withering yellow pages

February 22nd, 12:30am February 21st, 11:56pm Concept News CentralAll the news that matters

The question is asked almost yearly when this time of the year comes — Is EDSA still relevant?

Much water has gone under the bridge since that historic event 33 years ago when a civilian-backed military uprising toppled a well-entrenched dictatorship in a bloodless revolution that earned worldwide praise and admiration.

“Noynoy’s incompetence, we would like to think, is the real reason why the revolution remains unfinished.

The so-called EDSA People’s Power Revolution of February 1986 was a historic event for many Filipinos considering that other nations had emulated what, for us, came naturally.

But time has flown so fast. EDSA today is no more than a memory. It is no longer remembered for the historic People Power Revolt that ousted a dictator but of the endless traffic snarls in the smoked-choked avenue – a punishing grind that the working people slog through daily. It is no longer a road worth celebrating. It’s an eyesore, a plague that should be avoided at all costs.

Many of the participants in the decades-long struggle leading to those fateful four days have gone their separate ways. Fidel Ramos has moved on to become president in 1992 and is now a retired private citizen. Juan Ponce Enrile, then Marcos’ martial law administrator, became Defense chief, senator, Senate President and now, at age 95, running again for a seat in the Senate. Cory Aquino, the rallying point of that uprising, was installed as President after Marcos fled and has, eventually, gone on to the great beyond.

After 33 years, the euphoria of those days has subsided and images of people dancing in the streets after Ferdinand Marcos had left is but a fading memory. But jaded as our vision now of those historic days, we thankfully can look at those events more judiciously with the passage of time.

On the eve of the 26th anniversary in 2012, then President Noynoy Aquino, son of the so-called democracy icon Cory, said “with the things happening around us, it is clear that the fight that started in EDSA in 1986 is not yet over.”

That is where the problem lies. Noynoy brought the concept of Laban (fight) that characterized much of 1980s politics in the restoration of our democratic ideals. That may be true then. But there has been no such fight in the last three decades since we have successfully restored democracy. What fight then was he referring to? At a time when what we needed was to build and not to divide, Noynoy’s kind of vindictive politics characterized his term.

Sayang. He could put himself in a situation where unifying all sectors of society for the benefit of the country could have lined himself up as among the great leaders of the world — a unifying leader, a healing one. What his mother wasn’t able to do, he could have done so with flourish. He, however opted to tread the path of vindictiveness. It took President Duterte to emphasize this when he allowed the burial of Marcos to put behind whatever animosities were still left of the Marcos-Aquino rivalry that has so divided the nation.

Noynoy’s incompetence, we would like to think, is the real reason why the revolution remains unfinished. And President Duterte, bless his heart, has that unenviable task of putting things back in order, undoing what the incompetent Noynoy has done.

The yellow pages of history are starting to wither. Blame it on the vindictive, uninspiring and clueless leader who likes to shove down the throats of the public the line that the Liberal Party is out to finish the revolution started in 1986. Even the symbols they used — the color yellow, the moronic hand gestures and the tacky jingles — according to those who are not exactly his fans, are quaint, albeit empty.

There is no unfinished revolution, Mr. former President. You and your yellow mob would have the Filipino believe that. There is only you blaming others for incompetence and unstatesmanlike demeanor. Never yourself.

As they say, we’ve come a long way since 1986. Times have changed. Nostalgia is for suckers and memories, like Barbara Streisand sings, can only light the corners of your mind.

We, as Filipinos, therefore, could only look back. But to find relevance, don’t ask PNoy about it. Better yet, try Digong. He probably knows better.