Candidates on Edsa 30 years ago: Escudero

Senator Franchis “Chiz” Escudero. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/ARNOLD ALMACEN

Senator Francis Escudero was a 15-year-old freshman student at the University of the Philippines  Diliman, Quezon City when the People Power Revolution broke out three decades ago.

“I was going to school…”  Escudero said in a text message on Thursday when asked  where he was  exactly at the time people power was taking place.

His father,  the late Sorsogon Representative Salvador “Sonny” Escudero  III, was agriculture chief during the time of former President Ferdinand Marcos.

“In so far as my father’s concerned, it’s one thing and I learned this way back  in 1986 after the EDSA revolution.  He actually told me and I actually saw it happen that nothing is permanent in this world,” he said in an interview with INQUIRER.net in April 2013.

READ: Escudero: I’m no thief

“Whatever position you’re holding or handling right now, that will not last forever. If you say you’re president, if you say you’re senator,  you’re  a congressman,  you’re a mayor, a governor, — that will not last forever. Better be sure that the people you meet on your way up, will be still smiling at you if you  meet the same people on your way down,” the senator added.

Escudero said people should always learn from history to  prevent whatever mistakes  were committed in the  past.

“Ang dapat na pag tingin natin sa kasaysayan ay hindi parang arithmetic o addition or subtraction lang, kung saan lahat ng positibo ima-minus mo lahat ng negatibo ng kasaysayan,”  he said in a recent interview.

“Take the good with the bad.  Hindi mo puwedeng pakinabangan ang magandang ginawa pero ayaw naman patungan ng responsibilidad iyon pangit o mali na nagawa o ginawa.  Para sa akin, dapat ang kasaysayan laging kapulutan ng aral.  Para hindi natin pilit na inuulit iyong mga pagkakamali ng nakaraan.”

The senator  is now running against  one  of  Marcos’ children  and namesake, Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., in the vice presidential race  in  May 2016.

Escudero and Marcos shared the top spot  in the vice presidential survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations  from February 5 to 7 among 1, 200 respondents.

READ: Marcos, Escudero share top spot

“So many events have unfolded since February 25, 1986. So many have analyzed and interpreted this memorable part of our contemporary history. History is both beautiful and bizarre, if not ugly,” Escudero said Wednesday.

“Let us try to correct the bizarre components, errors and mistakes committed along the way of our long difficult and complicated quest to build a better, more compassionate, and more inclusive society and nation for all Filipino people,” he added.

As the  nation  commemorates the  30th anniversary today, Thursday,   Escudero and his presidential candidate Senator Grace Poe are  scheduled to visit Abra and  La Union provinces.