Losing the historical ideals of Edsa

Professor Randy David presented the case of the Edsa revolution from both the eyes of a historian and mostly from the eyes of a sociologist (“What happened to Edsa?” 2/20/22). To him “People power revolution … became the template for all subsequent transitions to democracy in various parts of the world.” He basically described what happened to the Philippines post-Edsa from Cory Aquino to President Duterte. It really is not a part of his article but I just wished though that some mention of countries that had people power almost at the same time with us, like for example Romania, should be noted as to what happened to them now compared to the Philippines.

When he mentioned Joseph “Erap” Estrada and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo both of whom were elected vice president not in tandem with their respective presidential candidates, it comes to my mind that as a country, we should consider voting for the president and VP as a team since they can work together. However, as a people, the Filipinos don’t vote on issues but most times on personalities and popularity (this is how Erap was elected VP, a heartbeat away from the presidency). This should be changed probably by education or changes in the law. Just six years ago, the same thing happened when Leni Robredo became the VP of Mr. Duterte. I hope that this will not happen again this election.

When he mentioned that “we don’t need another Edsa miracle to stop [the Marcos-Duterte] alliance. We only need to listen to our people’s grievances…” Who are the “we” that he is talking about? Is that us, regular Filipinos, the laity, the religious, the academics, the professionals, the traditional politicians, government officials both elected and appointed, the students, the common “tao” etc.? With revisionism, power of the social media, fake news, ignorance, and of course money flowing freely, “the threat of the return of the old order constantly [looms] on the horizon.”

If this happens, let us just forget people power, Edsa, and revert to the name of Highway 54 or Avenida 19 de Junio.

IDA M. TIONGCO, M.D.
New York, NY
idationgco@gmail.com