Gabriel & Espiritu Salaysay at Saysay Manuscript (Unedited)

Chapter 15
After the 1986 EDSA People Power
Pres. Ferdinand Marcos lifted Martial Law in 1980 but that did not mean dictatorship
was over. Marcos still ruled with an iron fist but the economy fell badly. Marcos’s profligate
spending for projects happened with no oversight since he clamped down on the opposition
and he made the Philippine parliament or the Batasang Pambansa a stamp pad of his whims.
Irresponsible government spending came without check and accountability. External debt rose
from $2.3 billion in 1970 to more than $17.2 in 1980 (“Martial Law and…” 2018). Thus,
though Marcos was able to build a lot of projects, the regime plunged the economy in a state
of dishonest spending. Tired of excesses and abuses, the Filipinos were waiting just for one
spark. This will set the stage for an upheaval.

Preliminary Activity
Read the following lines from John Locke.

“The people generally ill-treated, and contrary to right, will be ready upon any
occasion to ease themselves of a burden that sits heavy upon them... Such revolutions happen
not upon every little mismanagement in public affairs. Great mistakes in the ruling past, many
wrong and inconvenient laws, and all the slips of human frailty will be borne by the people
without mutiny or murmur. But if a long train of abuses, prevarications, and artifices, all
tending the same way, make the design visible to the people, and they cannot but feel what
they lie under and see whither they are going, it is not to be wondered that they should then
rouse themselves and endeavor to put the rule into such hands which may secure to them the
ends for which government was at first erected…”

This adage came from John Locke in his writing “The Second Treatise of Civil
Government” (Curtis 2008:372). He was the author of social contract, the foundation of
democracy.

Process Question

 How would you reconcile Locke’s adage with the provisions of our Penal Code:

Article 134. Rebellion or insurrection – How committed – The crime of rebellion or

insurrection is committed by rising publicly and taking arms against the government
for the purpose of removing from the allegiance to said Government or its laws, the
territory of the Republic of the Philippines or any part thereof, of any body of land,
naval or other armed forces, or depriving the Chief Executive or the Legislature,
wholly or partially, or any of their powers or prerogatives.

Article 135. Penalty for rebellion, insurrection or coup d’etat – Any person who
promotes maintains or heads a rebellion or insurrection shall suffer the penalty of
reclusion perpetua. Any person merely participating or executing the commands of
others in a rebellion or insurrection shall suffer the penalty or reclusion temporal.

Historical Context of the Speech

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In the entire Martial Law period, Pres. Ferdinand Marcos kept in prison his staunch
critique and rival, Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. Marcos locked him up after conviction
on trumped up charges of rebellion and subversion in a military court. But in 1980, the year
when he would lift Martial Law, Ninoy suffered heart attack while in detention. His condition
was his ticket and his family’s to fly to the United States where he would undergo heart
surgery. With this he was able to secure temporary freedom and reunion with his family for
three years.

In 1983, Niinoy decided to finally go back home. In the Philippines, however,

instability was rocking the Marcos regime. The public was suspecting that Marcos was at his
twilight years due to Lupus. Rumors were also proliferating that factionalism was cracking
the regime: one faction was that of Marcos’s defense minister, Juan Ponce Enrile, Marcos’s
close associate since the 1960s, another was that of his trusted Armed Forces Chief of Staff
and first cousin, Gen. Fabian Ver, and the other was that of the First Lady Imelda Marcos.
Under the name, Marcial Bonifacio, Marcial after the words Martial Law and Bonifacio, after
the term Camp Bonifacio where he was first detained, Ninoy decided to slip to the country.
On August 21, 1983, China Airlines Flight 811touched down on Manila International Airport
only to be fetched by military men and shot on his way down the airline’s stairs. In seconds,
two bodies lay on the tarmac of the airport, Ninoy and the suspected gunmen, Rolando
Galman. Nine days of mourning and the funeral on August 31 with the huge outpouring of
sympathy and a mammoth-size crowd of millions of Filipinos watching the wake of Ninoy as
it passed by to be interned in its resting place at the Manila South cemetery proved worrisome
for the Marcos which spelled the loss of trust, and which could translate to the loss of
legitimacy for the regime

