Cory defends EDSA 2

Former President Corazon Aquino defended last month’s ouster of President Joseph Estrada, saying it was a "constitutional process" by which the people used their sovereign power through a "people power" uprising.

Speaking at the "Parangal ng Ateneo, Tanglaw ng Bayan" awards night at the Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City Tuesday, Aquino said when institutions of democracy "fail to deliver a democratic government," the people could take back their sovereign power and wield it themselves.

Meanwhile, Archbishop of Manila Jaime Cardinal Sin, one of the awardees, told the audience that true peace cannnot be attained without fairness, truth, justice, and solidarity.

"We have shown once more that change and the pursuit of justice can be achieved without a single drop of blood," he said.

Sin said this is the reason why the Catholic Church has called for the immediate prosecution of Estrada despite the "moral forgiveness" that had been given him.

Aquino said the people had no recourse but "to enforce the impeachment trial on the streets" after "the process had failed" to convict Estrada in the Senate.

"We call this people power and see it as the activation of the sovereign clause of a democratic constitution, which says that ‘sovereignty resides in the people and all power comes from them’," she said.

Aquino said "people power" is the "voice of decency in the mouths of the brave" and that it is manifested in "simple moral indignation" when the people are faced with "brazen" injustice.

"(The people) went (to EDSA) to show their anger at the treachery of the 11 senators," she said. "They went to show their conviction of the President’s guilt."

Aquino described "people power" as a two-edged sword which carried Estrada to the presidency in 1998 with the largest electoral mandate in history, and then drove him out of Malacañang last Jan. 20.

"We gave the Constitution every chance to work," she said. "We gave the President every chance to defend himself."

Aquino said Philippine democracy has become "sustainable" following the two people power revolts that took place in the country within a span of 15 years.

"The first of these revolutions restored democracy and banished dictatorship for good, while the second restored good government," she said.

Aquino said modern technology like the cell phone, the internet and text messaging helped people power II succeed in toppling Estrada.

"But I prefer to attribute our high rate of success in direct popular political action to three factors: a genuine if imperfect democracy allowing a free exchange of information," she said.

Meanwhile, Sin will bless a historical marker at the EDSA Shrine on Feb. 25, the 15th anniversary of the EDSA people power revolt that ousted President Ferdinand Marcos.

The marker will declare the shrine as "Holy Ground."

It reads: "Millions of indignant, vigilant and black-clad Filipinos started a vigil for moral renewal in public governance on Jan. 17, 2001, singing together, praying together, chanting protest slogans together and chanting together a new course for the hsotory of peaceful political change. At high noon on the 20th of January 2001, the eve of the feast of Sto. Niño, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was sworn in as as the fourteenth President of the Republic of the Philippines, under the shadow of Mary, Our Lady of EDSA, in the presence of millions of peace-loving Filipinos, Henceforth, all generations to come shall call this historical event as Second People Power Revolution."

A mural depicting the people power II by sculptor Peter de Guzman will be installed near the historical marker.

The marker will be unveiled by President Arroyo and former Presidents Aquino and Fidel Ramos.