History’s paradox
For many, what counts is that there is food on the table three times a day, and their children will be safely home after school or work
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Daily TribuneFor many, what counts is that there is food on the table three times a day, and their children will be safely home after school or work
Share
Days after the People Power revolt of 1986, which was an almost bloodless uprising against the late President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., the nation was filled with the euphoria of change and the promise that life would be better from then on. That dream was never realized.
It is ironic that 38 years later, the predominant number of the population who were not born during that momentous period are now filled with hope that the country, under the leadership of the son of the ousted leader, will be among the growth leaders of Asia.
The mischief that history had sprung did not stop there as those who lived through the years of martial law under Marcos Sr. are giving accounts of a better life than when nobody went hungry and the streets were far safer, even at night.
For many, what counts is that there is food on the table three times a day, and their children will be safely home after school or work.
The EDSA mystique was a creation of the yellow persuasion, which got its color from an American song about an ex-convict returning home whose girlfriend was to tie a yellow ribbon around an oak tree if she still wanted him back.
Only a few, mostly those affiliated with the Liberal Party, now tie a yellow ribbon to mark the occasion.
The sanctimonious lot has consistently accused the majority of the population who are poor of having short memories of what had transpired, particularly with the election of Marcos Jr. into office.
They would not accept the reality that the opposite is true, that Filipinos vividly remember what was promised them.
Two yellow icons, the late Cory and Noynoy Aquino, led the country and should have fortified whatever “enduring legacy” was being peddled by the Liberal Party.
Instead, Filipinos were turned off by the hypocrisy and callousness of the leaders during the yellow regimes. The focus then was on political vindication accompanied by promises that erasing the past would improve the future.
Yet, they dismiss the allegations of being disconnected from the population, accusing Filipinos of being swayed by revisionism.
History is a vicious judge who hands down a verdict clear of any political persuasion. Villains in the past became heroes no matter the loud protests of those who claimed to have a divine assignment to decide for the nation.
They are the same small secti on of the populace who have clamored to disenfranchise Filipinos based on their education. Those deprived of higher learning are easily bought according to the false hypothesis.
The LP also spoke of the “importuning of those who would attempt the repetition of an inordinate aberration.”
The use of fancy language does not hide the implication of the statement that Filipinos were only swayed into deciding on their current leaders, which is another faulty assumption.
People Power at EDSA as a nationwide sentiment would be hard to prove since it was mainly confined to Manila and a few other urban centers that would hardly count as the Filipinos’ will.
The only reflection of the people’s voice is through the periodic elections, which must be followed based on the Constitution crafted during the term of the yellow regime.
Neither was EDSA a miracle since it would have meant that God abandoned the forsaken nation after an event that the yellow mob considered sacred.
Make your fate through hard work, that must be the divine message, if any, after all these years after the uprising.
