people power?

I was ten years old when People Power happened. I remember asking my mother what was happening to the country. Now that I am thirty, I am still asking the same question.

At that time I remember being bombarded with words of hope for my future; that because of People Power, my generation would no longer have to endure the pains of martial law and instead enjoy the promise of a more peaceful and stable future. I remember hearing about how life under the leadership of the untainted Corazon Aquino are better because they have only the people’s interest at heart and that the problems besting the country during the Marcos regime would be a thing of the past. People Power is not about the Marcoses, Enrile, Ramos or Cory. It is about the nation’s citizens uniting to demand for a change in leadership without having to die. It is about bringing out the best in people at a time where identities have either been suppressed or oppressed. It is about working to rebuild a future. The Philippines could finally regain its place as Southeast Asia’s most progressive country. Twenty years later, we are still somewhere between surviving and hoping.

The sad truth is that those whom we considered as EDSA 1 “heroes” believe that they have right to interfere. That if their opinions are ignored or their suggestions, often masked as pieces of advice, are not followed, they can scream injustice or ineptitude. These people truly believe that only they know how to run this country. If so, then why are we still so poor? Seriously, Gloria alone could not have turned this country into such a sorry state. What have three Presidents prior to her done? If the Cory administration’s only claim to fame is the restoration of democracy, then she should have stepped down when the RAM boys held a coup because of the deplorable state of the military (this is ironic because it was the RAM boys who first separated itself from Marcos thereby putting her in power in the first place). If during the Ramos administration this country was supposed to be an emerging tiger, then why are we whimpering from the pain of having to pay the IPPs for electricity we don’t even use? If the Estrada administration was supposed to be para sa masa, then why didn’t our unemployment rate drop? Lahat sila may maling ginawa, kaya’t wala ni isa sa kanila ang may karapatang magmalinis.

More than anyone, it is the President who knows how difficult it is to deal with extremists. It is a balancing act of sorts. Yet now, we find them marching together in either Ayala or EDSA supposedly for a common cause. But is the cause truly common?

Ang nakalulungkot na katotohanan ay pakiramdam ng mga itinuring natin na mga bayani ng EDSA ay habangbuhay silang dapat makialam sa pamamalakad ng gobyerno. Na kapag hindi nasunod ang gusto nila o kapag hindi sila binigyan ng karampatang respeto o dignidad at the level they were expecting ay masama na ang kasalukuyang namumuno. Wala na bang ibang taong magaling maliban sa kanila? Sila lang ba ang nagmamahal sa bansa? Hindi ba nila napapansin na ang sumasama na lang sa mga marcha nila ay ang mga alipores din nila o di kaya ay mga bayaran lamang? Kung hindi naman, dapat ba’ng kaibiganin nila ang mga tinuturing mga pasista o komunista? Kung sabagay, kung wala nga naman ang mga bayaran ng mra maka-kanan at maka-kaliwa, magmumukhang kahiyahiya ang mga rally nila dahil walang pupunta. Mga naging Presidente din naman sila diba? Hindi ba’t ang mga grupo ding yan ang pilit na tinuligsa ng kani-knailang mga administrasyon? Ngayon, ano? Fraternizing with the enemy? Balimbing? Higit kanino man, alam nila kung gaano kahirap at kadelikado ang pagiging isang Presidente. Hindi porke tapos na ang termino nila ay makikisukob na sila sa kaaway.

What makes you think that you can still do today what you have done twenty years ago? Your glory days are over. The golden age has passed. Tama Na! Sobra Na! Manahimik Na!