Let’s stop this pipe dream. We can rally all we want but there won’t be another People Power that will oust Duterte. And that’s ok.
In 1986, the situation was ripe for a revolution. Let me break down the situation then
We had a dictator who has been in power for more than 20 years. (To be fair though, his dictatorial reign started when he declared Martial Law in 1972). For those born in the 60s, they knew no other leader than Marcos.
There were strong rumors that Marcos was sick and we had no clear succession of power. Everyone was guessing then who would lead the country in case he croaks. Imelda? Bongbong? Fabian? Danding? Many of us knew that there would be a jockeying of power when he dies, and it could be bloody.
Major industries were controlled by Marcos cronies. To name a few, PNB, Security Bank, UCPB, PAL, ABS-CBN, San Miguel, Manila Bulletin.The economy was on a tailspin. And people felt it.
Freedom of speech, as well as press freedom, was virtually non-existent. People who spoke against the government were jailed and tortured. There was an atmosphere of fear whenever you criticized Marcos. We had no outlet to vent out our anger and frustrations. I used to write for a school paper — I was fortunate to had the opportunity to talk to those connected with the Light-A-Fire movement and was even able to interview Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc — but I was cautioned about the theme of my writing and the school officials had to censor many of my paragraphs.
With all the crises we were facing — the worsening economy, the suppression of freedom, the atmosphere of fear, the concentration of power to only a few — we only had one rallying cry: oust the Marcoses. Those who supported the Marcoses seemed to be a minority and there was no middle-ground.
We had a single individual who represented the opposition. At first, that individual was Ninoy Aquino. We all pinned our hopes on Ninoy. Ninoy was bright, articulate, charismatic. He was truly the nemesis of the Marcoses. So when he was assassinated, there was a great outpouring of grief and despair. Personally I didn’t see Ninoy as a politician. Being exiled in the US, he has been out of politics for a long time that he became more of a symbol than a politician. That’s why it was easy to envision his wife Cory to take up that mantle. We needed a symbol for the opposition, and what better symbol that an ordinary housewife untarnished by politics carrying the name and the spirit of Aquino.
No traffic in EDSA. It was actually easy to walk to the rally site. Many of use parked as far away as Makati and walked to Camp Crane. And with few cars plying the road, we didn’t feel any heat emanating from engines nor breathed in much exhaust fumes.
Now lets contrast this with the situation now.
We have an electoral process in place. We are fairly confident that there will be a change of guard after 6 years.
We have freedom of the press and freedom of speech. With the right of free assembly in place, coupled with social media, we can now voice out our anger and frustrations without having to resort to mass action.
The prevalence of fake news, history revisionism, and mind manipulation in social media has caused a great divide between the Filipino people and has diminished the magic and the glory of People Power of 1986. We have more people sitting on the fence.
EDSA is a traffic quagmire. The EDSA shrine is no longer a suitable site for rallies. Rallying become a pain in the ass with all the traffic they cause. And rallying in alternative locations doesn’t have the same impact.
And, unfortunately, we don’t have a single individual that represents the opposition.
Sadly, while People Power was a proud moment in our history, I personally don’t want to see it happen again. People will end up thinking that if you don’t like the current leadership all they have to do is stage a rally and overthrow the government.
And this leads me to my greatest fear, and that is two can play the rally game. This happened with EDSA 3 from April 25 to May 1, 2001 where a crowd gathered at the EDSA shrine to oust Gloria Arroyo and reinstate Joseph Estrada. That event was a bastardization of EDSA 86. The people who attended that rally were clearly paid hacks. At the risk of sounding elitist, the people who congregated in represented the worst of the Filipino people. They were poor. They were filthy. They were rowdy and bordering on the violent. They littered the area with garbage and they were even defecating on the streets. You could smell the stench from afar.
You can’t compare the situation of 20 years with Marcos with the 4 years with Duterte. The level of anger, frustration, despair isn’t the same. And probably, in the back of our minds, we just have to grin and bear it for a few more years and hope that the election process yields a different leader.
I just hope that the next leader won’t be the same as the present leader.
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