Faith and revolution in the Philippines

Forty years ago, a Filipino soldier serving under Ferdinand Marcos Sr, was ordered to attack civilians opposing the corrupt regime. After wrestling with his conscience, Gregorio ‘Gringo’ Honasan found he could not do it. Along with other soldiers who resigned from their posts, he founded the Reform for Armed Forces Movement, and they planned to storm the presidential palace and arrest the Marcoses.
But the coup was foiled when an insider leaked the plan to the government.

Honasan and his men retreated back to their headquarters, Camp Aguinaldo in the north of Manila, but they knew the Marcos’s forces were on their way to attack them. Trapped inside the camp, convinced they were going to die, they turned to prayer.
But the Archbishop of Manila, Cardinal Jaime Sin, broadcast an appeal on the Catholic radio station Radio Veritas, calling for support from the public. Hundreds arrived at the camp to form a human shield and protect the rebel soldiers. They brought guitars and sang to the Marcos military. Meanwhile nuns, among them Sister Mary Mananzan, handed out flowers.

The peaceful protest neutralised the attacking forces. The crowd grew into what's now known as the People Power Revolution, which ousted the Marcos family and restored democracy to the Philippines.

For this episode of Heart and Soul, Jay Behrouzi speaks to Gregorio Honasan, now 77 and retired from politics, and 88-year-old Sister Mary, who’s still an activist, to hear their firsthand accounts of that day, and how their faith has sustained them in the years since.

Presenter: Jay Behrouzi
Producer: Julia Paul
Production Coordinator: Mica Nepomuceno
Executive Producer: Rajeev Gupta
Editor: Chloe Walker
Archive supplied by Radio Veritas, Philippines