I wasn’t even born yet when Senator Ninoy Aquino was assassinated. I was only a mere toddler when EDSA Revolution happened in our country.
I remember Mom’s stories during EDSA revolution, she always tell my older sister to pack her bags as the tora-tora are now flying, and the military tanks are everywhere. How I wish she has camera at that time so she could take pictures, but she might be mistaken as an anti-Marcos if she did that lol!
Life is hard during martial law. My chorister sister Ate Jane told me that it restricts them to speak their minds about the tyranny that their-then president did to the country. “Life was good back then”, she said. Until martial law came.
She was in her teens (she’s in her 40s, now married with 3 children) when martial law happened. Everybody is rejoicing at the success of the EDSA revolution. No more protocols, no more restrictions, no more hiding the truth from everyone. Everybody can now speak their minds, their hearts. Like in the High School Musical, it is the start of something new.
Fast forward to 30 years, we still enjoy the freedom that we are having right now. Technology is now in our advantage, now that we can say whatever we want with only a post/tweet/blog away.
Some may say that our country is now at its worst state than it was 30 years prior. I cringe at the fact that some favor the Marcos administration because of its restrictive laws over his successors. Many may think that we are only celebrating the 30th anniversary of the EDSA revolution because of the present administration. So here’s my say:
- The fact that we have the freedom right now from the tyranny that the Marcoses has given to us Filipinos 30 years prior is something that we should be celebrating for every February 25.
- It took years to recover from the corruption that has occurred 30 years ago. It is never a fact that the Philippines is second richest country during the 60s/70s/80s (second only to Japan). But the fact that the Marcoses stole millions of pesos from the government will def took years to recover, and cannot be done by one administration alone.
- The celebration of the EDSA revolution is, and will never be about the Aquinos, the Roxas, the yellow party and the Liberal party. It is a celebration of a peaceful democracy that we are currently having right now.
- One cannot hide the fact that there are people tortured, missing, mutilated and even killed during martial law. We may move on from the horrid part, but this event be also be a reminder that we need to learn from the past in order to move on.
- The experimental museum that is shown last feb 25-26 is years too late! This museum should’ve been there decades ago. If Austria has maintained the Auswitz camp and Cambodia has the Pol Pot museum, why not we have the EDSA revolution museum here in Manila?
This is it for me. May we commemorate the spirit of EDSA for the years to come. May this be a reminder of not repeating the gruesome history again.
