The meaning of Edsa

AS A young boy, I used to commute by public transport from Pasay City to Diliman. At that time Diliman was out in the boondocks as far as many were concerned. The key section of the commute was a bus ride, preferably by Halili Transit, along a dusty, one-lane road that was originally known as Highway 54. The ride would cost me from 15 to 20 centavos and, most often, I had the luxury of a seat on the bus. It would take me all the way to UP High which was located in the College of Education Building.

Today, Highway 54 is better known as Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (Edsa) after the great Filipino historian, patriot and hero.

A few notes on “Panyong” de los Santos. He was considered one of the best Filipino writers in Spanish, and regarded as a literary genius. At an early age, he became the first Filipino to be admitted to the Spanish Royal Academies of Language, Literature, and History. He traveled widely to many places in Europe and Asia, searching for rare Philippine documents, and his Filipiniana collection was rated by foreign scholars as the best in the world.

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When President Aquino called on the Highway Patrol Group (HPG) of the Philippine National Police to make some sense of the chaos and turmoil on Edsa, he was actually recognizing and taking into account the fact that we need a strong leader who can instill fear in our people and get them to toe the line in order to advance the interests of the community.

The employment of hundreds of Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) traffic personnel did nothing to improve the situation on Edsa. In fact, it may have led to even greater disregard of rules and regulations seeing that MMDA enforcers had little authority and bore no arms to discourage violations in key areas over the capital region road net. How many times have we seen or heard of MMDA personnel being abused by drivers of private vehicles, simply because they tried to enforce the law and establish order on our highways? One was severely mauled while another was fired upon by irate motorists who felt they could get away with anything. This is not going to happen with armed highway patrol personnel on the job. People realize that they run the risk of being arrested or even being shot if they refuse to obey.

Segments of our society may not agree with the idea, but what people want and will respond to is the man with authority who is in a position to exercise that authority to the limits of the law, and maybe even further if the situation calls for such action.

We often hear of the phrase “law and order.” And we aspire to see it work in our country. But the truth is, we are still an emerging society, a far cry from the societies that exist in developed nations. For the law to be operational and applicable, there must exist first of all, order.

Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew in his notes on “The Future of Democracy” spelled out things more clearly. He said, “When a state of increasing disorder and defiance of authority cannot be checked by the existing rules… drastic rules have to be forged to maintain order so that the law can continue to govern human relations. The alternative is to surrender order for chaos and anarchy.”

What has happened in Edsa over the years? We had private vehicles and buses swerving from one lane to another at will; we had parking in no parking zones; we had drivers not observing traffic signals and wanting to get ahead of everyone; we had hundreds of colorum vehicles on the highway that were not supposed to be there but no one was serious about enforcement; the so-called Mabuhay lanes as alternate routes for motorists clearly showed the lack of serious planning by our traffic authorities as these lanes were already clogged up and had become parking lots for private car owners.

In effect, we had surrendered order and this has resulted in chaos and anarchy.

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While Edsa has stood for liberty and freedom, it has also come to symbolize our greatest failings and shortcomings. Here are a few:

• As a people, we lack discipline. The battle cry of the early Marcos years, “Sa Ikauunlad ng Bayan, Disiplina ang Kailangan,” should be revisited and brought back to our classrooms. We have to start with the youth; the rest of us have been spoiled with too much freedom and sense of entitlement. One does not have to glorify the years of the dictatorship, but there are lessons from the past that are worth emulating.

• Too much emphasis on rights rather than responsibilities. We demand that the state provide better services and security. But how many men, from the middle class and the elite, are willing to serve in the Armed Forces even for just a limited period in order to provide leadership for our reserves in a war against insurgents and aggressors? There must be greater willingness to shoulder responsibilities, and to set aside individual comforts and desires in order to advance the common good.

• We are good at starting well-meaning projects and programs. Unfortunately we are unable to sustain momentum, and gradually lose sight of our original goals and objectives. How many programs of government have been inaugurated with great fanfare, only to see them fade away either because a new administration comes into power, or because of simple neglect?

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We need a strongman type of leader to change our attitudes and way of life. Significant Charter change is not going to happen because there will always be powerful and influential sectors of society that would be interested in protecting their existing interests or in expanding those advantages.

We talk of “inclusive growth” but what is happening is that the rich are getting richer, as the gap between the rich and the poor grows wider. Even our justice system is seriously flawed as seen by recent Supreme Court decisions. Where do ordinary citizens turn to for similar relief?

Our best hope for change is in the leadership. As we approach another election for the presidency, we cannot continue to rely on the same, tired formulas and protestations of the past. The current frontrunners represent more of the same—more corruption, more incompetence, and more self-interest. We must look beyond them if we are to see meaningful changes in the life of the nation.