The Philippines is known globally for "people power", its non-violent method of deposing dictators and corrupt heads of state. First there was People Power 1 that ended the Marcos dictatorship in 1986. Then there was People Power 2 that toppled the corrupt regime of President Joseph Estrada. So the nation felt a surge of energy when Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, the President of the highly influential Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), even if he was speaking for himself, publicly endorsed the idea of a new kind of People Power. A key question remains, however. What are the ingredients of this new kind of People Power?

This different kind of "people power" is the "Holy Grail" in Philippine society today. Since the Garci tapes surfaced in 2005, revealing massive fraud in the 2004 presidential elections, Filipinos have been trying to remove an illegal president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) from office. But calls for People Power 3 failed after almost a year of efforts. GMA still remains in office and has tightened her control on government. And unsuccessful attempts to unseat her have resulted in widespread cynicism and apathy among Filipinos.

One key reason for the loss of steam in the call for People Power 3 was the problem of who will replace GMA once she is removed from office. Filipinos now realize that it is not just a matter of replacing one crooked politician with another. In the case of People Power 2, Estrada was replaced by GMA who now has the unholy reputation of being the most corrupt head of state the Philippines has had ever since scientific polls became a part of the nation’s political life.

So Filipinos asked: Who will replace GMA when she is ousted? Will it be Vice President Noli de Castro whom many perceive to be incompetent and under the control of special interests? Or will it be a military junta or a transitional government? Filipinos have no appetite for the above options. In the words of CBCP President Archbishop Lagdameo, ‘We went from one frying pan to a worse frying pan’. Will we fall into this mistake again?

Recently, however, after a stunning series of revelations by whistleblower Jun Lozada about the web of corruption that controls government affairs (see previous TruthForce! editorial), the possibilities for another "people power" are again surfacing. In his recent press statement, Archbishop Lagdameo described the contours of this new kind of people power.

He said that the new form of people power cannot be simply a repetition of the past. Instead what is needed is "a ‘convergence of bearers of truths’ [which convergence] could save the country." He was referring to the possible emergence of other whistleblowers like Lozada who would have developed the inner courage to tell the truth despite threats to their personal safety. In particular, Lagdameo noted that the ‘movements of some groups for a national campaign against corruption may be a sign’ of this new kind of people power. And finally he made the observation that there were signs that civil society may have already found "some answers" to this challenge.

Archbishop Lagdameo has articulated the broad strokes of this new kind of people power. First there is the individual encounter with truth. Then these individuals come together and become a "convergence of bearers of truths". They then inspire movements against corruption all over the country.

There are other aspects that need to be fleshed out in this framework for a new kind of people power. Archbishop Lagdameo acknowledged this by pinning his hope on civil society to find ‘some answers’. What could be these other aspects?

The most important aspect begins inside. To encounter the truth is already difficult enough. We are all full of motives and interests that make us turn away from the truth. But this is the easy part. Encountering truth is one thing. Becoming a bearer of truth is another. We see this clearly in the case of Jun Lozada. It took him more than a year to become a bearer of truth. And he almost ran away from the truth because it could cost him his life and put his family in danger. Thus the first step to a new kind of people power is profound inner transformation and the willingness to encounter the source of our deepest meaning and purpose in life.

The second step is for this to be a collective experience. It should also happen to other individuals. It is not just about individual power. It is also about people power, albeit of a different kind. For there to be a "convergence of truths", this profound inner and spiritual transformation must happen to other individuals. In many instances, it can happen with the individual muddling through to the truth, as in the case of Jun Lozada. It is now also possible, through new kinds of approaches and workshops, to bring about this encounter with the truth and to decide wholeheartedly to be its bearer.

When "bearers of truth" start to meet each other, then all kinds of things are possible. To be a bearer of truth is also to encounter the creative dimension of what it means to be truly human. To be creative means to be able to find the deepest and most profound solutions to the pressing challenges that face oneself or even the country as a whole.

