EDSA: How things have changed in 31 years

Whenever there is an opportunity for us to show true Cebuano talent, we always find ways to feature them in our talkshow Straight from Sky. A month ago, the University of San Carlos Press launched its latest coffee table book titled “Kamingaw: An Impressionist Portrait of the Bisaya Painter Martino A. Abellana” written by his student and protégé Prof. Raymund L. Fernandez who studied under Martino Abellana way back in 1976 when he began the Fine Arts Program of the University of the Philippines Cebu College.

Indeed, the coffee table book of Prof. Fernandez shows the true talent of Martino A. Abellana, who, when he was alive, was had the distinction of being dubbed “the Amorsolo of the South”, after all, he also studied under the famous Fernando Amorsolo and many of his paintings are often said to be better painted than the great Amorsolo himself. One of Abellana’s paintings was that of his classmate, the late Msgr. Teofilo Camomot, which is now currently being used as the official portrait for the possible canonization of this holy man. Both of them hailed from Carcar. He also painted the famous Doña Modesta Gaisano painting and the one of Don Ramon Aboitiz, which the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc., (RAFI) uses for its official image of Don Ramon.

So tonight we have a very good interview with Prof. Raymund Fernandez on the greatness of Martino Abellana. So watch it on SkyCable’s channel 53 at 8 p.m. with replays on Wednesday and Saturday same time and channel. We also have replays on MyTV’s channel 30 at 9 p.m. Monday and at 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. on Wednesday and Friday.

*** It has to come to pass that the end of the term of Pres. Benigno “PNoy” Aquino III just like all the presidents before him also ended the power of his political party, the Liberal Party. Mind you all this began 31 years ago when after the EDSA Revolt, the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan, of the Marcos Dictatorship lost its political power. Then it happened also to the United Nationalist Democratic Organization that supported the candidacy of then Pres. Corazon C. Aquino and Vice President Salvador “Doy” Laurel. She later dumped the UNIDO party that she used to launch her presidential bid and created her own political party.

Then it happened to the Lakas-CMD of then Pres. Fidel V. Ramos and to the Partido ng Masang Pilipino of former Pres. Joseph “Erap” Estrada, the Lakas-KMP and PDP-Laban under Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and as we said to the LP under Pres. Benigno “PNoy” Aquino III. This is Philippine political history and we must learn our bitter lessons so as not to forget whatever gains we had with the EDSA Revolt.

So we ask ourselves over the weekend when we were celebrating the 31st anniversary of the EDSA Revolution “where did we go wrong?” The problem with our political parties is that many of them claim to have the EDSA Heritage, but in the end, many of them surfaced after the Marcos Dictatorship was removed from power. The Liberal Party for instance never had an official color scheme, but since this political party was “hijacked” by the Aquino Family as its own, they created a “cult-like” status for anyone with the Aquino family name and adopted yellow as their official color. This is why in the last six years the nation had to look at anything that the Aquino Regime did with jaundiced eyes.

Well, last Saturday, LP stalwarts led by former Pres. Benigno “PNoy” Aquino himself and his party of LP senators walked to the EDSA Shrine, but surprisingly, they wore black shirts. Gone were the yellow shirts. It was the first time in more than six years that PNoy didn’t wear anything yellow in public. If you ask me, the 31st anniversary of EDSA saw little people wearing yellow shirts. In fact, a drone shot of the EDSA commemoration rites showed only a few thousand people in the EDSA rally.

But there was another rally in the Luneta Park that most news reporters said had more than 200,000 pro-Duterte supporters. It was the first time in EDSA’s 31-year history that we had two rallies for this celebration. Call it pathetic, but that’s how things have changed in EDSA 31 years later.