People Power in the Philippines:circa 1986

EDSA: sharing 1986 memories to the millennials & to all


It has been 31 years ago today since the 1986 EDSA people power toppled a dictatorship.

EDSA or Epifanio de los Santos Avenue is the site where millions of Filipinos peacefully petitioned for redress of grievances against the administration of Marcos - for three days from Feb 22-25, 1986.

That dictatorship started with a declaration of martial law in September 21, 1972.
That martial law era was also called constitutional authoritarianism.
The validity of the 1973 constitution which justified the extension of the term of Marcos as president was deemed in force and effect by our judiciary.

The legislature was padlocked and the country was run by presidential decrees.
These decrees, except for those amended or repealed, are still valid today.
There was an interim assembly in 1978 and a unicameral legislature was put in effect in 1984.

To this day, I still wonder why that dictatorship lasted for 20 long years.

Or for that matter, how our judiciary at that time said that it cannot rule against a presidential prerogative as it was a domain that involves a political question or one that pertains to a discretion that is the proper prerogative of one branch of government.

With the legitimacy of the Marcos dictatorship being politically doubted here and by the international community, Marcos called for a snap election in 1985 & the Batasang Pambansa (unicameral legislature) then set the date of a snap election in Feb. 1986.

In the official ballot count of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) then, presidential candidate Cory Aquino lost even as there was overwhelming evidence that she won.
About 20 computer programmers walked out during the quick count in protest of what they considered as marred & manipulated election results.

Meantime, there was a brewing military rebellion under the auspices of the Reformed the Armed Movement (RAM) headed by then Colonel Gregorio Honasan and with the blessings of then Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile.

The plot was discovered by President Marcos and General Fabian Ver, the AFP Chief of Staff. Enrile was to be arrested. As it happened, then Philippine Constabulary Chief Fidel Ramos joined Enrile & the military officers in the military rebellion. The military was divided between troops loyal to Gen Ver and troops loyal to the Enrile- Ramos side.

Calls to mass at EDSA were done through radio and through the call of Cory Aquino and Cardinal Sin and the church joined plus hundreds of thousands of people. We devoured the reports of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, then,which bannered huge people power pictures & published a detailed account of all the events of those three heady days.

Malacanang Palace was invaded; Marcos and family fled to Hawaii.

Before the run up to the 1986 EDSA event, there were yellow Friday rallies in Davao City and Makati and in most capitals of the country. Which is why, when news that Marcos had fled, there was a motorcade of rejoicing in the streets of Davao City. The first city visited by Cory after she assumed the presidency was Davao City. It was held at the just minted Maa terminal in front of thousands of Davaoenos who did not mind to be under the heat of the noontime sun. President Cory Aquino looked so cool in a blue dress oozing with so much presidential power. Someone remarked that Cory also looked very divinely presidential, like a goddess descended from the heavens.

It was a renaissance of sorts. A kind of Camelot era. As civil society, we promoted to pay the right taxes to everyone as a reaction to an earlier call for civil disobedience by protesting politicians against the administration of Marcos.

Cory Aquino established a revolutionary government and the 1986 Freedom Constitution.

Soon after a 1987 constitution was ratified and in effect today. This 1987 Constitution became a reaction to the flaws & gaps of the 1935 & the 1973 Constitutions.

People power was written into our charter as provisions on recall and initiative. The charter has written the process for how to declare martial law.

The provisions of the 1976 Tripoli Agreement which lists 13 provinces and cities as part of Muslim Mindanao became the basis for the autonomy provisions of the 1987 constitution which in turn became the basis for succeeding organic acts. One of these organic Acts is the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) law or Republic Act 9054.

Today, various political parties & persuasions will troop to the EDSA shrine, Luneta & other places to stage rallies with various messages.

Current thinking which is shared by many is that same formula for that 1986 EDSA People Power historical moment may not be obtaining on the horizon of realpolitik today. But, people power can be accessed anytime by a critical mass as the events of 1986 showed.

And as written in our charter, people power is a powerful method for redress of grievances, recall & initiative. Until we can evolve a better method,for now, at least, installing or removing politicians through the language of the ballot is still the preferred method of our democratic institutions.
~ ~ Isabelita Solamo