[mayomee]

I don't know if any of you are listening to the radio or watching the news on TV, but I am sure you have heard that classes have been cancelled today, partly due to "security reasons" daw. And protesters have been converging to the People Power Monument and the EDSA Shrine na. And a state of emergency has been declared.

Wala ako halos maalala nung mga nangyari sa EDSA 1. My memories are hazy. What I can only remember is the hearing the constant drone of helicopters over our house and that there is only one channel you can view on TV at laging lumalabas si Marcos or si Imelda. I do remember pitching in to help make sandwiches (pimient pa nga ang palaman) na dadalhin daw sa EDSA.

Ewan ko kung mauulit ngayon yung spirit nung 1986 na nagtulak sa mga Pinoy para gumawa ng pagbabago. Ang gulo ng bansa natin. We need to pray more and do more.

[carlo]

What I know is that people have now turned what once a genuine event into something so shallow.

It's kind of saddening how much the words "EDSA," or "People Power" seem so trivial nowadays because they have really lost their meaning - as the people desecrated the memory of the event over time.

I've lost count na din how many rallies in the name of "People Power" have been done in the past months/years - it really seems like nothing more than a joke and a nuisance to daily living nowadays.

[jeffoy]

Tama na, sobra na... sawa na kami sa gulong ito..

[Das_Sein]

"EDSA" has become synonymous to the following

- traffic
- mass panic
- socio-political ranting site
- political emergency room

too bad, the entire sense brought by the memories of '86 are all gone.

[jowi]

Last night, i attended mass at the Ateneo which was a celebration/commemoration of EDSA. it was a solemn event. after the mass, the congregation watched a documentary, the Inquirer TV special on EDSA (shown on abc5). among those interviewed were jim paredes, june keithly, and the nun who led the rosary (parati nating nakikita sa mga documentaries, music videos of handog ng pilipino sa mundo, etc.).

halfway through the documentary (and while enjoying my fishballs and kwek-kwek), naiyak ako. i was moved by the memory of how much people sacrificed by being there in front of the tanks, praying, sharing food, giving of themselves, together fighting for freedom.

i was too young then - i was 8 years old - to understand what was going on. i remember my family and i were all in the sala, i was sitting on the banig on the floor, watching the news on tv. some relatives crashed for a while because they lived in whiteplains, too close to edsa. but as i was growing older, i realized how much influence the effects of EDSA had on my beliefs and value system. probably in the same way that my parents' generation is a scarred generation having gone through martial law during their prime. somehow, i believe my generation is a hopeful generation. nang magka-malay na, tapos na ang martial law, nangyari na ang EDSA at may bagong pag-asa.

it is true that 20 years after People Power, not much has changed. since then, our national situation seems to have been moving one step forward and two steps back. but i do not believe that EDSA has failed us. i think saying that would be like saying Jesus' death on the cross is futile because the world is still filled with sin and disarray. i think precisely, the hope that EDSA brought to my heart is what i can hold on to. like remembering why Jesus died on the cross for me (and you). the memory of EDSA gives me a reason to hope in the Filipino. it is a reminder of what we can be. i guess what sometimes slips my mind (and probably the minds of other filipinos, as well) sometimes is that fighting for freedom does not end in EDSA. i think that right after EDSA, we might have left the responsibility to the politicians to take care of our freedom.

i was in EDSA Dos. I remember standing in front of the edsa shrine while Gloria was being inaugurated as president. after the ceremony, i remember vividly saying outloud to paola, who was beside me, pertaining to gloria "you better be good...you better be good."

looking back, i wish i had done more AFTER EDSA Dos, to continue the fight for freedom and justice. i remember people kept on saying, "we must stay vigilant."

i am exhausted. i guess, a lot of us are. i am personally scraping the barrel for hope in the philippines. but i still believe that we have to keep on working towards development. because only our efforts now will affect change for future generations - for our apos and apos sa tuhod. it is important, i believe, to work towards making education more accessible to people to give them a chance at a better life. because as long as the number of people who are hungry, poor, and desperate stays the same or increases, we will continue to elect leaders who are just like the ones we have now.

[mayomee]

Jowi, you truly echoed the sentiments of our generation. For our parents, or maybe just mine for that matter, I think martial law really shocked them. My father was entering adolescence when World War II broke out while my mother was around 10 years old then at that time. They saw and experienced the horrors of war tapos 2o years later, a dictatorship that had people cowering in fear and keeping their thoughts to themselves.

I got to chat once with Joanne Maglipon, the YES! Editor in Chief and I asked her why she couldn't remember names. Kasi pag editors' meeting, she couldn't remember our names. She would just say "Uy, ikaw na taga Cosmo, or ikaw na taga Preview." She told me it was a legacy of martial law. Kasi she was imprisoned at that time and tortured. She was asked for the names of fellow journalists but she wouldn't budge so she would get slapped and slapped over and over. She erased her friends' names from her memory to protect them. Kaya ngayon, she rememembers only those na recent na pero she has to try really hard, she said.

When I heard that, narealize ko, ang hirap pala talagang mabuhay noong time na yun, depending on whose side you were on. Na para burahin mo yung utak mo para hindi madamay ang mahal mo sa bahay. Grabe.

