Bill to declare Edsa People Power anniversary a regular holiday filed

FILE PHOTO: People cheer as one of the attack helicopters, led by then Col. Antonio Sotelo, lands in Camp Crame. The helicopter squadron defected to the rebel soldiers’ side on the second day of the revolt.
PHOTO FROM THE BOOK “PEOPLE POWER: THE PHILIPPINE REVOLUTION: AN EYEWITNESS HISTORY”

MANILA, Philippines — Albay 1st District Rep. Edcel Lagman has filed a bill that aims to declare February 25 of every year as a regular non-working holiday in remembrance of the Edsa People Power Revolution anniversary.

Lagman’s House Bill No. 9405 states that February 25 must be declared a holiday to “commemorate, institutionalize, and memorialize the popular ouster of President Ferdinand E. Marcos, Sr. as dictator of his martial law regime.”

Under the bill filed Monday, an Edsa Commission composed of different agencies would be reconstituted to plan different activities to observe the historical event. At least P10 million from the annual budget and donations would be used to fund the activities.

“There must be a law institutionalizing the celebration as a regular national public non-working holiday of the Edsa People Power Revolution which started on 22 February 1986 and culminated on 25 February 1986 with the popular and peaceful ouster of President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. as dictator of his martial law regime,” Lagman said in his proposed law.

READ: February 25, Edsa People Power Anniversary, not a holiday in 2024

After copies of House Bill No. 9405 were sent to reporters on Monday, Lagman was asked why he did not file the bill before – when Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was not yet president or his cousin Ferdinand Martin Romualdez was not yet the speaker of the lower chamber.

“The Marcoses and their allies are forced to good in agreeing with the bill because otherwise they would admit to the culpability of the continuing and concerted design of revising and distorting the historical verities of the evils, oppression and profligacy of the Marcos Sr. martial law regime,” the veteran lawmaker replied.

Lagman, whose family members fiercely fought the dictatorship of Marcos Sr., admitted they forgot that Filipinos tend not to remember their history.

READ: Marcos applies ‘holiday economics’ to Edsa anniversary

“Why is the bill filed only now? We forgot that Filipinos are forgetful, and sitting presidents would treat in varying degrees the celebration of the peaceful EDSA People Power Revolution,” he explained.

“For this reason, albeit belatedly, there has to be a law memorializing the Filipino people’s relentless crusade for freedom and democracy which culminated in the ouster of Marcos, Sr,” he added.

On Friday, October 13, Malacañang released Proclamation No. 368, which listed the regular holidays and non-working days for 2024. However, the enumeration did not include February 25 or the anniversary of the People Power Revolution, which has been a special non-working holiday through the past years.

LIST: Regular holidays and non-working days in 2024

This prompted ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro to ask if the decision to exclude the Edsa People Power Revolution’s anniversary from the list of 2024 national holidays is part of a concerted effort to revise the country’s history.

READ: For activists, moving Edsa holiday a bid to ‘dilute’ its significance

A peaceful protest against Marcos Sr.’s martial rule that would later be known worldwide as a bloodless revolution started along Epifanio delos Santos Avenue (Edsa).

Marcos Sr., after clinging to power for more than two decades marred by allegations of plunder and rights abuses, was ousted by the people on February 25, 1986.

READ: Marcos’ martial law: Golden age for corruption, abuses

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