Nothing could have prepared then president Ferdinand Marcos “for the wretched little show that awaited him on Tuesday, Feb. 25,” so goes the story. It was a date chosen, the story continues, because the numerals added up to seven, Marcos’ supposed lucky number.
“But not, it would turn out, in this Year of the Tiger,” Nick Joaquin wrote in his engaging account of the 1986 People Power Revolution titled The Quartet of the Tiger Moon: Scenes from the People Power Apocalypse.
That day was the inauguration of Marcos as the supposed winner in the Feb. 7 presidential polls and it happened at high noon, an hour supposedly for state funerals.
But while Marcos took his oath, he never became president again.
“As the erstwhile strongman raised his right hand in solemn oath, the television coverage was abruptly cut off,” Joaquin, who had used the pen name Quijano De Manila, wrote in his book.
Disgruntled Filipinos and government officials would not allow it. Days before, they were already camping out on EDSA to protest Marcos’ supposed victory in the recent polls.
“Thus, began the epic vigil on the highway during those four white nights of the tiger moon,” Joaquin narrated.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Memories of the EDSA Revolution
I don’t remember much about that time. I was only a grade schooler then. All I remember was that in one of those four days, my mother joined the bloodless revolution.
When she came home, she seemed terrified, yet fulfilled, defiant but at peace. She said she couldn’t bear not to join the protest. She cared about her children’s future so she needed to go. I remember her saying something like that. But at the same time, she was scared, she said. She took refuge behind a parked vehicle the whole time in case a shooting ensued.
34 years later
Tomorrow, we mark another commemoration of the 1986 People Power revolt.
Yet, 34 years later, we seem to have forgotten how this nation once fought so hard to restore democracy in the country.
Just look around us.
ABS-CBN, the Lopez-owned media giant, is again under siege, reminiscent of what happened to it during Martial Law when soldiers stormed the broadcast station and shut it down.
Many media organizations are under attack, too, these days and so are political foes.
Some businesses are going through the same thing. The current administration has already demonstrated the use of political power against oligarchs who got on its wrong side.
At the same time, a new set of favored businessmen is emerging. Some are from the Philippines’ D.C. – Davao City – while others were frequent visitors of President Duterte’s hometown during the campaign season.
The bigger problem
But what is happening now, I believe, is really a symptom of the bigger problem that continues to plague us – inequality. President Duterte came into power because we have an electorate tired of the same old banana republic, one which has always been under the same elite rule and which continues to see one of the highest inequality rates in the world.
The post-EDSA administrations failed and even worsened this problem. Political patronage and corruption, which lead to inequality, were not addressed.
Filipinos realized that the People Power revolt did not really deliver on its promises and that the country is still hounded by the same problems.
Thus, in 2016, 16 million Filipinos turned to Duterte to change things.
But are we really seeing real changes?
Corruption
Business itself isn’t the problem. It is the collusion between greedy and dishonest business people and corrupt government officials that is wrong. It’s the reason we have laws that favor businesses and give them monopolies of certain sectors. Journalism is important because it can expose such flawed actions.
Reducing corruption can reduce inequality because it increases economic activities. This is the kind of change we need to see.
Development
A country’s development is forever a work in progress, but I hope that we move forward and not in circles or in an endless roundabout.
As former senator Alberto Romulo said in a 2010 speech, “every democracy, of whatever origin and longevity, must remain progressive and forward-looking.”
The morning after
On the last page of his book, Joaquin captured well what it meant to be on EDSA in 1986:
“One can only pity those who missed that thrilling recognition scene on EDSA because what they missed was history itself. ‘Bliss it was in that dawn to be alive,’ sang another poet of another apocalypse, ‘and to be young was very heaven!’ But on EDSA, it was very heaven to everyone because even the old were young again, were hale again, during that most Christian moment of our lifetime: the four glory days of the tiger moon revolution.”
EDSA may not have delivered on its promises, but it showed us that when we fight for what is right, we can actually win. The more important lesson is to protect that victory and ensure that the changes we fought for will actually materialize.
We should always remember, especially these days, that once upon a time, generations before us did just that.
May we keep on fighting the good fight, even when it’s terrifying to the bones. This, we owe to those who fought for us and to succeeding generations.
Iris Gonzales’ email address is eyesgonzales@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter @eyesgonzales. Column archives at eyesgonzales.com