EDSA 1 personalities criticize Cebu commemoration of People Power Revolt

Some personalities of the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution were dismayed over the decision by the administration of President Benigno Aquino III to commemorate the event in Cebu, the first time for the celebration to be held outside Metro Manila.

"Siyempre dito sa EDSA naganap, eh. So ako lamang ay nalulungkot dahil sa hindi nabigyan ng tamang selebrasyon, sapagkat eto naman (EDSA People Power Revolution) ay malaki ang nagawa sa kasaysayan ng Pilipanas," said Vice President Jejomar Binay in a Tuesday report on GMA 7's "24 Oras".



Binay was a staunch supporter of the late Corazon Aquino, who became president after the 1986 revolution.

Binay together with former Vice President Teofisto Guingona, held a separate wreath-laying ceremony at the EDSA Shrine Tuesday morning to commemorate the four-day revolution that took place there 28 years before.

Meanwhile, the main celebrations were held in Cebu City, where the "salubungan," the meeting of the military forces and the civilians during the 1986 revolution, was re-enacted. Actor Dingdong Dantes played the role of then Philippine Constabulary chief Fidel V. Ramos while Sen. Bam Aquino played the role of his uncle, former Sen. Agapito "Butz" Aquino.

However, Sen. Juan Ponce-Enrile and Sen. Gregorio "Gringo" Honasan were not represented. Enrile, who was the then Defense Minister and Honasan, then Enrile's chief security officer, played key parts in the People Power Revolution.

Sought for a reaction, Enrile said that he was not invited by the administration in the celebrations, but was quick to add, "I think I would have to beg off [if invited]. I cannot be walking such long stretches."

Meanwhile, according to a separate "24 Oras" report, Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president Archbishop Socrates Villegas was disappointed over the way the EDSA Revolt was commemorated this year.



"Is this all that is left? After 28 years, is this all that will gather to thank the Lord for an event that made Filipinos stand 10 feet tall in the family of nations? Here in this ground, you and I and God had a brief loving encounter for four days and history cannot be changed anyway," Villegas said in a homily during a mass held at EDSA Shrine Tuesday afternoon.

Villegas was the personal secretary of the late Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin, who in 1986, spoke on Radio Veritas and called on Filipinos to take to the streets and support Enrile and then Vice Chief of Staff Fidel Ramos.

President Benigno Aquino, meanwhile defended his administration's decision to commemorate the People Power revolt outside Metro Manila.

“Hindi lang naman sa EDSA nag-alsa ang taumbayan hindi ba? May Cebu, may Davao, napakaraming ibang mga lugar; at palagay ko naman time na rin, di ba, after 28 years ma-recognize iyong contribution ng iba't ibang lugar,” he said in a press briefing after the Cebu commemoration ceremony.

Aside from attending the EDSA commemoration, Aquino and his cabinet officials had been visiting disaster-hit areas in Cebu, Bohol, Davao Oriental, and Leyte. — Elizabeth Marcelo/DVM, GMA News