An unfinished project

Twenty-six years after Edsa I, also called the 1986 People Power Revolution, exactly what has changed? People old enough to remember ask the question with a feeling of frustration, while those who are too young find it hard to relate to an event too remote in time. But for the bustle that the administration tried to whip up in the run-up to today’s remembering, one can readily see that the national mood is disinterest.

A far cry from the selfless, reckless grit with which Filipinos plunged into the uprising on Feb. 22, 1986, to defy a long-entrenched dictatorship. A far cry, as well, from the dizzying national euphoria that greeted Edsa I’s triumphant success four days later.

Twenty-six years ago, Edsa I literally mesmerized the world and, in its aftermath, Filipinos strutted on the global stage with heads held high. Until now, Edsa I—also called the “Yellow Revolution” after the color adopted as its symbol—is still referred to with awe and admiration, as the “original non-violent People Power Revolution.” It is credited for inspiring similar mass actions in a host of other countries (among them, the “Bulldozer Revolution” in Serbia, the “Rose Revolution in Georgia,” the “Orange Revolution” in the Ukraine, and even the “Arab Spring”). People Power has become a template for ousting or, at the least, defying unpopular and brutal regimes.

To be sure, the 1986 Edsa Revolution unleashed a tsunami of changes, so to speak. For example, it restored democracy in the Philippines after more than a decade of dictatorship, though a democracy left in many parts structurally deficient, even dilapidated to this day. It restored freedom of the press, and the Philippine media are generally again up and bubbling. It restored the people’s right of expression and assembly, and Filipinos are freer to air their grievances, except that a culture of impunity persists.

Count the blessings, but don’t lose sight of the reality.

Despite the gains of Edsa I, the debilitating problems that plagued the nation during martial law—e.g., widespread poverty, unbridled government corruption, poor and inadequate social services, social inequality, human rights violations, power-drunk political dynasties, armed conflicts, too much politics—are the very same obstacles holding back the nation today.

Up closer, the picture looks even more frustrating. For example: The overlords of the martial law regime are back in the political mainstream, showing neither shame nor remorse, winning practically all the cases that have been filed against them and their cronies except those still awaiting final decision, even as their victims have yet to find justice (that is, if the latter have not succumbed already to death due to illness, age or poverty). The justice system is as far as ever from the reach of the poor with the expensive filing fees and even more prohibitive costs of litigation, including lawyers’ professional services, that only the rich can afford. In prison houses, the wealthy are “VIPs” (very important prisoners) enjoying special treatment, making a loud mockery of justice. Corruption in government is more deeply embedded, poverty more widespread, and the social and political inequalities between the rich and the poor still scandalously glaring.

Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma, the incumbent president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, summed up the general sentiment vis á vis Edsa I after 26 years: “Today, we are free as we claim, but that freedom has not yet resulted in a better life. The challenge today is, how do we use this freedom to achieve greater blessings? How do we use this freedom to develop the country where people live in the most humane [conditions]?”

Call it a story or a journey, but Edsa I is indeed an unfinished project. Some say the first President Aquino, Corazon, the rallying point of the 1986 People Power Revolution, was destined to be only a transition president and should not be blamed if Edsa I did not live up fully to the people’s high expectations. Some say, by destiny, it is now for her son, the second President Aquino, Benigno III, to complete Edsa I.

The son says Edsa I’s vision is “an inclusive society … in which progress and growth are also inclusive, meaning, everybody is benefited and nobody is left behind because of poverty or lack of resources.”

We say Edsa I fell short because the Filipinos forgot and abandoned the fundamental lesson of People Power. It is they who hold the real and ultimate power to fulfill its hopes and dreams.