Name: Rey Axel P.

Lacandula Subject Code : GERPH01X

Section : HRM228 Professor : Michael Denniel M.

Palaganas

Title of the Article : The Unfinished Revolution in the Philippine Discourse

Author : Reynaldo C. Ileto

I. Introduction

Reynaldo C. Ileto is a Filipino historian known for his seminal work Pasyon and

Revolution : Popular Movements in the Philippines. He specializes in asian history,

religion and society, post colonial studies, and the government and politics of Asia and

the Pacific. I believe that Reynaldo wants to share with us the happening before and

why it is called the unfinished revolution. He wants us to understand without being

biased to the other party. In the introduction or the article. It can be seen that the article

will mainly focus on the EDSA Revolution. Moving forward, President Ferdinand Marcos

who was elected in 1965. He was very active in public works projects and the

intensification of tax collections. President Marcos was reelected in 1969 despite

accusations of vote-buying and a rigged election from the opposing party. Filipinos

before suffered from martial law. Many people died, which has caused anger to the

remaining Filipino people. This has caused Filipinos to rebel and fight against their own

government. The February event was the downfall of the Marcos’s which is widely

known as the EDSA Revolution. The 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution was a way
to achieve freedom and end the dictatorship of President Ferdinand E. Marcos. Millions

of Filipinos gathered in EDSA to join power in kicking the dictator out of the palace to

achieve freedom and democracy. Many analysts have argued that the EDSA Revolution

is not actually a revolution but a Regime-Change. What is regime-change? According to

the Oxford dictionary, regime changes the replacement of one administration or

government by another, especially by means of military force. What is revolution? From

the definition of Oxford dictionary, Revolution means a forcible overthrow of a

government or social order, in favor of a new system. What is People Power? "People

Power" is a political term that refers to the populist driving force behind any social

movement that appeals to the opinion and strength of the general public, typically in

contrast to that of traditionally organized corporate or political organizations .The

purpose of this article is to show the familiarity of "revolution" and "people power" in

1986, and how Marcos and Constantino has the same idea for filipino back then.

II. Main Argument of the Author

EDSA was about a divinely-appointed chance to alter our "ugali," or attitudes and

behaviors like apathy and callous negligence, which are fostered by a deeply ingrained

culture of self-interest and entitlement that is notorious for tolerating and accomodating

greed, crime, and corruption. We claimed it was about having a common goal for self-

reform in order to move forward and create a better country for future generations. We

had to accept that we were the issue and that only our own hearts and thoughts could

provide the answer. Making ourselves better Filipinos for a better Philippines was, in our
eyes, the true revolution. We wasted the opportunity we created to bring about genuine

change instead of utilizing it. The reason martial law was reportedly enacted in the first

place and the same reason it failed was that we refused to let go of our "ugali." We did

not put an end to traditional politics, which has only served to further divide us. It has a

family business mentality where obtaining a job in the government is the surefire way to

become rich and maintain power. Political dynasties must be defined and prohibited by

legislation, according to the Constitution of 1987. Thirty years later, the nation is still

ruled by "fat" political dynasties that hold simultaneous positions of national and local,

elected and appointed power in the government. The Ateneo study also showed that

"thin" dynasties that rule over their constituencies one after the other in accordance with

an organized succession plan are the source of provinces with lower levels of poverty.

Because Congress is controlled by dynasties that blatantly refuse to cede their

authority, we still lack an enabling bill. How can we come together when our "ugali"

symbolizes a moral crisis? Do we ever acknowledge our errors and provide

reparations? Do we accept painful lessons, grow from them, and voluntarily change like

responsible adults? Do we consider whether our acts will advance or hinder the larger

good before taking them? When asked about our regional, religious, or tribal affiliations,

do we first identify ourselves as Filipinos? Are we ever a cohesive, united society acting

in the best interests of the country? Not at all. We still act in a way that is egotistical,

local, greedy, unethical, and unjust – the exact opposite of what it takes to be good

citizens for country building. Day in and day out, we talk about our issues nonstop

without taking any action to address their underlying source, our "ugali. We are unable

to reinvent ourselves in order to improve as Filipinos and make our country better. We
couldn't put together a Team Philippines that can compete with the best of them. The

situation is still reversed, and we are continually lagging behind. There is therefore a

great deal of hostility and violence. We currently have a president that has the correct

intentions but lacks the necessary support to actually bring about change. This is due to

the fact that we ignore the cry for "Tunay na Pagbabago" and act as a dead weight.

