Salingkit

people power

people powerTHE EVENTS which led to the EDSA Revolution of 1986—also known as the People Power Revolution, the February Revolution, or EDSA 1—are all very hazy now. My journals are no help, containing a million complaints about the hot weather, some rejoicing when classes were cancelled, and no real knowledge about the dire situation in my country. Ninoy’s wife, Cory, seemed to be in every rally we attended, and in her speeches she would often mention Ninoy and his dreams for the Filipino people. When Marcos, on 3 November 1985, announced his plan to hold snap elections in the next year, it only seemed logical that she would be our choice for president against Marcos; it did not occur to me then to have any sort of reservations about it.

A SNAP ELECTION is a sudden election happening earlier than scheduled, or where no election was previously scheduled. Marcos called for this “to show that he still had the mandate of the people after staying in power for more than two decades” (Students’ 64).

Apparently there were many reservations, beginning with Cory herself. She in fact did not want to run for president, was only convinced to run when she received a petition with one million signatures. Some people were unimpressed by her and demanded her credentials; who was she, they said, but a mere housewife who stood by her political husband? Some considered the elections simply as another of Marcos’ ploys; in a government controlled by him, who else would win but him? Still, Marcos failed to consider the people’s anger, and their willingness to take their chances with a simple, religious, honest woman rather than stay with a practiced politico like him.

I was too young to vote in 1986, but I remember the remaining days that marched ever onward toward the elections held on the seventh of February. My parents had joined a group called the Fasters for Justice, and I would accompany them to Ugarte Field in Makati, where they joined other groups in fasting and prayer for an honest and peaceful election. I had no concept of how elections were run in the country; what held my interest at the time was how people could live on water and bread, or crackers and honey, and even (my favorite) Magnolia Chocolait. The words “honest” and “peaceful” made no sense until the day of the election itself, and the days immediately following, which led to the People Power Revolution.

The Philippines had suddenly split into two countries. If you followed the elections on TV, Marcos seemed to be winning. If you switched on the radio, Cory had the lead. In fact many local groups and foreign governments had begun to congratulate Cory, recognizing her as the new President of the Philippines. As Francisco S Tatad narrates:

The bishops had spoken, Reagan had spoken, the European community had spoken, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, ASEAN had spoken […]. [But] Marcos told the nation he would not vacate. He appeared in no danger of being forced out. Having threatened to meet force with force, he now left no doubt that he would use the Armed Forces to enforce his “mandate.” But no foreign government was willing to recognize that mandate. (People Power 101)

On 22 February 1986, the RAM, or Reform the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) Movement, attempted a coup to wrest power from the Marcos government. For some time this group had become disillusioned by the “corruption in the AFP and pervasive favoritism in its officer corps” (Abinales and Amoroso 223). Though the coup itself failed, this became the spark for People Power, also known as the EDSA Revolution of 1986.

A COUP D’ETAT or COUP is a sudden, usually violent, and illegal takeover of government. Literally, in French, it means “blow of state.”

With the RAM’s patrons, the Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile, and the Armed Forces Vice Chief of Staff Fidel Ramos, the rebels withdrew to two military camps along EDSA, Camp Aguinaldo and Camp Crame. Over the radio, Enrile accused Marcos of cheating in the elections, and Ramos criticized him for making the Armed Forces his own personal errand crew. Manila held its breath, awaiting Marcos’ forces to attack.

That evening, over the same radio station, Radio Veritas, the Archbishop of Cebu, Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, and the Archbishop of Manila, Jaime Cardinal Sin, called for a peaceful resolution. Agapito “Butz” Aquino, Ninoy’s younger brother, called on the people to protect the defectors in Camp Aguinaldo and Camp Crame in EDSA, where they had taken refuge. Cardinal Sin followed suit,

asking the people to send food and to go out into the streets and block any movement of hostile troops. Within the hour, thousands of men, women, and children ringed the gates of the military camps. It was a festive crowd. (People Power 101)

By the next day, Sunday, a mass of people from all walks of life—priests, nuns, farmers, students, street vendors, businessmen, and people from political, nonpolitical, and religious groups—had effectively blockaded EDSA. I happened to be there because I had spent the night at my cousins’ house in UP Village. So when my older cousins went, I went, not even knowing at the time what for. And suddenly I was among rebels and nuns, people praying and singing, soldiers with guns sitting on tanks wearing flower wreaths and talking to civilians.

There were no classes the next day, when air force officers and the entire Manila police force withdrew their own support of Marcos, nor on Tuesday, 25 February 1986. Instead of going back to school or to work, people continued to throng the streets and kept vigilant. That Tuesday, two presidential inaugurations took place. Cory Aquino and Salvador Laurel were sworn in as President and Vice-President respectively, at the Club Filipino in Greenhills. At the same time, Marcos was proclaimed President by the Supreme Court Chief Justice at Malacañang Palace. That evening, however, US helicopters took the Marcos family from the palace to Clark Air Force Base, and from there they fled to the United States, to live as exiles in Hawaii.