EDSA — the worthwhile cause that was wasted

EDSA 1 is such a difficult topic for me and, I assume, for those from my generation (I will be 62 in about a month) who are not partisans for or against Marcos. We are old enough to know EDSA brought something better than was there before. I was 26 when EDSA happened, so I know enough not to fall for Marcos or martial law revisionism. Or the over-the-top romanticism peddled by the Yellow crowd. I am not engaging in false equivalence either. The competing camps are obviously not equal in virtue or vice despite what their acolytes and partisans may bloviate ad infinitum. Those facts are clear enough, and anyone who does not know that is either too young or cannot be reached by facts or fairness in my view.

Still, it is so disappointing that the high point of EDSA was EDSA. We had such hope and optimism that we were at the threshold of new and better days. A letdown was natural and expected, but it seems everything after was a disappointment. Just being not as bad as what came before really does not suffice. The people aspired for more and deserved more. The Economist in its obituary of Corazon Aquino captured it right in their generally laudatory article, noting as she became president that “her greatness was already at an end.” So true. Her finest period was 1983-1986, as probably was ours. Was post-EDSA merely a reversion to what preceded martial law and its under-performing norm? If so, what did it cost us?