Not yet.
EDSA toppled a dictator.
We will only fail EDSA if we let a Marcos or another dictator take power once again.
EDSA has been taking a lot of hits the last few months.
But even before that, the crowd during the annual commemoration of Edsa had been dwindling in the last decade or so.
And today, those who participated in that first globally televised bloodless ouster of a dictator have been systematically demonized and insulted as “dilawan” by no less than the incumbent President.
Let me tell you that the color yellow does not belong to the Aquino family nor the Liberal Party which both adopted it. The color yellow belongs to the people who fought the dictatorship. The color yellow belongs to the world that stood up in awe to see a vicious strongman booted out by tens of thousands of unarmed civilians.
In the last few years, the color yellow has been used by protesters in Asia, such as in Malaysia, Thailand and Hong Kong.
Filipinos can proudly say that the Philippines has exported a way of expressing political dissent. It isn’t unique, by the way.
Because in turn, Filipinos who went to Edsa in 1986 had been inspired by what they saw in the movie Gandhi. The idea of passive resistance was inspired by a movie which was shown in local theaters in 1982. The film which depicted the life of Indian leader Mohandas Gandhi struck a chord because like Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., Gandhi was also assassinated.
You can now watch Gandhi free on YouTube.
What is passive resistance?
Gandhi explained it this way: “Passive resistance is a method of securing rights by personal suffering, it is the reverse of resistance by arms. When I refuse to do a thing that is repugnant to my conscience, I use soul-force.”
If you think about it, passive resistance is similar to what Christ did when he died on the cross.
Supporters of President Duterte denigrate EDSA because no one died. Since it was a bloodless revolution, they argue that therefore it was a fake revolution. And since it was a fake revolution, nothing has changed.
See? Corruption is everywhere, they say. There are still millions of poor people.
Those who say that forget one thing about EDSA. EDSA was a touch-and-go situation in all of those four days. EDSA could have erupted in a bloodbath. I know that from personal experience.
I was there covering in the heart of the action.
And those who went to EDSA, each of them knew they could die any moment, just like that. Each of them went to Edsa prepared to die.
They knew how vicious the Marcos dictatorship was.
And that’s the truth.
The fact that no one died is the magic of EDSA. The Catholic Church and the Catholics who went there believe to this day that it was Divine Intervention that prevented violence.
As a journalist, I have no way of knowing. What I do know is that the nuns and priests were everywhere. And the protesters – especially the men – felt ashamed enough not to abandon the nuns to the tanks and simply run away.
I remember in 1990 when I attended a journalism course in Berlin, an Indonesian editor was among the participants. He eagerly asked me how “people power” worked. He said Indonesians were envious of Filipinos and expressed the hope that Indonesia would stage its own people power.
Well, Indonesians did get rid of Suharto eight years later in 1998, but not in a bloodless way.
After the Philippines’ brief shining moment, did everything go downhill?
A lot did. But not everything.
The next three years after 1986 were filled with much violence committed by the soldiers, by the rebels, and by criminals. Corrupt practices in government returned. It was like the ship of state was caught in a gale and the captain did not know how to steer it. That was also partly understandable since we had no change of captains for 21 years – or for a span of one generation.
Looking back, what I think happened was that the method of “passive resistance” worked in booting out the Marcoses.
But the citizenry had to learn to use a different method to make post-Marcos governments function.
They had to learn how to make democracy work.
That was a very difficult undertaking, after 14 years of Martial Law. And it continues to be a very difficult undertaking today.
By the way, it’s not true that Marcos lifted Martial Law in 1981. He only pretended to lift it, on paper. The year 1981 was when his regime even became more vicious. The number of detention cases dropped and the number of massacres and disappearances rose dramatically.
Unfortunately, in 1986, it was mostly the trapo politicians who knew how to make Congress function. And they brought back the pork barrel, which they called by the euphemistic term, Countrywide Development Fund.
I remember that I was covering the Senate then and the senators told us reporters that they needed some kind of fund to dole out to the hundreds of poor people who came to their offices or wrote to them asking for money for medicine, burial, tuition or hospital expenses.
