TODAY is a special non-working day for a reason. Feb. 25 is the day that is traditionally reserved for the commemoration of the 1986 Edsa People Power revolt. Today is the 31st Edsa 1 anniversary.
This is also the first Edsa 1 commemoration under the administration of Rodrigo Duterte, who took over as president in the middle of last year. He succeeded Benigno Aquino III, son of the martyred former senator Benigno Aquino Jr. and former president Corazon Aquino, an authentic Edsa 1 heroine.
Considering that Duterte was with the opposition when he ran, his position on the Edsa 1 commemoration attracted attention. He opted for a “simple and quiet” celebration, with the activities held inside Camp Aguinaldo instead of right on the street where the people converged in 1986, Epifanio de los Santos Ave.
There is no problem with a simple and quiet celebration as long as government would not completely forget to honor the date. It would be a tragedy if the commemoration of one of the greatest moments in our history would be affected by the shifts in the country’s political direction.
While there have been attempts to revise the narrative of the Marcos years, portraying Ferdinand Marcos and his two-decade rule in a different light, the general view here and abroad has not changed. The 1986 revolt was a legitimate act, the reason it became an inspiration to other oppressed peoples around the world.
But there is also a nugget of truth to the observation that Edsa 1 failed to effect thoroughgoing change especially in the manner the country is being run. For example, corruption, one of the issues that did Marcos in, is still a major problem in governance. We haven’t licked the problem of poverty.
Still, that is not enough reason to erase the Edsa revolt from our collective memory. It may not have effected thoroughgoing change in the country but the causes it espoused remain relevant to this day—which is precisely why the commemoration of the event must not be jettisoned. Present and future generations must be told of the importance of these causes and of the need to continuously advance them.