Nakalimutan na ba talaga natin ang EDSA?

Ano ba talaga ang EDSA "people power revolution"? At bakit sinasabing tila yata nakalimutan na natin ang diwa ng EDSA? Totoo bang nakalimot na tayo o baka yung iba, lalo na yaong mga namumuno sa ating gobyerno?

Kung sasabihin nating laban sa diktadurya ang EDSA revolt, naganap at natapos ito nang mapatalsik ang Pangulong Marcos. Sa dalawamput siyam na ulit mula 1986, ginugunita natin ang makasaysayang araw na ito. Pinutol natin ang diktadurya at nanumbalik ang kalayaan. Ngunit, pansinin nating maigi ang pahayag na ito---ang panunumbalik ng kalayaan.

Anong kalayaan ang naibalik? Una, ang kalayaan ng pamamahayag. Limitado noong batas militar dahil sa naturalesa o natural na kalagayan noon--siyembre batas militar ang umiiral, natural na limitado ang pamamahayag batay lamang sa gusto o nais ng nakatataas o yaong nasasa kapangyarihan.

Pansinin---nanauli nga ang kalayaan sa pamamahayag ngunit ito ay pinalitan ng pagsisikil naman sa karapatan ng mga mamamahayag. Noon bang panahon ng batas militar, ilan ang naging biktima at binusalan ang bibig? Ikumpara ito mula sa 1986 hanggang sa kasalukuyang panahon na kung kailan hindi lamang bibig ang binubusalan kundi maski buhay ay kinukuha sa atin.

Ilang libong mamamahayag na ang nagbuwis ng buhay mapanatili ang kalayaang ito. Ano ngayon ang naging pagkakaiba noong batas militar at sa kasalukuyang panahon kung ating kikilalanin na patuloy pa rin ang pagpatay at pagsikil sa pamamahayag? May nagbago ba?

Isa sa kalayaang nanumbalik ay yaong tinatawag na kalayaang pang-ekonomiya na kung saan, malayang nakapagnenegosyo ang mga tao. Tama yan sa isang kapitalistang sistema na ang basehan ng yaman ay ang kalayaan ng kapital.

Nabuksan nga natin ang ekonomiya mula sa pagsikil ng iisang grupo tungo naman sa isang kalagayang kontrolado pa rin ng iilang pamilya. Mayroong positibo at negatibong epekto ang pananauli ng kalayaan sa pagnenegosyo.

Isang malaking negatibo ay ang pag-aaportion ng ekonomiya sa mga elitistang pamilya. Pansinin--noong panahon ni Marcos, mayroong matatatag na industriya ang Pilipinas. Ngayon, anong industriya ang nasasa pagmamay-ari ng mamamayan? wala. Lahat na halos ng industriya ay ibinigay sa mga dambuhalang kumpanya o mga elitistang pamilya. Tanong--ito ba ang sinasabi nating pagbabago--ang ilagay sa balag ng alanganin ang kinabukasan ng mga mamamayan kapalit ng dominasyon sa ekonomiya ng iilang naghaharing pamilyang elitista?

Binabalik-balikan natin ang EDSA people power revolution at sa dalawamput siyam na beses, pinapaalalala sa atin ang mapait na katotohanang walang naging pagbabago kundi ang pananauli ng mga sakit at suliraning naging dahilan nga bakit lumala ang sitwasyong panlipunan na naging sanhi ng deklarasyon ng batas militar.

Nakalimutan na ba natin ang EDSA?
Dinurog na ba ng panahon ang ating pag-asa?
Ginawa na bang manhid ang ating mga mata
Napagod na ba ang ating mga paa
sa katatakbo sa
lubak-lubak na kalsada.

Nakalimutan na ba natin ang EDSA?
Isang kabanata kung saan
pinatalsik ang isang pamilya
at ipinalit ay isa ring pamilya
ngunit katanggap tanggap sa elitista.

