President Rodrigo Duterte graces the 9th anniversary of the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) in Davao City on Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2019. (Photo from an RTVM video)
MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday urged Filipinos to remember the 1986 Edsa People Power uprising when they cast their votes in the May 2019 elections.
In his message for the 33rd commemoration of the Edsa People Power revolution, the President hailed how Filipinos “showed to the world that history can be rewritten without the need to resort to violent means.”
“Indeed, the peaceful revolution that brought together Filipinos from all walks of life during those tense four days of February 1986 has given rise to a Philippines that was reborn from the ashes of its tumultuous past,” he said.
“As the entire nation prepares for the upcoming Midterm Elections this May, let us always remember how this historic revolution restored our power to collectively chart our future through the ballot,” he added.
The President hoped that Filipinos would have “a profound sense of appreciation and understanding of what we lost and what we reclaimed.”
“I am hopeful that this occasion will inspire all of us, especially the younger generation, to deeply value the freedom and liberty that we won in EDSA,” he said.
“Let us never forget the sacrifice of those who came before us so that we may always be motivated to preserve and protect the democratic way of life that we enjoy,” he added.
As in the past two years since assuming his office, the President will not attend the Edsa People Power rites.
He is scheduled to grace the 1st National Assembly of the Liga ng Mga Barangay sa Pilipinas at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
In 2018, Duterte skipped commemoration of the Edsa People Power Revolution in Manila and chose to spend his day in his hometown Davao City.
In 2017, he also skipped the Edsa anniversary rites at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City as he opted to attend the relaunch of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro in Davao City.
The 1986 People Power uprising toppled the regime of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos, whom the President has described as “best president ever.”
The President was heavily criticized for allowing Marcos’s burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani on Nov. 18, 2016.
But the former mayor, a close friend of the Marcos family, maintained that Marcos was a former president and a soldier, which under the 1987 Constitution, qualified him to be buried there. /atm