Post-dated EDSA talk

The EDSA anniversary turned into an anti-climactic occurrence when the president moved the holiday to a Friday, a day before the actual day of remembrance.

It somehow felt done on a whim, as the notice was sent late in the afternoon. I could only imagine the frustration of business owners and human resource officers as they found out the mandate. Workers, meanwhile, frolicked in joy with the announcement. With the confusion brought about by the new date comes the diminishing value of the day itself. Some of us have forgotten EDSA.

Those who belong to the Gen Z group would rather focus on the long weekend rather than looking back at what happened over three decades ago. SWS, however, said that about 60% of the population still think that the People Power revolution is important. I wonder where that number of people are right now. There is less appreciation for the heroic act done by the masses. Today, activism equates to terrorism.

Young ones do not understand the power of the people, the strength of one chant multiplied by the many. There is no nationalism unless a Filipino makes it big in sports or entertainment. They think clamoring for accountability is useless, a waste of time and resources.

On the day of EDSA anniversary, APO Hiking Society Member Jim Paredes released a remake of “Handog ng Pilipino”. This was the anthem of the People Power movement as they moved to oust the Marcos regime. It was sad to note that the singers were the activists then who grew old, except for a number of new ones who are not that well known. Yet somehow the words still strike me, even in the present. They say art used in activism never gets old, its meaning only gets deeper over time.

But that’s just me, and maybe a few others. The spirit of this very historical era in our country was not passed on properly. Several administrations have downgraded the events that took place. Either they have political affiliations to the nemeses of the Aquino Family, do not like this family, or do not care at all. It was supposed be past familial ties and all about being a fighting Filipino. We are now embedded in false narratives and books that do not even speak about the truth.

If there is truth to what our young ones read today, they are simply the tip of the iceberg. They are taught dates and names, no context which means they would find no meaning. This makes it hard for educators to get past their wall of apathy. We call for a change to the way history is being taught but we only find ourselves the antagonists.

As we enjoy another year post-EDSA, we hope we don’t fall into the hands of the wrong leaders again. A spark ignites a revolution, now is not the time yet. We wait and see, trust and believe. Only then shall we march to repeat the cycle again.