32 Years of EDSA People Power

Please Juan, wake up from deep slumber!

I am a Filipino, and a darn proud one. Yet, I just could not get my head around what we, as a people, do. We seem to be a flock of headless chickens roaming endlessly around a barren and hopeless land. We fight against each other without a clear understanding of what we fight for. People in EDSA now are saying, “We are fighting for democracy!” To which I say, “Of course we are!” We all get it. We fought hard for it and got it 32 years ago, did we not? Where exactly did it take us today?

I am a firm believer of the idea that the greatest gift our forefathers left us is democracy. There are still societies to this day whose people who do not even know that people can now choose their leaders. We are given something many people can still only dream of. Yet there are those who say democracy failed us. Others just perennially blame the failure to the government. I think it is more a case of us failing democracy and a corrupt government (or series of governments) just simply capitalized on our failure.

Democracy is a very powerful tool. It empowers both the conformist mind and the maverick mind. Together, these components make for a brilliant, peaceful and progressive society. Democracy protects the conformists who respect the laws and the rights of the collective. Democracy allows for the mavericks to challenge the laws so they can be fashioned to better serve and protect the rights of the collective. The key here is the “collective”. Democracy only works when people, with the same mindset, the same vision for the future, and the same genuine concern for the collective join together as one to promote what they truly believe is best for the greater community.

The Filipino’s show of strength 32 years ago, at the hollowed grounds of EDSA was a thing of beauty regardless of where you stand in that debate. The detractors of EDSA would argue that the numbers that showed up in that historic event are not even a true representation of the Filipino majority. On the other hand, the proponents of EDSA would argue that it was a legitimate triumph of democracy over a dictatorial regime. Whether the driver behind the EDSA people power is a real and genuine concern for the welfare of the Filipino people or a selfish attempt to hand over (or perhaps shift) the power to a limited few, whether the numbers that showed up that time was a true representation of the Filipino majority or not, one thing is clear – there is strength in numbers and power in unity. In EDSA 32 years ago, a substantial number of the collective, seemingly united in mind and intent to find something different, showed up in numbers and put that power to the test. The “collective” won and they wrote history. EDSA was the “renaissance” of the Filipino mind – the awakening that to me, no matter how beautiful that event may be, will always be one I shall remember as the one that made us and broke us at the same time. We found strength in unity, and use it we did – over and over and over.

I was a mere 7 year old boy when EDSA happened. I cannot claim that I have seen nor have felt the effects of the Marcos era. This is why I cannot relate to the younger generations that go out to the street and profess at the evils and horrors of that time. Some of these youths are even more passionate than the generations that actually lived in those times. They believe so strongly on what they have read and what they were told that they so willingly pick up the baton and declare themselves the new generation of democracy fighters. But do they really understand what this “democracy” they are fighting for is? I look at these young ones and cannot help but think that these young souls are either misguided or manipulated. I am inclined to believe it is more of the latter.

In order to truly learn from the past, one has to look at both sides of the story. In studying both sides of the story, one must also keep in mind that history is always written by winners. Mindful of this truth, a true student of history would need to look beyond history books or biographies or autobiographies. To accept the facts written in these journals, without even asking what rigorous testing methods these written data were subjected to for them to be considered as facts, is no different than directly looking at the event through the lens of the winners. To focus solely on one side of a story is no different from indoctrination – and indoctrination, if we have learned anything at all in history, is a very dangerous thing. Sadly, this is what is happening right now. There are elements so bent at feeding the younger generations “facts” from our history, comparing them to any incumbent government, and drawing parallels to the “facts” written in our history.

I consider myself one of the lucky ones where my formal education is supplemented by education at home. Open-minded discussions and debates were always welcome when I was growing up, even between the young and the old. Of course there is that thin line between open discussion and “pangangatwiran sa matatanda” and it almost always ends up as the latter for me. For those transgressions, I get a major reprimand (at least until I came of age). Call it what you will – fake, phony, pretentious, or a straight up dictatorship at the very core of society – the family, I believe this turned me in to the thinking man that I am today, or at least I would like to think so. Now that I am older, and hopefully know better, I begin to question the way we currently educate our young. Are we really teaching our children to become critical free-thinkers, or are we in fact indoctrinating them? Do the materials we use in formal education really promote critical thinking, or do they serve “facts” and “information” on a silver platter for the kids to take in, memorize and master with no questions asked?

