If there were a place that so aptly describes where we are as a nation, that has got to be Edsa.
Thirty-two years ago, Edsa was Ground Zero for a revolution that, as the term suggested, promised to overhaul the way Filipinos lived.
The world took notice of the absence of violence that attended the change. We have enduring, powerful images of civilians talking and offering food to soldiers beside tanks. However the current assistant secretary of communications dismisses it as “drama,” we know it was not drama. Those were stories and images that had great human interest value. They were most definitely not fake news.
Other societies, in their own contexts, effected their own transformations after Edsa.
Between then and now, the avenue has seen numerous changes. A church and a statue have been erected on one corner; on the next corner now stands a monument where people still gather to protest various causes.
Buildings, infrastructure, even billboards have been put up.
Over the decades, the avenue has seen immensely more vehicles, heavier traffic—and much exasperation.
These days when one mentions Edsa, what comes to mind is the chaos in public and private transport. Edsa has come to mean the Metro Rail Transit 3, a bungled rail system that runs on as few as seven trains for hundreds of thousands of passengers, and that encounters glitches with alarming regularity.
Edsa has also become notorious for congestion, not just on weekends or rush hours, but at any time and at any day.
What this points to is several administrations of poor urban planning, the turf wars and lack of coordination among the little kingdoms that are the local government units comprising the metro.
Edsa has become associated with partisan politics, and depending on the political color of the people who are in power, is either cause for a big celebration or just another day in February.
It is a stark reminder that while change can take place on the surface, some ills persist. The change we so badly want and deserve has become just another selling point for politicians who want to capitalize on our perennial frustration.