FVR deplores lack of gov’t preparation for 20th EDSA anniversary

Former President Fidel Ramos, who played a key role in the 1986 EDSA I people power revolt, deplored yesterday what called the government’s lack of government preparation for the 20th anniversary of the historic event.

"I’m saying that it is deplorable that now, with just 10 days to go, there are no announced official government plans for the celebration of the 20th anniversary of EDSA I," Ramos said in a press conference at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport before taking a Thai Airways flight to Bangkok for the "Eminent Persons Group" meeting.

"I am aware that there is an EDSA People Power Commission that was established right after President Arroyo took charge," he added. "I understand that the EPPC executive director and his staff have submitted about a month ago proposed plans for the 20th anniversary celebration. I don’t know what has happened to those plans.

"I am not seeing, any advanced plans for this very important event — unlike in previous years which were not that significant because they were not special anniversaries but this is the 20th anniversary," he said. "It is a generational period, 20 years."

Ramos said he has been forced to pore over newspapers these past days to find out if he is needed in the EDSA celebration: "Even I am scouring the newspapers to find out what my role will be. I even have to make up my schedule everyday. There is nothing official being said."

He said government should take the lead in the commemoration of the 1986 EDSA revolt celebrations every February: "Government normally leads the way in the planning for our EDSA Uno as well as EDSA Dos celebrations… That’s what we elected them for. They have the means, they have the funds, they have the facilities, they have the logistics support within their power to make such a celebration meaningful to people."

He said the celebration should not be used by politicians or political groups for political ends. He added that the people should benefit from the celebrations by commemorating the spirit of EDSA.

"EDSA belongs to the people, it doesn’t belong to Malacañang, it doesn’t belong to the Armed forces (or) the national police. It doesn’t belong to the politicians, it doesn’t belong to the oligarchs (or) to the elite. It belongs to all of the people and, therefore, the celebration must be with the people, everywhere in the Philippines. During my time as president, I decentralized the celebrations," Ramos said.

The observance of the EDSA People Power anniversaries should be given importance by government and the people, he said: "Those two are great events in our political history. They were able to effect regime change through people power that were non-violent and peaceful happenings. This is a Philippine technology that is unique only to us.

"As an ordinary senior citizen of this country, that kind of spirit was awakened before EDSA, that was the spirit of 1896, that was the spirit of Pugad Lawin, that was the spirit of Kawit, Cavite, that was the spirit of our continued resistance against the American occupiers during the Filipino-American War, that was the spirit that created the nationwide guerrilla movement against the Japanese occupiers during World War II that had led to our liberation from enemy occupation," Ramos said.

He also belittled the Arroyo administration’s claims of economic gains made due to its programs as he credited overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) with keeping the Philippine economy afloat.

"It is not economic productivity (or) even good governance that is maintaining the economy. It is the 10 billion plus dollars in remittances over the last four quarters that has saved the Philippine economy," Ramos said.

He said the country’s five percent growth in gross domestic product (GDP) and the stronger peso are not felt by poverty-stricken Filipinos.

"We are also seeing, in this country, the poor are still poor and the rich are getting richer and richer," he said. "That is probably where most of the five percent reported GDP growth for the year 2005 is going. It’s not going to the people that need the benefits of growth but to those that have already so much in this life."

Ramos said that the poor performance of the Philippines can be assessed in the United Nations Development Program’s (UNDP) report released in November 2005.

"We should read the UN Human Development Report... I was there when that report came out because I am the honorary president of the Human Development Network in the Philippines, which provides data to the entire United Nations, including the UNDP," Ramos said. "We are number 84 in the roster of 192 countries in the UN. Who is number 83? Western Samoa, a small Pacific island barely surviving out there in the Pacific Ocean."

"We have been overtaken by many countries who have been considered as basket cases a mere 10 years ago," he said. "Human Development Network is not only talking about income per capita or incidence of poverty, it has to do with the totality of the human life of an ordinary person."

Ramos said that the Philippines’ poor performance is due mainly to the failure of the nation’s leaders and people to exploit their potential.

He said it is important that the country’s leaders concentrate on what he called the "Cs" that will keep the country on track: "Continuance or the continuation of the gains of previous administrations; competition, which puts importance on sustained winning in economic and trade competition; and cleanup or cleaning up the country.