Tuesday, May 01, 2007 Cabaero: Remembering the May 1 ‘people power’ By Nini B. Cabaero Beyond 30
MAY 1 has more than one meaning to Filipinos.
Aside from it being the day celebrated for the labor sector, it was also the day when the poor forced the country to listen to them through an unfortunate riot held in front of the presidential palace. The event was later called by many names. Some said it was People Power 3 or Edsa Tres or a genuine uprising of the masses or a fake people power revolt.
Whatever name it was called, it was May 1, 2001 and there was an uprising in Mendiola.
Those who threw stones at police, pushed back barricades and turned over vans of television companies were mostly poor people – the unemployed, the shirtless, the “great unwashed.”
In January 2001, President Joseph Estrada, who was popular with the poor, was ousted from office in a Church and middle class-backed people power revolt. In late April, after Estrada was arrested, his supporters went to the Edsa Shrine, the same place where President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was sworn to office some three months before.
That gathering in Edsa in April was different in a way from the previous people power adventures. Edsa, the avenue, became dirty and the people who gathered there were disorderly. The remains of packed meals littered the streets and there were rumors of people being bused and being paid to show up at Edsa.
Then, on May 1, they tried to attack Malacanang, the seat of presidential power.
It was there where the poor expressed their anger over their poverty, over their desperation. They were mad at Arroyo, the businessmen, the Church and even media. Their outlet was to stone police, barge through barricades and overturn media vehicles.
What happened next was an admission by the government, the Catholic Church, the business sector and the middle class that somehow they misread the priorities of the poor people. They thought a change in government and the hopes of a trickle down effect would satisfy their needs. They found out that the needs of the poor were more pressing than that.
Those at the riot were not worried about the level of the dollar-peso exchange rate. Their worry was where to get the next meal, how to pay rent.
This reminder of that May 1 riot can do candidates to this May 14 elections some good.
Election candidates must know they cannot underestimate the poor. Once the poor reach the tipping point of their suffering, there can be no outlet to their desperation except to force change.
* * *
Announcement: The Lions Medical Eye Bank located at the second floor of the Cebu Doctors’ Hospital along Osmeña Blvd. is now fully operational.
Elizabeth Yang, project chair, said the eye bank welcomes patients needing cornea transplant. She said those interested should register immediately as the transplants would be on a first come-first served basis. The transplant schedule would depend on the availability of donated cornea. The eye bank accepts indigent patients.
For more information, contact Cora at 415-9941. She’s at the eye bank from Monday to Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., or call Mrs. Yang at 345-2763.
The eye bank handles corneal transplants and donations as part of the Lions’ mission to help the blind and the underprivileged.
