FEATURE: "EDSA REVOLUTION: a time brimming with limitless hope and possibility" by Jacqueline Nicole S. Solo

 

Published by: Lloyd Agbulos 

Date published: February 25, 2022

Time published: 10:47 AM

In the 1986 People's Revolution, a significant national event occurred that will live on in the hearts and minds of all Filipinos. From February 22 to 25, 1986, hundreds of thousands of Filipinos gathered at the Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA) to protest President Ferdinand Marcos' claim that he had won re-election over Corazon Aquino.

On that fatal day, a peaceful demonstration was conducted on the 54-kilometer-long EDSA. EDSA's successful efforts to oust a tyrant through a demonstration devoid of violence and carnage revealed the genuine empowerment of democracy. Prayers and rosaries, strengthened by faith, were the only weapons the Filipinos had to wrest their independence from President Marcos' iron hold. Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino showed Filipinos and the rest of the world what it takes to recapture the democracy that Marcos had imprisoned for personal motives. After Aquino's death, Filipinos began to learn how to fight.

The revolt began Aquino lost on the snap election over the incumbent then President Marcos. The Filipinos reminisced their suffering during the 14 years of Martial Law. Of the 3,257 people killed, 2,520 (or 77 percent) were salvaged—that is, tortured, maimed, and dumped on the side of the road for public display. Between 1975 and 1985, 737 Filipinos are said to have vanished.

The Deaths, human rights violation, and tortures during the Marcos regime were the reasons why hundreds of thousands of Filipinos chose to participate in the EDSA People Power. They wanted to end the dictatorship or the so called "Marcos Era".

Marcos' Defense Minister, Juan Ponce Enrile, and the Armed Forces Vice-Chief of Staff Command, Fidel V. Ramos, both resigned from the government and demanded Marcos' resignation. Thousands of Filipinos marched down EDSA on February 25, 1986, in protest of Marcos' government. It was an empowering demonstration with the goal of peacefully succeeding through the intervention of faith. An attempt was made in 2001 to resurrect People Power in order to depose then-President Joseph Estrada. The bloodless People Power Revolution in EDSA reaffirmed the meaning of democracy and reestablished democratic institutions of the government.

SOURCE:

OSU.EDU

Philippine History

Britannica