Facts are important in any decision-making. The problem we currently face is not the lack of facts, but rather the skewed perception of facts. A fact is a universal truth. An inch being equal to 2.54 cm is a fact. The force of gravity, the speed of light, the weightlessness of space, these are facts. Marcos a “dictator” or Ninoy a “hero” are labels. They are not facts. A label is what we use to classify things, events and people. Labels are perceptions of truths based on either personal or handed-down experiences. Sadly, labels are a free but powerful commodity that is irresponsibly thrown around nowadays. The day we accept labels a facts is the day we surrender our right to critically think for ourselves. The day we accept labels as facts is the day we become mere tools and servants to propaganda artist. Do not get me wrong, I am not in any way proposing that Marcos is a hero and Ninoy is not as heroic as he is portrayed to be. I am merely suggesting that in this day and age where information flows untethered and unregulated, we have to be very careful not to mix up labels and facts. Facts are tools for progress and evolution. Labels are, well, something else.

After the EDSA people power in 1986, we were suddenly elevated to the international spotlight. We were the first nation in history to ever conduct a bloodless “coup” and successfully topple a “dictator”. There were already so many coup that happened before our EDSA revolution. Most of them, bloody. This is expected since by definition of a coup or a revolution, any incumbent government is expected to fight any violent takeover, where bloodshed is almost always expected. There is one peculiar thing about the EDSA Revolution that turned it into the bloodless coup that it is now famously known for – Marcos did not give the order to engage. Had he given the order to his loyalists to engage, the history of the bloodless coup we, and the rest of the world, know would be a completely different story. If one is to rely on mere definitions alone, one can write an article for EDSA Revolution in a completely different light:

Today, the Philippine Government was illegally taken over (i.e. the coup) by protesters and President Marcos (i.e. the dictator) did not fight the hostile takeover in order to protect human lives.

Of course such a headline is so wrong in many ways. But had that been the headline that spread across the world that day, the result of the war of perceptions could have been completely different. After all, the generations now (with very strong opinions of that period in our history) can only rely on what is written about that period. I do not wish to change history nor do I wish to go into a lengthy debate that the pro and the anti-Marcos will surely be entangled in for many, many, years to come. What I am merely trying to point out is history can be bent and molded easily by just a mere creative phrasing of a few words. The reality too is that the majority of the information readily available to us, common men, tends to only show one side of the story. And in each story, a label is thrown here and there, free of charge. We just have this automatic need, a systemic urge to label just about anything. Then when the labels resonate to a good number of people, it suddenly turns into a fact. This is very true with most our history books and very much true with the articles from the mainstream media as well. Sadly though, our current education system uses these very same materials to educate our next generations about our history. I have been at the receiving end of such education and I have experienced first-hand how that famous event in our history is depicted in the classrooms. This clearly explains why we now have the youths that go to EDSA every year to “remember” – and remember they do, with so much resolve and passion that it almost looks like they were direct victims of that phase in our history.

You need not look very far to understand exactly how what is written today shapes the history that will be read and reread tomorrow for and by the next generations to come. Here is a recent report that has been spreading around the globe just a few days ago.

Source: https://www.rappler.com/nation/196525-united-states-intelligence-agencies-duterte-regional-threat

Now here is the actual wording of the Intelligence Report as pointed out by Mr. Bobby Tiglao.

Source: http://www.manilatimes.net/us-intelligence-estimate-praises-duterte/382088/

There is nothing in the intelligence report that explicitly or implicitly states that Duterte is indeed a threat to democracy. Maybe there are other damning documents that independent investigative journalists out there are not sharing with us (perhaps confidential or classified reports directly from the source?). But as of the time of writing this, I have yet to see an actual report that says exactly what the mainstream news headlines are currently spreading.

