The truth about EDSA ‘86

By NESTOR MATA
MALAYA

‘President Noynoy Aquino’s version of that historic event 37 years ago contradicted that of former President Fidel V. Ramos…’

PRESIDENT Noynoy Aquino called the historic event at EDSA 27 years ago, improperly, a “revolution,” while former President Fidel V. Ramos, one of the triumvirs in the movement that led to the downfall of the Marcos dictatorship, correctly named it the “people power revolt.” (FVR’s fellow triumvirs were then Defense Minister, now Senate President, Juan Ponce Enrile and then Colonel now Senator Gregorio Honasan.)

Noynoy even denigrated, without naming names, those who propelled the bloodless uprising. “Bear in mind,” Noynoy orated in his speech during the commemoration of that event at the EDSA People Monument, “EDSA is not owned by a few — it cannot be claimed by a few people whose faces we see in the newspapers or by those who gathered on the avenue. They just represented the call of the whole nation for freedom, dignity and justice.”

Aquino was not present when it all happened, just like his mother, Cory Cojuangco Aquino, who found herself, accidentally, installed in the presidency. And now , as president himself, Noynoy even insisted that it’s an “unfinished revolution ” and that “the fight is not over yet.” That’s what he has been saying for the past three years now.

But those who know all about that people’s revolt must have shaken their heads in utter disbelief and dismay over Noynoy’s remarks. With mentioning any names, Ramos, in his speech commemorating those four days at EDSA at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, lamented that “… the greed, the apathy, the cronyism and corruption that we brought down at EDSA are still with us in our land!” And called on the people to remove “new tyrannies… such as self-serving leaders, greedy autocrats and cliques of corrupt officials.”

Who is telling the truth? First of all, EDSA was not a “revolution” nor an “unfinished revolution,” as Aquino put it. Neither was it a social and political revolution. In essence, a revolution is a matter of change in the whole basic structure of society, that is, a change in which decisive political and economic power passes from the hands of a ruling class into the hands of a new ruling class which is destined to take society forward to a new plus of development. That’s not what happened during those four exciting days in 1986 and soon after Cory Cojuangco Aquino’s installation in the presidency. In her time, and even now in Noynoy’s own presidency, the leadership was and is still based on patronage and government continues to be a matter of trial and error— mostly error!

Indeed, as a foreign political observer put it, addressing President Aquino, “…to compare a ‘revolution’ to restore democracy where there was none to a fight for some nebulous goal in a country that already enjoys democratic institutional governance is something only a vindictive, uninspiring, and clueless leader would shove down the throats of a public who have, for 26 years, gagged on the quaint but empty symbols that now divide rather than unite – the color yellow, the senseless hand gestures, and the tacky jingles.”

“What remains the order of business is to achieve something that will see you leaving your people in 2016 a Philippines that is different from the wretched country we see today. But how can you do this when rather than build, you would rather ‘fight’. Rather than galvanize your people, you would rather distract them. And rather than envision a future, you would rather stew in the past. To this day we still fail to understand what it is exactly you envision the Philippines of 2016 to be like. Perhaps it is really just 2014 you have set your sights on – the year that your feudal clan’s precious Hacienda Luisita estate comes due for subjection to the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).”

How true, how true! In the first three years of his six-year term, which will come to an end three years from today, Aquino has failed to fulfill the dreams of the EDSA Revolt of 1986. He has failed to remove, to quote the ringing words of FVR, once more, “…the oligarchies, and self-serving autocrats and corrupt officials” are still in every nook and corner of Noynoy’s administration, as well as the warlords and dynastic political families!

That’s saying that in his first three years in power, President Aquino has shattered the dreams of the EDSA Revolt of ‘86 of having peace in the country, a better life for the people, better jobs, and a way out of poverty!

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Quote of the Day: “The world is wearied of politicians who have degraded democracy!” – Anon.

Thought of the Day: “A good leader always learns more from his political opponents than from his fervent supporters. For his supporters will push him to disaster unless his opponents show him where the dangers are. So, if he is wise, he will often pray to be delivered from his friends, because they will ruin him. But, even though it hurts, he ought to also pray never to be left without opponents, for they keep him on the path of reason and good sense!” – Walter Lippmann
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