They could not turn them away, they said, because then the administration might lose political support at a time when military, communist and Muslim rebels were fighting the government.
Looking back, such help should have been depoliticized or depersonalized from day one. Meaning, if you are poor and you suddenly need an operation you should not have to go to a congressman or a senator or the Office of the President to get aid.
If you are poor, you should be able to go to a government hospital and get an operation, and pay only very little. Today, those covered by Philhealth – and that automatically includes the poor – can do that, provided they are certified by the DSWD.
To me one of the most important lessons of Martial Law is that if you do not speak out or resist anomalies in government or society, nothing will happen. Or something bad could happen.
That’s why as a journalist I try to speak out. Although sometimes it’s like banging your head against the wall.
The number of poor people today has been used as proof that EDSA failed.
On the contrary, the poverty rate among Filipino families has dropped from 64.1% in 1986 to around 21.6% today. That’s a 42.5 percentage points drop. By any yardstick you can call that an accomplishment.
However, the drop should have been even more dramatic if only the poor had more opportunities to earn.
We can say that between the rich and the poor, the post-EDSA years were most advantageous to the rich. Today we have 11 dollar billionaire families whereas during Martial Law, there was only a handful of them headed by the First Family.
One of the things that need to be corrected after EDSA is the stupendous gap between the uber rich and the very poor. Last year, the 11 most wealthy families had a net worth of US$42.75 billion or P2.137 trillion.
This year’s government budget amounts to P3.35 trillion. So you can say that the wealth of the 11 richest Filipino families is equivalent to two-thirds of this year’s national budget.
And because of this, I find it a crying shame and a grave scandal that two of these very rich families – the Zobels and the Sys – have been squabbling for so many years now over the location of the central station of the MRT.
I once asked Fernando Zobel during one press conference of Ayala Land why there was no housing for the poor in Fort Bonifacio Global City. He patiently explained to me that the infrastructure put in place there was far too expensive to include housing for the poor.
In my mind, I thought that was a lost opportunity to integrate the poor so that they would directly benefit from being close to work. I thought residents and locators in Bonifacio Global City could use an army of nannies, gardeners, cooks, etectera.
But the government did not make it a condition to put a social clause into the project.
To this day, the development of Metro Manila and other places in the country has been largely left to commercial developers. Choice areas are being carved out as gated communities for the wealthy.
That was not the promise of Edsa which had the poor and the rich standing shoulder-to-shoulder, risking their lives.
The rich can afford to do much more for the poor. In the past, I used to write about the Corporate Social Responsibility projects of various top companies. Not anymore.
Most companies do it for publicity purposes. They can’t even say how much of their earnings after taxes go to CSR. I suspect, very very little.
Philippine democracy has been bent and slanted to benefit the rich. To this day, Congress has been unable to pass a Land Use Law. Or an anti-dynasty law. Or a new Lobby Law that would replace the 1957 law.
Together with criminal justice, post-EDSA Philippines needs to implement social justice in the manner of distribution of opportunities and privileges in our society.
For social justice to take place, we need an honest-to-goodness anti-dynasty law. I’ve been a reporter for over 30 years and I see the same family names in office. I see the fathers being replaced by their wives or sons as if the political office was a rightful inheritance.
One can make a lot of money holding a political office even without stealing. For instance, a mayor can easily sniff out business opportunities. If a mall is about to be built, chances are, real estate prices in adjoining areas will go up. There is nothing illegal if a mayor’s relative starts buying up land. A political office is more often than not an enriching experience.
With an anti-dynasty law more people who don’t belong to political families can assume office. And hopefully, it will in time reduce the number of political families. We will then have a deeper and wider bench from which to choose public servants.
One other post-Edsa dream that I have is to see a very high government official jailed in an ordinary cell for corruption, without air-conditioning but only an electric fan. That hasn’t happened yet.
Hong Kong may even beat us to it by jailing their former chief executive Donald Tsang for corruption. But I was told that Hong Kong jails are much more comfortable than our prisons.
