‘Remember EDSA revolts in substance, not in form’

Remember the EDSA revolutions in substance, not in form. This was the advice given by Malacañang to the Filipino people on Sunday, three days before the 24th anniversary of the historic EDSA People Power Revolution in Feb. 1986 that ended the more than 20 years of Marcos dictatorship. Deputy presidential spokesman Gary Olivar said street protests aimed at ousting a leader do not give a good impression before the international community. “My challenge is to remember EDSA in substance, and not in form. Let’s keep the important moral and spiritual lessons of EDSA in our everyday lives, in dealing with each other and in supporting our leadership instead of in form, such protests in the streets," Olivar said. “[Let us] avoid things like that and settle our problems constitutionally, peacefully, under the law. That will prove that we deserve to be the inheritors of the EDSA legacies," he added. The EDSA People Power 1 in Feb. 25, 1986 ousted the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos and installed the late Corazon Aquino, widow of slain Senator Benigno “Ninoy" Aquino Jr., to the presidency. Incidentally, Olivar’s superior, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, was catapulted to Malacañang through a similar revolution in January 19, 2001, which ousted the then two-year-old administration of Joseph Estrada. Olivar said he is uncertain whether President Arroyo would attend the EDSA 1 commemoration rites this week. President Arroyo and Aquino parted ways in 2005 after the former refused to step down during the height of accusations that she manipulated the result of the 2004 elections to favor her. Olivar called for reconciliation in the light of the power and water crises that are threatening the country due to the El Niño phenomenon. He said reconciliation remains a priority of the Arroyo administration. He said political divisiveness is already creeping in following proposals that President Arroyo be granted emergency powers to solve the crises. The opposition, from whose ranks the suggestion came, contends that corruption may take place once President Arroyo gains special powers. Special powers give incumbent presidents right to negotiate contracts. “Even now we are starting to see political divisiveness undermine the consensus that we should instead be building in order to effectively tackle this problem. It is at moments like this that we will in fact show that we deserve to be inheritors of the two EDSA legacies left to us and by being worthy inheritors thereby also put to the world that they need not worry about an EDSA 3 or EDSA 4 happening again because we have achieved political maturity and unity in dealing with the problems and challenges we face. It’s really up to us to prove we have earned our spurs that we deserve the legacy left to us by the heroes of both of those [peaceful revolutions]," he said. He said the El Niño issue should not be used to drag the administration into the campaign strategy of opposition parties, especially since President Arroyo is no longer running for president. “We represent a President who is about leave and wishes to leave a legacy of stability and reconciliation behind her together with the economic achievements she has brought about," he said. - KBK, GMANews.TV