Twenty-nine years ago today, I was a part of the first one thousand people who went to EDSA and decided to take matters into our hands. There were a handful of nuns and some student leaders and teachers who congregated in between Camp Crame and Camp Aguinaldo. We were heeding the call of Cardinal Sin via Radio Veritas, to form massive human shields to protect the then beleaguered National Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile and the AFP Deputy Chief of Staff, FVR. I was then the HR Manager of PNOC. But we had the nation in mind. We did not think of the consequences. We just wanted to play a role in the turning point of history.
Today, the Defense Secretary that we protected is under the custody of authorities for alleged plunder. The then deputy chief of staff is one of the three living presidents. The other two were also detained, both for alleged plunder but one is now Lord Mayor, the other the Lady of the Detention Hospital. The son of the constitutional dictator is now a senator and is rumored to run for president, too. The late dictator's wife is a member of Congress, while a daughter is the governor of the province that is forever sworn to love his family, no matter what. The Marcoses have been forgiven. Ninoy's real killers are still enjoying freedom.
When we ousted the dictator, we installed a president who was quite reluctant and ill-prepared. Had her honesty been supplemented by some degree of executive competence, we could have generated tremendous good from her overwhelming popularity. In the same manner, had her predecessor's competence been ennobled by some notions of integrity, then we could indeed realize his vision of a new society. When the first woman President's term expired, she anointed her defense chief to succeed her. The rest is history.
The next president was impeached for alleged plunder, was in fact convicted, but was pardoned by his benevolent successor, who, by twist of fate, is now the one detained. It is a pity that the Lord Mayor/President does not have power to reciprocate because the Mayor of Manila does not have the power of pardon. The incumbent president was very promising. Son of a hero/former senator and a late former president, he promised to make the people his boss. But Mamasapano came and the rest is history.
As I reflect today, on the meaning of EDSA, I realized that I was being used to oust a government that was no longer reflective of the will of the people. I have the feeling that we are returning to that direction today. A nation with a population of 100 million, with more than 30 million living below poverty line, with 10 million jobless and 20 million underemployed, with more than 5 thousand Filipinos leaving the country each day legally and perhaps more illegally, I cannot, for the life of me, say that we have changed for the better. Did I do right when I went to EDSA in 1986?
If you tell a squatter family that we regained freedom in EDSA, they will tell you that we can not eat freedom for lunch or dinner. A man behind bars, with food in front of him has a better chance of survival, than one who is free to roam around and search for food from the garbage bins. The meaning of EDSA then was freedom. The true meaning of EDSA now is hunger, anger, anguish and regrets. Sayang.