The militant Bagong Alyansang Makabayan yesterday lamented that almost two decades after the first People Power uprising drove the strongman Ferdinand Marcos out of Malacañang, Filipinos continued to suffer for his “sins.”

Philippine Daily Inquirer
February 25, 2005

Not everyone is enthused about the 19th anniversary of Edsa I.

The militant Bagong Alyansang Makabayan yesterday lamented that almost two decades after the first People Power uprising drove the strongman Ferdinand Marcos out of Malacañang, Filipinos continued to suffer for his “sins.”

Bayan urged the government to take radical steps in addressing the problem of Marcos’ fraudulent foreign debts, and called for the repudiation of the debts that had failed to benefit the country, such as those involving the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP).

“It’s a slap on the face of the people that we continue to pay for those odious Marcos debts. It’s been 19 years and we’re still suffering for the sins of the dictator,” Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes said, adding:

“This year we have to pay P2 billion for the BNPP. That is patently immoral.”

Earlier, President Macapagal-Arroyo warned that the Philippines’ economic gains would be for naught if Congress takes steps to cut payments for its foreign debts, including those incurred by the Marcos regime.

Out in the cold

“The current regime has failed to live up to the lessons of Edsa. The Arroyo administration is practically reversing everything that Edsa stood for,” Reyes said.

He said it appeared that “after People Power, the people were left out in the cold.”

Reyes also pointed out that the government had yet to compensate the victims of human rights violations under martial law.

“It is no wonder why many people are already disenchanted with the official celebration of the Edsa uprising,” he said. “It’s not surprising that Ms Arroyo has to ferry government employees to her official celebration, just to make it appear that she actually enjoys popular support.”

Forget Edsa

Sen. Luisa “Loi” Estrada would rather forget about the Edsa revolts, including the one that led to the ouster of her husband, President Joseph Estrada, in January 2001.

Pointing out that her husband continued to languish in detention, the senator said “the elite-controlled Edsa Uno and Edsa Dos were dismal failures” for bringing misery to her family and false hopes and oppression to poor Filipinos.

“It would be the height of insensitivity on the part of some people, especially the elite, to proclaim the benefits that the country supposedly gained from Edsa in the light of the suffering of the vast majority of Filipinos,” she said.

Loi Estrada said that 19 years and two “successful Edsa revolts” later, the lives of ordinary Filipinos had gone “from bad to worse.”

“Those who benefited principally from the democratic gains that we supposedly won 19 years ago failed to translate these to economic and livelihood opportunities for the benefit of the greater number of our people. As a result, the vast majority of them remain mired in poverty and despair,” she said.

She also said that in the hands of the elite, People Power had become “a license to trample” on the rule of law and “commit atrocious excesses” against the people.

Loi said that far from strengthening good governance, the Philippines had become “an international embarrassment, with its record of being the second most corrupt country in the world.”

She warned Malacañang to “be wary of the frustration and anger building inside our people,” which, she said, could “erupt anytime.”

Different bishop

Her son and co-senator, Jinggoy Estrada, made a similar observation, saying the abuses and irregularities that brought down the Marcos dictatorship were unabated.

As though to underscore the apparent changes in the Edsa commemoration, the archbishop of Manila will not celebrate the noon Mass marking the last day of the 1986 revolt.

Manila Auxiliary Bishop Bernardino Cortez will celebrate the noon Mass at the Edsa Shrine today in place of Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales, who is in the Vatican, said Peachy Yamsuan, spokesperson of the Manila archbishop’s office.

“It has always been the Manila archbishop who celebrated the 12 o’clock Mass. But it’s only because of the meeting at the Vatican that Archbishop Rosales cannot be at Edsa,” Yamsuan said in a phone interview.

Yamsuan noted that the former rector of the Edsa Shrine, now Bataan Bishop Socrates Villegas, celebrated the afternoon Mass during last year’s Edsa anniversary, while Rosales celebrated the noon Mass.

Sin’s presence

When he was the Manila archbishop, Jaime Cardinal Sin did not miss an Edsa anniversary Mass, Yamsuan said.

It was Sin who called on the faithful to gather in the streets to protect the opposition against Marcos, which ultimately led to Edsa I.

Sin, who has since retired and is spending most of his time at his official residence in Villa San Miguel because of his frail health, may visit the Edsa Shrine during the day, Yamsuan said.

Reports from Norman Bordadora, Michael Lim Ubac and Nikko Dizon.