Journeys of discovery and difference: Transnational politics and the union of democratic Filipinos

More than twenty years have passed since the overthrow of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos and First Lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos and twenty-five since the assassination of Senator Benigno Aquino Jr., the single greatest catalyst of their downfall. Much has transpired since. The Philippines has become one of the largest exporters of labor, sending men and women throughout the world as domestic help, entertainers, nurses, and seamen. In turn, they send remittances that buttress the Philippines' gross domestic product. The film star Joseph Estrada, who was among the senators who voted against the retention of U.S. military bases in the Philippines, won the presidency only to be toppled in an "EDSA II" by his vice president, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.1 Arroyo furthered efforts to invite the U.S. military back to the Philippines, this time to pursue the "war on terror" against the part-Islamic, part-rogue group the Abu Sayyaf (Go 1998; Landler 2001; Schmitt 2002; Steinberg 2000:156-167, 196-200, 201, 216). She remains unpopular, rocked by scandals and accusations of rigging the May 2004 presidential elections.