ENDEAVOR
Plato and Beethoven verbalized the power of music. “Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything,” according to Plato. Beethoven said: “Music is the divine messenger between heaven and the human.”
Two songs serve as powerful reminders of the Filipino people’s love of country: Handog ng Pilipino sa Mundo and Magkaisa. I invite our readers to reflect on the significance of EDSA through the lyrics of these songs. But first, a brief flashback.
Looking up to the heavens, linking arms, and throwing caution to the winds, thousands of Filipinos gathered at the corner of EDSA and Ortigas avenue at around noon of Sunday, Feb. 23, 1986 to manifest their solidarity as a people.
A week earlier, on Feb.16, Mrs. Corazon Aquino led the Tagumpay ng Bayan rally at Luneta. She announced a civil disobedience campaign, highlighted by a boycott of publications and companies identified with the Marcos administration. This was to protest the proclamation by the Batasang Pambansa of the then incumbent President as the winner of the snap elections held on Feb. 7. Recall that 30 Comelec computer technicians staged a walkout “to protest the deliberate manipulation of the official election results.”
On Tuesday, Feb. 25, 1986, both Ferdinand Marcos, Sr. and Corazon Aquino took the President’s oath of office in Malacañang Palace and Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan, respectively. On the evening of the same day, Marcos and his family were flown out of the country and began their forced exile in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Now, let’s beam the spotlight on the two songs.
The story of the first song, “Handog ng Pilipino sa Mundo” (henceforth referred to as ‘Handog’) was written by Glenn Baker for Billboard magazine’s Sept. 20, 1986 issue:
“Ramon Chuaying, head of WEA Records, now Universal Records, commissioned singer-songwriter Jim Paredes of APO Hiking Society to write a song inspired by the People Power Revolution…Paredes wrote the song in three minutes, with no revisions…The song was then performed by artists who became actively involved during the People Power Revolution. An English version of this song was also made, entitled ‘A New and Better Way – The People’s Anthem,’ released in Australia and the United Kingdom. Both the original and English version were released as singles, with the proceeds to be donated for the rehabilitation of DZRV, whose main transmitter was destroyed by Marcos' troops while covering the events of the EDSA Revolution.”
“Handog” begins with an assertive declaration: “Di na ’ko papayag mawala ka muli./’Di na ’ko papayag na muli mabawi,/Ating kalayaan kay tagal natin mithi./Di na papayagang mabawi muli.”
Loosely translated, this means: “I will never lose you again/I will not allow you to be taken away/ Our long-cherished freedom/We won’t lose it again.”
The heart of the song is in the chorus or refrain: “Handog ng Pilipino sa mundo/Mapayapang paraang pagbabago/Katotohanan, kalayaan, katarungan/Ay kayang makamit na walang dahas./ Basta't magkaisa tayong lahat.”
The foregoing lyrics, in English: “This is the Filipinos’ gift to the world/A peaceful pathway to change/Truth, freedom, justice may be attained without force/If the people unite as one.”
The other song, “Magkaisa,” composed by former Senator Tito Sotto, Homer Flores and Ernie dela Peña, was originally sang and recorded by Virna Lisa Loberiza.
Its lyrics are equally compelling: “Panahon na ng pagkakaisa/Kahit ito ay hirap at dusa/Magkaisa (May pag-asa kang matatanaw)/At magsama (Bagong umaga, bagong araw)/Kapit-kamay (Sa atin Siya’y nagmamahal)/Sa bagong pag-asa.”
Here's this author’s translation: “This is the time for us to unite/Even if it’s a painstaking process/On this new morning, new day/Let’s link arms on our new hopes.”
What then, is the significance of this year’s commemoration of EDSA People Power?
Thirty-nine years, or nearly four decades have passed. My understanding and interpretation of the events that took place in 1986 have been shaped and reshaped, formed and transformed, by real-world experience.
EDSA People Power happened a month before I turned 33. From our residence in Ermita, which was across the Pasig River from Malacañang Palace, my wife decided to drive to the area adjacent to Camps Crame and Aguinaldo – an area with which I was familiar as my father and mother worked in offices located in those two military camps for decades until their retirement – in mid-morning of Sunday, Feb. 23. We brought along our five-year old daughter.
We drove from one end of Santolan street (renamed Col. Bonny Serrano St.), passed Camp Crame, then crossed EDSA, passing Camp Aguinaldo. The area was relatively quiet; it was the morning after both then Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile and then AFP Vice Chief of Staff Fidel Ramos declared they were breaking ranks from President Marcos, thereby signifying a coup d’etat. According to Oxford Languages, coup d’etat is “a sudden, violent, and unlawful seizure of power from a government.”
We were home before noon and monitored events from radio.
This is how the pivotal event that turned the tide happened. According to a Wikipedia log: “3:00 PM: A(n) … armored contingent halts in full view of the crowd along Ortigas Avenue in the Ortigas CBD, Pasig. They would later pull back. Radio Veritas had earlier learned of their planned attack on the camps.”
Indeed, this was the moment in which “the miracle of EDSA” occurred. A column of tanks and armored vehicles sent to disperse the crowd was stopped by people armed with only rosaries and statues of the Blessed Mother.
“Handog” demonstrates the Filipino’s unique gift or legacy. Through EDSA People Power, the Filipino people demonstrated Merriam-Webster’s classic definition of revolution as “a fundamental change in political organization, especially: the overthrow or renunciation of one government or ruler and the substitution of another by the governed.” And yes, it was a peaceful revolution.
“Magkaisa” affirms the Filipinos’ solidarity in aspiring for freedom. It involves “active support and shared responsibility within a group, often acknowledging and respecting individual differences while still working towards a common goal.”
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