Fight not yet over – Noy
Citing current developments in the country, apparently including the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona, President Aquino said yesterday it was clear that the fight for freedom and change that started during the People Power revolution in 1986 was not yet over.
“With the recent events that are happening and we hear about, it is clear that the fight that we started during the first people power is not yet over. I need your help to finish this fight,” Aquino said in a speech during a ceremonial turnover of housing units for military and police personnel in Trece Martires City in Cavite.
Aquino, whose mother Corazon was catapulted to the presidency after then dictator Ferdinand Marcos was ousted by people power in 1986, assured the people that he was committed to the ideals of the bloodless uprising 26 years ago.
“Will we allow ourselves to be fooled by greedy and corrupt officials who want to cling to power?” the President said, without mentioning Corona, who was impeached by the House of Representatives and is now being tried by the Senate.
“Will we allow those who caused so much poverty to again reign in the country? We will not allow that,” Aquino said.
The President said with the
help of the people, his government would continue the changes it started and strive to succeed completely.
The President said various moves to show “unity” undoubtedly proved that the Filipinos were living the “people power” ideals.
Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte also said Filipinos must not forget the day hundreds of thousands of Filipinos flocked to the streets to oust an abusive dictatorship and to fight for the freedom of the country.
“As we remember the historic events of people power, so too must we remember the promise of EDSA – the promise of true democracy, of a government that renders meaningful public service, and of a country in which power lies in the hands of the common citizen,” Valte said.
Valte said the reforms put in place by government already yielded results “and we are continuing to implement them to weed out corruption in all sectors of society.”
Malacañang cited the results of the Business Expectations Survey of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas that showed continued improvement in
business sentiment for three consecutive quarters.
Nostalgic
Key personalities in the 1986 People Power revolution turned nostalgic over their experiences under the Marcos regime.
On Thursday, Sen. Sergio Osmeña III, who was incarcerated during the martial law years, remembered his and the late Eugenio Lopez’s great escape from their detention cell in Fort Bonifacio in 1977 after a House prosecutor in the impeachment trial of Corona turned over to him documents pertaining to the US government’s approval of their application for political asylum and newspaper clippings about their escape.
In a hastily called press conference during a break in Corona’s impeachment trial, Rep. Raul Daza announced that he was turning over to the senator the copies of documents showing the ruling of the US government granting Osmeña, Lopez, Augusto Jake Almeda and Rafael Lopez asylum in 1977 and the news files from Manila Journal and Newsweek about their escape.
Daza, who claimed he had been in possession of the “historical documents” for around 34 years, said these are reminders to Filipinos not to forget the lessons from the past.
Daza served as lawyer for Osmeña, the Lopezes and Almeda in their petition for asylum in the US since he was then a member of the California Bar.
“Remember the spirit of EDSA 1 where we regained democracy in the country. It will take time to alter the goals of the EDSA revolution. There must be an EDSA 1 celebration to remind the people that we regained democracy through the revolution,” Daza said.
Failed coup
Meanwhile, the children of the late human rights champion Jose “Pepe” Diokno yesterday bared his refusal to support the EDSA 1 revolution because he believed this would be a failed attempt of military officials to grab power from Marcos for their personal purposes.
According to his daughter Ma. Socorro, the late freedom fighter believed it was a result of “personal action of military leaders who were being hunted down by Marcos and had found refuge in EDSA.”
“He just stayed at home. He refused to go to EDSA because he believed it was a product of military uprising, so why would he help them after all that they’ve done (against activists like him),” she recounted.
She said their father was also “surprised” why the late Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin suddenly called on the faithful to gather in the historic highway to protect the soldiers when “he never stood up for the people from the start (of martial law).”
Socorro, who was actively helping in the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) her father had co-founded in 1974, recalled they also did not join the revolt because they went to Ozamiz City in Misamis Occidental where one of their volunteer-lawyers was killed.
She also revealed that while their father supported the administration of the late President Corazon Aquino after the revolt, he believed that “her position was shaky.”
“While he did not agree with all her policies, he supported her because the alternative was worse,” Socorro said.
Diokno was a close friend of the late Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr., father of President Aquino. They were in the same cell at the maximum security unit of the military’s detention facility in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City.
Still bad
Twenty-six years later, the FLAG lamented that the human rights situation in the Philippines remains “very bad.”
Diokno’s son Jose Manuel, now chair of FLAG and founding dean of the De La Salle University College of Law, said “the problem is that so many practices have outlasted several administrations.”
He cited for instance the filing of cases against John Does and the lack of an effective witness protection program of government.
He also pointed out the very slow resolution of human rights cases in the courts.
With human rights violations still present in the country, a coalition of human rights groups yesterday urged President Aquino to implement the Anti-torture Act, or Republic Act 9745, and the policy of total elimination of all acts of torture in the country.
The United Against Torture Coalition (Uatc)-philippines aired the call during a press conference in Manila amidst reports of torture perpetrated by authorities on suspects in spite of a law criminalizing such act.
The Uatc-philippines is a coalition of human rights non-government organizations and civil society organizations who work together to defend human rights and campaign against the use of torture in the country.
UATC secretary Ernesto Anasarias said “authorities’ partiality not to comply with the law runs in the institutional impunity we have right now.”
All systems go
The Philippine National Police (PNP) yesterday said security preparations were all in place for today’s celebration of EDSA 1.
PNP chief Director General Nicanor Bartolome and other PNP officials conducted several activities in connection with the celebration, including school forums in 26 schools and universities in Metro Manila.
In a memorandum to police personnel, the PNP also said all participating units for the traditional “salubungan” will assemble in front of the PNP national headquarters in Camp Crame in Quezon City.
The salubungan march from Camp Crame will start at 7 a.m. and the PNP contingent is expected to reach the People Power Monument on EDSA at around 7:20 a.m. today to meet with the contingent from the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), on the other hand, would be setting up a “pledge wall” near the People Power Monument where President Aquino, other government officials and the Filipino public would be writing their commitments for the good of the country.
The pledge wall would be in line with this year’s theme “Ano ang Taya Mo Para sa Pilipinas Natin?”
Meanwhile, to commemorate the 26th anniversary of the first day of the EDSA Revolution of 1986 last Wednesday, pupils and students of public and private elementary and high schools around the country took an oath – “Panunumpa ng
mga Kabayani para sa Kapayapaan” as a culminating activity of the Yes for Peace-bayanihan para sa Kapayapaan.
With the help of teachers in the formal educational system, millions of responses to “Yes for Peace” are now being received in post offices nationwide and are being forwarded to the Office of the Postmaster-general.
Initial results are scheduled to be relayed today to President Aquino by Education Secretary Armin Luistro, Postmaster-general Josefina de la Cruz and chairman Cesar Sarino of the Philippine Postal Corp. and the EDSA People Power Commission.
As of last Friday, the number of Yes for Peace responses received at the Central Post Office in Liwasang Bonifacio had already surpassed the number of Filipinos who participated in EDSA 1986.
Organizers of the campaign are confident that with 10 million Filipinos, those involved in the internal wars will heed the call for the permanent cessation of hostilities by 2012 and the conduct of open and participatory peace talks between the government and all armed revolutionary forces. – With Jose Rodel Clapano, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Evelyn Macairan, Sandy Araneta, Edu Punay