Three decades ago on Feb. 25
The Edsa People Power Revolution Day on Feb. 25 is another public holiday that presents a special opportunity for engaging young students and the millennials in an introduction and a discussion of the day’s special significance.
And three decades after, with the euphoria of the event long gone, it is time for every concerned and freedom-loving Filipino to be actively involved in the revolution that we all know to be unfinished. It is a revolution that has to continue—toward a more equitable society for every Filipino. To be sure, there is grumbling about wasted opportunities and an unchanged social structure, but was it not momentous enough for the revolution led by Cory Aquino to have ended a dictatorship and restore a democracy?
It was such a stunning show of force by the citizenry that the nonviolent revolution was hailed the world over, and the term “people power” became popular currency. It was acknowledged as a model by Germany, which had the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989; Czechoslovakia with its Velvet or Gentle Revolution also in 1989; and Hong Kong with its yellow umbrellas in 2014. With yellow as the color of the People Power revolution, other similar uprisings have been described in terms of color, interestingly enough. “Color revolution” is a term used by media to describe protests in the former Soviet Union and the Middle East. The origin of the term is traced back to the “Yellow Revolution” in the Philippines.
In grateful remembrance, on the 25th year of the fall of the Berlin Wall last year the Federal Republic of Germany, through former Philippine Ambassador Jose A. Zaide, donated a slab of the historic wall to the National Museum. The Philippines is the second country in Asia to receive a portion of the wall.
This month is a good time to remember and draw pride and courage from revisiting what we as a concerned and united citizenry was able to accomplish.
Beyond our wildest dreams, we were able to oust Marcos the dictator who used and abused power for many decades. Assembled on the now perpetually traffic-choked Edsa and with help from the military defectors led by Gen. Fidel Ramos, we sent him out of Malacañang, out of the country.
Edsa 1 is often romanticized as a revolution of a mere four days. Historically, it did not begin and end on Edsa. It was a hard-fought battle that began much earlier when most people were afraid to speak their minds, with the organization of the detained Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr.’s political party Laban or Lakas ng Bayan (“People Power” in English). There was the historic noise barrage in April 1978—an unexpected show of force and support for the Laban candidates for the Interim Batasang Pambansa elections. It was indeed a long struggle—from 1978 to the Aquino assassination in 1983, to the ascent to the presidency of Cory Aquino in February 1986.
Maria Vargas Montelibano, executive director of the Edsa People Power Commission, and her staff are preoccupied with ambitious and meaningful plans for the 2016 commemoration—not only to mark the three decades but to ensure that this historical event continues to be known and to inspire. A major project is to document the oral history of the period, to present the timeline through first-person accounts and memorabilia in an interactive, hands-on museum, the better to speak to today’s youth, the better to institutionalize the People Power revolution. Ongoing are interviews with individuals, from different sectors of society, who fought for freedom and democracy, that their stories may forever keep alive the legacy of a bloodless revolution. A fitting complement to the Bantayog ng Mga Bayani Museum in Quezon City to honor martial law heroes and martyrs.
The space that this weekly commentary enjoys is an initiative of the Foundation for Worldwide People Power led by freedom fighter and Inquirer’s feisty former publisher Eugenia D. Apostol who is convinced that the spirit of People Power can only continue to flourish and be nurtured through education.
Happily, there is also a growing bibliography of books on the era to support this documentation: “Duet for Edsa: Looking Back, Looking Forward” edited by Lorna Kalaw Tirol; “Chronology of a Revolution” by Angela Stuart-Santiago (Foundation for Worldwide People Power, 1987); “Subversive Lives: A Family Memoir of the Marcos Years” by Susan F. Quimpo and Nathan Gilbert Quimpo (Anvil Publishing, 2012); “Not on our Watch: Martial Law Really Happened. We Were There,” edited by Jo-Ann Q. Maglipon (LEADS-CEGP, 2012); and, modesty aside, “The Aquino Legacy: An Enduring Narrative” by Elfren Sicangco Cruz and Neni Sta. Romana Cruz (Imprint Publishing, 2015). There is even a children’s counting book that ingeniously uses the images of the event: “Edsa” by Russell Molina, illustrated by Sergio Bumatay III.
If martial law and the dark years of dictatorship never happened, what was the rejoicing on Edsa when People Power triumphed three decades ago all about? We still have scars and deep wounds that will never heal—to show for it.
Neni Sta. Romana Cruz ([email protected]) is chair of the National Book Development Board, a trustee of Teach for the Philippines and a member of the Eggie Apostol Foundation.
