Senator Nancy Binay recently expressed her exasperation with the low turnout of people attending events commemorating the EDSA People Power Revolution’s 38th anniversary. I don’t know with the good senator, but what’s the basis of her view? Are we judging the commemoration of this monumental event 38 years ago on a quantitative basis? Do we need a million Filipinos to come to the EDSA shrine every single year before we honestly say that, indeed, EDSA had a profound influence on our lives? Are we saying, then, that since less than 10,000 people went to different EDSA commemoration activities, the revisionists are correct in asserting its irrelevance?

Less we forget, the EDSA ideal still burns brightly, yes, but not along the liberal democratic lines that the EDSA elites led by the Aquinos and other liberals want us to believe no. The true EDSA spirit lives within the hearts and minds of genuine revolutionists who want nothing more than to see this country rise once more to its former glory before it fades into oblivion.

The EDSA that everyone embraced during those four days is the EDSA of the People. And what is the EDSA of the people?

It is now being seen almost everywhere—with the Philippine National Police (PNP) showing the alibata equivalent of its name. Look at the seals the government has re-made—they are inspired by the indigenous values and traditions that are EDSA. Thousands, if not millions, of Filipino motorcycle riders, have you not noticed they wear t-shirts with graphics showing the elements that make the EDSA spirit? How about those Filipinos who joined various grassroots organizations, such as the Philippine Eagle? The symbols they use to represent their values are EDSA values.

Of course, the once massive crowds that went to all EDSA celebrations in the first five years were surprising. EDSA of 1986 was indeed a dynamic event, and emotions slowly tempered, if not faded away, as time passed. Yet, this loss of the crowd does not mean that people have forgotten EDSA, oh no. EDSA has been institutionalized, and when you institutionalize a revolution, you are making it a part of a country’s values, traditions, and norms.

Many people commented that EDSA did nothing to change the mindsets of Filipinos. I’m afraid I have to disagree. EDSA was responsible for the election of a former Marcos close associate in the person of Fidel Ramos. It was EDSA that continually allowed Juan Ponce Enrile to become senator, congressman, presidential adviser, and what have you. The EDSA spirit allowed those who took part in those destabilizing coups d’etat during Cory’s time to become government bureaucrats and local government officials.

EDSA remains in the hearts and minds of those generations who witnessed it. The very fact that we elected Joseph Estrada, who, again, was a former mayor allied very closely with the family of a former dictator, shows how we, the People, understood what EDSA represents. We, again, elected a similar mold in the personage of Rodrigo Roa Duterte, who represented the most extreme side of the Filipino political spectrum. We tolerated, nay, experimented on a strong President with extremist views for us to experience or validate long-standing opinions on what’s the root cause of weak governance.

What is the EDSA spirit, if you ask?

EDSA was a creation of a people tired of corruption, of being neglected by its government. It is highly incensed with the pervasive culture of impunity promoted by the elite to oppress the people. The EDSA spirit began not in 1986 but millennia ago when the first Filipinos fought against their foreign masters allied with the local principalia. This spirit emanated from the Motherland, ostensibly to protect these lands from predation against wealthy Oligarchs whose greed remains unsatiated and their foreign counterparts who want nothing more than to weaken us so that we remain slaves of their globalist agenda.

Yes, the EDSA spirit lives, but it is not created nor destroyed by liberal democratic ideals. No one owns EDSA. It is the spirit of a people who longed for liberation against tyranny, corruption, violence, poverty, and predatory practices. And liberal democracy does not define it–the Filipino People defined, shaped, and molded the EDSA spirit.

The Future Challenge

There will be a monumental clash, nay, a battle between the liberal democrats and the pseudo-ultra-rightist elements for the Spirit of EDSA. Who will win? The camp who speaks the language of the Masses. That voice will not be the most pervasive, but the one nearer to the truth of EDSA. Those who truly love this country must take part in the genuine movement of the EDSA spirit by negating these two destructive ideologies being run and dictated upon by the Oligarchs and their foreign masters.