With all these problems that continue to hound the country it is quite tempting to simply say – to hell with it – let’s just have a bloody revolution and a dictatorship.
Marcos’ Martial Law should give us pause and put a stop to this temptation, because authoritarian rule as a model for development didn’t work for the Philippines. There is no such thing as a benevolent dictator.
Is People Power dead?
Far from it. We saw how people came together swiftly to protest President Joseph Estrada’s transgressions or the pork barrel. But in between flashes of People Power is the daily drudge of trying to make democracy work.
So what’s the point of celebrating Edsa People Power every year?
It is to serve as a warning that those who abuse political power have a shelf life.
Disclaimer: The views in this blog are those of the blogger and do not necessarily reflect the views of ABS-CBN Corporation.
EDSA toppled a dictator.
We will only fail EDSA if we let a Marcos or another dictator take power once again.
EDSA has been taking a lot of hits the last few months.
But even before that, the crowd during the annual commemoration of Edsa had been dwindling in the last decade or so.
And today, those who participated in that first globally televised bloodless ouster of a dictator have been systematically demonized and insulted as “dilawan” by no less than the incumbent President.
Let me tell you that the color yellow does not belong to the Aquino family nor the Liberal Party which both adopted it. The color yellow belongs to the people who fought the dictatorship. The color yellow belongs to the world that stood up in awe to see a vicious strongman booted out by tens of thousands of unarmed civilians.
In the last few years, the color yellow has been used by protesters in Asia, such as in Malaysia, Thailand and Hong Kong.
Filipinos can proudly say that the Philippines has exported a way of expressing political dissent. It isn’t unique, by the way.
Because in turn, Filipinos who went to Edsa in 1986 had been inspired by what they saw in the movie Gandhi. The idea of passive resistance was inspired by a movie which was shown in local theaters in 1982. The film which depicted the life of Indian leader Mohandas Gandhi struck a chord because like Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., Gandhi was also assassinated.
You can now watch Gandhi free on YouTube.
What is passive resistance?
Gandhi explained it this way: “Passive resistance is a method of securing rights by personal suffering, it is the reverse of resistance by arms. When I refuse to do a thing that is repugnant to my conscience, I use soul-force.”
If you think about it, passive resistance is similar to what Christ did when he died on the cross.
Supporters of President Duterte denigrate EDSA because no one died. Since it was a bloodless revolution, they argue that therefore it was a fake revolution. And since it was a fake revolution, nothing has changed.
See? Corruption is everywhere, they say. There are still millions of poor people.
Those who say that forget one thing about EDSA. EDSA was a touch-and-go situation in all of those four days. EDSA could have erupted in a bloodbath. I know that from personal experience.
I was there covering in the heart of the action.
And those who went to EDSA, each of them knew they could die any moment, just like that. Each of them went to Edsa prepared to die.
They knew how vicious the Marcos dictatorship was.
And that’s the truth.
The fact that no one died is the magic of EDSA. The Catholic Church and the Catholics who went there believe to this day that it was Divine Intervention that prevented violence.
As a journalist, I have no way of knowing. What I do know is that the nuns and priests were everywhere. And the protesters – especially the men – felt ashamed enough not to abandon the nuns to the tanks and simply run away.
I remember in 1990 when I attended a journalism course in Berlin, an Indonesian editor was among the participants. He eagerly asked me how “people power” worked. He said Indonesians were envious of Filipinos and expressed the hope that Indonesia would stage its own people power.
Well, Indonesians did get rid of Suharto eight years later in 1998, but not in a bloodless way.
After the Philippines’ brief shining moment, did everything go downhill?
A lot did. But not everything.
The next three years after 1986 were filled with much violence committed by the soldiers, by the rebels, and by criminals. Corrupt practices in government returned. It was like the ship of state was caught in a gale and the captain did not know how to steer it. That was also partly understandable since we had no change of captains for 21 years – or for a span of one generation.
