People Power: More than words

Vice-President Jojo Binay was disappointed. He went to the People Power monument on EDSA last Tuesday to find nobody there. OK, not literally nobody. The usual suspects were there, the aging EDSA veterans who came to celebrate the 28th anniversary of EDSA people power revolution. But the crowd drawer, President Noynoy Aquino, and most of the media were not there.

They were in Davao, Samar, Leyte and Cebu celebrating EDSA day in solidarity with other Filipinos who were part of the people power revolution in their own cities and municipalities, and those who are actively harnessing people power to help put the people’s disrupted lives back on track.

Binay expressed sadness that EDSA day was not properly celebrated:  “Siyempre dito sa EDSA naganap eh, so ako lamang ay nalulungkot dahil sa hindi nabigyan ng tamang selebrasyon sapagkat eto naman ay malaki ang nagawa sa kasaysayan ng Pilipinas (Of course, the event happened here on EDSA so I’m disappointed that it is not being commemorated properly, because it is a major part of Philippine history).”

Vice-President Binay got it wrong. No one has devalued EDSA or tried to change history. Had he listened to the icon of EDSA when she was alive, he would know that the concept of people power has grown beyond annual reenactments, and Cory Aquino herself would approve of people power as it is being honored by her son, the President.

In 2003, working with President Cory at the Benigno S. Aquino Foundation (BSAF), we (Rapa Lopa, the late Caloy Abrera and others) brainstormed with her on the best way to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the death of Ninoy. Cory lamented that the annual celebration of the people power revolution at EDSA had become routine. As our democratic institutions began to fall into disrepair, the annual re-enactment started to fade in significance. Clearly, the spirit of EDSA that brought us to the barricades in 1986 had to be reinvented to embody the promise of the commitment and moral courage that brought us there in the first place.

President Cory focused on the meaning of “people power.” While it was a catchy phrase that resonated around the world and influenced a host of democratization movements that toppled authoritarian regimes like so many dominoes, she wanted to see it evolve into something more than words to describe the popular protests that prompted a peaceful transfer of political power.

She came up with a new definition of “people power” as the work of individuals, foundations, NGOs and LGUs that toil selflessly, quietly and willingly to make life better for the most needy. And on Aug. 21, 2003, President Cory held up 20 NGOs and foundations as examples of People Power-People “who, by their generosity and hard work, have uplifted the lives of their constituents and beneficiaries.”

“I believe that the purest expression of People power is found in people coming together to do good work so that other people might live better lives,”  she said.

In a speech before businessmen on the 22nd EDSA anniversary in 2008, Cory Aquino responded to those who equate EDSA People Power with large crowds that join its protests. “Perhaps,” she said, “they are looking in the wrong direction.”

She explained: “If there is anything that the past 22 years have taught us, it is the realization that People Power must start from within ... People Power resides inside each of us, waiting to be unleashed to trigger a chain reaction that would transform the fabric of our society.” Those four days in February 1986, she recounted, gave us “a glimpse of what that latent power can achieve. Filipinos from all walks of life abandoned all concern for personal interest and safety to gather at EDSA to pray, to care, to share, to give one another a measure of comfort and courage at a most perilous time.”

Unfortunately, she observed, “this internal, moral dimension of People Power was overwhelmed by the manifold exigencies of restoring democracy, and all too soon, most Filipinos began reverting to their old ways—putting the interest of self and family above that of the national community. And we are now paying the price, perhaps, for having failed to cultivate a counter-culture of giving, compassion and spirituality in a more deliberate way.”

At EDSA last Tuesday, yesterday’s men gathered to recall their EDSA experience, when they were young and brave and idealistic. I have nothing against engaging in nostalgia. We all have our EDSA stories, our one brief shining moment of heroism. But, as Cory Aquino pointed out, the spirit of EDSA is not a once-a-year nostalgia trip. It is a force that brings together scores of Filipinos working, giving selflessly, often anonymously, of their time, talent and treasure so that others may have a better life.

What this year’s out-of-the-box observance of the EDSA anniversary tells us is that EDSA is in the heart, and it belongs to all the Filipino people, not just marchers in Metro Manila. People Power is alive in every place where people are dedicating their strength, creativity, and resources to create a better life for all Filipinos. And that’s what’s worth celebrating every year, the best of what we should be cultivating every day.

To those who think People Power consists of nothing more than an annual trek to EDSA to jump and sing Bayan Ko in unison, think again. As President Cory might have said, but perhaps in more polite language, get off your butts, leave your egos at the door, empty your pockets, and do something honest and positive for the Filipino people for a change.