Thirty-three years ago today, President Marcos fled the country after three tumultuous days that saw two million civilians amass on EDSA to protest his two-decade rule and to support the military men who had withdrawn their support from the regime and had holed up in Camp Crame.
Those of us who lived through those heady days remember the exhausted euphoria that finally washed over us on the 25th of Feburary1986 when—for the moment, at least—the Philippines was the darling of the world and everything seemed possible. In the eyes of the world, we had regained democracy with determination, courage and faith—and relatively little bloodshed.
But memory fades, and even people who were there for the unfolding drama 33 years ago remember things differently today. Moreover, more than half of the population today were not even born at the time of the EDSA People Power Revolution. For an increasing percentage of Filipinos, then, the landmark even is not even a memory—and many view today’s holiday as little more than a welcome break from school or their jobs.
Beyond marking it with an official holiday and the yearly commemorative rites, how do we keep the spirit of EDSA alive?
We might begin by recognizing in our day-to-day lives the two true gifts of EDSA—unity and freedom.
The EDSA Revolution is often portrayed as a contest between two political clans, but it was so much more than the personalities on center stage three decades ago. In all likelihood, the military rebels would have been wiped out by government troops had they not had the protection of millions of Filipinos who, moved by a unity of purpose, taken to the streets to show their support.
We have not seen this sense of unity as a people since—and that, perhaps, is why we have not lived up to the promise of EDSA. All too often, we engage in divisive politics that suggests that if you are not with us, you are against us—only to forget that we are all in one nation, and that we need to come together to achieve common goals.
That goal 33 years ago was to achieve the freedom that was stifled by martial law. The challenge today is to use those hard-won freedoms to carve out a better life for all Filipinos—and to be prepared to defend those rights at all costs.