Looking back, what I think happened was that the method of “passive resistance” worked in booting out the Marcoses.
But the citizenry had to learn to use a different method to make post-Marcos governments function.
They had to learn how to make democracy work.
That was a very difficult undertaking, after 14 years of Martial Law. And it continues to be a very difficult undertaking today.
By the way, it’s not true that Marcos lifted Martial Law in 1981. He only pretended to lift it, on paper. The year 1981 was when his regime even became more vicious. The number of detention cases dropped and the number of massacres and disappearances rose dramatically.
Unfortunately, in 1986, it was mostly the trapo politicians who knew how to make Congress function. And they brought back the pork barrel, which they called by the euphemistic term, Countrywide Development Fund.
I remember that I was covering the Senate then and the senators told us reporters that they needed some kind of fund to dole out to the hundreds of poor people who came to their offices or wrote to them asking for money for medicine, burial, tuition or hospital expenses.
They could not turn them away, they said, because then the administration might lose political support at a time when military, communist and Muslim rebels were fighting the government.
Looking back, such help should have been depoliticized or depersonalized from day one. Meaning, if you are poor and you suddenly need an operation you should not have to go to a congressman or a senator or the Office of the President to get aid.
If you are poor, you should be able to go to a government hospital and get an operation, and pay only very little. Today, those covered by Philhealth – and that automatically includes the poor – can do that, provided they are certified by the DSWD.
To me one of the most important lessons of Martial Law is that if you do not speak out or resist anomalies in government or society, nothing will happen. Or something bad could happen.
That’s why as a journalist I try to speak out. Although sometimes it’s like banging your head against the wall.
The number of poor people today has been used as proof that EDSA failed.
On the contrary, the poverty rate among Filipino families has dropped from 64.1% in 1986 to around 21.6% today. That’s a 42.5 percentage points drop. By any yardstick you can call that an accomplishment.
However, the drop should have been even more dramatic if only the poor had more opportunities to earn.
We can say that between the rich and the poor, the post-EDSA years were most advantageous to the rich. Today we have 11 dollar billionaire families whereas during Martial Law, there was only a handful of them headed by the First Family.
One of the things that need to be corrected after EDSA is the stupendous gap between the uber rich and the very poor. Last year, the 11 most wealthy families had a net worth of US$42.75 billion or P2.137 trillion.
This year’s government budget amounts to P3.35 trillion. So you can say that the wealth of the 11 richest Filipino families is equivalent to two-thirds of this year’s national budget.
And because of this, I find it a crying shame and a grave scandal that two of these very rich families – the Zobels and the Sys – have been squabbling for so many years now over the location of the central station of the MRT.
"AFTER a seven-year legal deadlock, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) said on Tuesday that it has forged a consensus with stakeholders on a single location for the common station that will connect the LRT Line 1, MRT-3, and the proposed MRT-7.
The DOTr, Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA), SM Prime Holdings, Inc. (SMPHI), Universal LRT Corp. (ULC) and Light Rail Manila Consortium (LRMC), North Triangle Depot Commercial Corporation represented by Ayala Land, Inc. (ALI), and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) are set to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) today, September 28, to finalize the agreement.
The MOU will pave the way for the filing of a joint motion to the Supreme Court to lift the temporary restraining order on the construction of the common station for the three urban transit lines.
The common station, which will be built between The Annex at SM City North EDSA and Trinoma, with access to both malls and major roads such as EDSA, will provide a common concourse or atrium for train commuters to conveniently transfer from one line to another.
The DPWH also assured that the underpass being built will seamlessly integrate with the common station.
Getting all parties to agree was among the targets set by DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade within the first 100 days in office, and it involved engaging all stakeholders in meetings in order to reach a consensus.
In a meeting earlier this month, the country’s top executives–SM’s Tessie Sy Coson and Hans Sy, Ayala’s Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, San Miguel’s Ramon Ang, and Metro Pacific’s Manny Pangilinan–agreed that a unified station was necessary to make commuting more convenient to the public.
