EDSA Revolution

The EDSA Revolution, also referred to as the People Power Revolution and the Philippine Revolution of 1986, was a mostly nonviolent mass demonstration in the Philippines. Four days of peaceful action by millions of Filipinos in Metro Manila led to the downfall of the authoritarian regime of President Ferdinand Marcos and the installation of Corazon Aquino as president of the Republic. EDSA stands for Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, the main highway in Metro Manila and the main site of the demonstrations.

Historical background

In 1983, the popular oppositionist senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr, was assassinated at the Manila International Airport (now known as the Ninoy Aquino International Airport) after returning from a three-year long exile in the United States. His assassination shocked and outraged civilians, most of whom had by then lost confidence in Marcos' leadership. It also shook the Marcos government which was by then deteriorating, in part due to Marcos' worsening and eventually fatal illness. Following this, Aquino's wife Corazon "Cory" Aquino became a popular rallying figure against the Marcos dictatorship.

On November 23, 1985, Marcos, after alleged pressure from Washington, suddenly announced that there would be a snap presidential elections early the following year, one year ahead of schedule. The growing opposition movement fielded Aquino as their presidential candidate, with Salvador Laurel running for vice-president. Marcos himself ran for re-election, with Arturo Tolentino as his running mate.

The elections were held on February 7, 1986. The electoral exercise was marred by widespread reports of violence and tampering of election results. The official election canvasser, the Commission on Elections (COMELEC), declared Marcos the victor. The final tally of COMELEC, the official Philippine poll body, had Marcos winning with 10,807,197 votes to Aquino's 9,291,761 votes. The final tally of NAMFREL, an accredited poll watcher, had Marcos winning with 7,835,070 votes to Aquino's 7,053,068 votes.

But due to the reports of fraud, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) issued a statement condemning the elections, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution stating the same.

See Philippine elections of 1986.

The revolution

The revolution started late in February 1986 with the defection of two military leaders of Marcos. This prompted a four-day peaceful support of millions of people determined to protect the two leaders from assault by Marcos-loyal forces. Most of the rest of the military eventually defected, Aquino was inaugurated as President, and the Marcoses fled the Philippines.

The defection

The events of the revolution started when two key leaders of the military withdrew their support for Marcos. On 6:45 p.m. on Saturday, February 22, 1986, the Minister of Defense Juan Ponce Enrile and the Vice Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces (Lt. Gen. Fidel Ramos) announced at a press conference their withdrawal of support and accusing Marcos of cheating in the recent elections. They declare that Aquino is the rightful president. Subsequently, they barricaded themselves in two military camps: Ramos at Camp Crame and Enrile at the Ministry of National Defense in Camp Aguinaldo. Both camps faced each other across EDSA in Quezon City, Metro Manila. Supported by only a few hundred fellow soldiers, Enrile and Ramos prepared for the inevitable attack by Marcos-loyal troops led by General Fabian Ver, the Armed Forces Chief of Staff.

A few hours later, Radio Veritas, the only non-government-controlled radio station, replayed the press conference nationwide. Marcos himself later conducted his own news conference calling on Enrile and Ramos to surrender, urging them to “stop this stupidity.”

Within one hour, in a message aired over Radio Veritas, the highly influential Catholic Archbishop of Manila Jaime Cardinal Sin exhorted the Filipinos to come to the aid of the rebel leaders by going to EDSA between Camp Crame and Aguinaldo and giving emotional support, food and other supplies. For many, this seemed an unwise decision since civilians would not stand a chance against a dispersal by government troops. Nevertheless, many people, especially priests and nuns, trooped to EDSA.

Rising mass support

At dawn, Sunday, government troops arrived to knock down the main transmitter of Radio Veritas, cutting off broadcast to people in the provinces. The station switched to a standby transmitter with a limited range of broadcast. The station was targeted because it had proven to be a valuable communications tool for the people supporting the rebels, by informing them of movements of government troops and relaying many requests for food, medicine, and supplies.

Still, people came to EDSA until it swelled to hundreds of thousands of people. These people were armed only with prayers, rosaries, and statues of Mary. The mood in the street was actually very festive, with many bringing whole families. Performers entertained the crowds, nuns and priests led prayer vigils, and people set up barricades—makeshift sandbags, trees, and vehicles—in several places along EDSA and intersecting streets like Santolan and Ortigas Avenue. Everywhere, people listened to Radio Veritas on their radios. Several groups sang Bayan Ko (My Land), which, since 1980, had become a patriotic anthem of the opposition. People frequently flashed the LABAN (fight) sign, which is an L formed with their thumb and index finger.

Shortly after lunch of February 23, Enrile and Ramos decided to consolidate their positions. Enrile crossed EDSA from Camp Aguinaldo to Camp Crame amidst cheers from the crowd.

In the mid-afternoon, Radio Veritas relays reports of the Marines massing near the camps in the east and tanks approaching in from the north and south. A contingent of Marines with tanks and armored vans, led by Brigadier General Artemio Tadiar, were stopped along Ortigas Avenue, about two kilometers from the camps, by tens of thousands of people. Nuns holding rosaries kneeled in front of the tanks and men and women linked arms together to block the troops. Tadiar threathened the crowds but they did not budge. In the end, the troops were forced to retreat, surprisingly with no shot fired.

