FIRST TIME. Waving from the stage, President Aquino leads the celebration of the 28th anniversary of the 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution in Cebu City. Aquino was joined in the festivities by Cebu officials. TONEE DESPOJO/CEBU DAILY NEWS
CEBU CITY, Philippines—President Aquino on Tuesday preached the gospel of “love for others” as he led the commemoration of the Edsa People Power Revolution before yellow-clad supporters.
The President said this expression of selfless giving—shown when about a million Filipinos massed on Edsa in 1986 until Ferdinand Marcos stepped down—was evident in efforts to assist natural calamity victims more than two decades later.
“What drove us in Edsa was the same one that drives us to help one another each time there’s a calamity, not because we want to take advantage of others or to get something in return,” he said in Filipino.
“To so many Filipinos, the strongest driving force is the love for others, love for country, love for God,” he added.
Touring disaster-hit areas as part of this year’s commemoration of the Edsa uprising, Aquino said: “The Filipino is capable of loving, not just his kin, not just his friend, but even strangers.”
“He can sacrifice (for others) like what was shown by those who helped in repacking millions of food packs for (calamity) victims,” he said, citing relief efforts for those affected by Typhoons “Yolanda” and “Santi,” the Bohol earthquake and the Zamboanga siege.
‘First chapter’
On the 28th anniversary of the Edsa uprising, the government chose to celebrate it, not in Manila, but in Cebu where, according to the President, the struggle to restore democracy began its “first chapter.”
From the provincial capitol, Aquino and his Cabinet proceeded to Bantayan island, also in Cebu, and then to Tanauan in Leyte to check on the progress of rehabilitation there.
His last stop was Tacloban City, center of relief efforts at the height of Yolanda last year.
Not just Manila struggle
Aquino rejected a suggestion that his administration was “revising history” by holding the Edsa anniversary rites outside of Metro Manila.
“Those in Edsa were not the only ones who joined the revolt, right? There are those in Cebu, Davao and so many other places. It’s about time to recognize others’ contributions after 28 years,” he later told reporters.
Edsa people power, he said, involved the struggle of Filipinos all over country, “not just (those) in Metro Manila.”
In his speech, Aquino said Cebu could be credited with representing the “first chapter” in the struggle to restore democracy. He recalled it was in Cebu where his late mother, former President Corazon Aquino, called for civil disobedience against the Marcos dictatorship.
“If we could say that the last chapter in the struggle for democracy happened on Edsa, perhaps we could say that the first chapter happened in Cebu,” he said.
“I was at ease then because my mother was in Cebu. She was in good hands,” he said. “Those who wanted to harm her would not succeed because she was in the company of ardent supporters.”
Conspicuously absent in the Cebu program were key Edsa players like former President Fidel Ramos and former Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile.
‘Salubungan’ reenacted
The Cebu affair, held in front of the provincial capitol, reenacted the 1986 salubungan (encounter) between the civilians and the military led by Ramos and Enrile.
In the reenacment, actor Dingdong Dantes played the role of Ramos while Sen. Bam Aquino stood for his uncle, Agapito “Butz” Aquino.
With members of his Cabinet, the President watched the salubungan as the University of Cebu choir sang “Magkaisa,” the People Power Revolution theme, in the background.
Civil disobedience
Aquino recalled his going to Cebu as a young man in 1983—a month after his father, the late Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr., was assassinated—to generate support for civil disobedience and the boycott of the products produced by Marcos cronies.
He said he was shocked to see that in Cebu, it was as if martial law had ended and that the people were already free, with politicians and the students holding protest marches.
Aquino also thanked Cebu for keeping his mother safe when the Edsa revolt broke out. “She was taken care of by Cebuanos,” he said.
The commemoration program was attended by 5,000 people, including former Cebu Rep. Antonio Cuenco, Councilor Margot Osmeña, former Mayor Tomas Osmeña, opposition leader Democrito Barcenas and former Sen. John Osmeña.
Protests in Aklan, Iloilo
Protests marked the commemoration in Aklan and Iloilo provinces, with martial law victims taking part.
In Iloilo City, 250 protesters rallied in front of the provincial capitol.
“Many of the evils that we fought during the Marcos dictatorship remain today, ironically under a president whose family was among those persecuted under martial law,” said human rights worker Jose Ely Garachico.
In Kalibo, Aklan, about 100 protesters held a picket at the Crossing Banga-New Washington.
Speaking in Tanauan, Leyte, Aquino said the Edsa anniversary should be an affirmation of the strength of the Filipino people to overcome adversities.
He said the Edsa affair also showed to the world the Filipinos’ resiliency in rising up from a disaster like Yolanda.
The President led the groundbreaking ceremonies in Tanauan for a permanent resettlement site and a memorial park for those who died in the typhoon.
The 5-hectare site will serve as the relocation area for 366 families from coastline villages. The project is expected to be finished by next month.
Later, Aquino motored to the site of a proposed new regional hospital, the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center, which is expected to be finished by 2016.
The project will cost over P500 million.
In Guiuan, Eastern Samar, Yolanda survivors waited for the President but the visit was canceled because of bad weather.
Mixed feelings
On Edsa itself, as he celebrated Mass on Tuesday at the Edsa Shrine, Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas did not hide his disappointment on seeing only a “handful” of churchgoers at the early evening service.
“On one side, I’m grateful to remember Edsa,” Villegas said in his homily. “But I also ask myself, ‘Is this all what we have left? After 28 years, is this all that we gathered to thank the Lord for an event that made Filipinos stand 10 feet tall?’”
He said Filipinos must “come back to this sacred place.”
“You must stand on this ground because on this, you and I and God had a brief loving encounter for four days and history cannot be changed anymore,” he said.—With reports from Marlon Ramos and Tina G. Santos in Manila; Nestor P. Burgos Jr., Carmel Loise Matus, Carine Asutilla, Joey Gabieta and Jennifer Allegado, Inquirer Visayas
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