Students keep ‘Edsa’ spirit alive
- Despite President Marcos declaring the Edsa anniversary as only a “special working holiday,” a number of schools suspended classes — and so students led the way in gathering to remember People Power at Edsa.
- Fr. Robert Reyes, known as the activist “running priest,” noted that “enlightened students are now leading the way. The young people are getting ripe to appreciate what it is to be a real Filipino.”
- The students and groups led by senior activists gathered at Edsa Shrine on the corner of Ortigas Avenue and marched to the People Power Monument. Joining them were activists and leaders of Catholic universities that canceled or suspended their classes on Tuesday to join the commemoration.
- The Catholic Church was among the lead actors in the 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution that ousted Marcos Sr., the father and namesake of the incumbent President.
For veteran activists who took part in the four-day Edsa People Power Revolution in 1986, seeing students from different universities in Metro Manila joining this year’s 39th commemoration of the bloodless revolt gives them hope.
Fr. Robert Reyes, known as the activist “running priest” and among those who joined protests against the strongman rule of President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., said the students’ presence only showed how the youth “has a lot of energy” to take part in an event that holds a lot of historical significance.
“Enlightened students are now leading the way,” the 70-year-old Reyes told the Inquirer on the sidelines of the program held at the People Power Monument on Edsa. “The young people are getting ripe to appreciate what it is to be a real Filipino.”
Reports from the Quezon City Police District placed the crowd during the gathering at 6,000.
The students and groups led by senior activists gathered at Edsa Shrine on the corner of Ortigas Avenue and marched to the People Power Monument. Joining them were Reyes, Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay, former Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño, former Gabriela Rep. Liza Maza and leaders of Catholic universities that canceled or suspended their classes on Tuesday to join the commemoration.
Casiño saw the presence of students as an “act of defiance” against the executive order of President Marcos declaring the 39th anniversary of the Edsa revolt only as a “special working holiday.” Despite this, school administrators, some of them outside of Metro Manila, suspended their respective classes.
“The students now may not be alive during the time of Edsa, but they still feel why we need People Power,” Casiño said. “This is a passing of the torch and this is important. Our fight for democracy never ends. It is an intergenerational struggle.”
Maza, a veteran of the women’s rights movement, said seeing students dominate the gathering “inspired us seniors.”
“As long as we can involve the youth, there’s hope. We shouldn’t be saddened. We know that the Marcoses have returned but as long as we can keep the youth, we’re safe,” she said.
Voice of the young
It was the first time for 17-year-old Araw Longid, a freshman psychology student from Ateneo de Manila University, to join a major street rally.
Longid said that while her university did not suspend classes on Tuesday, her professors allowed them to join the day’s activities.
“I’m just happy that I’m here,” Longid said. “This is also the first activity I went to that I alone decided for myself. It’s not because of peer pressure, but by myself alone.”
Ateneo students Patrick Abrigo and Jewel Miraña said they decided to attend the event to be in solidarity with students from other universities, stressing they believe in the “importance of showing up.”
“I think there was a huge distortion made to the collective memory and consciousness of the Filipinos over the years, and I understand that it would be hard to change that,” Miraña said. “But I think one way of intervening against that is to strengthen our opposition.”
Church call
“Because as many speakers today have said, Edsa didn’t end in 1986. We need to revive it,” Miraña said. “Because if we continue to be complacent and refuse to [speak] out, the dominant voices that are saying ‘this is what happened in the past, you weren’t there’… those will be the ones [that will] dominate.”
Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas urged students, especially those in Catholic schools, to not only pray but to also immerse themselves in social and political issues as ways to keep the spirit of Edsa alive.
“Be involved and be engaged in matters that affect the nation and the world. For us Christians, it is a sin to live only for yourself. Be men and women for others,” Villegas said in his message for the 39th anniversary of the bloodless revolution. The statement was posted by the news agency of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).
He said students should not tolerate any wrongdoing. “Resist what is wrong. Choose right even if no one is watching. That is integrity,” he said.
Villegas also belied those who are preaching that the Catholic Church should keep quiet about political matters. It should instead be the first to call out “evil” politicians.
“Politics without God; politicians disregarding Ten Commandments; politicians stealing our government funds; politicians exempting themselves from the law—they are evil. We must remove that kind of politics from the nation,” said Villegas, a former president of the CBCP.
The Catholic Church was among the lead actors in the 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution that ousted Marcos Sr., the father and namesake of the incumbent President.
On Feb. 22, 1986, then Manila Archbishop Cardinal Jaime Sin appealed through Radio Veritas for Filipinos to gather at the police and military headquarters on Edsa to protect then Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile and military Vice Chief of Staff Fidel Ramos, who had since defected from the Marcos administration and supported Corazon Aquino, widow of opposition leader Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr.
Villegas, who at that time was a 25-year-old newly ordained priest and aide of Cardinal Sin, was among the over 2 million Filipinos who heeded the call of the archbishop—prayed the rosary, gave food to soldiers sent to disperse the peaceful protesters, and slept on the streets for days.
“I will not lie to you. I will not mislead you. I was there. I saw the corruption and torture and killing and illegal arrests. That is what really happened,” he told the students in his message.
“Edsa People Power was the answer of our God-loving people to evil men and evil deeds. We must celebrate. This day is the holiday of nameless millions of Filipino heroes of 1986. Do not forget,” Villegas added.
Witness
Ramon Balang, a devout Catholic, was also among the millions of Filipinos who answered Cardinal Sin’s call in 1986.
“I wasn’t an activist per se, because I was already working at that time,” Balang said, who worked as an aircraft mechanic at Philippine Airlines at the time. “But I already knew why martial law was declared.”
Balang was 30 years old when he joined the Edsa revolt almost four decades ago, and among his reasons for coming to the protest back then was the Marcos government’s lack of accountability when it comes to the people’s taxes.
“Given that I was already working, I already knew the duty of each individual. As a taxpayer, the taxes that we pay [to the government], we should be able to see [its effects],” he said.
Balang shared that he stood a witness to the murder of Ninoy Aquino on Aug. 21, 1983.
“In 1983, Aug. 21, Ninoy Aquino was assassinated. I was assigned at the tarmac as an aircraft mechanic, at the airplane that he rode. I was the prime witness,” he said. “Starting from Agrava [Commission], to the Sandiganbayan, until the promulgation of those involved in the case … [I was involved] as a witness.”
Years later, Balang’s experience would lead him to join the August Twenty-One Movement (Atom), a group formed by Ninoy’s brother, the late former Sen. Agapito “Butz” Aquino.
Now at 69, Balang continues to attend rallies in hopes of keeping the memory of Edsa alive, especially now that the Marcoses are back in power. —WITH A REPORT FROM DEXTER CABALZA