We're locked in our corrupted habits that, to put things in perspective, served as the

foundation and rationale for martial law, only for the government to sink back into the

same pit it fought to escape in its early years. We're trapped by our "ugali." 32 years

after EDSA, we have yet to liberate ourselves and remake ourselves to build a new

Filipino. If we refuse to accept that we are the problem and that the solution is within our

reach, we will not be able to compete and exist in the 21st century or beyond. To

establish a great country for our children, we must mend our divisions, make amends,

band together, and set things right. Unfinished business is infamously one of our

country's reputations. All of the barriers that separate us must be removed. We must

complete the path toward "pagkakaisa" and "pagbabago," which we began at EDSA in

February 1986. That serves as the vision and mission. The EDSA Spirit will always be

with us.

III. Summary of the Reading

The Philippines' experience in 1986 was not an exception to the rule that national

events rarely develop in a manner that neatly matches the start and conclusion of the

calendar year. The dramatic events of 1986, whose pinnacle was the overthrow of the
Marcos government through a nonviolent revolution in February, had their roots in the

political and economic issues that had plagued the nation since Benigno "Ninoy"

Aquino, Jr. was killed in August 1983. The Philippines will not start to solve many of the

enormous issues it has in the post-Marcos era until far into 1987, if at all. Considering

this smooth progression of events, by the end of 1986 a fundamentally different political

climate existed in the Philippines as a result of the changes that took place in a

relatively short period of time—just a year. For instance, at the start of the year,

Ferdinand Marcos, who was waning in strength but still extremely powerful, was

mobilizing the intimidating forces of his presidential office and political machine to

ensure his reelection in the face of the largest political opposition to his 20-year rule. By

the end of the year, Marcos was living in exile in Hawaii, and President Corazon

("Cory") Aquino was working to solidify her still precarious political position and define

and implement the coalition government's policy agenda while attempting to fend off

challenges from both the left and the right. Although the Reform the Armed Forces

Movement was becoming more well-known in January, the Philippine Armed Forces' top

brass still seemed to be loyal to President Marcos (RAM). Defense Minister Juan Ponce

Enrile and his RAM supporters, however, had become outsiders by December as a

result of their challenge to the Aquino administration, having changed from being heroes

of the February revolution. The other "Hero of EDSA (Epifania de los Santos Avenue),"

General Fidel Ramos, chose to back the Aquino administration, solidifying his place as

a major member of the Aquino cabinet. At the beginning of the year, the communist

insurgency grew more, and ironically, Marcos successfully used the insurgency issue to

attack Aquino's candidacy and support his own reign. By December, the communists
had recovered from their politically disastrous boycott of the election in February and

were making good use of a tenuous sixty-day cease-fire to launch a successful PR

campaign.

IV. Critiques

The paradox that plagues the Philippines has been highlighted by numerous

analysts: despite being the first nation in Asia to establish democracy and democratic

institutions, dating back more than a century to the Assembly established by the

revolutionary Malolos Republic in 1898 and to the democratic institutions created during

the American colonial regime, the country's democracy has been dysfunctional in many

ways. The country's democratic institutions could be considered an "unfinished

revolution," according to some. This expression is nothing new. Many Filipino

nationalists, going all the way back to 1896 when Filipino peasant Andres Bonifacio

promised to continue the colonial battle against Spain, to modern Filipino scholars like

Renato Constantino, Reynaldo Ileto, and others, have referred to this theme in their

separate writings. This idea has been frequently expressed around the nation at various

moments in time, most recently at GMA's Inaugural Address in 2001, right following his

election to succeed Estrada. The significance of this concept is shown in how it is

interpreted differently. The struggle against poverty, which is the centerpiece of her

administration's ten-point program, is often referred to as the "unfinished revolution" by

many people, including GMA. And there's solid cause for it. Recall that the despotic

Marcos government was overthrown due to the country's poor economic situation, rising
levels of poverty, and general misery. In 1986, many Filipinos staged the country's first

People Power demonstration due to a feeling of alienation brought on by poverty. The

long overdue improvements to the nation's political structure, which has long been

dominated by elites and political clans, are sometimes referred to as the "unfinished

revolution." GMA based her political credibility on reforming both the nation's politics

and the economy in her 2001 inaugural speech.

