Under Philippine democracy, most of the population is not represented. The politicians are lawyers or wealthy businessmen or landowners. In the elections, PnB was outspent by the traditional conservative parties by a ratio of up to 20 to 1. Its supporters were subjected to intimidation and threats of loss of jobs, housing, and city licenses. The military presence also served to inhibit PnB campaigning.
Agrarian reform is barely a joke.
This is so because democracy took a life of its own, expressing itself in peasant revolts and popular demand for reforms. It is just this substantive democracy that the United States and its allies are dedicated to repress and contain. Meanwhile, Survival International reports that tribal peoples in the Philippines are being attacked by the private army of a logging company, which, in a six-month campaign of terror, has killed and tortured villagers, burned down houses, destroyed rice stores, and driven thousands from their homes. They are also among the many victims of bombing of villages and other practices of the government counterinsurgency campaigns. Appeals to the Aquino government have been ignored.