EDSA just a revolt, not a ‘Revolution’
IN POSTSCRIPT, we have always referred to the bloodless upheaval that shook the country in February 1986 and forced then President Ferdinand E. Marcos to flee into exile as the “EDSA Revolt” – not the “EDSA Revolution.”
Even when using quoted material, we feel uneasy calling that phenomenon a revolution because it was not really that. A more proper tag, also catchy, may even be “EDSA People Power,” the name that caught the imagination of the world and inspired similar upheavals elsewhere.
In Postscript, we also habitually say “martial RULE” – not “martial LAW” – to describe the 13-year repressive regime that many of its victims decried as in wanton violation of law and decency despite the care that Marcos the astute lawyer took in laying the legal basis for what he was about to do.
We are bringing out this point about names, because during the 30th commemoration of EDSA, a confetti of varicolored political labels rained on us – revolution, revolt, rebellion, uprising, putsch, mutiny, coup d’etat, et cetera, and we are pressed to differentiate.
The dictionary tells us that a Revolution, often attended by armed violence, radically changes the way a country is governed, usually installing a substantially different (not necessarily better) political system.
But when a Revolt is staged, while there is also a degree of violence against the installed authority, the resulting changes are limited in scope, effect and duration.
What happened in February 1986 on EDSA and its political ripple effects on the rest of the country was just a Revolt, not a Revolution. (Those who disagree can continue to imagine it to be a full-blown revolution. No problem.)
A revolution, of course, has a romantic ring to it and brings a sense of pride to the instigators and a feeling of satisfaction to those who benefit from it. But those who insist in massaging a lizard into a crocodile better be careful with that yawning jaw.
To conclude this discussion, just look around to spot the supposed “revolutionary” changes. We see the same rascals – many of the stout ones now wearing yellow – cavorting on stage, feasting at the banquet table, and salivating for more of the same.
The poor groundlings, the masses standing below as they watch the alleged “revolution” unfolding on stage, are about to shout “harang!” (“Robbery!”)
It is sad that the vaunted 1986 EDSA “Revolution” has turned out to be merely a change of cast, the plum roles cornered by the same ruling elite, with the minor parts going to the same theater company union members.
If we may digress, listen to Lupita Aquino-Kashiwahara, sister of Ninoy Aquino (martyred father of President Noynoy Aquino) talking to the Philippine
News in the San Francisco Bay Area on the occasion of EDSA-30:
“The EDSA Revolution (sic) occurred 30 years ago. It was a time of heady, frightening, exhilarating, acts of random kindness. Now that we have survived, we must never forget what we lived and some of us died for.
“It is important to remember what caused us to revolt.
“Today, the name of the dictator rears its ambitious head once again, unrepentant of his parents’ sins, discounting their evil deeds. But the same blood flows in his veins. He benefitted from their ill-gotten wealth and grew in the spotlight as privileged. Unless he apologizes for the tortures, the killings, the theft of the nation’s day-to-day survival, and recognizes the sins, we have to be on guard not to spawn such treachery again.
“On the 30th anniversary of the EDSA Revolution (sic), we will overcome national amnesia and remember.”
Tagle: Charity springs from the heart
FILIPINO Luis Chito Cardinal Tagle, addressing a conference at the Vatican last Friday on the 10th anniversary of Benedict XVI’s Deus Caritas Est, stressed that charity is to be done from the heart, never out of obligation nor with a superior attitude.
ZENIT news service reported that Tagle emphasized how the encyclical taught this in his address in the New Synod Hall of the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall. The cardinal is leader of Caritas Internationalis. ( Postscript encourages readers to subscribe to ZENIT Daily Email Newsletter.)
Tagle said: “So on the one hand, we are invited to rediscover the wealth of teaching contained in the encyclical. On the other hand, we are reminded that we are reading it within the concrete realities of 2016, 10 years after.”
While the encyclical can shed much light on the contemporary situation, he said the world and its events, can affirm, challenge, and expand the encyclical’s legacy. The Jubilee Year of Mercy, he added, can also provide opportunity to reflect on it.
Last May, Tagle recalled, Caritas Internationalis approved the strategic orientations that must guide the service of charity over the next four years: (1) “Caritas at the heart of the Church. Uphold the Catholic Identity of Caritas which is at the essential service of the Church to the poor”; (2) “Save lives, rebuild communities, reduce the impact of humanitarian crises by enhancing disaster preparedness and response”; (3) “Promote sustainable, integral, human development”; (4) “Build global solidarity and address the causes of extreme poverty through reinforced communication, education, and mobilization, and enhance the visibility of Caritas”; and (5) “Make the caritas federation more effective….”
How? Tagle said: “By building a stronger confederation based on professional and effective methods, guiding them by the formation of the heart, and mobilizing more resources.”
***
ADVISORY: To access archived Postscripts, go to
www.manilamail.com (if necessary, copy/paste the url on address bar). Follow us via Twitter.com/@FDPascual. Email feedback to fdp333@yahoo.com