Filipino's celebrate Charter Day and EDSA Day with two national holidays.
February 24 is Charter Day celebrating the day in 1937 when Cebu finally became a chartered city. despite being the more important city before Manila arrived with the oldest street, Magellan's cross and Fort San Pedro. Cebu City is now known as the Queen City of the South.
February 25 is EDSA day, a very important date in the Filipino calendar. Once the Japanese lost the war in 1945 the Americans returned to the Philippines. They recognized the independence of the country but still were very influential. A republican form of government was introduced into the country following the American model. In 1972 President Marcos declared martial law. He dismantled the legislature, closed all the mass media outlets and installed a dictatorship. The period saw the economy decline, human rights violated, a communist movement develop and the Muslim groups grow. There was great public dissatisfaction and in 1986 an event known as 'People Power' occurred. Thousands of citizens gathered together in protest of the Marcos regime. Men, women, old and young gathered with flowers and rosaries in a face off with tanks and armed soldiers in a totally peaceful affair. The incident occurred at Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, hence the name EDSA. The event caused Marcos to flee to the country to America. It was a non violent event which finally toppled the dictator.
25 years later, Edsa's hopes a distant memory, by Rizel S. Adlawan, Princes Dawn Felicitas and Rebelander S. Basilan
Different sectors in Cebu commemorated the People Power anniversary with a rally, a reenactment and other activities, but some lamented the country remains the same as it was 25 years ago.
“We can’t even say for sure if the democracy we have reestablished, out of the bravery and heroism of many people, is the best democracy or a flawed one,” Cebu City Administrator Jose Marie Poblete said, during the City Hall’s commemoration.
The challenge of Edsa remains unfulfilled, said Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, in a separate interview.
We are, she said, “a society that continues to feel that things could be better; that we should have kept pace with our Asian neighbors; that government should be able to deliver. The reality here is that there are so many aspirations that remain unfulfilled.”
Online, thoughts about Edsa generated a buzz in social networks like Twitter.
“I don’t know why I feel so patriotic today,” said account-holder Kikoshmikosh in a tweet. “Passed by the street party at Edsa and I felt it even if I was on the train. Best feeling.”
Not all the Edsa-related tweets were solemn.
“Di magiging artista si Kris Aquino kung hindi nag-Edsa (Without Edsa, Kris Aquino would not have become a celebrity),” said Twitter user JSolo899.
But most expressed hope or pride. “One thing we forget during the Edsa celebrations is that the faith of the Filipinos saved us,” said Kawen88. “No other country can copy that from us.”
In Cebu, Governor Garcia said people need to change themselves, and not just demand change in the government. People deserve the leaders they elect, she said.
“Edsa was an expression of hope for a transformed society, not just with government but with the people themselves,” she said. That transformation, she added, still needs to happen.
At Cebu City Hall, Atty. Poblete urged people to let the spirit of Edsa continue to dwell in their hearts and minds.
Twenty-five years after the bloodless revolt, he observed that the luster of Edsa has faded.
“Even the society that has been built since then is clearly divided. The gap between the rich and the poor remains yawning. We need only to look around and see the evidence of this divide,” Poblete said.
In his talk during the ceremony, Poblete said that despite the People Power Revolution, the democratic political system of the country is still “fragile and flawed.”
Patronage politics hinders the development of the country’s democracy.
“We need to celebrate Edsa so that the greatness within us may be rekindled and the inherent goodness of man may bring forth better lives to our future generations,” he said.
“To many Filipinos, Edsa was like a new dawn for them. Indeed, Edsa was our Camelot, our brief shining moment,” he added.
During the celebration at the City Hall grounds yesterday morning, the City Treasurer’s Office’s (CTO) dancing tax collectors reenacted some of the key events leading to the People Power Revolution, including the 1983 assassination of former Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. and the installation of his wife, Corazon Aquino, as the country’s first woman president.
It was after Corazon’s death in 2009 that the movement began to make their son, Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, seek the presidency on an anti-corruption platform.
“We have had several presidents since then (1986), but nothing has changed until now,” Jaime Paglinawan said in Bisaya.
The regional chairman of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) said Filipinos should ask what their leaders have done for the country, 25 years after the revolution ended Ferdinand Marcos’s dictatorship.
Led by Bayan, at least 200 people representing the farmers, fishers, women, urban poor, workers and youth marched from Fuente Osmeña circle to Colon St., where they held a program that lasted until noon.
Nick Abasolo, secretary general of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas-Cebu, said agrarian reform has remained a dream.
“Twenty-five years after the Edsa Revolution, the future of farmers remains bleak,” he said in Bisaya.
Eight months after President Aquino assumed office, corruption continues to hound the government, Paglinawan said. He said two Edsa revolutions have passed but the country remains controlled by the elite.
During the rally, the youth representatives also expressed their opposition to the proposed 12-year basic education program. They said the government should instead augment the budget for education to address the shortage of books and classrooms, among other problems.
Members of the Panaghugpong sa Gagmayng Mananagat sa Sugbo (Pamana) also went to Capitol and asked Governor Garcia, through a letter, to support their call for a review of the Fisheries Code.
The law, which was passed 13 years ago, needs to be reviewed to address the problems besetting fishers today, like large-scale commercial fishing in areas where they are prohibited and off-shore mining, said Pamana chairman Victor Lapas.
“The law is useless in protecting small fishers against these activities,” Lapas said.
He said the Edsa revolution toppled corrupt leaders, but it failed to end foreign control over the country’s politics and economy.
But the Edsa Revolution also showed that by uniting, Filipinos can achieve the change they clamor for, Abasolo said.