Reflections from a Philippine-Korean Interaction
Religion, Civil Society, the EDSAs, and the Korean Experience
By Dennis A. S. Aguinaldo

I ATTENDED the Third UP-Hannam Interaction Conference held last Friday, August 16, at the Asian Center Conference Hall in the University of the Philippines-Diliman. The conference focused on contemporary Philippine and Korean affairs with experts from each side presenting papers about their respective countries.

Philippine-Korean parallelisms
The title, as Dean Armando Malay wanted, was sufficiently thought-provoking: "Turning the Page: Challenges for Divided Nations". In the paths of our histories, the wheels of our respective conflicts, and the renewed drives to face our issues and move forward, our nations indeed run parallel courses.

We are so different too, with our national communities and diverse sets of identities for our people. We have gone through so much, as Asian nation-states in a search and struggle for nationhood. While we note, with academic fastidiousness, the difference of our inheritances and futures, we cannot help but see, in this same vein, our experiential commonalities.

The Philippines and Korea both need to rid themselves of the shadows of the authoritarian regimes they have toppled. Both remain divided in many ways. Here, for example, we are violently split in culture and spirit between a Christian majority and a Muslim minority. In Korea, what the North despise as capitalists and what the South dread as communists face together the unpredictable consequences of the possibility of reunification.

In this conference, we have scholars engaged in the struggle for self-scrutiny, what may be akin in many ways to soul-searching.

Notes on Korean civil society
I was keenly interested on the second part of the program, focused on State-Civil Society Relations. Professor Byung-Gi Moon of the Department of Public Administration in Hannam University was set to discuss "State and Civil Society in Post-Dictatorship Korea." Prof. Raymund Abejo from UP's History Department had a paper prepared on the "Religious Motivations at EDSA I and EDSA II."

Prof. Moon spoke of the South Korean experience, how their civil society grew after the authoritarian rule was abolished. He also commented on the directions taken by the administration to encourage consultations with representatives of civil society. A particular focus were consensus building and discussion forums on the Internet. The peculiar possibility of political consultations on the Internet is open to South Korea. It is the fourth country in the world with the biggest percentage of the population in possession of personal computers, surpassing even England. Indeed, in terms of connectivity, South Korea is an Asian leader.

It seemed to me that there was no other scholar as fitted for the role of the discussant as Prof. Miriam Coronel Ferrer. She serves as the director of the Third World Studies Program and the leading scholar tackling the definition, organization, and movement of NGOs and POs, otherwise known as civil society.

She provided a rundown on the features of civil society in Korea, significantly, on certain differences. For example, we don't have the IT infrastructure that Korea's government has invested on. Therefore, Internet-based forums with a large participating base is a more distant possibility for us. Of course, we still have political activity on the Internet and this is markedly so especially during the impeachment trial and EDSA II events.

I think we will progress positively along these lines especially with Filipino interest keen on the harnessing of computer technology. Along with this, we have overseas kin taking advantage of every opportunity for smoother and more convenient communication lines with home-based countrymen. A good number of them are deeply interested with domestic affairs and the conduct of the Philippine government.

Religious motivations of civil society action
Prof. Abejo discussed the role of religious motivation in our two monumental civil society actions, Edsa I and II. Here he ventured to detail the similarities and differences between the two EDSAs. He pointed out, for example, that while the first EDSA had participants mainly from the middle-aged group, the second had a much younger demographic. He focused on the role of religions in pro- and anti-Erap groups, recalling personalities such as Cardinal Sin and the reprisal of his EDSA I role in EDSA II. He also traced the role of religious organizations such as Roman Catholic church and Protestant groups.

Prof. Ferrer soundly criticized the shortcomings of Prof. Abejo's paper. While she commended the effort following the perception of the importance and necessity of analyzing the role of religion, she outlined the blind spots of the paper. The speaker, for one, failed to adequately account for the historical importance of religion in Filipino culture.

There was also an incomplete account of the divisions within the participant religious organizations regarding political positioning. For example, the Roman Catholic Church was poignantly cleaved between the pro-Erap El Shaddai and the mobilization behind Cardinal Sin. There were also groups calling for practical separation of Church and State in the issue. These, among other points, were graciously accepted by Prof. Abejo for the improvement of his intellectual output.

I heartily agree on religious motivation as a focus of research. It's magnitude cannot be downplayed although any study must begin with the awareness that it was not the sole motivating factor and rallying point. The center-stage players, the politicians, knew the importance of religion all too well. The Iglesia ni Cristo is a formidable political force because of its bloc-voting feature. Also, the influence of El Shaddai has not waned, with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo recently giving an "anointment" in the group's rites. This despite Mike Velarde's previous affiliation with Joseph Estrada: the preacher was supposedly a beneficiary of the ex-President's loot.

Significantly too, political rhetoric and mobilization is intertwined with religious symbolism, anywhere from the level of innuendo to blatant proclamations. For example, the comparison of Estrada's impeachment trial with the passion of Christ grew less and less subtle as the trial reached fever-pitch. It was apparent in editorials and man-on-the-street opinions.

Applying Asian solutions to Asian problems
Apparently, more work was to be done in the respective areas of all participants. The Korean experience with civil society runs parallel with ours, with almost similar date lines. Indeed, we have much more in common with our Asian neighbors than we imagine. I think it's healthy for Filipino identity and nationhood to sometimes struggle with aggressive Western influence and peek beyond our accepted screens to view the common heritage of Asia, especially our closer neighbors.

Although we map our paths as sovereign nations, the Asian project of discerning and applying Asian solutions to Asian problems is worthy of our common pursuit. This conference is an instance of mutual intellectual stimulation along the lines of an Asian exchange, an enlightening comparison and contrast.

I look forward, most probably with every participant, to the next conference.

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