EDITORIAL - Strength in unity

Several of the key players are dead, and some of the heroes have turned out to be heels. Some of the villains have reinvented themselves and are back in social circles, as if the abuses of the dictatorship never happened. One of the heroes is held without bail on charges of large-scale corruption.

Over the years, the ironic twists in the fates of the protagonists in the 1986 people power revolution have progressively dampened celebration of the historic event. Yesterday, at the start of the events commemorating the EDSA revolt, several of the personalities who were active in the struggle against the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos were at each other’s throats. A brother of Corazon Aquino joined those marching to seek the ouster of her only son as president.

After 29 years, the generation that reached adulthood without personal knowledge of those four historic days in February 1986 see only the bickering among the players. The anniversary of the peaceful revolution, which inspired other movements for freedom in other countries, is a good occasion to remind the nation – particularly the younger generation – of the significance of that historic moment.

Why the event has been likened to a miracle bears repeating, every year. Before millions marched and occupied EDSA, refusing to be dispersed by the tanks of a corrupt, despotic regime, fear reigned in the hearts of many – fear of warrantless arrests, of torture and rape, of joining the ranks of the desaparecidos. Businesses of the Marcos cronies flourished; the rest had to make do with crumbs, or else worry that if their enterprises made good, these would be seized by the conjugal dictatorship. Fair competition was an alien concept.

Recovering from those long years of crony capitalism and world-class corruption has been tortuous. Twenty-nine years after EDSA, the revolution for transformation is not finished.

Fulfilling the promise of people power is not impossible. The commemoration of the people power revolution is a reminder of the lesson that never goes stale: there is strength in unity. In those four days in February 1986, Filipinos showed the world what could be achieved by a nation united in purpose.