By evening, the standby transmitter of Radio Veritas fails. Shortly after midnight, the staff were able to go to another station and began broadcasting from a secret location with the moniker "Radio Bandido" (Bandit Radio). June Keithley was the radio broadcaster that continued Radio Veritas' program all throughout the night and the remaining days.

More defections

On the dawn of February 24, Monday, the first serious encounter with government troops occurred. Marines marching from Libis, in the east, lobbed tear gas at the demonstrators who quickly dispersed. Some 3,000 Marines then entered and held the east side of Camp Aguinaldo.

Later, helicopters, manned by the 15th Air Force Strike Wings, led by Colonel Antonio Sotelo, were ordered to head to Camp Crame to neutralize it. Secretly, the squadron had already defected and instead of attacking Camp Crame, landed in it, with the crowds cheering and hugging the soldiers who came out. The presence of the helicopters boosted the morale of Enrile and Ramos who had been continually encouraging their fellow soldiers to join the opposition.

The capture of Channel 4

At around that time, June Keithley received reports that Marcos had left Malacañang Palace and broadcasted it to the people at EDSA. The crowd celebrated and even Ramos and Enrile went out from Crame to appear to the crowds. The jubilation was however short-lived as Marcos later appeared on television on the government-controlled Channel 4, declaring that he would not step down. It was thereafter speculated that the false report was a psychological warfare ploy against Marcos to encourage more defections.

During this broadcast, Channel 4 would suddenly go off the air. A contingent of reformist soldiers (the rebels), under Colonel Mariano Santiago, was able to capture the Channel 4 station. Channel 4 was put back online, shortly after noon, with a voice declaring “This is Channel 4 serving the people again.” By this time, the crowds at EDSA had swelled to over a million. (Some estimates place them at two million.)

In the late afternoon, rebel helicopters attacked Villamor Air Base destroying presidential vehicles. Another helicopter went to Malacañang, fired a rocket and caused minor damage. Later, most of the officers who graduated from the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) defected; the majority of the Armed Forces had already changed sides.

Marcos's finest hour

On February 24, protesters were amassing EDSA. On the television, Marcos and Armed Forces Chief Gen. Fabian Ver had a conversation which was regarded as Marcos's finest hour. As Ver warned Marcos of imminent danger, Ver advised Marcos to give him orders to open fire on the crowds as tanks were already making their way to EDSA. A sick and exhausted Marcos stubbornly told Ver not to do so. It was the moment when, no matter what orders he might have given in the past in the name of expediency, he refused to fire on the crowds. In his need to cling onto power, that was a glaring inconsistency. The actual dialogue on TV went as follows:

Fabian Ver: We have to immobilize the helicopters they've got. We have two fighter planes flying now to strike at any time, sir.

Ferdinand Marcos: My order is not to attack.

Ver: They are massing civilians near our troops and we cannot keep on withdrawing. You asked me to withdraw yesterday.

Marcos (interrupting): My order is to disperse [them] without shooting them.

Ver: We cannot withdraw all the time...

Marcos: No, no, no! Hold on. You disperse the crowds without shooting them. You may use any other weapon.

The inaugurations

On the morning of February 25, Tuesday, at around 7 a.m., a minor clash occurred between loyal government troops and the reformists. Snipers stationed atop the government-owned Channel 9 tower near Channel 4 began shooting at the reformists. Many rebel soldiers surge to the station.

Later in the morning, Cory Aquino was inaugurated as the President of the Philippines in a simple ceremony at Club Filipino in Greenhills about a kilometer from Camp Crame. She was sworn in as President by Senior Associate Justice Claudio Teehankee and Laurel as Vice-President by Justice Vicente Abad Santos. The bible on which Aquino swore was held by Aurora Aquino, the mother of Ninoy Aquino. Attending the ceremonies were Ramos, who was then promoted to General, Enrile, and many politicians. Outside Club Filipino all the way to EDSA, about two million people cheer and celebrate. Bayan Ko was sung after the Aquino's oath-taking. Many people wore yellow, the color of Aquino's campaign for presidency.

An hour later, Marcos conducts his own inauguration at Malacañang. Hundreds of loyalist civilians attend the ceremony, shouting "Marcos, Marcos, Marcos pa rin! (Marcos Marcos Marcos through and through!)". On the Palace balcony, Marcos took his oath as President of the Philippines and broadcasted by the remaining government television channels. None of the invited foreign dignitaries attended the ceremony. It was almost a Shakespearean moment to many, a king shorn of his power as he took his oath. Imelda Marcos sang one more rendition of "Dahil Sa Iyo" (Because of You), the couple's theme song, rather tearfully. To the many Marcos loyalists, they would always be the First Couple. After the inauguration, the Marcos family and their close associates hurriedly rushed to leave the Palace. The broadcast of the event was also cut off as rebel troops successfully capture the other stations.