The Common Station project started in 2009 and has been on hold due to legal issues. The LRTA inked a deal with SMPHI to build the station near SM North EDSA.
However, when President Benigno Aquino III came to power on June 30, 2010, the project was stalled indefinitely.
Then DOTC Secretary Manuel Roxas II ordered a review of the project, and the agency proceeded to change certain project specifications.
Arroyo was arrested on November 18, 2011 after a Pasay court issued a warrant of arrest against her, following the filing of a complaint for electoral sabotage by the Commission on Elections. The arrest warrant was served at a St. Luke's Medical Center at Taguig where Arroyo had been confined.
Days earlier, the Supreme Court had issued a Resolution enjoining attempts by the Department of Justice to prevent her departure from the Philippines to seek medical treatment overseas.
She was transferred to the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City on December 9, 2011.
On December 12, 2011, former Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona was impeached by the House of Representatives.
On May 29, 2012, Corona was found guilty by the Senate of violating Article II of the Articles of Impeachment filed against him pertaining to his failure to disclose his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth to the public.
Arroyo was released from hospital arrest on bail on July 25, 2012.
A year later, the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) decided to build the station near Ayala Land’s Trinoma, citing lower costs as a reason for the change of location.
DOTC explained that the government stands to save up to P1 billion if the common station is built in Trinoma rather than The Annex at SM City North EDSA. Sec. Abaya also explained that constructing the common station at The Annex at SM City North EDSA would result to “urban blight.”
In October 2013, however, DoTC officials announced -- via a bid document -- the possible relocation of the common station to TriNoma mall.
By November 2013, the DOTC announced that it has endorsed to the NEDA Board the “construction of head-to-head platforms for LRT1 and MRT3 at Trinoma with 147.5 meters elevated walkalator to MRT7 at North Avenue station.”
Subsequently, on November 25, the NEDA Board chaired by President Aquino approved the revised project with a budget of P1.4 billion. DOTC expects the bidding for the project to commence within the first half of the year.
On June 3, 2014, SM PRIME Holdings, Inc. (SMPHI) sought a court ruling to block the proposed transfer of a common station for three commuter train lines to a location near Ayala Land, Inc.’s TriNoma mall.
the SM Group cited the MOA, which states that the common station would be constructed in front of SM North EDSA and would be named SM in exchange for P200 million. SM added that Section 3 of the MOA specifically provides for the grant of access way or an interconnection of the common station via a bridgeway to the pertinent level of the mall. Abaya admitted the MOA signed in 2009 indeed specified that the proposed common station location would be located at SM North EDSA. “It is mentioned there, what you have to look at is if the government obligated [it] to be there. It depends on how you read the MOA.” The revised location of the proposed common station was approved by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA). “Clearly when we went up to NEDA we gave our reasons and this was approved,” he said. Abaya also said DOTC conducted a study that showed the government would save between P800 million and P1 billion if the proposed common station were constructed near the Trinoma Mall. “… There is a clear difference of roughly P800 million to P1 billion in cost. That in itself is a factor,” he added.
On June 9, 2014, Revilla delivered a second privilege speech entitled "Salamat, Kaibigan", as charges were filed against him at the Sandiganbayan. On June 20, the Sandiganbayan issues a warrant of arrest against Revilla and more than 30 others. Revilla proceeded to Sandiganbayan to surrender, and he chose to be detained at PNP custodial center at Camp Crame. Revilla's bank accounts have been frozen as a consequence of the alleged involvement in the scam.
In a 7-page order dated June 23, Pasay City RTC Branch 111 presiding judge Wilhelmina Jorge-Wagan denied the application for TRO and writ of preliminary injunction sought by SMPHI against the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) and the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA).
The Republic Act (RA) 8975 or An Act to Ensure the Expeditious Completion of Government Infrastructure Projects prohibiting lower courts from issuing TROs, preliminary injunctions or preliminary mandatory injunctions was cited in the decision.
