Almost forgotten
Almost forgotten
Posted 01:59am (Mla time) Jan 20, 2005
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A12 of the January 20, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
FOUR years ago today, the Filipino nation repeated what it did in 1986 when it overthrew a dictator, a feat that was unprecedented, by ousting a corrupt president through a peaceful revolution. Edsa II was definitely one of the proudest moments in our nation's history.
But for reasons that are not so hard to understand, Malacañang chose to play down the celebration. A "simple thanksgiving Mass" on Jan. 16 was the lone activity lined up for the commemoration of that historic event. And it was held not even at the Edsa Shrine -- where it happened, and as had been done in the first three Edsa II anniversaries -- but inside Malacañan Palace.
Aside from President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and First Gentleman Mike Arroyo, only a sprinkling of Cabinet members and government officials were around for the "celebration." Conspicuously absent were the people for whom Edsa II was supposedly mounted. No one among the Edsa II masses and very few of the leaders who rallied them were invited. Even former Presidents Fidel V. Ramos and Corazon Aquino were not there.
Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said the President wanted to keep the celebration subdued. If indeed, that was her intention, she certainly managed to make it also exclusive. And Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita only succeeded in coating the occasion with double-speak with his explanation: "She wanted the Mass held in Malacañang rather than outside to make an important symbolism that Malacañang is for the people."
The celebration was purposely made low-key because "a bigger celebration is being planned for Edsa I on Feb. 25," Bunye said. He didn't explain why Edsa I and Edsa II have to be jointly celebrated for the first time this year. But another newspaper quoted him as saying that for the Feb. 25 anniversary, it will be the Edsa People Power Commission that will decide if there will be a celebration.
Bunye might as well have said, "Leave it to the people to decide if they want to celebrate Edsa People Power," and he would have sounded more logical. Except that the people are clearly in no mood to celebrate the Edsa Revolution, and most surely not Edsa II. And this is because, since then, so little in our national life -- if any -- has changed for the better, even as so many things have gotten worse and continue to get worse.
Corruption, the evil that Edsa II sought to exorcise, is still very much around. We don't need Transparency International, which ranked the Philippines among the top six most corrupt nations in the world, to tell us this. Each day that brings us farther away from Jan. 20, 2001, the deposed president, Joseph Estrada, instead of being brought nearer to the bar of justice, is treated more and more with kid gloves by the very people whom Edsa II brought to power. And this travesty of justice is being repeated in the administration's apparent lack of zeal and enthusiasm in prosecuting corrupt military officials, like retired Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia.
The President and her advisers seem to have forgotten that Edsa II was, more than anything else, an expression of the people's outrage against corruption. It was launched primarily to oust a corrupt and incompetent president, not to make her president. Ms Arroyo was almost incidental to the mass movement.
From Day One of her presidency, Ms Arroyo applied herself to realizing her ambition to win the highest office of the land on her own. This was obvious in her actions, most particularly her appointments, many of which were clearly intended to consolidate her political support. Instead of instituting reforms, she strengthened traditional politics and squandered the good will and fresh hopes she inherited from Edsa II.
In the last four years, the economy has gone from bad to worse, with the government stuck with a huge budget deficit and a fiscal crisis looming in the horizon. It hardly reflects well on her administration that the number of Filipinos leaving this country, which is so rich in natural resources, for unfamiliar, lonely and even dangerous places continues to grow.
But nothing speaks more loudly of the failed expectations of the people than that Estrada, whom Edsa II toppled, continues to wield political influence and can now even offer himself as a unifying force for the opposition, as if he had not been disgraced and driven out of Malacañang. There can be no greater indictment of the Arroyo administration than this.
Posted 01:59am (Mla time) Jan 20, 2005
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A12 of the January 20, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
FOUR years ago today, the Filipino nation repeated what it did in 1986 when it overthrew a dictator, a feat that was unprecedented, by ousting a corrupt president through a peaceful revolution. Edsa II was definitely one of the proudest moments in our nation's history.
But for reasons that are not so hard to understand, Malacañang chose to play down the celebration. A "simple thanksgiving Mass" on Jan. 16 was the lone activity lined up for the commemoration of that historic event. And it was held not even at the Edsa Shrine -- where it happened, and as had been done in the first three Edsa II anniversaries -- but inside Malacañan Palace.
Aside from President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and First Gentleman Mike Arroyo, only a sprinkling of Cabinet members and government officials were around for the "celebration." Conspicuously absent were the people for whom Edsa II was supposedly mounted. No one among the Edsa II masses and very few of the leaders who rallied them were invited. Even former Presidents Fidel V. Ramos and Corazon Aquino were not there.
Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said the President wanted to keep the celebration subdued. If indeed, that was her intention, she certainly managed to make it also exclusive. And Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita only succeeded in coating the occasion with double-speak with his explanation: "She wanted the Mass held in Malacañang rather than outside to make an important symbolism that Malacañang is for the people."
The celebration was purposely made low-key because "a bigger celebration is being planned for Edsa I on Feb. 25," Bunye said. He didn't explain why Edsa I and Edsa II have to be jointly celebrated for the first time this year. But another newspaper quoted him as saying that for the Feb. 25 anniversary, it will be the Edsa People Power Commission that will decide if there will be a celebration.
Bunye might as well have said, "Leave it to the people to decide if they want to celebrate Edsa People Power," and he would have sounded more logical. Except that the people are clearly in no mood to celebrate the Edsa Revolution, and most surely not Edsa II. And this is because, since then, so little in our national life -- if any -- has changed for the better, even as so many things have gotten worse and continue to get worse.
Corruption, the evil that Edsa II sought to exorcise, is still very much around. We don't need Transparency International, which ranked the Philippines among the top six most corrupt nations in the world, to tell us this. Each day that brings us farther away from Jan. 20, 2001, the deposed president, Joseph Estrada, instead of being brought nearer to the bar of justice, is treated more and more with kid gloves by the very people whom Edsa II brought to power. And this travesty of justice is being repeated in the administration's apparent lack of zeal and enthusiasm in prosecuting corrupt military officials, like retired Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia.
The President and her advisers seem to have forgotten that Edsa II was, more than anything else, an expression of the people's outrage against corruption. It was launched primarily to oust a corrupt and incompetent president, not to make her president. Ms Arroyo was almost incidental to the mass movement.
From Day One of her presidency, Ms Arroyo applied herself to realizing her ambition to win the highest office of the land on her own. This was obvious in her actions, most particularly her appointments, many of which were clearly intended to consolidate her political support. Instead of instituting reforms, she strengthened traditional politics and squandered the good will and fresh hopes she inherited from Edsa II.
In the last four years, the economy has gone from bad to worse, with the government stuck with a huge budget deficit and a fiscal crisis looming in the horizon. It hardly reflects well on her administration that the number of Filipinos leaving this country, which is so rich in natural resources, for unfamiliar, lonely and even dangerous places continues to grow.
But nothing speaks more loudly of the failed expectations of the people than that Estrada, whom Edsa II toppled, continues to wield political influence and can now even offer himself as a unifying force for the opposition, as if he had not been disgraced and driven out of Malacañang. There can be no greater indictment of the Arroyo administration than this.
posted by Dante at 1:59 AM
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