Nothing accomplished after 30 years, Enrile says of People’s Power
Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, a major player in the world-acclaimed 1986 EDSA People Power, said that event “did not accomplish the purpose for which we laid our lives.”
“As far as we are concerned, nothing was accomplished” in the past 30 years since that fateful year “because they don’t understand the purpose or rationale of what we did,”
Enrile said.
For those reasons, Enrile said he does not think about it anymore. “Zero. Para sa akin, tapos na yon.’’ (To me, it is over.)
“Ewan ko yong mga iba. Kami buhay ang itinaya namin doon eh, pero kahit sinasabi nila na kami seni-save nila, pero kapalit doon ay naging makapangyarihan sila. Wala naman silang ginawa, panay pahirap sa bayan,” he said. (I don’t know about their concerns but we risked our lives although they claimed they saved us by going to EDSA to stop Marcos’ military forces, but the flip side of this is that they have become powerful although they did not do anything. They continue to inflict pain on the citizenry.)
Interviewed by cellphone while he was in his Cagayan hometown facing the Balintang Channel that separates Cagayan and the Batanes Islands, Enrile sounded bitter on the negative result of the coup which led to the People’s Power Revolution in EDSA, which will mark its 30th year anniversary tomorrow, Feb. 25.
Coup’s cast That coup had a strong cast of characters – Enrile was with now Sen. Gregorio B. Honasan II, the charismatic Army colonel who headed the Reform the AFP Movement (RAM), and former Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) vice chief of staff Fidel V. Ramos, who later became Philippine President; and many others who risked their lives to change Marcos’ one-man rule.
Enrile was then the Defense Minister of Marcos for 17 years but later rebelled against the dictator, who was elected in 1965, for a long list of reasons. Enrile became Senate president from 2008 to 2013.
No celebration So, while the country marks tomorrow with a holiday, this major player in making the EDSA People’s Power happen said he does not want to celebrate the 1986 EDSA People Power.
“Bayaan mo na yong mga nakinabang. Mag-celebrate sila, tutal sinira nila yong ginawa namin noong 1986. Wala ng kabuluhan (Let those who benefited from that event celebrate. Anyway, they destroyed what we did for the country in 1986. It no longer has relevance),” he said.
The culmination of that coup, after a standoff between the coup plotters and Marcos’ military forces, was the EDSA People Power where people supported the Enrile-Ramos rebels by filling the main thoroughfare that is EDSA.
But asked why he rebelled against Marcos, Enrile said: “I will write another book, let us leave it that way.” He has already written a book on the EDSA uprising.
Why worry?
A brilliant lawyer who earned a Master of Laws degree with specialized training in International Tax at Harvard, Enrile said he is enjoying his life now. He is out on bail on plunder charges arising from the multi-billionpeso pork barrel incident during the current tenure of President Aquino.
Dream on
Meanwhile, Enrile said he respects Honasan’s view that hope is forever and not all is lost in the past 30 years. “But as far as I am concerned, we have our own programs for that effort but it is gone, it disappeared. I will not blame them if they want to dream about it.”
“As far as I am concerned, I stopped dreaming about those things,” he said.
Feb. 22 not Feb. 25
He stressed that the 1986 EDSA event should be celebrated on Feb. 22 not Feb. 25. “How many times do I have to say that? We were already asleep by that time.”
Enrile pointed out: “The people who are now enjoying power were already enjoying power because they were in our headquarters at that time.”
Aquinos
The widow of slain Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr., Corazon C. Aquino, took over Malacañang from President Marcos who had left the Palace aboard a helicopter. She ruled the country from 1986 to 1992.
Her son, President Benigno Simeon Aquino III, was elected to a six-year term in 2010. His term ends this June.
The relationship between the Aquinos and Enrile had been shaky at best, with Honasan, Enrile’s fair-haired boy, sniping at President Cory by staging several coup attempts. Enrile himself had a falling out with President Cory during the early years of her presidency.
‘Shuffle the deck again’
After reaching the age of 92 last Feb. 14, Enrile’s thoughts on the future of the country is: “We have to shuffle the whole deck and start again.”
How? “We change this (1987) Constitution (framed during Corazon Aquino revolutionary government). This Constitution will continue to create trouble until the people will get tired and they will use the guillotine,” he said.
Will he be frustrated if the Constitution would be amended not during his watch, Enrile said “No.” “I am enjoying my life.” “They are the ones suffering. They can have sleepless nights,” he added.
Where are we now? Meanwhile, Malacañang belittled claims that the Philippines was in a much better position during the Marcos era than after the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution.
Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said the economy was in slumps during the time of the late former President Ferdinand Marcos.
“Because of the system of corruption, the Philippine economy was in slumps and was heavily in debt during the Martial Law dictatorship of former President Marcos,” Coloma said.
“This was the reason why it led to the EDSA People Power Revolution following protest actions of the people for violating human rights and democracy,” he said.
Coloma said it took 30 years for the country to regain its economic stance.
“The Filipino people witnessed and experienced how it was to become poor and how the country rose from the dictatorship,” Coloma said.
“Since 1986 up to the present, it took three decades before the country was able to regain its former glory. We are now known as the ‘Asia’s Rising Star,’ an Investment- Grade Economy and an example of good governance.” (With a report from Madel S. Namit)