Nakalimutan na nga ba natin ang EDSA?
nang tayo'y nagkaisa, itinaas ang mga idolo't
ideolohiya at
ipinakita ang tibay ng madla
laban sa mga tangke't sundalong
may dalang baril at batuta

Walang kulay ang linyang kita sa Roxas boulevard
kinain na ng dilim ang mga dilaw

2015 IS EDSA 2-9 (TUNAY)

NEARLY THIRTY, BUT THE PROMISES OF EDSA REMAIN UNFULFILLED. The reason is simple--it was not anchored on the true pursuit of peace, justice and freedom.

For twenty nine years, this country passed from one political family to another, from tragedy to tragedy until now. From the tumultuous Aquino family, power shifted to a Ramos, who was a member of the family who preceded Aquino. After Ramos, an aberration which the group of Ramos corrected by installing a Macapagal-Arroyo. For nine long years, the country suffered under her tyranny. She was allowed to finish her term. After her, we elected another Aquino which we now see as unfit, a year and half unto his term.

For twenty nine years, government was dominated by personalities with strong personal and familial linkages. These families held us all in bondage. They all tried to perpetuate a system which promotes inequality in the distribution of wealth. For nearly three decades, wealth in this country was strictly concentrated only to a handful. The industries which the former dispensation established for the benefit of all, were partitioned among the elites of this country in the name of private-public partnerships and B-O-T. The consequences further enslaved the people to poverty.

Our eyes were made to approve everything yellow as the color of change only to find out that what we are appreciating is the color of a family's crest of honour.

It is time to break this nightmare. It is time to re-imagine our country based on the people's terms. Let the true EDSA blossom this time.

One caution though--let us not be tricked into believing that change is something at arm's length. Change does not follow if we allow another Cojuangco to replace an unfit one.

Let a true government grow from the sacrifices of the people.

YOU-RAM-SFP and the Unsung Heroes of EDSA 1986

Let the True People's Revolt smash the elites!

In 1989, at the height of a struggle against the corporatist administration of former president Corazon Aquino, few people trooped to Malacanang to express their support behind the beleaguered leader.  The soldiers composing the Young Officers' Union (YOU), the Revolutionaryong Alyansang Makabayan (RAM) and the Soldiers of the Filipino People (SFP) were out to get the regime who reportedly renege on its promises of change shortly after 1986. 


Street battles exploded in the streets near Malacanang, reminiscent of American troops battling it out with the Japanese Kempetai during World War two. Explosions rocked Malacanang as airplanes swooped down and bombed several places to smithereens. 1989 was an unforgettable and emotional juncture in Philippine history, as friends battled it out with friends, classmates with classmates, Mason with Mason. 

The societal fragmentation caused by the takeover of the Aquino-Cojuangco clan in the seat of power caused a very serious disorder in the system. Changes were not effected overnight simply because certain elements of the previous dispensation successfully embedded themselves near the center of power. The lack of a clear ideological framework doomed the 1986 event. There was no effort at running after counter-revolutionaries. There was no effort at smashing the traditional centers of power created after several years under martial rule. People who benefitted from the Marcos regime, and those who composed the propertied classes who tolerated the excesses of dictatorship were left unopposed and unpunished. They were left to use their ill-gotten wealth to undermine the policies and desires of the People for change, as reflected in the 1987 Constitution. 


These patriotic soldiers, led by YOU founder Diosdado Valeroso and now Senator Greg Honasan and General Danny Lim and others were slowly being marginalized. Their roles in the historic EDSA 1986 are being blurred and several civilian ideologues tried very hard to describe the 1986 phenomenon as something of a civilian action against an unjust regime. What it really was, was a culmination of several years of struggle led by the leaders of the masses who opposed tyrannical rule. 


1986 was supposed to be a year of change, a period where Filipinos of all shapes and sizes, of all ideological beliefs, of all skills and experience, were supposed to gather themselves and express the true will of the People. The subversion of this "will" was fairly evident, when malevolent societal forces tried to force their will unto a hastily discussed Charter. Like what happened in 1946, shortly after the war, the leaders of this country abandoned their avowed promises to the people, and when it was time to unite and forge a unified platform of government and a clear policy direction for the next succeeding years, they expressed their class preferences instead of minding the true will of the suffering masses.


