SUDDENLY, there is renewed interest on the Edsa Revolution, and I say, what can be more important than that?
For 30 years, we gave token commemorations, with several Manila media coming out with stories of people saying that the spirit of Edsa was already declining long before the same people started accusing President Rodrigo Duterte of degrading that spirit.
For 30 years, it was that the Aquino family and their friends would be shown celebrating the anniversary such that a generation of Filipinos only knew about Aquino, how he was killed, how his death brought in the Yellow Movement, and how his widow was thrust to power to bring back democracy. That was the story. Over and over again. Democracy was but an offshoot of the death and the catapult to power of a plain housewife who lived in exile in Boston with the family.
On Sunday, we saw democracy at its noisiest, made noisier by a Jim Paredes who stressed his point by glaring at a poor millennial challenging the young man to look at him in the eyes... up close, and really personal. (Now who wants to look at a pair of glaring eyes just inches from your nose? No one. Bar none.)
Whether we like it or not, the trickle of Aquino supporters at the Edsa Shrine reminiscent of all other commemorations for over a decade now, and the big crowds that massed up at the Quirino Grandstand and other areas of convergence in other cities like the one we had at the Rizal Park in Davao City, is democracy. Even the glaring, taunting, belligerent Jim Paredes is democracy. We may not like what we saw, but that is just how it is when we all want to take part in the democracy that our people gave back to us. Yes, people. Plural. Not one particular person nor family.
No, democracy is not for the elites, it is not for the Aquinos. Democracy is for all of us, pros and antis, biased and 'tards. But we must all remember that even in a democracy there are laws.
Yes, we can speak out our minds and shout out our views, but when doing so already becomes a perceived threat or defamation, then there are the laws that we have to face. And guess what? These laws were not crafted under the administration of President Duterte.
Republic Act 10175 Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 includes libel among the punishable acts. Libel is originally covered by Article 353 of the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines, and then there is rebellion, sedition and disloyalty covered by the Revised Penal Code Article 134.
We must remind ourselves that democracy, like anything, comes with a price. If we abuse it, we have to be held accountable for that, and this applies to all, oligarchs and jejemons and everyone else in between called Filipino. We must remind ourselves that the politicians we voted into the legislature has made sure that they can punish anyone who does not see life their way.
We chose democracy, let us make sure then that we allow that space for everyone even if we hate the guts of people like Jim Paredes and we cringe every time Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre opens his mouth and Senator Leila de Lima plays the martyr act and we roll our eyes as yet another reporter takes it as a fact when President Duterte says he spoke to Jesus Christ while riding a plane where everyone else was asleep. These too are part of the democracy we so love to argue about. It may be a steep price to pay, but who said democracy comes for free?