Today, Feb. 25, the country pauses to commemorate the 38th anniversary of the EDSA People Power Revolution, a page in history which documents the triumph of peaceful means to achieve change –  and the restoration of democracy, 14 years after the declaration of martial law. 

The most memorable pictures of that event were taken at the corner of EDSA and Ortigas Avenue, where a massive crowd stopped a column of tanks – not with force or violence, but with pleas and prayers expressed by men, women and young people bearing rosaries and statues of the Blessed Mother. The Shrine of Our Lady of EDSA now stands at that historic site, about a kilometer away from the People Power Monument.

The standoff enabled the convergence of troops that supported then Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile, and then Vice-Chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and head of the Philippine Constabulary and Integrated National Police Fidel Ramos, to fortify their positions in Camp Crame and Camp Aguinaldo, after they had declared their breakaway from their Commander-in-Chief, the late former President Ferdinand E. Marcos, Sr.

The theme for the 38th EDSA People Power Revolution’s anniversary is: “Pagkakaisa at Paninindigan Laban sa mga Bagong Hamon sa Bayan” (Unity and Conviction Against the New Challenges to the Nation). In retrospect, EDSA 1986 was sparked by unity and conviction on the need to restore democracy.
Weeks before the massive crowds gathered at EDSA, snap elections were held on Feb. 7, 1986. During the tabulation of votes, some 30 technicians from the National Computer Center walked out from their posts and sought refuge in Redemptorist Church in Baclaran. This was followed by a series of protest actions.

Corazon Cojuangco Aquino was sworn in as the 11th President of the Philippines at Club Filipino on Feb. 25, 1986. She emerged as the sole opposition candidate after the assassination of her husband, the late former Senator Benigno ‘Ninoy’ S. Aquino, Jr.

All these events are documented in The Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines.

The restoration of democracy has enabled many persons involved in the People’s Power Revolution to serve in government.  Enrile served in the post-EDSA Cabinet and went on to become Senate President.  He is now the chief presidential legal counsel of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.

Fidel V. Ramos was elected as the 12th president of the Philippines in 1992, also after serving as secretary of national defense.

Many more continued to work for the people under the administrations of then presidents Aquino, Ramos, Joseph Ejercito Estrada, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Benigno S. Aquino Jr. III, Rodrigo Duterte, and now Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.

Today, President Marcos, Jr. is rallying the Filipino people for unity and conviction behind the goals of Bagong Pilipinas – a “brand of governance and leadership that strives to ignite hope and inspire participation in building a better Philippines through collective action, transcending political, religious, and socio-economic differences” – in the same spirit of EDSA 1986.