Hindi ko alam kung kailangan pa ba natin ulit ng isang Ninoy na i-assassinate [pero sana wag naman] para lang magising tayo ulit. Or for hundreds of friends and loved ones to just disappear one night, never to be seen again, just because of their beliefs. Or to keep our feelings and thoughts to ourselves for fear of being punished.

Ang EDSA 1 and tanging EDSA para sa akin. Masarap maging malaya. At sabi nga nila, the original is always the best.

[anya]

We come from all walks of life, from different political, cultural, and economic persuasions, different points of view. But in diversity, we find cause for unity. That cause for unity is our common objectives to secure the truth.

You know you’re labelled a new kind of low when your leader is labelled a cheat and a fraud. While a part of you is outraged, the communal reflex isn’t exactly one of shock. Time we are told is like a medicinal balm that heals wounds. Put another way, history tends to be kind. The Philippines is tired of its leader but more than that, we are a country losing its capacity to trust. Blame it on our pessimism and lack of energy that comes from centuries of colonization and decades – old bad governance that have made us a nation of doubters. Blame it on the lack of education and more importantly, lack of analysis so that we let corrupt politicians get away with murder. Blame it on the moon the alignment of the stars, and the universe.

We all expressed our disgust for all politicians and bewail corrupt practices in the government bureaucracy. I wonder why our country seems to be abandoned by God, for the affliction of negative politics’ continues to plague us. But then again, I can almost hear God say, that I already gave you the miracle at EDSA ONE. You have the human freedom to make intelligent choices plus the gift of the Christian faith. Work your country, live your faith.

Honestly, these difficult times are important moments of purification for us a nation. What we need badly is the “personality makeover”, so that our aggressiveness is channeled at work ethic so that we could say what we mean and move on, express displeasures at things that warrant it, but also act on solutions so that we can move on to the next level.

[jemo]

I was born after EDSA. Pero kahit ganun, my parents did tell me more about it. When I was in Grade School & High School, they even described it as a great event in the history of our country.

Pero nalulungkot ako..kasi 'di naman talaga naiintindihan ng ibang kabataan ang saysay ng Edsa. Siguro kasi 'di naman nila naranasan ang mga pangyayari o siguro kasi, marami pa silang ibang pinagkakaabalahan ngayon, ewan ko kung ano. Pero habang tumatagal, habang tumatagal, lalong nalilimutan ang diwa ng Edsa - dala ng apathy...

Pero hindi lang naman kasalanan siguro ng kabataan kaya hindi sila nakiki-isa. Ang mga matatanda rin kasi may kagagawan. Nasisira ang diwa ng Edsa, kasi ang pagkakaisa na ipinaglaban noon, siya rin namang winawasak ng mga taong naging parte noon. Hindi ko na siguro kailangang magsabi pa ng mga pangalan. Lalo lang nakasasakit ng damdamin.

Sa gitna ng lahat, ang isang inosenteng bata ay nakakikita ng pag-asa. Aaminin kong sa pagtanda mo, kapag nagbubukas na ang iyong hagap sa mundo, nagiging disillusioned ka rin...siguro ganito ang nangyari sa mga matatanda.

napagod na sa pakikibaka..hapo na na ang mga binti sa kalalakad..paos na ang boses sa kasisigaw..nagdidilim na ang pagtanaw sa pag-asa.

pero bukas, may isa pang umaga. hindi pa huli ang lahat. siguro nga, hindi pa.

sana hindi pa.

[yankees_suck23]

I still believe na WE HAVE THE CURSE OF EDSA 2 (pakana lang ito ni Gloria and Gloria is the real curse). Unang-una, tinanggal niya ang saysay ng EDSA (there is only one real Edsa revolution right now, like mayomee said) through Gloria's EDSA trick and 1017. Gloria is not a good shepherd. Mapagpaimbabaw pa siya, mahilig magpakuha sa camera na nagdadasal sa simbahan. Diyos na ang bahala sa kaniya. Maybe in 1 millisecond, talsik na si Gloria by God pero we must pray harder para mapaalis siya, di ba?

Sino daw ang papalit? Based on constitution, si Noli de Castro. Problem: puppet lang siya ni Gloria. Pero who knows, baka hindi naman siya power hungry. Ang pandak na nasa malacañang lamang ang power hungry! Oooops, may nagtanong sa akin bakit di tayo makuntento sa niluklok natin? Ang sagot: SA MANLULUPIG, DI KA PASISIIL! Di tayo papayag na ang pinuno natin mismo ang sumisira ng dangal ng ating bansa, kaya dapat masipa sa trono ang mga ganoong presidente, kagaya ni Gloria.

[anya]

my friend has sent me an-emailed about a recent physics graduate, Atom Araullo is an athlete, television host, and activist. In 1986, when he was only three years old, his parents brought him to Edsa. He barely remembers what he saw there, but he believes Edsa is a milestone in the Filipinos’ struggle for democracy. Araullo is an oddity among a generation that is mostly indifferent to politics and prefers the cocoon of their own lives to engagement with the world outside. But he believes that his “lost” generation will redeem itself and contribute to positive social change. mamaya sya yata feature sa people on channel 2.