Postscript to EDSA 25

On the 25th anniversary of the EDSA People Power Revolt, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism posted a six-minute video feature on what the Filipino youth know about EDSA. The feature generated an immense amount of interest, with more than 13,500 views on YouTube in just three days, and more than 2,000 shares on Facebook. The feature also sparked intense, and sometimes, ugly debate. So far, there have been 150 comments on YouTube, and an even greater number on the many Facebook postings.

The interest and debate generated by the video are remarkable not just in their intensity and passion, but also for their context. A cursory reading of the comments both on YouTube and Facebook revealed an overwhelming dismay with the lack of knowledge and interest of many of the interviewees in the events that unfolded in February 1986. This is because many of the interviewees did not know the most basic information about EDSA, such as the year it occurred, and the major participants. One said Filipinos should not give importance to EDSA because it was already part of the past. Another said the youth should not involve themselves in the affairs of government because there were many hidden agendas.

“Ito ba ang pagasa ng bayan (Is this the hope of the nation)?” asked one incredulous viewer.

“Sayang ang sakripisyo ng Edsa 1986 (The sacrifices of Edsa 1986 have gone for naught),” said another.

Other viewers were much less diplomatic. And yet, more importantly, a significant number of comments reflected the concern of many with the educational system responsible for producing these results. Some raised the question: Do we blame the students who now know or care little of EDSA, or do we need to take a harder look at the educational system that was supposed to have armed them with the proper tools of recent history? Could the answer be somewhere between the two?

“The problem here is not these students themselves, but the educational system in the country,” remarked one viewer.

“We can’t blame everything on them,” said another. “Number one, the education system in the Philippines is going down the drain. Number two, no concrete results really happened after EDSA except to remove Marcos. Why blame everything on these students?”

One viewer had a more practical explanation: “Kaya ‘di na alam, kasi ‘yung lessons about EDSA eh nasa 4th quarter na ng Philippine History. Kung ‘di nila matapos ang lesson, eh busy na sila sa mga sportsfest, fieldtrips, etc, at syempre, excited magbakasyon. Hindi naman mahalaga kung alam mo lahat ng details tungkol sa nangyari nung 1986, ang mas mahalaga eh pahalagahan yung kalayaan na tinatamasa nila ngayon. (They don’t know about EDSA because the lessons about EDSA are in the 4th quarter of Philippine History courses. Either they haven’t been able to finish the lessons, or they became busy with sportsfests, fieldtrips, and the excitement of vacation. The details of 1986 are not as important as how we value the freedoms we have today)”

Another viewer felt that his fellow students are to blame as much as the system. “As students, we are still responsible in seeking things which (are) related to history. It’s not good to go directly blaming our system. Alam mo, DOTA (a video game popular with the youth) lang ang katapat ng mga students na ito.”

An even fiercer debate developed between those who felt that EDSA was uncalled for because Marcos was on the right track, and those who saw the value of toppling the dictator. One viewer, who said his parents never felt threatened at all during Martial Law, said those who suffered during the regime practically had it coming.

“Never did I hear of ‘innocents’ being oppressed in the articles that I read during Martial Law,” the viewer said. “All I’ve stumbled upon are activists, extremists, protesters, politicians, drug dealers, and criminals. I might be wrong, but from the words of my elders, nothing bad happened to those who have done nothing wrong.”

Every year, we march out onto EDSA to congratulate ourselves and bask in the yellow glow of those four days in February when we showed the world what democracy was about. And every year, we haul out the EDSA veterans, all aging, awkward, and oftentimes antagonistic to each other, to talk about the good old days. But to the young, it seems, we are no different from doddering war veterans who mutter to each other at the corner table about days of bygone glory and swap old war stories while the rest of the world fly past. Perhaps we have congratulated ourselves a little too much, and forgotten to tell our children why.