Will People Power be commemorated in 2023? Marcos aide evades question
MANILA, Philippines — The 1986 People Power EDSA revolution is a moment memorialized in history books: A peaceful revolution that ousted a dictator and inspired similar movements across the world.
In the Philippines, lately tagged as a "forgetful country," accounts of the brutal Martial Law period have been continuously revised and sanitized by government officials and academics as well as by an army of content creators, influencers and so-called disinformation operators.
With President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. now headed back to Malacañang, will the Filipino people still commemorate this key moment in our national history or will February 25 go the way of January 17, the by now forgotten anniversary of the 2001 EDSA Dos ouster of Joseph Ejercito Estrada?
Vic Rodriguez, Marcos' long-time aide and soon to be executive secretary, does not see the point of asking about whether there would be space to mark the EDSA anniversary as all administrations since the restoration of democracy in 1986 have.
In a chance interview with reporters after Marcos' proclamation, he said: "I don't see any connection to what we did today, getting the president elect and vice president elect proclaimed to what you're asking me now."
Asked if they can give reassurance that Marcos will not revoke President Rodrigo Duterte's Proclamation 319 that designated September 21 — the generally acknowledged anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law — as a national day of protest "in solidarity with the people's call against all excesses or shortcomings of the government," Rodriguez no longer answered.
Marcos, who was elected by a historic majority vote, campaigned on the platform of unity but also on nostalgia for the supposed "golden years" of the Philippines under his father.
His win has raised concerns of historical revisionism and, for the survivors and the families of victims of Martial Law, specters of a painful past.
In his first speech to the media after he was proclaimed president-elect, Marcos said he is humbled by his win and asked for the Filipino people to pray for him.
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