The assassination drew ire and disaffection to Marcos and in order to evade more
public outrage and blame, Marcos created the Fernando Commission named after its
chairman, Supreme Court Justice, Enrique Fernando and four other retired supreme court
justices only to resign days after due to public criticism. Marcos was compelled to create an
investigative body that was not tainted with bias. With that he ordered the creation of the
Agrava Fact-finding Board composed of a retired Court of Appeals Justice far from Marcos’s
grasp of influence and civilians from the different sectors. It was chaired by Retired Justice
Corazon Agrava and composed of lawyer Luciano Salazar, businessman Dante Santos, labor
leader Ernesto Herrera, educator Amado Dizon, and the board’s counsel Andres Narvasa. For
almost a year of investigation, the board came up with two reports: the Chairman’s minority
report concluding that the Ninoy’s assassination was the result of a military conspiracy but
did not implicate anyone in the higher-ups, and the member’s majority report implicating
Gen. Ver, Gen. Prospero Olivas of the Metro Manila Command (Metrocom) and Gen. Luther
Custodio of the Aviation Security Command (Avsecom).

Trial for the ones implicated commenced in 1985 at the Sandiganbayan, only to be
acquitted for lack of evidence. Gen. Ver who was one of the accused was temporarily relived
from his post only to be re-instated after the acquittal. Public outrage grew the more as
Marcos’s legitimacy was now denounced publicly and held under fire. This led Marcos to
issue a directive for the conduct of a snap election in February 7, 1986. Meanwhile as public
outrage was growing the political opposition mustered their ranks headed by Salvador Laurel,
a friend and ally of Ninoy to create a united front under a political party known as the United
Democratic Opposition (UNIDO) which would confront Marcos with his party, Kilusang
Bagong Lipunan (KBL). But Corazon “Cory” Aquino, the unassuming, quiet widow of Ninoy
became very popular figure that she was hoped to be the only one who could beat Marcos
despite his predicted electoral manipulation. Cory was popular not because of her being the
widow of a popular senator, but her untainted character and demeanor made her a popular
choice since she was never a politician who could have been involved, one way or the other,
in political compromises and her simple manner was symbolic of the people’s desire for a

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fresh start free from political excesses. Salvador Laurel contended himself to run as vice-
president for Cory while Marcos would test his administration’s legitimacy with Minister of
Foreign Affairs, Arturo Tolentino as his running-mate.

On February 7, 1986, the election was held, but during the counting of ballots
broadcast in national television, Cory was winning only to be overturned by Marcos’s lead.
With the counting not yet over, 30 computer encoders, hired by the Commission on Elections
(COMELEC) walked out of the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) where the
counting was held, on protest of election fraud. This tainted the outcome of the election which
Marcos was predicted to win despite suspicions of fraud. He did win with votes numbering
7,835,070 against Cory’s 7,053,068 (Agoncillo and Mangahas 2010:268). But the walk-out
was staged for the leader of the group was Linda Kapunan, wife of Lt. Col. Eduardo “Red”
Kapunan of the Reformed the Armed Forces Movement (RAM).

On February 22, 1986, RAM officers in close association with Minister Juan Ponce
Enrile mounted a coup d’etat with a plot to bomb and assault Malacañang. The plot was
discovered by Marcos. The coup plotters then took refuge inside Camp Aguinaldo and
enjoined Gen. Fidel Ramos, Chief of the Philippine Constabulary at Camp Crame in this
attempt to once and for all topple the Marcos regime. At that point, upon knowing the danger
that the coup plotters were facing and calculating that this event was the proper catalyst to
remove Marcos from power, Manila Archbishop, Jaime Cardinal Sin issued an appeal on
radio to the public to mass around the two military camps in support of the coup plotters and
topple the regime once and for all. Radyo Bandido was set up by veteran broadcast June
Keithley in rousing the call for more people to mass up along EDSA. Throngs of people
headed the call and the People Power Revolution had begun.

