“For a moment, everything seemed possible” For my EDSA related fact, I chose this statement from a Filipino citizen who described what it felt like to take part in the People power revolution.  It must’ve felt sentimental and liberating to be part of a nationwide revolution, namely the Edsa Revolution. The first ever effort to overthrow a regime without the act of gunfight. It gave hope to many people that you can address concerns in a peaceful manner, without the use of violence. Even so, certain issues cannot be addressed in a snap of a finger. People’s expectations for a new and reformed country rose, without considering the process it would take to achieve that. Nevertheless, the newfound light that ignited within the people's souls were the beginning of something better. 

“We Filipinos cannot look back to our heroic ancestors for specific guidance. All that we can learn is that they were united in a common struggle. Their technology cannot guide us, but their resolution, their courage, their patience and, more than anything else, their willingness to sacrifice everything, including honor itself for the country, for the people, will show us the way.”

- Ferdinand Marcos during the 82nd anniversary celebration of Philippine independence (Quirino Grandstand, June 12, 1980)

Perhaps it was a cruel joke by fate or a deliberate distasteful irony, but Ferdinand Marcos was indeed preaching about freedom and independence back in 1980, a year before lifting the martial law that he instituted in 1972. 

Filipinos have already gone through countless terrible tragedies and tribulations under colonizer rulers, but a fellow Filipino stripping them of their independence was a worse form of agony. Our ancestors fought for their freedom for approximately 381 years just for it to be eventually taken away from the next generations by a selfish, power-hungry president who felt no sympathy for his countrymen. 

We Filipinos have always believed that there’s hope. We formed revolutionaries, republics, and oppositions because we believed that we had the right to finally have a taste of freedom—freedom that was always meant to be ours but was continuously taken from us. Slowly, that hope dwindled down as the Marcos regime relentlessly oppressed Filipinos, especially the lower class. No one dared  to speak up in the fear of being permanently silenced.

The EDSA revolution of 1986 restored that hope. Without the violence and bloodshed our forefathers had to resort to during their time, the opposition against President Marcos finally regained the confidence that the power should be in their hands and not in tyranny. 

The people power revolution is an important part of our history that the current government is trying to tarnish by revising what has happened in the past. It is a reminder of what the people can do to fight for their rights and their freedom. It should’ve been a lesson learned to avoid repeating history, yet it seems as if we’ve been manipulated into forgetting despite years of believing never again.

Fact: According to an article by San Juan (1978), “On the eve of the proclamation of martial law, leading mass-circulation dailies, weekly magazines and journals, radio and television stations, were shut down by soldiers in full combat gear. Thousands of journalists, editors, radio and television personnel were arrested and thrown into jail without due process”. Journalists were harassed during the Marcos regime, and press freedom was practically nonexistent. It is evident that journalists are once more being placed in vulnerable positions as they are threatened for doing their jobs and fighting for what they believe in. A gut-wrenching example of this is the recent passing of radio commentator Percival Mabasa after he was recently shot in Las Piñas. It’s devastating to see how history is currently repeating itself, but it is only up to the people to stop it, and not everyone is willing or wants to fight.