EDSA twenty eight years later

He was just a young lieutenant when the people called upon him for service. Together with two others, he formed a movement that ultimately led to this widespread revolt called EDSA. The two men who were with him in that clandestine meeting up in the mountains of the PMA academy grounds went on and found their political niche. He remains still, unbowed, and with clenched fists, openly defying the very people who replaced a dictator, but are dictators themselves.

Twenty eight years later, and the young lieutenant is now a one-star general. A few years from now, and he will leave the service. The circumstances that convinced him to tread the revolutionary path, even went to jail for his beliefs, remain. The question is---will he continue his revolutionist path or be content with reposing his legacy to the Young Generation?

I was just 15 when the revolt broke out. My aunts and uncles went out of our house and together with them, went straight to EDSA before the Camp Crame gate.

We were met by a huge throng of people. All kinds of people were there--the burgis, the taong grasa, the cloaked ones, the bagets ones, and the armed ones. Some were crying. Some were defiant. Some were shouting. Some were praying.

The soldiers armed with M-16s approached us. One man called for vigilance and immediately a line was formed, people with arms interlocked, ready for anything. When those soldiers got near, one of them cried. I saw him cry, his tears flowing from his very eyes. I cried too.

Why did these things happen, Filipinos going against Filipinos. Is this the kind of society I want to live in, a society wrecked by various interests?

Fortunately, nothing happened. No soldier fired his gun, the muzzle of which was blocked by flowers from the very masses he was ordered to shoot at.

Twenty eight years later, and I don't know what happened to that soldier. Is he still alive? Is he now a general? Is he now a politician? Or, is he now living a quiet life with his own family.

Twenty eight years ago, EDSA was just a straight line, with grasslands on both sides. Now, the landscape has completely changed. Skyscrapers dot the landscape, with malls even eclipsing the tall statue of Mary, the mother of Christ.

I looked at that statue some days ago, and thought that this scene sums everything up after EDSA. Shortly after EDSA, we were able to allow society to change, by opening ourselves up to capitalism. Capitalism blossomed shortly after EDSA, yet, what it failed to change was the political infrastructure. From a dictatorial setup, we allowed a few to dominate our entire State.

While we change economically, we never allowed ourselves to fully develop spiritually. Our spiritual growth got stunted. We never really understood what God wanted us to do when we got there at EDSA.

When we allowed a capitalist system to thrive, we failed to change the bad political values that go with it. Greed became a norm. Stealing people's monies became our motivation. We threw out the best that God wanted to convey to us and that was, Love.

Love for others will surely prevent many of us from stealing the people's monies. Love for country will surely prevent us from loving other cultures other than our own. Love for our very families will surely convince us to go out of our comfort zones and struggle, and struggle hard against forces that threaten the very futures of our generations.

The very landscape now at EDSA shows us the twenty eight years of wranglings, of wars and mini-wars, of oligarchic domination, of elite domination, of poverty of our souls and the human sufferings of heroes and living ones.

Let Love dominate us as we continue our struggle towards a just and humane society. Let Love once more urge us to make the ultimate sacrifice and mete justice to those who have sinned.

Twenty eight years, and only EDSA's landscape changed. Those outside of this road remain in their primal states, the very thing that condemns us and the very thing that invalidates our sacrifice.