At exactly 10:46 in the morning of February 25, 1986, just four months after collating a million signature for her to run for the presidency, Corazon “Cory” Aquino, widow of the late political martyr, Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, was sworn in by then Chief Justice Claudio Teehankee at the congested Club Filipino as the 11th President of the Republic of the Philippines, in turn, eventually securing the spirit of Edsa as one of the single most important export this country has contributed in the international pursuit of freedom and justice.
Perhaps that splitting moment might turned out be a suitable tribute in that side of the revolution, that once in the history of this country’s fight for freedom and self-determination, a seemingly ordinary housekeeper could actually stand against an imposing dictator and still retain the decency of challenging the established order.
As the whole nation recently celebrated its 24th anniversary of the Edsa Revolution, the commemoration was greeted surprisingly with a host of uncertainty and discretion, as it almost went unnoticed and somehow suffered in pale comparison to those jitters brought about by well-executed campaign ads, recurring brownouts and the El Nino phenomenon.
It is almost hard to imagine that the spirit of Edsa (the original, of course) has transcended into new forms of renditions only those in power have the capacity to wield its unlikely outcome. Somehow its position in history can only be validated by who owns the most number of influences and connections in the higher echelons of society before it can be venerated into immortality by the ultimate hand of God.
Although, some of its major players, including Cory herself, are long gone; the others, either by force of will alone or being possessed by that impeccable timing (a virtue indispensable in politics) are still serving the nation, political or otherwise, without even mentioning the significance of that peaceful revolt with a touch of callousness and calculation. Much of what remains of its spirit somehow went out of its body, from its questionable sequel to its third bloody installment. The Edsa that we knew and worshiped is now in danger of being extinct as it now stands precariously against the Garcisistic calls of politics and parliamentary forms of government.
And the younger generation, those who owned a substantial stock in the electorate, need not be a student of antiquity in order to understand the inherent values of that famed revolution, but he has to cultivate, at least, a character much closer to those who willed themselves against a conjugal powerhouse almost four decades ago: the recognition of valuing Edsa apart from its superficial agenda and looking at it from the perspective of freeing oneself from the bondage of status quo and shallow concessions.
So it is never too late to relearn history when confronted with grief, now that this recent rotating brownouts is sapping the very energy of an automated election. It is never too late to relearn history when confronted with fear, now that the Comelec and its transmission partners are still at odds with each other as to how the mechanics of this election would go about. And it is never too late to relearn history when confronted with apathy, now that the New Aristocracy would opt to raise hell as much as possible, let alone obliterate everything on its path just to stay under the bright lights of power indefinitely.
Given the sorry state of things, the only guarantee that that revolution brought upon us, from the time Apo was declared by no less than the Comelec themselves after that infamous snap election until the wee hours of that dawn when he fled, was that almost impossible capacity to dream of big things, apparently bigger than “Sa ika-uunlad ng bayan, bisikleta ang kailangan”. That despite the presence of a system of monopoly and an institution of deceit, that “impossible dream”, the instinctual resolve to live as free men and the means to live in a freer nation apart from that concocted “New Society” was the stuff that makes the first Edsa a step further than all the rest.
Though I was still in my fourth grade when the revolution broke out, I could remember saliently some of the reactions attached to it. It was a time were a renewed sense of self-worth which was deliberately suppressed since the First Quarter Storm suddenly went out of hiding, where people were not afraid to speak their mind out, where there was hope outside of their failed shanties, where faith in the provisions of democracy was restored and where a lowly peasant and an OIC could agree on certain terms without fear of infamy.
If we could only look back at that latitude when Cory was sworn in as the new chief executive of the land and relive that same freedom of choice and action between now and the month of May, or better still beyond it, I think this country can still redeem itself from the scourge of innumerable pratfalls since its awakening from the ashes of that overwhelming dictatorship.
However, the present day Edsa spirit, as I mentioned earlier, now stands tragically as a bugbear to its supposed image. More than twice the government has issued dire warnings not to gather stones in its vicinity, not to make peaceful assemblies just so not to instigate riots and incite seditious undertones. It has been used, at times, to justify vested interests to keep up with the political zeitgeist. Even the shouts clanging across its intersections are a far cry from the purpose and posterity of its original deportment.
In a critical appraisal of a disgruntled generation, T. S. Eliot said, “And what there is to conquer by strength and submission, has already been discovered once or twice, or several times, by men whom one cannot hope to emulate--- but there is no competition--- for us, there is only the trying. The rest is not our business”.
Perhaps the silent electorate of North Cotabato can only try, and expect the same amount of outcome bargained, in the first place, by their own political will, since those who have been given the strength to uphold the blessings of Edsa and those who allegedly submitted themselves to the sanctity of its cause, unfortunately, are now competing against each other through these warring constitutional assemblies and party alliances.
And the rest of the competition, so they say, is no longer our business, that we should always remain oblivious of our own collective will, always on the trying end of the trade to reinstate that old Edsa spirit in this election yet to come.
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