RA 8975 prohibits any court except the Supreme Court from issuing any TRO, preliminary injunction, or preliminary mandatory injunction to retrain or prohibit the government from acting on the location of any national government project; bidding or awarding a contract or project of the national government; and authorizing any other lawful activity for such contract.
The court would act contrary to the law if it ignores the statutory prohibition and issues a TRO against a government contract, Jorge-Wagan pointed out.
SMPHI also failed to allege and establish that its application for TRO was of extreme urgency involving a constitutional issue such that failure to issue would cause grave injustice and irreparable injury.
“In the absence of such extreme urgent matter, calling for the exception under paragraph 2, Section 3 of RA 8975, this court utterly prohibited from issuing the provisional remedies sought,” Jorge-Wagan said.
The Supreme Court intervened and issued a TRO in favor of SMPHI to stop and suspend the construction of the common station. In a two-page resolution issued on Aug 1, 2014, the Court’s First Division led by Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno issued a temporary restraining order enjoining the DOTC and LRTA from taking further action on its plan to transfer the common train station to Trinoma Mall side. The SC also directed the respondents DOTC and LRTA to comment within a non-extendible period of 10 days to the petition for injunction with prayer for TRO and writ of preliminary injunction filed by SM Prime Holdings Inc. In its petition, SM Prime questioned the decision of the DOTC and LRTA to build the common station interconnecting the LRT Taft, the Metro Rail Transit-Edsa and the forthcoming MRT 7 in front of the Trinoma Mall. According to SM, the move violates a memorandum of agreement it signed with LRTA on September 28, 2009 to erect the station in front of its North EDSA branch. “Acting on the prayer for the issuance of a temporary restraining order and writ of preliminary injunction, the Court furthermore resolves to issue as prayed for, effective immediately and continuing until further orders from this Court, enjoining the respondents, their agents and representatives, from proceeding with the transfer of the Common Station in front of SM City North EDSA to the new site in front of Trinoma Mall in North Avenue, Quezon City,” the SC ruled.
The high court also ordered SM Prime to submit within five days a verification of the petition pursuant to Sec. 4, Rule 7, 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure. Under the Rules, “a pleading is verified by an affidavit that the affiant has read the pleading and that the allegations therein are true and correct of his personal knowledge or based on authentic records”. It also directed the petitioner to submit a proof of service of the petition (e.g., written admission of the party served or affidavit of the party serving together with the registry receipts) on the adverse parties pursuant to Sec. 5(d), Rule 56 and Sec. 13, Rule 13, 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure, as amended.
Corona died on April 29, 2016, at 1:48 a.m. at The Medical City in Pasig due to complications of a heart attack. He also suffered from kidney disease and diabetes.
On May 10, 2016, the camp of presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte announced that a transition committee had been created to handle the presidential transition of Duterte to the day of his formal inauguration as President. The committee would be composed of an overall transition committee and three sub-committees, namely a selection committee, a policy group committee and an inauguration committee. The transition team was finalized the next day and held their first meeting at the Marco Polo Hotel in Davao City.
On May 12, 2016, the administration of President Benigno Aquino III has also created their own committee for the presidential transition of Rodrigo Duterte. The Presidential Transition Committee (PTC) is set to coordinate with Duterte's transition team and will be submitting reports to them. The Agency Focal Person of the transition body is Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa, Jr.
The joint bicameral Congress proclaimed Duterte as the President-elect and Leni Robredo as the Vice President-elect on May 30, 2016.
At exactly 12 noon of June 30, Duterte took oath as president by Ascociate Justice Reyes administered the oath of office.
Upon assumption into office, DOTr Sec. Tugade vowed to get all shareholders to agree on a single location for the common station within his first 100 days.
Finally, on September 28, 2016, principal stakeholders who are also the country’s top CEOs signed an agreement identifying a location for the common station and decided to build it between The Annex at SM City North EDSA and Trinoma Mall, ending an impasse over the seven-year old railway project.
