EDITORIAL — Proof that Edsa I is dead is alive

The so-called Edsa I People Power Revolt of 1986, which occurred 21 years ago from February 22 to 25, is all but forgotten. The spirit has long dissipated, the gains long squandered, the hopes misappropriated.

Any romantic fool still looking around for vestiges of a lost era may as well be trying to beat a dead horse back to life. And even if it was possible, it would still be to the best interest of the dead horse to just let it stay dead.

For Filipinos are very notorious for their " double-kill. " And by that we do not mean hot meat in the market. The fact alone that we have, since Edsa I, an Edsa II, and an aborted Edsa III is proof enough.

Yet the greatest proof that Edsa I is dead is very much alive. You cannot miss him in yellow, arguably the most visible color in the spectrum. He has started to pound the campaign trail as a candidate for senator. He is Benigno Aquino III, or Noynoy.

Noynoy is the only son of Ninoy Aquino, the leading light of the opposition during the dark years of marital law. His murder was what sparked the Edsa I revolt. Yet Noynoy is now with Joseph Estrada, who represents many of the things that Edsa I sought to cleanse but failed.

By pitching camp with the Estrada opposition ( as opposed to a real opposition that no longer exists ), Noynoy succeeded in conveying the message that it is time to forget Edsa I and move on, even if to where nobody can tell, least of all Noynoy and his new-found friends.

A true opposition is fired by a principled and responsible exercise of the power to check and balance the awesome power of any administration. Given enough democratic space to thrive and flower, a true opposition can help build a nation and fulfill the aspirations of all.

The Estrada opposition is nothing more than a gathering of politicians bound by a common object of hate. Given the chance, it will destroy the object of its hatred and install itself in its place, until it gets hated in turn. Poor Noynoy. He leapt from dead horse to raging blind mare.