Thus these first initial steps of individual transformation are critical to the new kind of people power. Without this courageous and creative foundation, 'people power' will lose steam. Those who have not transformed will lack vision and strategic direction. They will also experience fatigue, burn out, and lack of perseverance – all of which can be prevented when one has a true encounter with one’s authentic and creative essence, the divine spark within.

Because of the creative and individual foundation of this new kind of people power, no one can ultimately say what form this new kind of people power will take. When truly free, creative, and courageous people meet, all kinds of possibilities can emerge.

Creativity, however, is not absolute. It is creativity about something, not creativity about everything. Therefore the creative process needs to come to terms with the challenges that are the context for the emergence of creativity in the first place. Creativity, while limitless, has to be directed. It does not occur in a vacuum. Therefore, Filipino creativity has to come to grips with the prevailing structures, the network of cultural, political, and economic institutions responsible for the current crisis in Philippine society. This is the second most important aspect of the new people power.

The movements of change, triggered by the "convergence of bearers of truth", have to be found in all spheres of society – cultural, economic, and political. Corruption is endemic to all aspects of society, not just the political. So the movements against corruption will have to face and address the challenges of corruption in all of society. Corruption has to be rooted out everywhere, not just in government.

There is a further aspect to this new kind of people power. It cannot only be a movement against something, in this case, corruption. It will also have to be a movement for something. Often the movement against something fizzles out almost immediately after its success as in the case of People Power 1 and 2. People Power fragmented itself when it became necessary to transform itself into a movement for something. It is an important footnote to the history of People Power 2 that the energy to be for something received very little interest. Most of the energy was directed against something, in this case Estrada.

Taking all these into consideration and presuming the necessary inner transformation has occurred, the new people power will have to address three structural factors simultaneously.

First it will have to be a kind of people power that resists something, eg. corruption, in all spheres of society: economic, political, and cultural. Second this new kind of people power will have to be for something, especially in those societal spaces that have been freed up from corruption. For example, the nation’s creative resources will be tested to the utmost by these questions: How will GMA be removed from office? Who will replace GMA when she is removed from office? What form of governance will be put in place? What will be the concrete program of the new government?

These two structural aspects of the new people power are or can easily be understood, especially the first one. But there is still a third structural aspect, one more difficult to fathom but one that can ultimately provide the "final" solution to abuses of government power and to the re-creation of a vibrant and authentic democracy.

The third aspect of this new kind of people power will have to come to grips with a new form of balance of power. It will be about balancing the often differing agenda of those who wield cultural power, political power, and economic power – the three de facto societal forces shaping the current direction of Philippine society.

The traditional balance of power, which we all learn in school, is between the three different branches of government: the executive, the legislative and the judiciary. But our recent and arguably our past history has shown clearly that this invention from the 18th century can no longer work in the modern age. For that age presumed that individuals still heeded the call of their conscience and still considered public opinion and their reputations sacrosanct.

This no longer holds true today. Now the currency is to stay in power by all means, foul and fair. Who cares what others think as long as one remains in power. Citizen complaints become irrelevant.

Witness the arrogant abuse of power by GMA. Witness how she not only corrupted the three branches of government, she even corrupted the institutions of business and civil society, including media, some elements of the various religious confessions, academe, professional associations, and more. Under the prevailing norms and the increasing crassness of human values, the traditional balance of power no longer works.

Therefore, the third structural aspect to the new kind of people power is the creation of an autonomous cultural force outside the state, one that can neutralize abuses in both government and business as well as within its own ranks. This autonomous force, in effect, will be the new face of people power once the new government has been established. It will not die the fate of previous people power movements that simply disappeared after toppling a government. This new kind of people power will play a continuing constructive role in creating a Philippine future that all decent Filipinos have been striving towards for decades.

Indeed a new kind of people power is desperately needed today. When it is achieved, it will engage citizens from all walks of life in the difficult task of building a sustainable society. It will invent a new kind of democracy, one designed to withstand the unprecedented challenges of the 21st century.