Class domination became a recurring and permanent fixture in Philippine political history that it now remains as a veritable scourge in this country's development. What had happened during these past twenty six years were events showing inter-elite struggles for power. The opposing Elites use emotional manipulation to urge the middle classes and a fraction of the suffering masses to militate against the ruling elites, and when their time came to rule, these opposing elites immediately reverted to their original natures, a nature despicable and highly toxic to the interests of the Filipino masses.


What has been the culmination of the dreams of the patriotic soldiers who forgot their futures and threw their own lives away just for the sake of the suffering masses became some sort of a copyrighted script turned weapon by an elite whose interest is solely anchored on personal corporatist desires rather than the true desire to help a country recover from numerous catastrophes and disasters.


Where are those soldiers who sacrificed their lives and futures just to forge a true and genuine people's government? 


It is again, time for these patriotic elements to save democracy from utter destruction, caused by this misguided view of several elites that EDSA1986 is a hammer of the elite against their fellow elites.


The phenomenon that was EDSA has been transformed into a weapon of a segment of the elite either to perpetuate themselves to power or cause the downfall of an existing power. 


EDSA 1986 was never intended for the pleasures and whims of the elite. True EDSA is anti-elite, anti-cono, anti-Ilustrado.


Let the enlightened Indio unite as a class, and retake EDSA 1986 from the elites of this country and use this as a hammer to smash them to smithereens. 

People Power--antidote to Charter Change

Why do I say that People Power is the only solution that would prevent Congress from constituting itself as a Constituent Assembly and changing the Charter? Because, from all intents and purposes, Congress is really hell-bent on constituting itself as an assembly come July 2009. If they are really dead serious of provoking a justiciable controversy, they should convene themselves to allow oppositors to go to the Supreme Court for relief. Without a convention, there is no case.

Now, if allies of Mrs. Arroyo convene themselves, that shall formally open the Charter to revision. Even if oppositors file a case before the SC, the waiting period for the release of a decision would be sufficient time to change some of the provisions in the Charter. Before the pronouncement of a decision, allies of Mrs. Arroyo would have already revised the provisions on term extension and those economic provisions. It would then be foolhardy to again file a case questioning those changes before the SC because definitely, the SC would only resolve the question of the manner of voting instead of answering the very core issue of whether or not the act of Congress last June 2, 2009 can really introduce changes in the charter without the participation of the Senate.

If anti-charter change agents fail in causing the downfall of this regime, that would allow the rape of the 1987 Constitution and even if Mrs. Arroyo resigns and allows the May 10, 2010 elections, that is bad enough for all of us. Definitely, the House will introduce changes not just in the economic provisions, but also in the political as well as social justice provisions. This will affect all basic sectors, especially if the House tinkers with provisions on agrarian reform and political rights.

The only solution to a problem like con-ass and cha-cha is simply People Power. There is no other way than cause Mrs. Arroyo and her ilk to leave Malacanang. The continued presence of Mrs. Arroyo in power can be described as continually disastrous and destabilizing to all of us.

Why we can't move forward with Gloria at the helm

Democracy, that invention of the Greeks, remains an illusion in this great country of ours. The reason is more historic than anything. Our brains are not wired to accept the Western model of democracy. In fact, we Filipinos have a warped sense of democracy. We are confused of what it really means. It's really not our fault since, if you read our history, we were forced to accept this Western version of democracy as our own. Filipinos, prior to the colonization of these islands, had their own governance paradigms, except that a foreign bacteria with a cross in it killed that indigenous concept.

Take for example, our concept of "constitutionalism" and "democracy". Many of us equate these terms as synonymous to each other. For many, an action is democratic when it works within constitutional frameworks. Say, if we want to oust an illegitimate president, we should first file an impeachment. That's democracy.

How about ousting a president through the exercise of the people's rights? Say, a revolution? Or say, a coup d'etat? For us, that's not democratic since it does'nt operate within the constitution. But, are these actions not democratic at all?

