MARCOS MEMORIES | A box-shaped flower-bedecked float joins Baguio City’s Panagbenga (flower festival) parade on Sunday as it promotes the movie “Martyr or Murderer,” about the exile of the Marcoses and the aftermath of the Edsa Revolution from their perspective. (Photo by WILLIE LOMIBAO / Inquirer Northern Luzon)
BAGUIO CITY, Benguet, Philippines — A float promoting a new film about the Marcos family rolled down Session Road in this city on Sunday during the restaging of the grand parade of Panagbenga, or the Baguio Flower Festival, a day after the country celebrated the 37th anniversary of the Edsa People Power Revolution.
The movie “Martyr or Murderer” portrays the lives of the family of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. before and after his father, Ferdinand Marcos Sr., was ousted by the 1986 bloodless revolt which was remembered on Saturday — the same day the Baguio Flower Festival Street Dancing Parade dazzled residents and tourists.
Eight huge floats, nine smaller floats, and four “noncompeting” floats from the Baguio City government, the Department of Tourism, the Baguio Country Club, and shopping mall giant SM participated in one of the crowd-pleasing events of Panagbenga, which is inherently apolitical.
The Marcos float, which carried the film’s actors like Christine Reyes, promoted the movie’s opening in theaters on March 1.
‘Never again’ protest
Earlier on Saturday, while everyone’s eyes were also focused on nine colorful street dancing groups who performed along downtown Session, 10 student activists, wearing flower tiaras, tried to draw their attention back to the commemoration of the bloodless revolt.
The students are members of the Kabataan Partylist group who handed out leaflets at Burnham Park, summarizing the event that ousted the late dictator.
The English and Ilocano phrases “Never Again, Never Forget” were printed on the tiaras donned by the young activists, who wanted to remind the Baguio public about “the peoples’ struggle to oust the late dictator,” said Louise Montenegro, Kabataan’s Cordillera coordinator.
This was the first Edsa People Power commemoration to be held under the administration of the dictator’s son and namesake.
Changed by Edsa
Sen. Imee Marcos, the president’s sister, addressed the 1986 People Power Revolution on Sunday afternoon after she helped distribute payouts from the Department of Social Welfare and Development program called Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations, as well as scholarship grants to 600 Baguio-eligible students.
“We all were changed by the Edsa Revolution in many ways and by many measures,” she told reporters, speaking in a mix of English and Filipino. “But I think the true lesson from Edsa is a real call to transform society.”
IN FULL BLOOM | Information technology giant Sitel presents its float of flowers depicting a woman’s face at the Grand Float Parade on Sunday, the conclusion of Baguio City’s Panagbenga Flower Festival which has been revived after more than two years of the pandemic. (Photo by WILLIE LOMIBAO / Inquirer Northern Luzon)
Marcos said the country must resolve the poverty that still affects many Filipinos, regardless of the debates with Martial Law victims and theories from Marcos loyalists that the people power event was “military adventurism” and a “power grab.”
Except for the Kabataan party, most of the Edsa commemoration programs in Baguio were scheduled this week to avoid the weekend parades.
But traffic was relatively smooth and manageable because many tourists commuted to Baguio instead of driving up to the mountain resort city, said Police Col. Francisco Bulwayan Jr., the city police director. “They anticipated the traffic problems and walked around Baguio,” he said.