About the President

Pres. Corazon “Cory” Aquino, the 11 th and first woman president of the Philippines
hailed from the prominent political clan of Cojuanco in Tarlac and Sumulong in Rizal
Province. She was born on January 25, 1933 at Paniqui, Tarlac where the Cojuanco’s owned
tracks of land and had the province home to their business. She had her elementary schooling
at St. Scholastica College in Manila, transferred to Assumption Convent where she pursued
her high school studies. She went to the United States with her family to enter college at
Ravenhill Academy in Philadelphia and in 1949, she graduated from Notre Dame Convent
School in New York. She then transferred to the college of Mount Saint Vincent where she
graduated in French minor in mathematics in 1953. She went back to the Philippines and
studied law at Far Eastern University where she met her future husband Benigno “Ninoy”
Aquino, Jr. Ninoy would eventually become a staunch politician who, when he became
senator under the Liberal Party became the hard-hitting critic of the then incumbent president
Ferdinand Marcos. In 1971, Ninoy’s rise to popularity was the anticipated replacement to
Marcos who close out his term, when Marcos placed the entire Philippines under Martial law
and jailed his political rivals and critics among whom was Ninoy whom he kept jailed until
1980 when Marcos allowed him and his family to go to the United States so he would
undergo heart by-pass operation. But after three years, Ninoy decided to go home only to be
assassinated. This began Cory’s rise to popularity who would spell the threat against Marcos’
dictatorship. During the 1986 Snap elections, Cory ran against Marcos only to lose amid news
of electoral fraud committed by Marcos. This set the stage for the People Power Revolution
when a group of junior officers led by Lt. Col. Gregorio Honasan of the Reform The Armed
Forces (RAM) together with Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile and Philippine Constabulary
Chief Fidel Ramos holed themselves up in Camp Aguinaldo and Camp Crame after a foiled
coup d’ etat aimed at toppling Marcos.

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Speech 15.1

The Speech of President Corazon Aquino before the Joint Session

of the US Congress September 18, 19861

Figure 15.1 Photograph of Pres. Corazon Aquino during her Speech in the US Congress,
1986 (Photo from https://www.esquiremag.ph/politics/revisit-cory-aquino-s-historic-1986-
speech-
before-the-us-congress-a00207-20180125)

Watch the video on Youtube.

It would be advised that the students first read the reinforcement activity before
watching the video in order to guide them on what they should be mindful of in accomplishing
the activity.

========================================

Postscript
The 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution, was an extra-ordinary feat to have ousted
a dictator, not through arms and violence, but through the sheer will of the people. On the
other hand, the people chanted not the name of Enrile nor Ramos who would have replaced
Marcos to the presidency. Instead the People shouted “Cory, Cory” with the color yellow and
with the finger’s L sign (Laban) as proof of the people’s choice.

========================================

1
Lifted from the speech of President Aquino during the Joint Session of US Congress September 18,
1986 Youtube Part 1(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WX9ysynaIq), Part 2
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4gWe6KkFX4), Part 3 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=OZbsEUUrg).
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Reinforcement Activity

 Appreciating the significant markers in our history through a speech

a) How was President Aquino received by the American legislators before the
speech?
b) How did President Aquino deliver the speech? How was her demeanor?
c) How did the legislators react before, during and after the speech?

Complete the matrix

Key words or phrases in the speech that described the condition in the Philippines

During Marcos Regime After EDSA People Power

 Appreciating the rebirth of democracy after the 1986 People Power

a) From the speech, what was the significance of the 1986 People Power to
the world?
b) What was the commitment of the Philippines as stated by the President in the
speech?

Relevance
The 1986 People Power was a significant marker in Philippine history. Fresh from the
establishment of a new government after Marcos, this speech of Pres. Aquino is significant on
this point:

 The Filipinos proved to the world that a bloodless upheaval and the people’s sheer
guts, can oust a dictator from power.

Challenge
A lot of Filipinos today still glorify Marcos for the many infrastructures that were
built during his presidency. And they compare his presidency better than Cory’s. But while
infrastructures are vital, infrastructures are not the end in the themselves for the people will
also be burdened to pay for them. Your parents pay income taxes added to other indirect
taxes. When you work you will also pay your own income taxes. What would you do to
impose discipline among our leaders so they would not just irresponsibly spend for the
infrastructures that they build? This will guard the money you pay the government against
corruption.

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And how will you guard the freedom we have gained through People Power against
any appearance or emergence of dictatorship that will undermine our civil liberties?

References

Agoncillo, Teodoro A. and Mangahas Fe B. (2010) Philippine History, Quezon City: C&E
Publishing.

Aquino, Corazon (1986) “Speech of President Aquino during the Joint Session of US
Congress September 18” Youtube Part 1(https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=WX9ysynaIq), Part 2
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4gWe6KkFX4), Part 3
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZbsEUUrg).

Curtis, Michael (2008) The Great Political Theories, New York: Harper Perennial, Modern
Classics.

“Martial and its Aftermath, 1972-86, (2018) US Library of Congress

(http://countrystudies.us/philippines/57.htm).