Edsa revolution: Meaning and legacy

Legacy looks at the long-term consequences of the event and how these affected the country, an important subject. But first, we need to understand the meaning of Edsa from the participants’ perspective on what happened and why it happened. I cannot, unfortunately, provide an eyewitness account; I was then based in Ann Arbor on a Fulbright Visiting Professor Program at the University of Michigan. But I can confirm that the “what” and “why” of Edsa was clear, even to those observers abroad who could only follow the media coverage of its unfolding.

A couple of weeks after Edsa, on a taxi ride in Washington, DC, the foreign driver, probably, Nigerian, asked where I was from. Learning I was from the Philippines, a place he knew little about, he began questioning me about Edsa, but mainly about this woman, Cory Aquino. Shortly before we reached our destination, he asked, “Do you mind if I do not charge you the fare?” I had never heard before, or again, such a request from a taxi driver hustling for a living.

The offer of this immigrant worker to waive my fare was his way of recognizing Edsa as an admirable Filipino achievement and, in some way, sharing in it. For him and the rest of the world, the “what” of Edsa was beyond debate. Thousands of unarmed citizens, already aroused by the ongoing attempt to steal the snap elections, at the risk of their lives, confronted troops and tanks sent to suppress a military mutiny against Marcos—and toppled in four days an authoritarian regime that had ruled for over a decade.

The undeniable outcome of the people’s resistance was to drive Ferdinand Marcos Sr. out of the presidential palace and out of the Philippines. As Mahar Mangahas’ Inquirer column bluntly stated: “Ferdinand Marcos [Sr.] ran away” (2/19/2022). Ferdinand Marcos Jr., not a minor, but the 29-year-old incumbent governor of Ilocos Norte, also ran away.

The “why” of Edsa was equally clear. For those who lived through the period and for those familiar with its history, 1986 has become inextricably intertwined with two other dates that together establish the Edsa narrative. As in a Greek play, the dates marked the original hubris, the arrogant presumption that led Marcos to declare martial law in 1972, the ultimate, criminal folly of Benigno Aquino Jr.’s murder in 1983, and the inevitable retribution at Edsa.

If Marcos Sr. had elevated the Philippines to its “golden age,” as Marcos Jr. claims, why were they so afraid of the people that they had to run away? To counter the inconvenient truth about the “what” and “why” of Edsa, the Marcoses have waged a campaign to revise history by focusing on the “how” question: How did Edsa benefit the country? The effort seeks to blame the country’s sorry state in 2022 on the alleged, failed “legacy” of Edsa, and thus to belittle its achievement and diminish its significance.

This is a sleight of hand, smoke and mirrors, carnival trick. First, despite President Duterte’s efforts and the incompetence and corruption exposed in his administration, analysts agree that conditions in 2022 are still better than in 1986. Second, it makes no sense to take 2022 conditions to explain away 1986 events. The past influences the shape of the future, not the other way around. Third, granting that the promise of inclusive, progressive democracy that the Edsa winners enshrined in the 1987 Constitution has not been delivered, whose failure is that? The people at the Edsa revolution barricade for four days were not worrying about legacy. Surviving Marcos and renegade military coup attempts, Cory Aquino stepped down in 1992. Five other presidents have succeeded her—with their respective sets of partners in the government and the private sector. How have they—and especially, Marcos Jr.—contributed to realizing Edsa’s goals?

We must distinguish between the Edsa event, a completed historical event, and the larger Edsa legacy aspirations. Then and now, those aspirations have remained, like Christianity, a work in progress. The Lord’s incarnation made salvation possible for everyone; it still demands individual effort. Christmas came but did not deliver Paradise as an automatic, gratuitous gift.

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Edilberto C. de Jesus is professor emeritus at the Asian Institute of Management.

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