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By Jerik Cruz and Cess Celestino

“The Marcoses have left the country.”

When Radio dzRH finally declared this on the evening of February 25, 1986, it is said that celebrations spread like wildfire throughout the streets of Manila. All across the city, Filipinos of all origins set aside their social differences, singing, hooting and crying together in jubilation. Nuns marched hand-in-hand with soldiers, soldiers embraced civilians, and civilians themselves danced the night away under suddenly firework-lit skies.

Paglipas ng dalawang dekada bilang pangulo, si Ferdinand Marcos ay napaalis sa pamamagitan ng isa sa kaunaunahang pag-aalsa ng mamamayan bago nagtapos ang ika-dalawampung siglo. Nagdiwang at umani ng papuri ang Pilipinas mula sa iba’t-ibang panig sa daigdig sa padaos ng “People Power Revolution”. Mula sa CBS Anchorman Bob Simon maaalala natin ang kanyang sinabi: “We Americans like to think we taught the Filipinos democracy. Well, tonight they are teaching the world.”

None of that would have been possible without the nuns who manned the frontlines of EDSA.
Today, most know the stories of how they held their ground before the tanks and the guns of the military with only their faith and their persistence, how they offered themselves up as human barricades even as Malacanang sent out commands to liquidate all opposition.

Si Sister Mary John Mananzan, isang madreng Katoliko, ay isa sa mga haligi ng kilusan para sa pagpapatalsik ng diktadurya. Unang namulat sa aktibismo ng panahong ng welga sa La Tondena noon 1975. Si Sister MJ ay isa sa nanawagan para sa pagkakaisa at pagkilos ng mga Pilipino upang magtipon-tipon sa EDSA at manalangin. Dito po nasaksihan ang simula ng pagpanig ng sundalo sa mga mamamayan. Isa sa masugid na tagapagtaguyod ng interes ng kababaihan sa Pilipinas hanggang ngayon, sa pamamagitan ng kanyang panayam, hinahamon na gunitain ang kahalagahan ng pag-oorganisa ng batayang masa sa pangkalahatang kilusan para sa demokrasya at kalayaan. Mariin na itinampok ni Sister MJ: “Without the left, EDSA One would be impossible.”

Since 1986, Sister MJ has never ceased involving herself in various political campaigns and advocacies. In 2001, as President of St. Scholastica’s College, she galvanized students of the said college to contribute to the mobilization that would eventually become EDSA Dos.

For these roles that history has given her, Sister Mary John’s accounts of EDSA remain important for us today.

EDSA II

The spirit of EDSA I lived on and gave Filipinos hope that true democracy shall be restored in the country— that no public official shall oppress the people again and that we will never have to resort to another people power uprising along EDSA.

Yet it did happen again, and President Joseph Estrada was in the middle of it all. Only a few administrations after the fall of the Marcos regime, the Philippine government was again plagued by controversies of corrupt activities between officials, which involved grave abuse of power and squandering of huge amount of public funds.

Nagkaroon ng impeachment trial para sa pangulo na sinuportahan ng ilang kilalang mga personalidad, ngunit maging ang prosesong ito ay nabigong ilantad ang katotohanan. Kung kaya’t noong ika-labing pitong araw ng Enero taong 2000, libo-libong mga Pilipino ay siyang nagpakita muli ng pagkakaisa at sabay-sabay na nagmartsa patungong EDSA shrine upang magprotesta.

Even without a verdict, the Filipino people were convinced that President Estrada was in fact guilty. People from all walks of life joined forced and called for his resignation. The crowd swelled for three days until the president was left with no choice but to leave Malacanang and his post. And as the disgraced president stepped down, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo sought recognition and took oath as the new president of the Philippines. The country rejoiced in celebration.

So again, EDSA was witness to another demonstration of repulsion and rage against a corrupt and abusive government. Yet even during that time when people seemed to be strongly against Estrada, there were still groups and individuals that staunchly supported the president and that opposed and questioned the constitutionality of the people power uprising. One of those people is Horacio “Boy” Morales.

Bilang dating agrarian reform secretary ng administrasyong Estrada, tinuligsa ni Boy Morales ang EDSA 2 dahil sa kanyang paninindigan na kinakailangan sundin ang due process. Ngunit hindi na bago ang pangalan ni Boy Morales sa kasaysayan ng EDSA. He was among those in the underground revolutionary movement that were arrested by the military and detained under the Marcos administration, and was released years later by President Corazon Aquino after the people power of 1986, along with other political prisoners.

Mr. Morales has been involved in development work for last 4 decades for both government and non-government organizations. Currently, he is the president of the La Liga Policy Institute and the Secretary-General of Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino, as well as a trustee for the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement.

Ang kanyang pananaw sa EDSA 2 na siyang salungat sa nakararami ay makapagbibigay ng alternatibong pagtingin sa kasaysaysan ng EDSA.

EDSA III

The day is April 25, 2001. Joseph Estrada, ex-President of the Republic of the Philippines, is arrested. His mug shots are taken, and a video of a him “pacified” at the detention centre is sold to media outlets. For a while, the new administration believes itself to be fully above the situation, its power unquestioned, its mandate certain.

The succeeding events will make them think again.

Dagling bumuhos ang suporta ng maralitang mamamayan at nagtipon sa EDSA. Dala ng matinding galit sa nasaksihang pagtrato sa isang dating matikang artista na parang criminal, ang mamamayan ay nanawagan na ibalik si Estrada bilang pangulo ng Pilipinas. Ang panig ni Estrada na sinuportahan ng kanyang mga kaalyado at kasamahan sa Senado ay nanawagan na sugurin ang Malacanang. Kabilang dito sina Senador Juan Ponce Enrile, Miriam Defensor Santiago at Panfilo Lacson. Ang Iglesia ni Kristo at ang El Shaddai Movement ay nagpadala ng libo-libong kasapi upang magtayo ng barikada at malakas na nanawagan ng ikatlong EDSA. EDSA Tres.

At last, seven days after Estrada’s arrest, they set out from the EDSA Shrine. Aiming to unseat the Arroyo government, hundreds of thousands trek to Manila where they eventually collide with riot police outside the Presidential Palace. By nightfall, six are dead, and a 113 injured.

EDSA Tres has come and gone, but the social conditions that gave rise to it have hardly vanished Nearly a decade ago, Edwin Nakpil, then the chairperson of Kasama Pilipinas, and a leader of Estrada supporters, joined the ranks of the thousands who laid siege to Malacanang. Where most have simply dismissed EDSA Tres as a political conspiracy or as an incident of mob rule, Mr. Nakpil reminds us in his interview that whatever was set in motion by Estrada’s arrest was the product of very real discontents with present Philippine society.

More recently, Mr. Nakpil has served as the Convenor for the North Triangle Coalition, where he has spearheaded resistance to the commercial restructuring of the North Triangle district in Quezon City. To this day, he persists with his struggles as a leader of the urban poor; to this day as well, he continues to express hope that a real progressive revolution will one day break through the forces of the powers-that-be.

*This was presented during the EDSA Stories launch to introduce EDSA Stories interviewees Sister Mary John Mananzan, Horacio Morales and Edwin Nakpil.