Philippines 1999

The Philippines’ population in 1999 was estimated at 76.5 million people, with a growth rate of 2.3%. The economy of the Philippines was largely dependent on its agricultural sector, which accounted for around 25% of the country’s GDP. This was supplemented by the services and manufacturing industries. Foreign relations in 1999 were largely positive with the country enjoying strong ties with many Asian nations and the wider international community. Politically, the Philippines had been a constitutional democracy since 1987 when it formally adopted a democratic system. The ruling party at this time was the Lakas-CMD Party (Lakas), which had been in power since 1998. In 1999, Joseph Estrada was President and had been since 1998. See ethnicityology for Philippines in the year of 2018.

Yearbook 1999

Philippines 1999

Philippines. At the beginning of the year, new fighting erupted between government troops and the Muslim guerrilla Moro’s Islamic Front (MILF), but a ceasefire closed at the end of January.

Visit Countryaah official website to get information about the capital city of Philippines. several death sentences were executed during the year. In February, a 38-year-old man was convicted of rape on his 10-year-old stepdaughter. This was the first execution in the Philippines since 1966. President Joseph Estrada refused, despite appeals from, among others. Catholic Church, to grant him grace. This can be seen against the backdrop of the president’s pledge to toughen the rise in crime.

  • Also see Abbreviationfinder.org to see the acronym of PHL which stands for Philippines and other definitions of this 3-letter abbreviation.

Map of Philippines Manila in English

The murder of General Victor Obillo led the government to suspend negotiations with the Communist guerrilla New People’s Army (NPA). At the same time, 35 NPA members lost the immunity from prosecution they were previously granted.

The Marcos family said in February that they were willing to pay $ 150 million in damages to 10,000 people who were subjected to human rights violations under Ferdinand Marco’s rule 1965-86. However, according to a ruling in a US court in 1995, victims should have been split into two billion dollars.

In May, the Senate approved – with eighteen votes in favor and five against – a deal that would allow the country’s military forces to carry out joint defense exercises.

In August, 150,000 people gathered around the country to protest Estrada’s plans to change the constitution to open for foreign investment in a number of areas, his ties to people close to the Marcos regime, and the government’s pressure on leading media companies. Leading the protests stood former President Corazon Aquino and the Catholic Church. Also in September, 100,000 people gathered in Manila to protest the president. Nevertheless, according to opinion polls, Estrada enjoyed support among 70% of Filipinos.

The country was hit hard by typhoon Olga’s ravages in August, when at least 47 people perished and over 80,000 became homeless. The damage to the harvest was estimated at about $ 2.5 million.

1986 Marcos topples

The election was held in February 86 and was marked by extensive electoral fraud intended to prevent Corazón Aquino from winning. When this became known, she called for massive civil disobedience. Marcos’ defense minister, Juan Ponce Enrile, tried to conduct a coup that failed, however. The dictator, however, could not get hold of the coup makers. One million people had surrounded the military shelters where they had sought refuge, and when the Air Force at the same time refused to obey Marcos’ order to bomb them, Marcos chose to go into exile. Aquino subsequently took the presidential office with Enrile as defense minister. However, the contradictions were not resolved for that reason. Aquino was faced with several coup attempts, the most serious of which were in November 86 and September 87.

By a referendum in February 87, a new constitution was passed by overwhelming majority. It gave autonomy to Mindanao and Cordillera provinces, enabling ceasefire agreements with the local guerrilla movements. The new government wanted to divide the guerrilla organizations in order to concentrate on the strongest – the NPA – and it succeeded. The government also started negotiations with this one, but they broke down in 1990 following a series of attacks against popular organizations and civilian leaders.

1991 US military bases close

In June 1991, the Pinatubo volcano erupted in a violent outbreak, killing 700 people, leveling a village altogether with the earth, fleeing 300,000 and burying America’s large Clark airbase in a thick layer of ash after it was evacuated. With a flight base rendered useless by the volcanic eruption and with difficult negotiations for a renewal of the base agreements with the Philippines, the United States surprisingly decided to abandon its bases in the country. On November 26, the Clark base was formally closed. It had previously housed 6,000 North American soldiers and employed over 40,000 Filipinos – in many cases in degrading positions. The Aeta people made immediate demands to recover the base area from which they had been displaced almost 50 years earlier when it was created. But the Philippine government was planning a cleanup in the area.

In parallel, negotiations continued on the United States’ second major base in the country – the Subic naval base that housed 12,000 soldiers. After intense negotiations in October, the Philippine Senate decided that the country could not renew the base agreement under the terms the United States was willing to offer. The Clark base was demolished and transferred to a nearby island outside Philippine jurisdiction. The move could not help but worry local and international environmental movements due to the dangers of the constant movements of nuclear weapons.

Meanwhile, the felling of the country’s forests continued. By the 50s, they had covered 75% of the land area. It was reduced to 42% in 1990. The consequences of natural disasters such as the typhoon Uring that killed 8,000 people in 1991 became larger due to the lack of a forest cover.

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