ILOILO City – Different milieu. Different goal. The same willpower.
This is how local leaders and personalities here view the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic as the country commemorates the 35th anniversary of the People Power Revolution today.
In 1986, the Filipino people toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos via mammoth demonstrations along the Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA) in Metro Manila.
Third District Provincial Board member Jason Gonzales said the situation today may be different but it calls for the same unity.
“Lain ang ginapangayo sang tinion subong…pero ang pag-updanay kag pagkooperar sang isa kag isa amo ‘na ang bag-o nga People Power,” Gonzales told Panay News.
He was referring to everyone’s compliance to COVID-19 health safety protocols such as the wearing of facemasks and face shield, proper hand washing, and social distancing, among others.
Gonzales said the EDSA Revolution significantly showed how people united and made a stand for a common cause – freedom from dictatorship.
Due to the pandemic, however, there will be no mass mobilizations of organized militant groups today to mark the revolution.
According to Bryan Bosque, deputy spokesperson of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-Panay, they were not able to secure permits. They will thus just join online the activities of their counterparts in the National Capital Region.
“Amo ‘ni ang leksyon nga gintudlo sa aton sang People Power – the people united will never be defeated,” Bosque said.
Meanwhile, Iloilo City’s Mayor Jerry Treñas, a student leader during the Marcos Martial Law, said the People Power Revolution was “very significant in our lives because we were able to kick out the dictator.”
The city mayor also believed Filipinos would soon emerge victorious in the fight against COVID-19, citing vaccination as the weapon.
“We have been meeting with different sectors – vendors, drivers, principals, teachers, barangay officials. The only way we can combat this COVID-19 pandemic is if everyone is vaccinated,” Treñas stressed.
Councilor Eduardo Peñaredondo, also a student leader during the Martial Law and one of the first persons incarcerated and tagged a communist by the Marcos regime, said the People Power Revolution happened because “people were tired of tyranny.”
Relating it to today’s situation, the councilor said the pandemic is even more serious, as “it is a matter of life and death.”
“The fulfillment of the exercise of freedom is not so much compared to the pandemic that people will die one by one or in great mass or by the hundreds if we cannot control this pandemic,” Peñaredondo said.
“This is an urgent matter that we have to resolve so people have to cooperate and do their part,” he added.
On the other hand, Iloilo province’s Vice Gov. Christine Garin stressed the commemoration of People Power Revolution was not only for those who experienced it. Its significance must be instilled on the younger generation, she stressed.
“Basta pararehas lang ang tinutuyo ta, kaya ta ini. We’re always asking nga magbulig [kita] sa tinutuyo sang gobyerno kay ini para sa kaaraydan sang tanan,” Garin said./PN
