Editor’s Note: The following article is taken from The GUIDON Volume 54, Number 6, originally published March 1987.
REVOLUTIONS ARE disappointing. The euphoria over their successes often dies down soon after a new government comes into power. The Philippines experience, however, is a completely different story. Only a month ago, we celebrated the first anniversary of our February 1986 Revolution complete with a salubungan reenactment, helicopters and jets galore, a three-hour long musical extravaganza, short-lived Japanese fireworks, and dancing in the streets way past the midnight deadline. But a critical observation by a junior BMH major deflated the illusion created by the February 25, 1987 festivities: “We’re going to EDSA to deceive ourselves that we had a revolution.” He’s right. Was it a description or a celebration? Illusion or inspiration? Was there a point after all in celebrating the revolution? Have things really changed as we had hoped they would when we first responded to Jaime Cardinal Sin’s call to protect the rebels in Camps Crame and Aguinaldo? How far have we gone since the revolution at EDSA?
It would be foolish and cynical to say that nothing has changed. The transition from an autocratic regime to a constitutional democracy is a major achievement in itself, but it is a political step that lacks an economic and socio-cultural face. Going beyond the EDSA Revolution means applying democracy to all other areas of our national life.
Overthrowing a dictator, however, should not end a revolution; it only begins one. Our tragedy is that we have relaxed our guard far too soon. Many of us swung right back to complacency the minute news was out that Ferdinand Marcos was on his way to Hawaii. So where does this leave us? Right smack in the middle of a crisis.
We have not gotten down to the real issues that if allowed to fester and remain unsolved, will continue to gnaw at the foundations of Mrs. Aquino’s administration. We have not gone beyond personalities and petty quarrels, choosing to ignore and treat as unimportant, people and their problems. We cannot attend to the people’s basic needs because once elections are over, we are planning for the next incumbency. That is why, one year after our glorious revolution, we are back where we started.
Reflecting on the revolution itself gives us the answers. In that civilian-backed military uprising, two forces had come into play, the inevitable fruits of a people’s frustration with a dictatorship; people power and new politics.
To make the revolution relevant at all and to transform political democracy into an economic and social democracy as well, that massive display of people power at EDSA, Channel 4, Radio Veritas, Libis, Santolan, and Ortigas must be preserved, organized, and consolidated. The support of millions of people of Mrs. Aquino’s government must be translated into political will and programs that will challenge and hopefully solve the problems of land reform, foreign debt, and other people’s issues.
With this, we are made acutely aware of the key, the instrument. The traditional Filipino politics will find its opponent in a new kind of politics, ang bagong politika. Election campaigns must not only be seen as the door that opens to a government position, but also as an opportunity to educate the people about the issues needed tackling, problems needing solving. It is also not only a means for monopoly by a few, but can also be regarded as the instrument of the majority to further the gains of their revolution. It is a political exercise that if participated in by people matured through radical change, will shift the center of the arena from personality to platform politics. And yes, it is about time that we regard each member as a potent member of society and contributor to its growth and development; the small man on the street is as important as the big man behind the desk.
After all, those four days in February were not merely a fight for Cory Aquino; they were a fight for change.
