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By Karl B. Kaufman
SIXTEEN years have passed and the spirit of the
People Power Revolution is still alive in the hearts and minds of
the many people who flocked on that corner of Edsa and Ortigas one
fateful Sunday morning.
Sixteen years… the legacy of a successful yet
bloodless dethroning of a dictator still lingers in the mind of the
brave men and women who were there.
Sixteen years… we are still continuing to reap
the fruits of that very historical event.
The pictures are still vivid, the noise loud in
our ears: Then Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile and then Vice
Chief of Staff Fidel V. Ramos announcing at a news conference their
withdrawal of support from President Ferdinand Marcos; Jaime
Cardinal Sin calling on all peace-loving Filipinos to bring food for
soldiers in Camp Aguinaldo and Crame; troops loyal to the
administration swarming on the defenseless civilians.
For three days, men, women and children filled
the streets of Edsa, armed with nothing but the frail hope that
Marcos would step down and let Corazon Aquino take over the
presidency.
For those brief moments, they feared for their
security, their lives, their future. Government soldiers loyal to
the dictator were reportedly on their way to crush them.
Prayers
The people prayed.
From above, the horde that had gathered at Edsa
resembled a colony of ants swar-ming on the entire stretch of the
street. Trees were cut down to serve as barricades against tanks.
Men stood vigilant serving as perimeter guards while women attended
to the thirsty, hungry and weary.
As tanks rumbled in a not-so-distant corner of
Edsa, nuns and priests armed only with rosaries, made their way
through the population. Their presence and prayers comforted the
people.
Determined to wipe the demonstrators out as
ordered by Marcos, the tanks moved closer. Still, the people showed
neither fear nor hesitation in meeting them with bare hands,
flowers, songs and prayers.
At the palace, Marcos announced that he had
everything in control, and that he would never leave the palace.
Seeing the resistance and determination in the
face of the people, soldiers aboard the vehicles climbed out and
prepared to shoot. The people did not budge. They prayed the rosary,
offered cigarettes to the soldiers, and dared them to go ahead and
shoot.
The soldiers were astonished to see what
ordinary people are willing to gamble. Tears rolled down their eyes
as their aggression was greeted with food, drinks, and words of
comfort.
The soldiers withdrew without firing a shot.
Air threat
Unable to rid the demonstrators at ground level,
Marcos took the battle to the air. In the morning of Feb. 24, the
15th Air Force Strike Wing soared with orders to attack Camp Crame
and Aguinaldo, where Enrile and Ramos were hiding.
A total of seven helicopter gunships, with
enough firepower to obliterate the camps, hovered around Edsa,
sending shivers to the spines of those on the ground. But the people
remained steadfast. Hungry and terrified, they refused to yield.
Though heavily armed, the pilots could not bring
themselves to launch an offensive against the hapless civilians
below. Instead, they landed and withdrew support from Marcos. The
next day, Corazon Aquino took her oath of office at Club Filipino.
Seeing his empire crumble, Marcos dared a final
bid. He called Enrile, offering him power in a provisional
government. Enrile, whom he reportedly had ordered to be killed days
prior to the rally, turned him down.
With nowhere to go, Marcos asked Senator Paul
Lexalt for advice. The senator bluntly replied, “Mr. President, I
think you should cut, and cut cleanly.”
Rejoicing
Marcos then made a final call to Enrile asking
for safe conduct for his family. The Marcoses then packed hurriedly.
At 9:00 in the evening of Feb. 25, four American
helicopters flew the Marcos family to Clark Airbase.
The next day, after a stopover in Guam, they
flew to Hawaii, leaving the Filipino multitude in an outbreak of
rejoicing.
All these events happened 16 years ago. Yet,
everything is still clear to everyone, especially to those who were
present on those days. It may be an irony that the Chief Executive
who institutionalized the EDSA spirit by creating a commission,
would himself be ousted in another People Power revolt. Joseph
Estrada, the former actor turned president, went down under the
weight of rampant corruption in his administration.
There have been warnings of Filipinos’
propensity to take to the streets with each crisis of governance.
Yet, nothing can take away EDSA I’s legacy as
a peaceful cry of freedom for all oppressed people worldwide.
Every Filipino who yearns for the country’s
bright future must look at it with profound nostalgia. After all,
what democracy we have now stems up from that historical event that
put the Philippines once more in the map of the world.
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