How about that phrase " the AFP is the sole protector of the people"? That's in the Constitution, yes? If the AFP exercises its mandate in the Constitution and protects the people against a government that harms and injures them, and take, say, a militant action and forced a government into exile, this will be constitutional, yes? And it would be democratic, yes?

For many, that's not democratic. Why? Because that paradigm postulates on violence. Ah, so, for an action to be democratic, it must both be constitutional and non-violent.

What if the government itself creates and fosters an atmosphere of violence that interferes with our exercise of our inherent democratic rights, would it not be democratic if we oust that government through People power? That's not democratic, some would argue, because the only constitutional way to do that is thru elections or impeachment. Form a political party. Support partylist groups (as if they have a stronger and louder voice than the trapos). Move on. We can't do anything. It is not democratic to exercise our inherent rights to free ourselves from a tyrannical regime, since the sole way of doing that involves a little violence. And if an action is violent, that is not democratic.

How about an independence campaign or an anti-dictatorship campaign, would that be democratic? Surely, that is. Even if it involves violence? Yep, it is. One may do that because that's a movement against an anti-democratic or pseudo-democratic government. So, if I move against Gloria now, the same way I did against Marcos, would that be democratic, given that I see Gloria as the head of a pseudo-democratic regime, like Macoy. Nope, many, like ex-COMELEC chair Christian Monsod, would argue. You can't. Why? Because that's anti-democracy.

So, what do I do now? Wait for the heavens to fall to me and my family. Do nothing. Write in the blogosphere. Rant everywhere. Have sex. Chant if you may. Work. Have faith in partylist groups. Run in the elections. Pray. Go to sunken garden. Beautify your Facebook. Make friends in Friendster. Plurk thousands. Sulk. Wait. While my country burns and thieves go amuck, I'll wait for 2010. Move on. You can't do anything.

A Mandate From Heaven

The PNP, the tuta ni Gloria, said that its only 15,000. Yet, the video above taken by an Inquirer reporter shows otherwise. There is, in fact, 80,000 people who took the challenge of PNP Chief Razon very seriously. These numbers are signs from above, a mandate from heaven, so to speak, for the immediate ouster of Gloria. Defenders of the palace were quick to downplay the obvious numbers that went to Ayala Makati City. They say that these people who want to oust Gloria are not reflective of the national sentiments of the people.

ABS-CBN shows otherwise. Filipinos from abroad and megacities in the Philippines have mobilized their forces in support of the big inter-faith rally in Makati. We expect though these so-called leaders to support Gloria because, under the present system, the palace controls the distribution of the purse.

As I wrote previously, this issue is not a political nor a legal issue. This is an issue of morality. When a people rejects their leader due to morality, all the more the concerned citizens, especially the elite, should move for the physical ouster of this leader. A leader should not only be intelligent; he or she should also be moral. Why? Because governance is all about ethical rule, not only on technicality. These people in government are being reposed of the trust especially in the handling of the people's money. If the people, who is the true representative of the collective will, move to depose a president, it should be heard instead of being dismissed as an action of an unruly and minority segment of the population.

The numbers are obvious. The people are tired of graft and corruption. They are tired of being gagged. They are very tired of being stopped in expressing their disgusts against Arroyo.

The only way for us to be saved from this political crisis is for Arroyo to gain her hiya once more and resign immediately.

Under the present circumstances, the people does not need the military's withdrawal of support. These generals are not nationalists. They are far from being conscious followers of the people's will.

What the people need are for the sergeants-majors and the junior officers to lead the movement for change. The Youth of today have spoken. As stakeholders of the country's future, the Youth knows that if they don't act now, their futures are being compromised.

For those who are members of my generation--are we not ashamed that the younger ones have taken the reins of the movement of change from us? We're supposed to be the leaders of this movement for change. We're supposed to do something for the Youth, not the Youth doing something for us. Woe to my generation! We must take into the streets and revolt. Now is the Time to Revolt.

I appeal to the True Patriots of the Filipino People--seize the reins of Fate. Create a glorious history. And God will look kindly on our people and pardon us from the sin of allowing a fake president to rule us and use our money for her own self-preservation.