Remembering EDSA I

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My parents were at EDSA I; they were in the middle of events leading up to it too, and in the revolution led years before. It’s been no secret that my parents were both in the militant movement in their younger days – up until they had us. Both of them were political prisoners at different times – my dad first for a couple of years when my brother was a young boy; my mom for a few months while I was still an infant. EDSA I was the time when the people’s rage reached boiling point, it was the result of many years of toil. After EDSA, my parents were involved in various development efforts and they were still doing their fair share in effecting change. They no longer moved in the underground but were out in the open.

It is sad that today, at the commemoration ‘rally’ at EDSA, there were more military and police personnel than there were civilians. It is sad that today, 22 years later, we are in need of another EDSA.

I am disappointed that Erap is free to be interviewed on the Al Jazeerah channel and say that Gloria is an illegitimate president. Why? Definitely not because I support Gloria and her administration, but because Erap himself was the subject of an EDSA Revolution, one that I was proud to have participated in. His freedom now speaks of the failure of EDSAs past.

As a people, we are proud of the spirit of EDSA, and yet we elect the wrong people to office time and again. The ZTE-NBN deal is but one of many deals that reeked of corruption. Anyone actually involved in government projects would know that there are many ways that a politician or a government employee can pocket the people’s money. Perhaps not everyone is in on it, perhaps you have some who strive to effect change within the system. But how can it really be done?

If we get rid of Gloria today, how can we be assured that those who remain in office won’t carry on with the culture they have already so ingrained? Is it enough to replace the head? Come on, graft and corruption happens across the board, and it cuts across all the colors of the political spectrum. Who can we trust not to let us down yet again?

*edit*

So a Justice Department official was quoted to have said that Erap may be put back in jail if he doesn’t stop questioning the legitimacy of Arroyo’s presidency. Heck, he’s been doing that since a week or so after he was pardoned. He is clearly getting away with not honoring his end of the terms of the pardon!