University of Hawai'i at Manoa

CPS Filipino Centennial Lecture Series

Filipinos Writing a Constitution: Nationalist Commissioners, American Spies and the Anti-Bases Movement in Post-Marcos Philippines

Vincent K. Pollard, Ph.D.

About the Lecture

About the Lecture: Contrary to a mistaken belief, the eruption of the Mount Pinatubo volcano on 12 June 1991 did not terminate negotiations on the Philippines-U.S. Military Bases Agreement. Instead, President Corazon Aquino and her negotiating panel were already ensnared in an elaborate two-edged trap set by Aquino’s own Constitutional Commission during June-October 1986. During the first year of her presidency, Aquino was nagged by challenges to her legitimacy. Secret cablegrams in 1986 also reveal intelligence failures by U.S. Embassy "Political Section" staff. Meanwhile, imaginative tactical leadership by "Nationalist Bloc" Commissioners and allied anti-bases NGOs linked to the contentious "parliament of the streets" facilitated acceptance of strategic compromises by the President and her supporters. The lecture is based on Pollard's Globalization, Democratization and Asian Leadership: Power Sharing, Foreign Policy and Society in the Philippines and Japan .

[Vincent Pollard is a student of social movements in Asia and elsewhere. He teaches Asian Studies and Political Science courses in the UH System. As a Fulbright Scholar, he interviewed government practitioners and Filipino activists of all political colors, including former President Aquino, Alejandro Melchor, Jr., and Satur Ocampo. Pollard also edits three Web libraries, including the Chinese Cultures Abroad WWW VL.]

[More about Dr. Pollard is found in this site: http://www2.hawaii.edu/~pollard/]

Date and Venue: April 28, 2006,12:00 – 1:30 pm, Friday, Center for Korean Studies Auditorium. Free and open to the public

[ Close window to return to previous page ]