The Spirit of EDSA Lives On!
It has been 31 years since a peaceful revolution by the masses toppled a dictatorship. For many Filipinos, the People Power Revolution of 1986 had already lost its charm. The failure of the last 31 years after Marcos’ regime had led to the rise of Duterteismo, a phenomenon ushered by the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte and characterized by willingness to submit to blinding illusions.
Duterte’s supporters are quick to slam any sign of being critical to his administration as destabilizing him with the help of the dilawans. Today (and unfortunately), many Filipinos are willing to go back to the night that saw human rights violated and economic development trampled.
But there is still hope. The flame still rages on as democracy hasn’t died yet in a country where dictatorship has become a prospect. And the hope lives — not just in the lives of bygone generations who fought for this nation’s freedom. The hope lives in the millennials, who despite being accused of Marcos’ loyalists as “temperamental brats”, are able to communicate the essence and message of the revolution through technology that had come to define them. These millennials are the torch bearers of the fight that restored democracy into the country. There is still hope — despite the looming prospects of undoing the legacy of the revolution.
No, it is wrong to move on and forget what happened back then. Marcos loyalists and apologists are calculating their next move to deceive more Filipinos into appealing to the current state of this country and heralding the late strongman’s rule as the “golden age”. They can win the battle, the battle for historical revisionism— but they will never win the war, the war for the historical truth.
The 31 years after Marcos’ regime may have failed many Filipinos. They have grown tired of envisioning a progressive country where the rich is treated equally with the poor, basic needs are within’s one reach, and anybody is free to dream and realize that.
This is why when one man promised that change is coming, many listened and elected him as the highest official of the land. But by the look of the current situation, surely, change is not coming. Many of Duterte’s supporters, growing tired of seeing politicians fail, blindly accepted the illusion of change. Instead of being critical, they chose to be complacent — after all, accepting that “change” has scammed is harder to do than believing that all bad things that happened was caused by the “biased” media and the dilawans.
The spirit of EDSA Revolution lives on. As a matter of fact, it is very alive today. As this nation descend towards darkness, it is high time to be vigilant and critical of what will happen next. The current state of affairs are signs not to be taken for granted — they point to something larger than what they signify. And yes, that something larger is the war against the return to dictatorship, which Filipinos have long fought against to reap the fruits of today’s democracy.
