People Power in 1986 was a singular and powerful event that freed the country from the clutches of oppressive dictatorship and provided a venue and expression for free thought that had been repressed for decades in the Philippines.
However, the modern idea of People Power has been changed from its purest expression into one that is used to manipulate people.
This is the harsh critique of benign00 in YouTube who expresses a message for all Filipinos.
A transcript of her message follows:
Filipinos have become addicted to People Power revolutions. Our society is dying from this addiction.
In September 2005, the first impeachment bid against President Arroyo failed to pass Congress. Former President Cory Aquino took the cue to lead a protest rally in Commonwealth Avenue that was expected to lead to another People Power spectacle–presumably to continue where Congress failed.
That fizzled out spectacularly.
Arroyo is still president today and Aquino has gone from Ms. Edsa Revolution to pathetic chump. So you just have to ask why we again see her in her ho-hum yellow outfit with the rest of the Catholic mafia knelt in prayer before the paparazzi.
Groups addicted to People Power clamoring for a modern democratic society fail to see the irony in what Cory Aquino, the Catholic Church, and the 2008 opposition would have us do. Yet again ignore modern institutions and due process in favor of the Inquisition.
What can be a more fitting reminder of primitive medieval sorcery than the sight of feudal land owners and oligarchs hand-in-hand with the clergy inciting misguided fervor on an ignorant throng of people. Do we want a modern country run by modern institutions or a primitive country run by organized religion? Do we as a people want to continue to play the part of the ignorant throng dancing to the tune of these characters?
At the heart of this crisis there is no pro-Arroyo or anti-Arroyo. This is about what we want to be as a society. We want to be known as a people who want to do things properly. In 1986 there was no alternative to People Power. Today, 2008, people will have us believe that we are fighting for freedom. Yet the reality is that we already have this freedom. We only choose to misuse it–hitting the streets at the drop of a hat whenever Cory Aquino and a bunch of bishops are not happy. Contrary to what they say, we are a free people, and we are free to do the right thing today. Use the proper channels to reach your representatives in Congress.
And next time, vote for the right people.
I just want to say that true people power is not constituted by the unthinking “masa” who are easily driven into uncontrolled frenzy at the “drop of a hat” by a charismatic speaker who professes oneness (e.g. Erap para sa Mahirap) or commonality with the hardships of the poor. Rather, the people power that could topple a regime is one led and driven by the intelligentia or people who are able to discern genuiness of motivations or causes. As correctly observed the recent attempts of Cory to rouse what she erroneously believe to be her people power failed “spectacularly”. Also not long after the second people power that toppled Erap the so called “EDSA Tres” also failed to bring down Gloria despite calls to march to
Malacanang by Senators Enrile and Santiago. The people that did were nothing but a noisy unthinking throng which also failed miserably. More recently there was this Trillanes caper where while marching to the Peninsula Hotel for his holdout he was calling on the people to join him in his cause but this also failed. All these support my belief that to bring about real people power sufficient to topple a regime the intelligentia must be convinced that there is a genuine cause for it to come about and this will manifest spontaneously without a Cory or a Cardinal Sin making a call. Filipinos are not “addicted” to people power only those who wrongly believe that they possess the charisma to sway people’s minds in whatever way they please think so among them are the likes of Cory, Cardinal Sin, Trillanes, Erap etc. I hope Erap would run again and I will bet my last peso he will lose this time. Filipinos are not patsies except for a few exceptions.
benign00, you’re wrong about everything.