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Thursday, February 24, 2005
Speak out: Politics of Edsa
By Antonio B. Arellano
Regional State Prosecutor
(Second of two parts)
The events of the next three days, from Feb. 23 to 25, transformed what was clearly a criminal act into “collective direct action of the people,” as thousands upon thousands of protesters from all walks of life gathered at Edsa.
The unprecedented support given by the people to the rebel soldiers led to further defections in the ranks of the Armed Forces.
Soldiers loyal to the Marcos regime even refused to violently confront the people. The rest is history.
What happened at Edsa is a historic example of a people successfully asserting their sovereign authority to install a government of their own choice extra-constitutionally.
Although the Edsa uprising was sparked by the criminal act of rebellion committed by the soldiers loyal to the Enrile-Ramos tandem, its success, ensured by people’s support, transformed it into an act of the sovereign people.
Being an act of the sovereign authority, it was a legitimate act, for “sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from them.”
This is a basic principle in political law enshrined in all democratic constitutions.
The issue on the legitimacy of the Aquino Provisional Government was initially settled in the case, “Lawyers League for a Better Philippines vs. Corazon C. Aquino” (May 22, 1986 Decision of the Supreme Court), wherein the Court ruled that the issue of the legitimacy of the Aquino Government belongs to the realm of politics where only the people of the Philippines are the judge.
The Court further declared that the people already made their judgment.
They have accepted the Aquino government as their government. It is in this acceptance where the very essence of the government’s legitimacy lies.
The Edsa experience is a concrete and historic expression of the principle that in a democracy, a government can only govern with the consent of the governed – a political law principle no holder of political power can ignore.
Ferdinand Marcos did. May his fate serves as a lesson to those bestowed by the people with the temporary privilege of governance.
(February 24, 2005 issue)
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