The Protestant church in the Philippines' new society

Abstract

Just as in the case of the Catholic hierarchy, most Protestant church officials supported the declaration of martial law in September 1972 by President Marcos. Many Protestant bishops and pastors agreed with the President's analysis of the dire threat to the Republic posed by the Communists, the Muslim secessionists, radical students and workers, and “rightist” oligarchs, and they applauded his pronouncements on socio-economic and political reform. The noticeable lack of concern by church leaders over the loss of civil liberties and freedoms that accompanied the President's proclamation underscored the basic conservatism of both the Catholic and Protestant churches in the Philippines. Typical of the reaction of supportive Protestant officials were the statements of Bishop Estanislao Q. Abainza, General Secretary of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP), praising the “enforced discipline” of the New Society and enjoining Filipinos not to “minimize” the “positive effects” of martial law.