MANILA, Philippines ? President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo doesn?t want any more popular uprisings, asks the public not to relive the four days of the first people power revolt, which the country is commemorating, and instead learn from one of its lessons, which is ?boldness,? especially in the face of the global financial crisis.
At the same time, the President, during Sunday?s wreath-laying affair, thanked Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, Senator Gregorio ?Gringo? Honasan, and other members of the Reformed the Armed Forces Movement (RAM), who were among the key figures in EDSA 1 that led to the downfall of the 20-year Marcos dictatorship.
Honasan would later lead several bloody coup attempts against then president Corazon Aquino, the acknowledged leader of the first military-backed and bloodless revolt, while Enrile was supposed to have ordered Estrada supporters to attack Malacañang in 2001 when then president Joseph Estrada was ousted in the second popular uprising, dubbed EDSA 2, that catapulted former vice president Arroyo to power.
Aquino, who was part of the second popular uprising, had actively participated in street protests that demanded Arroyo to resign amid allegations of poll fraud in 2004 and graft and corruption.
Arroyo reiterated that another ?revolt? would spark ?condemnation? from the rest of the world.
?The world embraced EDSA 1 in 1986. The world tolerated EDSA 2 in 2001. The world will not forgive an EDSA 3, but it will instead condemn the Philippines as a country whose political system is hopelessly unstable,? she said in a speech at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (Heroes? Cemetery) in Taguig Sunday morning.
Arroyo asked the public ?not to relive? the four days of the first revolt but instead learn from them and ?refresh our spirit against the new challenges of today.?
She said one such lesson was ?boldness,? a quality the country should show in the face of the global financial crisis.
In previous engagements, Arroyo noted that the crisis had sent two-thirds of the world into recession while the Philippines remained in relatively good standing.
?Our political stability today is one of the reasons why we have escaped thus far the worst effect of the global recession,? she said.
?It is boldness that we must exercise to prevent the world crisis from becoming a Philippine crisis and to protect those among our people from hurt from the global downturn,? she said.
Arroyo cited the ?boldness of our countrymen going out into the streets with no weapons but their faith,? the acknowledged shining moment of EDSA 1 when not a single shot was fired.
But Arroyo?s critics believed that she used the so-called lessons of EDSA 1 to her full advantage, implementing her policy of ?calibrated preemptive response? that allowed anti-riot policemen to use force more than tolerance against protesters.
Also on Sunday, Arroyo thanked Honasan who was also implicated in the 2003 mutiny at the Oakwood Apartments in Makati City, which sought to overthrow the Arroyo administration.
Arroyo expressed her gratitude to Enrile and members of RAM present in the occasion.
?Thank you, Senator Honasan for being with us once again and to all the members of RAM who are with us today, thank you. The country honors you,? Arroyo said.
She later had breakfast with the ?RAM Boys,? some of whom are working under her administration.
She cited Red Capunan, deputy chief of the Civil Aeronautics Authority, and Noe Wong, Philippine ambassador to Cambodia.
?We are very happy to have them in government service and to help us with what Senator Enrile stressed, we must continue to do and that is reform and good government,? she said.
?The country honors all the Filipino people. Let us all go back to our work after this, living EDSA, living the boldness required to answer the challenges of the day,? Arroyo said.
