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Philippines Church-State Relations
During the Spanish colonial period, the Catholic Church was
extensively involved in colonial administration, especially in
rural areas
(see The Friarocracy
, ch. 1). With the advent of
United States control, the Catholic Church relinquished its great
estates. Church and state officially were separated, although the
church, counting more than 80 percent of the population as
members, continued to have influence when it wanted to exert it.
For much of the Marcos administration, the official church, led
by archbishop of Manila, Cardinal Jaime Sin, adopted a stance of
"critical collaboration." This meant that although Sin did not
flatly condemn Marcos, he reserved the right to criticize. Below
the cardinal, the church was split between conservative and
progressive elements, and some priests joined the communistdominated National Democratic Front through a group named
Christians for National Liberation
(see Church and State
, ch. 2).
Cardinal Sin was instrumental in the downfall of Marcos. He
brokered the critical, if temporary, reconciliation between
Aquino and Laurel and warned the Marcoses that vote fraud was
"unforgivable." In radio broadcasts, he urged Manileños to come
into the streets to help the forces led by Enrile and Ramos when
they mutinied in February 1986. The church, therefore, could
legitimately claim to be part of the revolutionary coalition.
Aquino is a deeply religious woman who has opened cabinet
meetings with prayers and sought spiritual guidance in troubled
times. Although there were reports that the Vatican in late 1986
had instructed Cardinal Sin to reduce his involvement in
politics, Aquino continued to depend on him. The Catholic Bishops
Conference of the Philippines issued a pastoral letter urging
people to vote yes in the 1987 constitutional plebiscite. In
March 1987, Sin announced that he was bowing out of politics, but
two months later he broadcast his support for ten Aquino-backed
candidates for the Senate and recommended that voters shun
candidates of the left. In 1990 Sin defined his attitude toward
the government as one of "critical solidarity."
The church was very pleased with provisions of the 1987
Constitution that ban abortion and restore a limited role for
religion in public education. The Constitution is essentially
silent on the matter of family planning. The church used its very
substantial influence to hinder government family-planning
programs. Despite the fact that the population grew by 100,000
people per month in the late 1980s, Cardinal Sin believed that
the Marcos government had gone too far in promoting
contraception. He urged Aquino to "repeal, or at least revise"
government family-planning programs. In August 1988, the bishops
conference denounced contraception as "dehumanizing and ethically
objectionable." For churchmen, this was an issue not to be taken
lightly. One bishop called for the church to "protect our people
from the contraceptive onslaught" and the bishops conference
labelled rapid population growth a "nonproblem." In 1989 the
United States Department of Commerce projected the Philippine
population at 130 million by the year 2020--in a country the size
of California
(see Population Control
, ch. 2).
Data as of June 1991
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