although it has been criticized by some legal observers for adhering too closely to Roman Catholic Church dogma. For example, the charter bans abortions outright.

Aquino's overwhelming victory was all the more remarkable because it followed several weeks of political unrest. On Jan. 22 a violent clash between soldiers and pro-land-reform demonstrators left at least a dozen dead. A week later, a tense three-day coup attempt ended when rebel soldiers surrendered. The President's margin of victory forced even her most bitter opponents to concede that it represented the popular will. "We accept the verdict of the Filipino people," said former Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile, who led the rightist opposition under the banner of the Nationalista Party. He added, "We did our share in making democracy work by taking the other side of the issue." Declared Jose Castro, a leader of the leftist Bayan Party: "We will abide with the masses' decision."

Only former President Ferdinand Marcos, who was prevented by the U.S. two weeks ago from returning to the Philippines from Hawaii during the aborted coup, refused to concede the plebiscite's finality. Aquino won the election, he charged, through "massive vote buying, cheating and tampering of returns."