ABSTRACT
This chapter looks comparatively at two rural districts where New Politics candidates ran for seats in the national legislature during the 1987 elections, the first held after Marcos’s fall and departure from the Philippines. Close examination of the political dynamics around the 1987 election in both districts shows that local democratic groups in North Cotabato’s second district were united electorally behind the PnB’s “new politics” candidate, while those in Sorsogon’s second district were clearly not. A positive vote of confidence would of course satisfy the Aquino regime’s claim to legitimacy and, the regime would argue, promote political stability.” The combined result of the 1970s war and partitioning of Cotabato was that the new North Cotabato, controlled politically by local Marcos henchmen, became majority Christian. The limited political space for rural organizing was due indeed in part to the growing presence of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front in the province.