Detained former senator Jinggoy Estrada is asking the Sandiganbayan to allow him to visit his father, Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada in April. Jinggoy said Mayor Estrada, who will turn 80 on April 19, wanted all his children to be present during his birthday celebration and added that he also wants to be part of the preparations.Do they not realize that millions of commuters are suffering and need that station and the loop closed asap? Let the station be named Zobel or Sy – at a hefty price – even though it is located near the mall that the family does not operate.
Construction of the common station was supposed to be completed back in May 2010 but disputes over cost, engineering issues and naming rights caused a delay that continues to this day. Even if the physical infrastructure connecting the two rail systems are in place and successfully tested, commuters have to go down at the Roosevelt station of LRT and walk over or take a tricycle or jeepney for the one kilometer distance to the Trinoma terminal of MRT-3. SM Prime Holdings had earlier given the Light Rail Transit Authority P200 million for “naming rights” over the station. But Trinoma, of Ayala Land, is already enjoying the actual naming rights in the public mind of the MRT terminal. Ayala also raised some issues over how the common station was to be organized.One unjust phenomenon of post-EDSA Philippines is that the poor continue to be driven away from Metro Manila where many of the jobs are.
I once asked Fernando Zobel during one press conference of Ayala Land why there was no housing for the poor in Fort Bonifacio Global City. He patiently explained to me that the infrastructure put in place there was far too expensive to include housing for the poor.
In my mind, I thought that was a lost opportunity to integrate the poor so that they would directly benefit from being close to work. I thought residents and locators in Bonifacio Global City could use an army of nannies, gardeners, cooks, etectera.
But the government did not make it a condition to put a social clause into the project.
To this day, the development of Metro Manila and other places in the country has been largely left to commercial developers. Choice areas are being carved out as gated communities for the wealthy.
That was not the promise of Edsa which had the poor and the rich standing shoulder-to-shoulder, risking their lives.
The rich can afford to do much more for the poor. In the past, I used to write about the Corporate Social Responsibility projects of various top companies. Not anymore.
Most companies do it for publicity purposes. They can’t even say how much of their earnings after taxes go to CSR. I suspect, very very little.
Philippine democracy has been bent and slanted to benefit the rich. To this day, Congress has been unable to pass a Land Use Law. Or an anti-dynasty law. Or a new Lobby Law that would replace the 1957 law.
Together with criminal justice, post-EDSA Philippines needs to implement social justice in the manner of distribution of opportunities and privileges in our society.
For social justice to take place, we need an honest-to-goodness anti-dynasty law. I’ve been a reporter for over 30 years and I see the same family names in office. I see the fathers being replaced by their wives or sons as if the political office was a rightful inheritance.
One can make a lot of money holding a political office even without stealing. For instance, a mayor can easily sniff out business opportunities. If a mall is about to be built, chances are, real estate prices in adjoining areas will go up. There is nothing illegal if a mayor’s relative starts buying up land. A political office is more often than not an enriching experience.
With an anti-dynasty law more people who don’t belong to political families can assume office. And hopefully, it will in time reduce the number of political families. We will then have a deeper and wider bench from which to choose public servants.
One other post-Edsa dream that I have is to see a very high government official jailed in an ordinary cell for corruption, without air-conditioning but only an electric fan. That hasn’t happened yet.
Hong Kong may even beat us to it by jailing their former chief executive Donald Tsang for corruption. But I was told that Hong Kong jails are much more comfortable than our prisons.
With all these problems that continue to hound the country it is quite tempting to simply say – to hell with it – let’s just have a bloody revolution and a dictatorship.
Marcos’ Martial Law should give us pause and put a stop to this temptation, because authoritarian rule as a model for development didn’t work for the Philippines. There is no such thing as a benevolent dictator.
Is People Power dead?
Far from it. We saw how people came together swiftly to protest President Joseph Estrada’s transgressions or the pork barrel. But in between flashes of People Power is the daily drudge of trying to make democracy work.
So what’s the point of celebrating Edsa People Power every year?
It is to serve as a warning that those who abuse political power have a shelf life.
Disclaimer: The views in this blog are those of the blogger and do not necessarily reflect the views of ABS-CBN Corporation.
