Return To The Philippines
Manglapus immediately returned to the Philippines upon the ouster of Marcos and the accession to the presidency of Corazon Aquino in 1986. The Aquino years provided a second lease in political life for the ageing statesman. He was elected to the Philippine Senate in 1987, but resigned before his term expired to serve once again as Secretary of Foreign Affairs for President Aquino.
His tenure as Foreign Affairs Secretary was overshadowed by a remark he made during a Senate hearing on the rape of Filipina domestics in Kuwait during the 1990 Iraqi invasion. He quipped, to general outrage, that if rape were inevitable, one should relax and enjoy it. It was on surface a flippant remark, but deeper meaning attached to it in terms of the need for the steeling of character, not the common virtue of Philippine lawmakers with lesser lights, many of whom were duplicitous participants in the rape of Philippine democracy and its economy, the drastic decline of the peso, the needless suffering inflicted on its people. Despite the subsequent political firestorm, Manglapus weathered widespread calls for his resignation.
After the election of his close associate Fidel V. Ramos as President in 1992, Manglapus lowered his political profile, while retaining powerful positions such as chairman of the Philippine National Oil Company and the Lakas-National Union of Christian Democrats (NUCD), Ramos' political party. Manglapus had established the Christian Democratic Socialist Movement in 1968, a party which eventually reorganized as the NUCD. Manglapus fostered ties with the other Christian Democratic parties in the world, such as that in Germany.
As senator and government official, he promoted land reform and battled corruption. He was also a foremost nationalist and human rights advocate. Commenting on his unsuccessful bid for the presidency, a writer wrote: "Raúl Manglapus was one of the leading Filipino intellectuals of his generation and a politician with wide appeal. It was the Philippines' misfortune that Ferdinand Marcos, equally able but lacking in principles, won the presidency rather than someone like Manglapus."
A prolific writer and political analyst, his book written during his last year of exile,"Will of the People: Exploring Original Democracy in Non-Western Societies", one of many articles, tracts and books he had already written, transcends national interests and traces the origins of democratic traditions and institutions which prove globally relevant to our times.
Read more about this topic: Raul Manglapus
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