A Future view of the Edsa Revolution

I remember the Edsa Revolution well though I was just nine at the time and barely aware of the political situation. I knew we had something called Martial Law but didn’t know what that meant.

The stories all came out when the revolution began, of activists being imprisoned, quite a few of them friends of my parents. Though our hopes for a better government system and the retrieval of stolen funds would be dashed, I still remember the euphoria of the days that followed the ousting of the Marcoses.

Given its impact in my early life, it’s no surprise Edsa and related events frequently crop up in my fiction. I paid tribute to activist artists in Woman in a Frame. I mention Martial Law in the title story in Virtual Centre and other science fiction stories as a state of our country that put in a relatively better light the classist current system in the future Philippines (where the rich lived out their dreams virtually, cared by the poor). And in another story I mention, tongue-in-cheek, that many Edsa Revolutions followed, that it became the default way to deal with unsatisfactory leaders. Edsa Dos, which unseated impeachable President Estrada inspired that, of course.

I wouldn’t want things to actually be that way, of course. It’s sad that Edsa Dos had to happen, showing most Filipinos hadn’t yet learned their lesson. One Edsa was something to be proud of, it’s aftermath was not. If I had the ability, I’d already have built an imposter android president. Since all I really can do is write, I had to make a character do it.

Well, of course that’s not all I can do. There’s voting and speaking out against wrong practices and teaching my own children. I’m not very patient, though. But I’m still living here, so you know I haven’t quite given up on my country. Here’s praying we will finally have a breakthrough, that things will get better.
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Published on February 25, 2021 01:49 Tags: edsa, future, people-power, philippines
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