23rd anniversary EDSA REVOLUTION

Good morning my fellow readers!. Today, February 25, 2009, the Filipino people commemorates the 23rd anniversary of People Power Revolution (EDSA Revolution). With this, we give a toast to the man and the hero who helped Filipinos come out of their fear and take their war against oppression and dictatorship out in the streets, peacefully.

The message was clear: we are all Filipinos and the occurrence of a bloody military impact between the divided Armed Forces of the Philippines is never necessary, for the real enemy is embodied not in any of the camps but in the Presidential residence, the Malacañang palace.

It is indeed not long ago (February of 1986) when the Filipino people made history by making a stand. They boldly expressed their convictions against the tyranny of dictatorship, notwithstanding the danger facing them. They believed enough was enough. It was time to oust that oppressor who for so long had made a fool out of them.

Everything began when greed and power, as had been the case throughout human history, devoured the then president, Ferdinand Marcos. At first, he was a good president, a young and brilliant lawyer who never ceased to amaze even the experts in his field. He started enhancing the infrastructure of the Philippines by building roads and buildings and all the other primers necessary in an industrial country. Because of this, he was immediately re-elected to office. He began doing good things and was again re-elected. However, during those times, power and greed were eventually silting through his being. His popularity ratings gradually went down. People who used to support him started having hesitations (though not openly). Until the time when the people began saying wait a minute, he is not what he used to be, we need a new leader to guide us. As a result, on September of 1973, President Ferdinand Marcos declared Martial Law. The senate and the congress were abolished. The courts were under his influence. The media had been suppressed. The military had become the authority.

By the early 80's, the economy had crashed. The peso had devaluated from mere six pesos per dollar at the beginning of the Marcos term to almost 25 per dollar. The people suspected Marcos of stealing the Philippine money, and that there was only one way to end it, Marcos had to go.

Then came a senator with a capacity to lead the people. He was Benigno Aquino who, in one way or another, promised a better Philippines. Marcos feared him. Marcos realized that he would lead the people out of his grip. Aquino was becoming their new leader. In 1983, immediately after emerging from the door of his plane, Aquino was shot in the head, and instantaneously died. Of course, the people suspected Marcos of doing this but it is never proved.

Aquino's death then triggered the revolution. Enough is enough. It was time for Ferdinand Marcos to go. Then three years after the assassination, a mass of people gathered in the Epifanio de los Santos Avenue. Their immediate objective was to prevent the armed conflict between the AFP men loyal to the president and the AFP men under the minister of National Defense, Juan Ponce Enrile and the head of the Philippine Constabulary, General Fidel V. Ramos. The mass of people that gathered in EDSA, side by side, with rosaries and other sacramentals in their hands, offered the soldiers (those on the side of the president) of the advancing tanks peace by giving them flowers and rosaries and water. The message was clear: we are all Filipinos, and we need not fight each other. We are a nation of the same blood, of the same race. It is not each other we should fight. We should fight the one and true enemy of our land, the man who had cheated and deceived all of us, the man who is in Malacañang.

The EDSA Revolution is the first of its kind. No blood smeared in the streets, nobody was hurt. The oppressor was ousted and the people rejoiced. There was democracy once more. The Filipino people had made a stand and they stood firm by their belief. For them, this event will forever be in the history books and never will it die, for it embodies the true Filipino spirit alive in every individual Filipino.

You can watch the history of EDSA REVOLUTION BELOW