7 reasons why you should celebrate 'EDSA at 30'

MANILA, Philippines — Why do we commemorate the EDSA People Power Revolution?

On Tuesday, Dan Lichauco, a renowned architect and interior designer, shared his experience on how he taught elementary students to appreciate the lessons of EDSA revolution.

In his personal Facebook account, Lichauco recounted that he asked grades 5 to 10 students to imagine themselves in several scenarios. 

Renowned architect and interior designer Dan Lichauco shared his experience on how he let elementary students appreciate the People Power Revolution. Dan Lichauco/Facebook

These, according to him, are the “Martial law experience” when put into the current setting.

“I said that was Martial Law and we celebrate EDSA because we ended a cruel, abusive and unjust period in our history. That we as a democracy are a work in progress and we are still fixing the ills of Martial Law up to today. But.... There is progress and we should not "move on" but always remember,” Lichauco said.

Lichauco also cited and let the students imagine the experience of a 16-year-old son of Primitivo Mijares whose fingernails were pulled out with pliers and stabbed over 30 times because his father wrote a book called “The Conjugal Dictatorship” that was against the Marcoses, and that the son may have been killed and tortured in front of his dad before he was killed.

Here are some scenarios Lichauco asked his students to picture multiple times over:

1. What if you were jailed for posting comments on Facebook / Twitter / IG that was against the government?

2. What if you could not leave you house after midnight?

3. What if you stuck your finger in an outlet and could not pull out your fingers and had to suffer the electricity.?

4. What if you were in the plane on your way to take your lolo to a hospital in the US and you were asked by soldiers to disembark for no reason but you were enemies of Marcos?

5. What if you were in the theater or concert to watch a show and had to wait 2 hrs because Imelda had not arrived?

6. What if you had to ask your strict parents permission before you did anything, including ask for toothpaste to brush your teeth and ask permission to get a drink of water, ask for toilet paper?

7. What if you were a the child of a farmer and you saw your parents get killed because they would not sell their land to Enrile and other Marcos Cronies?

Lichauco’s post earned over 5,000 likes and over 3,000 shares as of posting.