The EDSA Fallacy
They say that February is the most tumultuous month in Philippine History. This is the month when crazy and bat shit things happen.
I agree. For one, I was born on this month. Not that it is significant or historical, just plain crazy.
But my birthday, February 7, was also the day that another lunatic, a president, chose in 1986 to hold a snap presidential election because of the growing dissent in his despotic reign.
Now that was significant!
Because that election, and its subsequent result, was the tipping point which ushered another February cataclysmic event that doomed a conjugal dictatorship --- the EDSA people power revolution.
I was 17 when the EDSA revolution happened. I was there, along with my family and neighbors, and I know many of my schoolmates and their respective families at UST High were also scattered all over.
It was a sight to behold, really. All these Filipinos gathered in a highway, with a bit of fear but a lot of defiance, and developing a sudden state of solidarity. The clarion call made by the archbishop of Manila over Radio Veritas was for us to gather at EDSA and protect the mutineers against the dictator, led by disgruntled duo of the then minister of defense and vice chief of staff of the AFP.
So what made us unite and heed the call? Was it because we were charmed or swayed by the personalities involved? Were we enamored by their persona and the cause they are fighting for?
Perhaps.
If it were a simple binary, EDSA will be reduced to a fight between good versus evil, as represented by primary colors. If we are to be made to believe, this narrative about EDSA is a choice between a dictatorship and democracy. We oust one and hail the other.
But there is something more about EDSA than most of us care to think.
EDSA was more than a choice. It was supposed to be a turn around. It was supposed to be a seismic shift. It was supposed to have ushered a new beginning. It was supposed to be the dawn of a brighter, better daybreak for our country.
EDSA is not about one side versus the other. Precisely why there are no specific names here in this post.
EDSA was never about one person, one aggregation, one color or one ideal.
EDSA is about ONE NATION and its people.
We made it to EDSA because we want change. We went there not just to oust a despot or to chant a widow's name.
EDSA is the adrenaline that pumped us into a decision and action that surpassed our current mindset and inertia because we all realized that only through our collective set that we can effect change.
And even as we glorify heroes and hate traitors of our land based on what we were made to see, hear, read or watch, in our innermost selves, all we want is an improvement in our own lives made miserable by well entrenched scums in the political hierarchy and oligarchy.
We went there bravely, defiantly and decisively to reclaim our hopes, our dreams and our desire for our motherland and our children.
30 years after, those who we allowed to enable our aspiration, hopes and dreams failed us, and failed epically.
What's more, they think that they were the purveyors of EDSA, that it would be nothing without them, and that it is their trademark and copyright.
Well, they can claim EDSA and its consequent failure. In fact, they are responsible for it.
In my own little mind, EDSA is now a fallacy. It is now a slippery slope that led to nowhere, all thanks to them who claim EDSA as their idea.
But as in all arguments, the truth and the logic will always be ascertained by the proof of what we have now. EDSA was not, and never about a yellow crusade nor a red scare or black and white movement.
EDSA is you, me and the Filipino who believe that we ALL deserve better from our government, and from each other.
And make no mistake about it, especially to those who have greatly failed us, we now know better.
If you really think you can hijack the EDSA ideal from us, you better think hard and think twice, or thrice as necessary. Even now, EDSA is not within your capacity to undertake, despite your vast resources and overt scheming.
It is never yours to begin with. It is ours.
Exactly why it is called PEOPLE POWER.
Wanna bet?
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