MANILA, Philippines -- Two major players in the 1986 People Power revolt that ended Ferdinand Marcos? dictatorship will go their separate ways at the 22nd anniversary celebration of the historic event on Monday.

Corazon Aquino, who was swept to power by EDSA I, will lead a thanksgiving Mass at Sto. Domingo Church in Quezon City, while her successor, Fidel Ramos, will attend the Mass at the EDSA Shrine organized by Malacañang.

The two former Presidents were both invited by Malacañang to attend the activity at the EDSA Shrine.

Ramos? media consultant, Ed Malay, Thursday said there was no reason for his boss not to attend the Mass at the EDSA Shrine in Mandaluyong City because ?Mr. Ramos is for the status quo.?

Malay was referring to Ramos? earlier declaration that he was supporting President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo despite the current National Broadband Network (NBN) scandal ?in the absence of a better alternative.?

Ramos had also said that the Catholic Bishops? Conference of the Philippines? call for ?communal action? and the protest actions demanding the truth behind the scrapped NBN deal with China?s ZTE Corp. would not be sufficient to spark another people power revolt.

Ms Arroyo, whose political party, the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi) is expected to coalesce with the ruling Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) for the 2010 presidential election, is Lakas chair and Ramos is chair emeritus.

Aquino, hailed as an icon of Philippine democracy, will attend the Mass at Sto. Domingo Church along with Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay and other key opposition figures.

Rodolfo Lozada Jr., the star witness in the Senate inquiry into the NBN-ZTE scandal, is also expected to attend.

According to reports, Binay had originally allowed the holding of the Mass at the Ninoy Aquino monument at the corner of Paseo de Roxas and Ayala Avenue in Makati City. But the venue was moved to Sto. Domingo Church, where many of the Masses for Aquino?s assassinated husband, former Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr., were celebrated in the 1980s.

The Ninoy Aquino monument was the site of a protest rally held last week by the opposition and militant groups calling for Ms Arroyo?s resignation.

Asked why Aquino would not join Ramos at the EDSA Shrine, her spokesperson Deedee Siytangco simply said: ?Because she is already going to Sto. Domingo.?

Aquino called for the resignation of Ms Arroyo in 2005, at the height of the ?Hello Garci? wiretapping scandal that suggested massive fraud in the 2004 presidential election.

Lately, Aquino has taken an active role in organizing prayer gatherings in support of Lozada, who implicated Ms Arroyo?s husband in the NBN-ZTE scandal.

From Rizal Park to Ayala Ave.

The interfaith rally planned on Feb. 29 by a coalition of religious, militant and civil society groups as part of the response to the CBCP?s call for communal action will be held on Ayala Avenue in Makati instead of Rizal Park in Manila.

Fr. Jose Dizon, convenor of the Church-based group Solidarity Philippines, told reporters that the change in venue was decided on because the organizers were expecting a crowd larger than the 10,000-strong protest action last week.

?We are expecting new faces and new groups on Ayala. We are anticipating the big participation of the youth and the business sector on Feb. 29,? he said.

Dizon said the organizers decided on Makati as the new venue to show the coalition?s broader front that now included students, the middle class and the business sector.

?We don?t want this to be a numbers game. What we want to do is to come up with a big mobilization on Ayala. Putting our large protest action in the country?s financial district will deliver a very strong message to the government and the world,? he said.

According to Dizon, the organizers are in no hurry to converge on Rizal Park because the ?communal actions? are still ?snowballing? at this point.

He said the organizers would reserve the Manila venue for larger protest actions.

?We don?t have to rush to Luneta now. Some actions are still coming together in the provinces,? he said.

P25,000 for grandstand

Dizon said the organizers also found it practical to move the interfaith rally to Makati to avoid having to pay as much as P25,000 for the use of the Quirino Grandstand.

Besides, he said, the organizers were not expecting the government to issue the necessary permit for the use of the grandstand in time for Feb. 29.

The issuance of the permit is not within the jurisdiction of the city government of Manila but of the National Park Commission, which is under the Office of the President, Dizon said.

?Before, we also planned to hold a similar activity at the Luneta but we were told that the venue had been reserved for a week. But when we checked, we found that no such event was being held there,? he said.

Dizon said that at least in Makati, the organizers were assured of being given a permit to hold the interfaith rally.

He said it was high time the people took to the streets and expressed their sentiments against the anomalies in the government.

But despite earlier dialogues between civil society groups and some members of the CBCP, the bishops are still not expected to come up with a united front for the interfaith rally.

On own initiative

The CBCP spokesperson, Msgr. Pedro Quitorio, told reporters that only a few bishops were expected to attend the rally, and that ?they will attend on their own individual initiative.?

Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz had earlier said he would attend the rally that is expected to generate louder calls for the resignation of Ms Arroyo.

Quitorio also said that because the Feb. 29 activity was to be a prayer rally, participants were being encouraged to maintain the appropriate atmosphere.

Dizon also said as much, but added that participants would not be barred from carrying anti-Arroyo banners: ?Even if they bring ?Gloria resign? banners, that?s okay with us. But since this is a prayer rally, they should also behave.? With a report from Beverly T. Natividad