V. Analysis and Conclusion

The Filipino people took part in a collective action that was so significant between

February 22 and 25, 1986, that the entire globe took notice. It has been known by a

variety of titles, including the People Power Revolution and, most notably, the EDSA

Revolution. The name is a reference to Epifanio delos Santos Avenue, where tens of

thousands of Filipinos peacefully protested the crimes committed by the Marcos

government over the course of two decades. People came together to support Corazon

Aquino, the widow of the late Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, whose murder three

years earlier had inspired common Filipinos to action, in opposition to the dictator

Ferdinand. Corazon Aquino was able to defeat Ferdinand. On EDSA, millions of Filipino

citizens reclaimed the democracy that had been usurped over the previous two

decades. But do Filipinos still believe in EDSA's influence after more than 30 years? Do

Filipinos currently enjoy the restoration of the democratic space that was achieved by

the nonviolent revolution, which is more important? Given the upheavals and societal

evils the country has seen since 1986, some Filipinos may feel that EDSA has fallen
short of its promises to the populace. This makes the description of EDSA as an

incomplete revolution, which has also been applied to it. Even if the Marcos regime was

ousted from Malacaang, the Marcoses still hold a position of tremendous power and

fortune. Although estimates place their stolen fortune at around $10 billion, they have

steadfastly refused to acknowledge their theft or even repay the billions to the country's

coffers. Many of their wealth are still securely contained in foreign institutions, falsely

registered Swiss banks, and various Philippine and American properties. Even if the

Marcoses left Malacaang at the end of EDSA, their vast network of allies was still cozy

in places of wealth and authority. Not every dishonest general, governor, or business

magnate in Marcos's pocket received a knock from the revolution. In fact, despite the

fact that the Philippine political establishment's top official had been removed, many

other facets of society generally remained unaffected in the years that followed the

revolution.

When it comes to our leaders, at the turn of the millennium, the presidency was

once again so egregiously corrupt that a second People Power Revolution was required

to remove Joseph Estrada, the only other Philippine head of state (ranked tenth) on the

top ten list of the most corrupt leaders in the world (aside from Ferdinand Marcos)

(ranked second). In a move similar to Marcos' own bid to hold onto power, Estrada's

successor President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo sought to amend the Constitution in

order to prolong her term in office. Since EDSA, extrajudicial executions and political

imprisonment have continued, but the current administration has seen the highest

number of deaths, more than 12,000 in its first year. A fundamental value of democracy
is pluralism, regardless of the ruler. The acceptance of plurality in the exercise of power

and the formulation of governmental policies is known as pluralism. Therefore, it is

important to hold fair elections so that the populace can choose leaders who genuinely

represent and advance their interests. Institutions are set up to make sure that laws and

how they are applied protect and advance these interests for the benefit of all citizens

rather than for the advantage of a small number of people. Additionally, there are

checks and balances in place to prevent power abuses, including corruption and human

rights violations. What promises does democracy make? It promises a place where a

country's citizens can collaborate to create a better life for everyone. On the other hand,

while in theory one-man rule shouldn't preclude progress, in reality dictatorships have

historically led to widespread theft, cronyism, political scapegoating, and the death of

innocent people. Even if the promise of "efficiency" may occasionally tempt some

people to support an authoritarian government, history shows us that absolute power

tends to corrupt completely. In the Philippines, we have learned this lesson the hard

way. Democracies, in contrast, must develop through time in order to work. For

instance, in order to put any law into effect, the government must go through an active

process of careful scrutiny; in exchange, leaders are not allowed to hastily enact laws

for their own gain or the gain of their political supporters. Those who are suspected of

crimes have a right to a fair trial and should be presumed innocent until proven guilty

beyond a reasonable doubt; in exchange, one's family members, friends, and other

loved ones cannot suddenly vanish at the first hint of suspicion from the government.

The goal of EDSA was not to fix the country's issues but to restore the ability of the

populace to work together. The revolution is still unfinished simply because it is still
going on today with you, even though EDSA's purpose was to restore our country's

democratic space. Each and every Filipino person has the authority to participate in our

democracy and to aid in the development of our country. The People Power Revolution

is still ongoing because it is a live, breathing revolution as long as this power is in the

hands of the people.