At the wake of Barack Obama's Inauguration which presented to the world a promise of change. I can't help but be reminded that just about 8 years ago to this day--a suppposed change also took place in the Philippines.
I was born in the year 1987, just a year after what many considers a miracle. The world famed event that toppled one of the world's longest dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos. The "Bloodless" EDSA Revolution more aptly called "The People Power Revolution". It was an event so unprecedented in history that one wouldn't event think it could happen again much more on the same exact place. Talk about history repeating itself.
My natural inclination to what some would call "geeky" things like history and politics made me pay close attention to the television as they air Joseph Estrada's Impeachment trial back in 2001. I watched the trial while peeps of my age was busy taking their afternoon nap. I clearly remember that just minutes after Aquilino Pimentel's resignation as the Senate President, people started to get out of their homes, bring out banners and slowly making their way to EDSA as a sign of protests to the senators for voting against the opening of the 2nd Envelope that allegedly contained evidence to prove Jose Velarde's true identity. I never realized it was the start of EDSA DOS.
I've always admired the original EDSA REVOLUTION of 1986. It's one of my favorites in our history. I loved the idea of how the people took a stand against an oppressive regime. Looking at old photos of the 1986 EDSA Revolution always gives me creeps and proud sense of Nationalism however, i don't feel the same about the latter version of our so-called "People Power". Don't get me wrong, i am also happy that once again we are able to kick out a corrupt leader but what i realized that saddens me is that we Filipinos only choose to act when things are already at their worst. Why do we even allow things to get that far before we choose to do anything when everyday we can do measures to ensure that the country's welfare and our rights always protected?
I don't know understand what is so hard to understand about the term PEOPLE POWER itself. In a democracy like ours, success lies not to one person or even the whole government but in fact depends on the whole population.
In a third world country like the Philippines, just getting by everyday is a challenge. Perhaps we often find ourselves blaming the government for everything, we blame the government because we are poor, because we lack even the basic social services like health care, or even the poor quality of education. We blame all this to the corrupt government. I agree, the people in the government plays a role to all these but in fact, these only happens because we choose not to do anything.
I am neither a politician or a political analyst by any chance. I can't recite "Panatang Makabayan" out of my head nor can I sing "Lupang Hinirang" in tune but i can say without a beat that I love the Philippines. I am sure you do too, it's not unusual to love one's home and like in any home we have responsibilities that we need to do. I am not asking you to die like Ninoy, or to start a rally in EDSA or something. All that we need is for everyone to do whatever we can.
That is always more than enough.
I was born in the year 1987, just a year after what many considers a miracle. The world famed event that toppled one of the world's longest dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos. The "Bloodless" EDSA Revolution more aptly called "The People Power Revolution". It was an event so unprecedented in history that one wouldn't event think it could happen again much more on the same exact place. Talk about history repeating itself.
My natural inclination to what some would call "geeky" things like history and politics made me pay close attention to the television as they air Joseph Estrada's Impeachment trial back in 2001. I watched the trial while peeps of my age was busy taking their afternoon nap. I clearly remember that just minutes after Aquilino Pimentel's resignation as the Senate President, people started to get out of their homes, bring out banners and slowly making their way to EDSA as a sign of protests to the senators for voting against the opening of the 2nd Envelope that allegedly contained evidence to prove Jose Velarde's true identity. I never realized it was the start of EDSA DOS.
I've always admired the original EDSA REVOLUTION of 1986. It's one of my favorites in our history. I loved the idea of how the people took a stand against an oppressive regime. Looking at old photos of the 1986 EDSA Revolution always gives me creeps and proud sense of Nationalism however, i don't feel the same about the latter version of our so-called "People Power". Don't get me wrong, i am also happy that once again we are able to kick out a corrupt leader but what i realized that saddens me is that we Filipinos only choose to act when things are already at their worst. Why do we even allow things to get that far before we choose to do anything when everyday we can do measures to ensure that the country's welfare and our rights always protected?
I don't know understand what is so hard to understand about the term PEOPLE POWER itself. In a democracy like ours, success lies not to one person or even the whole government but in fact depends on the whole population.
In the rule of majority, what do you think would happen if the majority doesn't care?
In a third world country like the Philippines, just getting by everyday is a challenge. Perhaps we often find ourselves blaming the government for everything, we blame the government because we are poor, because we lack even the basic social services like health care, or even the poor quality of education. We blame all this to the corrupt government. I agree, the people in the government plays a role to all these but in fact, these only happens because we choose not to do anything.
I am neither a politician or a political analyst by any chance. I can't recite "Panatang Makabayan" out of my head nor can I sing "Lupang Hinirang" in tune but i can say without a beat that I love the Philippines. I am sure you do too, it's not unusual to love one's home and like in any home we have responsibilities that we need to do. I am not asking you to die like Ninoy, or to start a rally in EDSA or something. All that we need is for everyone to do whatever we can.
That is always more than enough.
nice post... i was born in the year 1986 so i can say that I'am an EDSA baby hehe! lagi sakin sinasabi ng parents ko lalong lalo na ang akin nanay na nasa sinapupunan niya ako nung mga panahong un... thats how "maka aquino" they are! hehe!
ReplyDeleteMabuti ka pang masasabing mong EDSA BABY ka, hehehe, salamat sa iyong pagdaan
ReplyDeleteI am choosing this one.
ReplyDeleteAlready added you in my bloglist
ReplyDeleteGreat article Marlon
ReplyDeleteThanks for the visit.
ReplyDeletebravo! very erudite post ;-) i was a kid when EDSA 1 happened, but i still remember helping prepare sandwiches to distribute to people. i was one of the throngs of EDSA 2; i believed in the cause. however of late, i am bothered by how apolitical my views seem to be ;-(
ReplyDeleteGandarynako! It's good that you witnessed the first EDSA. You don't know how much i envy you. Thanks for dropping by.
ReplyDeleteWe can always blame the government for poor governance resulting to poor basic social and health services, and even poor quality education... but we must not blame the government for our misery in poverty. It's our role to play.
ReplyDeletei agree with elyong..
ReplyDeletethere is still this hope from me of a new and clean bayan ni juan..
Elyong, Vanvan, exactly! We all just have to do what we can, thanks for the drop.
ReplyDeletehey great post! we are creating a 250 page full color creative design coffee table book based on philippines history. its about filipinos identity and destiny. we would love to get permission to use some of your pics here. do you have quality versions of them? please email me at AkoAyPilipinoMovement@gmail.com thanks a lot!
ReplyDelete