EDITORIAL - Power of the people

Apart from being the culmination of the African-American journey toward equal rights, the swearing-in of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States was striking in its orderliness and civility. Obama opened his inaugural speech by thanking his predecessor, who witnessed the ceremonies together with the other former American presidents. Though Obama subsequently launched into what could be considered an indictment of his predeces-sor’s administration, George W. Bush sat through the ceremony serenely, and later shook the hand of his successor.

As the chief organizer of the inaugural pointed out, the regularity of the handover of power was one of the great strengths of the United States. The certainty of presidential elections every four years allowed Americans to renew themselves and their nation, as they have just did in sending a black man to their highest office for the first time. The world had grown weary of George W. Bush, but so had Americans. And they used the power of the ballot, not the bullet, to express their desire for change. In a democracy, that is the highest manifestation of the power of the people.

In many other countries, regime change is rarely easy. Too many individuals suffer from the messianic belief that they are destined to lead and that power, once won, must not be relinquished — or at least not given up easily. Too many leaders refuse to believe that power is fleeting. In many countries, power is relinquished only at gunpoint or with great violence.

Filipinos used to enjoy a similar regularity in leadership change. Ferdinand Marcos destroyed that democratic system, and the nation has not managed to fully recover. Since democracy was restored in 1986, there was only one president — Corazon Aquino — who relinquished power as mandated by the Constitution, with grace and without any attempt to extend her stay in power.

Today allies of the administration have openly launched the latest attempt to amend the Constitution and allow incumbent officials from President Arroyo down to local executives to extend their terms beyond 2010. Watching the peaceful transfer of power in Washington, Filipinos could only sigh with envy.