MANILA, Philippines – While a lot of things may have changed since the time our parents and grandparents stood up against a regime violence and corruption through the first EDSA uprising in 1986, the spirit of the People Power Revolution still remain in the hearts and minds of Filipinos who continue to seek for a better place for the new generation.
About 10,000 people wearing yellow shirts gathered in front of the EDSA People Power monument in Quezon City as early as 7 a.m. Saturday to relive the spirit of a peaceful mass movement that toppled a 20-year dictatorship.
Now grandparents Rolie and Felicitacion Retiro brought their seven-year-old granddaughter “in the hope of passing on the spirit of EDSA to them.”
In an interview, the Retiros said they wanted to give their granddaughter a glimpse of what they had gone through to give her a future.
“Gusto namin makita niya yung pinagdaanan namin ngayon palang kahit wala pa s’yang muang dito [We want her to see what we went through even if she may still not understand what this is all about],” said Felicitacion, 67.
And 26 years after that historic day, the Retiros said they have never stop fighting for a better tomorrow.
“Nakikipaglaban pa din kami ngayon, at patuloy na makikipaglaban hanggang hindi nalilinis ng tuluyan ang pulitika sa bansa natin [We are still fighting and we will continue to fight for as long as we have not gotten rid of dirty politics in our country],” she said.
Food vendor Cynthia Melchor thinks the same way.
She said that if it wasn’t for the money she could earn from her merchandise, she may have brought her whole family to join the “important” celebration.
She said that she was around nine years old when her parents took her and her siblings to the monument during the uprising in 1986.
While she was only after the fun of it because of her young age, she recalled her parents, Federic and Susan Melchor, shouting “laban” (fight) while she and her siblings were holding up yellow flowers and enjoying some free food distributed to the people.
She said if not for their poor health, her parents would have also been with her to relive this historical event.
“Nanood na lang sila ng balita sa bahay kasi mahina na sila [They just watched the news on TV because they are already weak],” Cynthia said.