Lesson plan: Political protests in the Philippines

January 18, 2001
Web posted at: 3:28 PM EST (2028 GMT)

Editor's note: If you are planning to use the news story that this lesson plan is based on for a homework assignment, please write the URL on the board and have your students copy it. CNNfyi.com updates the site in the early evening, so students may have difficulty finding it without the URL. You can find the lesson plan by going to the Subject Areas page and clicking PREVIOUS in the square for Today's Lesson Plan.

Objectives

Students will:

• Research the Philippine government, politics and culture.
• Compare and contrast the current Philippine demonstrations to the 1986 "people power" revolt.
• Analyze the 1986 movement.
• Formulate opinions about the relationship of a nation's stability to its economy.

Standards

Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning
Level 4 (grades nine-12)

Students understand how politics enable a group of people with varying opinions and/or interests to reach collective decisions, influence decisions and accomplish goals that they could not reach as individuals (e.g., managing the distribution of resources, allocating benefits and burdens, managing conflicts).

Materials

CNNfyi.com article, "Presidential crisis in the Philippines"
Encyclopedias or other reference texts
Internet access

Suggested time

One to two class periods

Procedures

1. Have students read the CNNfyi.com article "Presidential crisis in the Philippines," then answer the following:

• Why are some Filipinos demanding President Joseph Estrada's resignation? Where was the protest centered? What is the historical significance of this site? What triggered the protest?
• How has the Philippine market suffered as a result of these recent events? Why do you believe that such cases of civil unrest affect the economy?
• What caused prosecutors in the Senate impeachment hearings to resign? Do you believe their reasons are valid? What type of support does Estrada have in the Philippine House of Representatives? According to the CNNfyi.com article, what is the opinion of the majority members of the House of Representatives about the resignation of the prosecutors? What justification does House Speaker Arnulfo Fuentabella give for refusing to accept the prosecutors' resignation? Do you think that the prosecutors have a legitimate claim? Explain your position. What is the political makeup of the House of Representatives? How does this makeup factor into support for the president?

2. Have students research online and media resources to find out more about the current situation in the Philippines. Direct them to share their findings with the class.

3. Direct students to compare the current protest to that of the 1986 "people power" revolt in various areas (i.e., reasons for social unrest, corruption charges, economic situations, leaders, etc.)

Accommodation

Visual/spatial: Students can create graphic organizers to compare and contrast issues and events of the current and past (1986) Philippine protests.

Assessment

Allow students the opportunity to present findings about the current Philippine protest or a comparison of this demonstration to the 1986 movement.

Challenge

Students can choose to research nations in times of upheaval(the American Revolution or Civil War, the French Revolution, Irish uprisings, the Russian Revolution, etc.) to discover changes in economies during these times. Direct them to create charts or other visual aids to present their findings.

philippines.com
President Joseph Estrada
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan
Philippine House of Representatives (11th Congress)
Country profile -- Phillipines

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.