EDITORIAL - A continuing revolution

Commemorative rites become progressively more subdued with each passing year, and 28 years is a long time to look back and celebrate even a seemingly impossible feat. This year the anniversary of the 1986 people power revolution managed to draw national attention largely due to President Aquino’s decision to move the commemorative rites for the first time from the EDSA Shrine to the disaster zones in the Visayas and Mindanao.

Instead of quibbling over the venue, it is useful to remember that the long struggle against Ferdinand Marcos’ authoritarian rule took place not just in Metro Manila but all over the country. When millions marched on EDSA in those four fateful days of February 1986, crowds also gathered in several key cities across the country, with the same call for an end to a dictatorial regime.

Today the nation remembers the unity that made it possible for Filipinos, using non-violent protest, to topple a strongman who had been in power for two decades. Victims of the atrocities perpetrated during martial law are setting up a center where their stories can be presented and preserved, to remind younger generations of the perils of absolute power.

Those too young to remember, or who were not yet around when martial law was imposed, must understand what it means to live in the shadow of warrantless raids and arrest, rape, torture and summary execution at the hands of state forces. Many people who went missing under military rule were never found. Filipinos must not forget how absolute power allowed national coffers to be plundered to a degree that required coining a word for a regime that engages in such large-scale corruption: kleptocracy.

As important as preserving those memories and preventing a return of one-man rule is making the revolution work to empower the people. The revolution did not end after the crowds left EDSA. The end of an oppressive regime was just the start of a long and difficult struggle to build a strong, prosperous nation. The struggle can succeed with people power, in another form.