‘Pre-EDSA ills still around’

MANILA, Philippines - Twenty-seven years after the people power revolution brought down a dictatorship, the Philippines has not been freed from the ills of authoritarian rule, one of the heroes of the revolt said yesterday. 

“Today, 27 years later… the greed, the apathy, the cronyism and the corruption we brought down at EDSA during those four days are still with us in our land,” former President Fidel Ramos said after a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Libingan ng Mga Bayani. 

The wreath-laying kicked off this year’s series of events commemorating the peaceful revolution that toppled the regime of strongman Ferdinand Marcos. 

Ramos, a cousin of Marcos, was the constabulary and national police chief at the time of the revolt. He said Filipinos must not forget the lessons of EDSA as the Philippines could serve as a model for other developing nations. 

But Ramos challenged Filipinos to confront and remove “new tyrannies” such as self-serving leaders, greedy autocrats and “cliques of corrupt officials.” 

“In our homeland, there are still oligarchies, opportunists and warlords we have yet to banish from our political and economic life,” Ramos said. 

The withdrawal of support from the Marcos regime by Ramos together with then defense secretary Juan Ponce Enrile and a band of reformists in the military sealed the downfall of the dictator as millions of people poured into EDSA demanding his ouster. 

The people power revolt inspired similar mass uprisings for freedom in other countries.

Marcos and his wife Imelda, who were in power for 20 years in what was described as a “conjugal dictatorship,” were accused of amassing billions of dollars in ill-gotten wealth. Thousands of dissidents were arrested, tortured, executed or “disappeared” since martial law was imposed in 1972. 

The most prominent Marcos critic, former senator Benigno Aquino Jr., was arrested and incarcerated, then allowed to leave for the United States ostensibly for medical treatment. Aquino was assassinated when he returned, as he disembarked from a plane at the Manila International Airport on Aug. 21, 1983. 

Aquino’s widow Corazon replaced Marcos after the revolt. 

“Never before and never since had the world seen the miracle of an entire citizenry – common Filipinos – transformed into one heroic, unified whole as in February 1986. For a few shining days, every individual at EDSA was a self-sacrificing patriot and defiant defender. Surely, the memory of those wondrous moments still illumine the lives of all those who were there to do or die,” Ramos said yesterday. 

He said the Philippines could serve as a model for the Arab Spring. 

“If we learn, inculcate, cherish and practice all these precious lessons from our struggles to be truly free, the Philippines can become the icon of developing countries that must avoid the killing of thousands of innocent civilians, like in the recent people’s uprisings in Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen and notably Syria where bloody civil war is still ongoing,” Ramos said. 

He lauded the selection of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier as a venue for commemorating the people power revolt.

“By doing so, we affirm the inherent historical linkages of the liberating spirit of EDSA with earlier episodes of Filipino courage and sacrifice – exemplified by the revolutionary spirit of 1896 at Pugad Lawin and Kawit, and the valor of Bataan-Corregidor in 1942,” Ramos said. 

Ramos said the spirit of the EDSA revolution is part and parcel of the epic history of Filipino heroism. He said yesterday’s venue served as a reminder that both ordinary Filipinos and soldiers who fall in combat can be patriots.  

But Ramos also lamented the unfulfilled promise of people power. He also found it ironic that Filipinos find it easier to die for the country than live for it.

“During times of economic growth, as we may now have under President Benigno Aquino III, we tend to squander our goodwill and solidarity in bickering – quarreling like crabs caught in a bamboo trap or, like candidates running for public office, pulling each other down,” he said.

“If we Filipinos are to prosper, good citizenship must begin to count for more than ties of blood, kinship or private interest. We must begin to accept that the Filipino nation is more than just an aggregation of political parties, economic elites, family dynasties or separate islands,” Ramos said. 

In a related development, President Aquino’s cousin Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV urged voters to pick candidates who will continue the reforms of the current administration and fulfill EDSA aspirations. Bam Aquino is running for a Senate seat under the administration’s Team PNoy. 

EDSA celebration aims for youth

At Malacañang, officials said yesterday that the celebration of the revolt is being made palatable to young Filipinos so they will appreciate the event that restored the country’s democracy.

According to the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO), the celebration will be done through film, music and social media.

The PCDSPO will tweet the events, based on the compiled timeline of Angela Stuart Santiago. People can follow the hashtag #EDSA27. 

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said this was a time to pay tribute to the thousands of Filipinos “who showed unity and courage in freeing themselves from the shackles of a dictatorial government.”

“Though the long stretch of Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA) served as the epicenter of the four days of courageous struggle, the ripples of revolt were felt all across the nation,” Valte said.

A feature article on “the other EDSAs” – including the main roads of Baguio, Iloilo and Davao – which participated in the revolt will be made available.

Through an exclusive partnership with Filipino filmmaker Kidlat Tahimik, the PCDSPO will also make available online a portion of his film, “Why is Yellow the Middle of the Rainbow?” The movie features people power on EDSA and simultaneous mass protests at key landmarks in Baguio City.

In continuation of its project called “The Present Past,” the PCDSPO has superimposed the map used by Marcos and his military chief Fabian Ver in planning an attack on Camp Crame and Camp Aguinaldo onto a current aerial photograph of the area.

The map used by Marcos was drawn on a blackboard and is on display at the Presidential Museum and Library.

“We enjoin the public to be one with us in remembering and reliving those four days of revolution that shaped our nation,” Valte said.

Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma said President Aquino would also lead the “Tatak EDSA: Salo-Salubungang Pambata,” a treat for around 1,000 children from various orphanages.

To be held at Malacañang’s Kalayaan grounds, the event includes playing Filipino games and story telling sessions highlighting Filipino values, Coloma told radio dzRB.

He said there would be no classes tomorrow so the youth could join the open house.

President Aquino will also sign tomorrow the Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act of 2013 for the martial law victims.

Coloma said young Filipinos might no longer be aware of the people power revolt.

A “Memory Museum” will be built beside the People Power Monument outside Camp Aguinaldo. 

Cotabato Auxiliary Bishop Colin Bagaforo, for his part, said voters should elect leaders who remember the moral truth of the EDSA revolution and are God-fearing.

“We should remember that the EDSA revolution is connected to the morality of truth,” Bagaforo told Church-run Radio Veritas in an interview. – With Aurea Calica, Evelyn Macairan, Marvin Sy