DAGUPAN CITY – Former Pangasinan governor said Thursday that the bloodless revolution against dictatorship in 1986 is a “People Power that belongs to the people.”
This was the message of former governor Rafael Colet to the young Filipinos who were not born yet when the first Edsa People Power happened.
“This yearly commemoration is very good. I wish that we can tell the story of how the Filipino people fought a dictatorship, how they fought oppression, how they regained their own freedom. This is a story that we ought to know and be proud of. It became a model. It was the first of its kind where a bad government is thrown out,” Colet said.
“The lesson is very clear that power belongs to the people,” he said in an interview before the “2010 People Power is Vote Power Rally” at the University of Pangasinan gymnasium.
It was a reunion of sort for the post People Power Revolution appointed local officials and some original supporters of Edsa uprising, which toppled the late dictator President Ferdinand Marcos in 1986 and later put to power the late President Cory Aquino.
Present were former vice governor lawyer Gonzalo Duque (who was appointed with Colet), president of the Lyceum Northwestern University; former Malasiqui mayor and former vice governor Oscar Lambino, former Sta. Barbara Mayor Atos Bautista, and former President Fidel V. Ramos’ nephew Ranjit Shahani (former vice governor of Pangasinan and former congressman at the sixth district).
The simple program was attended by students of the University of Pangasinan and supporters of presidential and vice presidential bets Senators Benigno Aquino III and Mar Roxas from different towns and cities in Pangasinan.
“The lesson drawn from People Power is that the power in our country resides in the people. It does not reside in a government or even in a dictator. The people must always bear that in mind. But at the same time, they should known how to exercise that power when it is needed,” Colet said.
Meanwhile, Colet said the statement of former President Fidel Ramos that the Edsa People Power is not an exclusive property of one family, one party or one color, is uncalled for.
“Hindi naman talaga para sa isang tao o pamilya lang. Ramos played a big role in the people power revolution. Unfortunately, you cannot avoid linking this today to Benigno Aquino Jr., to Cory and even to their son Noynoy now because the parents played a key role in the People Power Revolution,” he stressed.
“In fact, sa tingin ko, the revolution really started when Ninoy was assassinated. You can’t take them (family) away from this. If you don't involve them now, you will not be true to history. This is for all of us. Wala namang nag-aangkin,” Colet remarked.
In the upcoming national and local elections, Colet said every voter must vote correctly and vote the right person.