EDSA 2 11th anniversary passes with little fanfare

MANILA, Philippines - The 11th anniversary of EDSA Dos, the day Joseph Estrada was ousted from the presidency, yesterday passed with little fanfare.

Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the main beneficiary of the military-backed civilian uprising in January 2001, is detained at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) in Quezon City.

Angelo Reyes, Estrada’s Armed Forces chief who defected to the Arroyo camp, committed suicide in front of his mother’s grave in February last year.

Some senators who actively worked for Estrada’s ouster before his impeachment trial started in 2000, switched to the opposition in 2005 and attempted to topple Arroyo on charges that she cheated to obtain a full term in the 2004 elections.

Estrada was later charged and convicted of plunder but Arroyo pardoned him in 2007.

He tried to regain the presidency in the May 2010 elections but placed second to President Aquino.

“What’s there to do?” former first gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo said in a telephone interview.

“She’s (Arroyo) detained.”

Arroyo had not been keen on commemorating EDSA Dos that installed her to power, especially in the last years of her administration.

A senior Cabinet official during the previous administration and a key player in the so-called Edsa Dos said he thought the present administration wanted the event forgotten or be placed in the dustbin of memory.

“What is there to commemorate when many of the major personalities are beleaguered or gone,” he said.

The official asked that he not be identified for fear of being “spotted” by the Aquino administration and charged for some criminal offense.

“I think the event is largely forgotten already,” he said.

“But, come to think of it, what was its real significance that would call for its commemoration?”

The official expressed sadness over the nature of the country’s politics.

“I guess that’s the way our politicians operate, they go after their predecessors, they step on their predecessors to boost their stature,” he said.

Other former officials declined to be interviewed.

Five months before she stepped down from office in 2010, Arroyo reminisced about EDSA Dos.

“In 2001 I did not seek the office of the President,” she said.                 

“It was thrust upon me (and)… rather than shirk from the onerous task, together with you, I rolled up my sleeves, determined to turn the Philippines around.

“Together with you, I was focused like a laser beam on delivering real results to better the lives of ordinary Filipinos.”

Akbayan: Jail GMA

Akbayan-youth rallied at the VMMC yesterday to demand the detention of Arroyo in jail.

Leanne Torrato, spokesman for the protesters, said Arroyo should be transferred to a jail facility for betraying the ideals of Edsa Dos.

The protesters cited the corruption controversies that hounded the Arroyo administration.

A jail facility fits Arroyo for her “crimes” against the nation, they added.

Arroyo is facing electoral sabotage charges before a Pasay City court.