By this time, tens of thousands of people massed at the barricades along Mendiola, only a hundred meters away from Malacañang. They were prevented from storming the Palace by loyal government troops securing the area. The angry demonstrators were pacified by priests who warned them not to be violent.

Marcos flees

Marcos later talked to U.S. Senator Paul Laxalt, asking for advice from the White House. Laxalt advises him to "cut and cut cleanly", to which Marcos expressed his disappointment after a short pause. In the afternoon, Marcos talks to Enrile asking for safe passage for him and his family. Finally, at 9:00 p.m., the Marcoses were transported by four American helicopters to Clark Air Base in Pampanga, before heading on to Guam, and finally to Hawaii.

When the news of Marcos' departure reached the people, many rejoiced and danced. Over at Mendiola, the demonstrators were finally able to enter Malacañang, long denied to the Filipinos in the past decade. Some looting by overly angry protesters occurred, but mostly people wandered inside looking at the place where all the decisions which changed the course of Philippine history were made.

All over the world, people rejoiced and congratulated Filipinos they know. Almost overnight, the Philippines became a source of inspiration and admiration. Bob Simon, an anchorman at CBS declared: “We Americans like to think we taught the Filipinos democracy—well, tonight they are teaching the world.”

Was it a "revolution"?

Some people have has a problem with labelling this event a revolution since for many people, a revolution is a violent overthrow of a reigning government. See, for example, scientific revolution, and singing revolution for more examples of non-violent revolutions. In the decades since there have been several similar, largely nonviolent revolutions removing similarly unpopular regimes (i.e., the former Czechoslovakia, Ukraine, and East Germany, among other examples) so the event may seem more "authentically" revolutionary now than it did at the time, and could even perhaps be cited as the trend-setting event which led, at least in part, to the subsequent ones.

According to some observers, Edsa Revolution is originally a coup d' etat made by some officers of the military & civilians who are not satisfied with the goverment. they attempted to replace the marcos regime with a military junta with Corazon Aquino as a figurehead president.

Why the Revolution was successful

Many people have debated long on how millions of people were able to topple a two-decade long authoritarian rule with very little blood being shed. The popular attribution is to the power of prayer, to God, and to Mary. Some others attribute it to the Filipino character, while the Left claims that their unwavering presence in the rallies, especially at Mendiola, was the driving force behind the revolution. Some Americans claim that it was because of negotiations between Marcos and the U.S. Government.

The event was actually quite an unprecedented event in history. It was probably the first time millions of civilians came to the aid of the military, which had long been an instrument of repression and terror.

Post-EDSA Philippines

While the EDSA Revolution is almost universally acknowledged as a great example of democracy at work, many political scientists and sociologists have commented that the Philippines have largely failed to actualize the possible gains from a fresh change in government, including the new constitution. Among the conditions cited are the overall slow growth of the Philippine economy, especially compared to that of other nearby Southeast Asian countries, the essentailly unchanged political atmosphere in the country, and the general feeling of worsening condition of life, especially among the poor sectors of society.

Many people, especially the vocal activist groups and non-governmental organizations, have decried the return to power of many of the old corrupt people associated with the Marcos regime. Many would also agree that the run of politics in the country did not change, only the politicians. Nepotism is still widespread, with many places in the Philippines being bailiwicks of local political dynasties. The concept of the trapo (rag) or the "traditional politician", which is a term used to describe an old corrupt politician who clings to power, have solidified in the administrations after Marcos.

Some political scientists have even gone to say that the Philippines today is one of the worst examples of a democratic state; they say that the Philippines is still not ready for true democracy. Some Filipinos have labelled Philippine democracy as the tyranny of the masses and mob rule. Traditional politicians cling to old posts, while Filipinos have frequently voted into office movie and TV actors and actresses. One critic called this phenomenon a "showbiztocracy".

This event polarized Philippine society, perhaps beyond repair. Evidence of this may be seen in today's Philippine society.

The constitutionality of the Revolution was also disputed because the historic events, from the snap election to the Revolution, along with the exile of Marcos, were done through extra-constitutional means. This has become a moot point since a new constitution was adopted soon after in 1987.

EDSA as a precedent

Fifteen years after the EDSA Revolution, in January 2001, EDSA Dos occurred. A million citizens converged at the EDSA Shrine to protest against President Joseph Estrada, following his aborted impeachment trial at the Senate. This resulted to the downfall of Estrada's administration, the extreme polarization of Philippine society, and the dilution of the concept of "People Power". Months after EDSA Dos, EDSA Tres was staged by hundreds of thousands of Estrada's supporters.

These civil demonstrations have led to the negative connotations of "People Power" as "mob rule". Various groups and organizations in the Philippines, in the months and years after EDSA Dos and Tres, have threatened to stage EDSA Kuwatro and even EDSA Singko as a sign of massive protest against the incumbent administration.

Bibliography

• Mercado, Monina Allarey, and Tatad, Francisco S. People Power: The Philippine Revolution of 1986: An eyewitness history. Manila, Philippines. The James B. Reuter, S.J., Foundation. 1986.

See also

• EDSA II, also known as the Second People Power Revolution