EDITORIAL — Building on the gains

Compared to commemorations in recent years, more people came out yesterday to mark the anniversary of the original people power revolt – the one that materialized without planning and without an announced schedule or venue; the one born out of desperation and outrage over a regime corrupted absolutely by power.

The Arroyo administration, increasingly being compared to the Marcos regime, responded the way the dictatorship did, flexing muscles yesterday with its own gatherings of supporters and a display of tanks and troops. Military and police commanders made a show of unity, walking together and holding a joint press conference. Administration officials tried to raise a flag, but it got stuck at half-mast before sliding down to the ground. 

That the nation seems to be back where it started in February 1986 shows there is more to building a strong democracy than people power. The 1986 revolt, a shining moment for an oppressed nation, was the culmination of a long struggle to restore democracy and end large-scale corruption. With the euphoria that accompanied the end of the struggle, complacency set in. There was little effort to rebuild the democratic institutions that were destroyed during the years of authoritarian rule. Several heroes of people power soon became heels, attempting over and over to duplicate what was a spontaneous feat of throwing out a president.

Education deteriorated, the middle class did not grow, and people left by the millions for better opportunities overseas. Filipinos were left behind by their neighbors, who realized that national survival depended on the capacity to implement reforms.

By 2001, complacency caught up with the nation, and a popularly elected president was thrown out in another people power revolt amid a corruption scandal.

Today, the circumstances that drove Filipinos to take to the streets in 1986 and 2001 are emerging again. Only this time, Filipinos have grown wary of people power. But it is not people power that should be blamed for failed expectations. Blame should be heaped on the complacency following the success of a popular revolt, the resistance to reforms, and the public apathy that accompanies the realization that we have failed to build on the gains of people power.