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Philippines Relations with the Middle East
There are three dimensions to Philippine relations with
Middle Eastern countries: oil dependence, Muslim separatism, and
labor conditions for Filipino contract workers in Saudi Arabia
and the Persian Gulf states. The Philippines required reasonably
priced oil, and fluctuations in world oil prices caused serious
problems for the Philippines, including politically incendiary
strikes by the drivers of jeepneys, jeeps converted to carry
passengers, which were a vital from of public transport in
Manila. For this reason, the Philippine government was very
conscious of the need to maintain amicable relations with Middle
Eastern oil producers and of the effect that its treatment of the
Muslim minority could have on those relations. Furthermore,
although Moro National Liberation Force leader Nur Misuari lived
and worked in Libya and Saudi Arabia, Arab leaders were reticent
in their support for Misuari. In addition, as of January 1991,
there were an estimated 495,300 Filipinos working in the Middle
East, including 390,000 in Saudi Arabia, 2,000 in Kuwait, and 50
in Iraq. Those workers were a major source of Philippine hard
currency earnings, but their presence also made the Philippines
vulnerable to volatile changes in Middle Eastern politics.
As her administration entered its final year, Aquino could
look with some satisfaction on her great achievements of
restoring democracy and returning the Philippines to normalcy.
The political system appeared to be stabilizing, as citizens and
soldiers impatient for change pinned their hopes on national and
local elections scheduled for 1992. The great unanswered question
was whether normalcy was enough for a country with an
underperforming economy, a semifeudal social system, and a
rapidly growing population. Democracy faced one of its toughest
challenges in the Philippines.
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The single best source for understanding Philippine politics
and society is the new edition of David J. Steinberg's concise,
insightful The Philippines: A Singular and a Plural Place.
Bryan Johnson's The Four Days of Courage is a gripping
account of the February Revolution of 1986. Raymond Bonner's
controversial Waltzing With a Dictator provides a highly
detailed account of what he sees as a symbiotic relationship
between Marcos and various United States administrations.
Articles by Benjamin Muego, David Rosenberg, and Gareth Porter in
Steven Dorr and Deborah Mitchell's The Philippines in a
Changing Southeast Asia offer valuable information on the
Philippines' relationships with its Southeast Asian neighbors.
The Aquinos of Tarlac, by Filipino writer Nick Joaquin,
supplies excellent background material on President Aquino and
her family, and an article by Stanley Karnow in the New York
Times Magazine, "Cory Aquino's Downhill Slide," reports
sympathetically but disappointedly on the Aquino presidency.
Gregg R. Jones, an American who spent time in the hills with
communist rebels, reveals much about the guerrilla movement in
his Red Revolution. Two detailed reports on human rights
in the Philippines are Amnesty International's Philippines
and Asia Watch's, "The Philippines." Everyday Politics in the
Philippines, by Benedict J. Kerkvliet, gives villagers' views
of political and social life, and a detailed, probing series of
articles by John McBeth about the resurgence of provincial
dynasties is found in the Far Eastern Economic Review. An
insightful analysis of Filipino nationalism and how it is
interwoven with religious imagery is contained in three essays by
Ian Buruma published in The New York Review of Books.
For a year-to-year summary of political developments, the
best sources are the annual survey articles appearing in the
February issues of Asian Survey and in the Far Eastern
Economic Review's Asia Yearbook. (For further information
and complete citations,
see
Bibliography.)
Data as of June 1991
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