Now this is an academic example of how history is written. Two different sides of a story, shown from two different viewpoints, driven by two different interpretations, thrown out to the public domain for “discussion”. Then the discussion is steered by those who make the louder noise. The side that gains more traction and grows the greater following wins by numbers. This is followed by calls to action (or actions) necessary to make the winning viewpoint a reality. The “reality” happens. The victor then writes the history according to their own "true" accounts, with the matching labels of course. True accounts become facts and the rest, they say, is history. This has been the modus operandi from long before we were all here – one that has been widely popularized during the Vietnam War, and sadly one that is still being used to this day to great effects.

We have already established that there is power in numbers. We have also established that Information is power. You combine these two elements and you have a powerful weapon that can shape the world. He who controls information and he who has the ability to reach a larger number with his “information” wins – and ultimately writes history . This gave rise to social media. Unlike history books and the mainstream sources, social media is one that is really actually owned and written by the collective, at least until the traditional “owners” and promoters of information catch up on social media. This rise of the social media, for me at least, is like the EDSA Revolution – but a more powerful and a much more inclusive one. Unlike EDSA with the physical and logistical challenges, the social media revolution does not need money, plane/bus tickets, food distribution networks, streamer & placard printing, etc. What one needs to be included is just an internet connection, a keyboard, and a mouse and you are good to go. Sadly though, this too may end up just like the original EDSA Revolution. The signs are already showing. We already have two clearly divided sides, the pro-Duterte and the anti-Duterte, and neither is willing to listen to what the other has to say regardless if the other really does make sense. Both sides are using all available tools to bang their own drums. Both sides are bent on writing their own version of history seen in their own sets of eyes. We do not know yet which side will win on this one, but this I can tell you with finality – one of them will definitely win. Question is can we, as a collective, really claim victory?

As curious beings we are naturally attracted towards where the noise is strong. Our opinion space is very noisy at the minute. This is a very good thing. This means there is much more engagement and much less indifference. Like what I have always said, The Filipino nationalism is at its highest it has ever been in recent years. The challenge is which side’s beating drum do we follow? Do we follow the pro-government, or do we follow the anti-government? Do we follow the pro-DDS, or the anti-DDS? Do we follow the Yellows, or do we follow the other colors? Do we follow this label or the other label? I say we wake up from this deep slumber and follow neither. We choose a side, any side, and we lose. We will look back to today, 30, 40, 50, 60 years from now and realize once again that much like the EDSA 32 years ago, we have not made progress – We gained nothing.

It is time to wake up and put an end to this nonsense. We must break away from our usual programming. We must no longer allow any of these sides to win us over and use us. We are Philippines, we are the voice, and we are the government. We do not need any of those sides to represent us. We must not allow ourselves to be used as a number in their tug of war for power. We have, for 32 years now, tried to do things the exact same way over and over and over – on this day every single year we go out in numbers, we condemn the ills of the current government, flag our current leaders as creeping dictators, attempt to overthrow our current government and claim another victory for democracy. Every single time democracy wins, we lose. We remain as unprogressive, as poor, and as divided as we have always been. It has been 32 years of doing the very same thing and expecting a different result every single time. To put it bluntly, it has been 32 years of pure and utter stupidity.

This EDSA, I really hope we all decide for ourselves to do things differently. Let us go out in large numbers, as the real government, and tell those we elected as administrators of our government what policies work for us and what policies we do not approve of. Let us go out in numbers not with the goal of overthrowing a government. This EDSA our goal should be to try and unite in support of (or against) the policies, ideologies and principles rather than the groups, parties or people. Let us go out there and provide this government direction and support rather than try to destroy it. We give this one a try and maybe, just maybe, this EDSA will really finally fulfill its true potential as a true display of peaceful “People Power Revolution” towards real, meaningful and tangible progress.

Let us keep the memories of EDSA alive and let us learn from our past, this time, for real.