The Revolution of 86’

      Moments are eternal when called upon by the righteousness of a revolution. But throughout the history of man, the call for a revolution was always a call for battle and a reign of death. By the 20th century, with the world grown so tightly packed and economic normalcy and public confidence dependent on global peace, the call for a change of government by revolution was politically unpalatable to almost all nations, but to a few who were under abusive and corrupt governments, the Philippines being one of them.

     
      In 1986, the simmering restiveness of the Filipinos erupted and for a moment, the  world waited  in horror as the military mobilized to defend a very unpopular regime. The threat of a blood bath was in the offing. But then, something unexpected happened, something unexpectedly human. With all the history of armed resistance flowing in their veins, the Filipinos effected a successful bloodless revolution. A revolution that was in itself revolutionary. The Philippines gave the world the first successful People Power Revolution in 1986.

      The Philippines by January 1986 was a powder keg ready to ignite for the slightest provocation. On November 1985, President Ferdinand Marcos had called for a snap election for February 1986 to confirm his mandate. The impossibility of winning against Marcos was all too logical – the opposition was divided; Marcos had the political machinery to carry on a presidential campaign; there was no National Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) yet to check on poll cheaters; and Marcos held absolute power on the military and the government. But the opposition did unite under one presidential candidate – Corazon Aquino, the widow of Sen. Benigno Aquino, the assassinated leader of those who dared defy Marcos. NAMREL was hastily revived, and the people were surprisingly warm to Cory and generally cold and fed up to everything Marcosian.
 
      This was proven when COMELEC declared Marcos the winner amidst an avalanche of poll fraud evidences. The people were ready to jump behind anyone who would raise the  banner of indignation against the government. The Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM) provided the vehicle for the people to vent their national anger against Marcos and all the things he stood for.  The RAM was a group of professional young soldiers who were championing reform within the Armed Forces of the Philippines. By February 1986, the RAM was ready to launch a coup d’état.

 
      Their plot was discovered by Marcos and their leader, Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile ordered arrested. On February 22, 1986 Enrile contacted Gen. Fidel Ramos, head of the Philippine Constabulary and Vice-Chief of Staff, and convinced him to join the fray. Together, they announced their defection and recognized Cory as the duly elected President of the Philippines.

 
      Radio Veritas reported the budding rebellion. Cardinal Sin went on air to call for the people to support Enrile and Ramos. They came, innumerable, and soldiers began defecting.
 

      Soldiers ordered to crush the rebels in Camp  Aguinaldo and Camp Crame could not do so, for they had been effectively barricaded by defenseless people – the ordinary and extra ordinary, the old, the young, rich men, poor men, by nuns and moms – all praying, all protecting the nucleus of resistance against the military behemoth of the dictator. The army, by letting itself be stymied by such, had done the most honourable deed in its history—it sided with the people. The highway of EDSA was filled with peaceful people filled with revolutionary passion – something that could not be humbled by fear, nor bought by bribery, nor terrified by the threat of death. Change was in the air and Marcos in the end took the cue. After Marcos’ pathetic inauguration in Malacañang Palace as re-elected president on February 25, 1986, he fled along with his family  and close associates,  and of course, they took with them crates of money and jewellery. To Hawaii they went, in shock and ignominy. A dictator broken, a regime plucked from its peacock throne.

 
      That same day, Cory was sworn in as Philippine President in Club Filipino. And the world heaved a sigh of relief and awe, to the first people power revolution to ever grace the history of mankind.
 

      Today when the nation remembers the EDSA People Power Revolution, it is with pride and ecstasy. No amount of criticism can diminish the brightness of hope that its memory can generate. It will always be a source of strength, an inexhaustible battery of light for people everywhere who are suffering existence under abusive governments. That when a united people call for change, all things follow—the military, the church, media and the business community. And those who unwisely ignore the warnings are cast away from the pedestal of public office, their names forever burned in the pages of history.