In October 2023, the Inquirer reported that President Bongbong Marcos had removed “EDSA People Power Anniversary” from the list of holidays for 2024. The Office of the President justified this removal by explaining that February 25 fell on a Sunday, which would have “minimal socioeconomic impact” since it was a “rest day for most workers” anyway. Presidential Communications Office Secretary Cheloy Garafil further explained that the EDSA holiday is not mandated by official law. Anti-Marcos critics called this move “historical revisionism”. What does this day commemorate? According to the Yellow narrative – For 3 days, 2-3 million Filipinos gathered at EDSA to call for the removal of President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. who was a dictator, murderer, and a thief; this was an organic peaceful uprising that ultimately forced Marcos and his family to leave Malacanang Palace and give up power out of fear. Freedom was restored and poverty will finally be eradicated! However, the truth is that this narrative was the original “fake news”. Whatever the reasons the BBM admin is giving to justify the removal of this fake holiday, I am just glad that this mythology is slowly being chipped away. Before he became President, Bongbong Marcos had this to say regarding the EDSA story in 2012: “…Self-serving statements by politicians, self-aggrandizement narratives, pompous declarations, and political posturing and propaganda.” He was right as I will demonstrate and it is my hope that come next year, the scam that is the “EDSA People Power Revolution” will finally be forgotten, not just the holiday but also its cancerous legacy. Since the holiday was created on mere Executive Order, BBM can easily end it with the stroke of his pen. This is not “historical revisionism”, but rather “historical RECTIFICATION”. With EDSA, there will be no New Philippines. The Philippines will never be great as long as we honor the events that destroyed our development in the first place.

Let’s not beat around the bush. What happened in February 1986 at EDSA was not the will of the Filipino people, but the work of the United States of America, who colonized our country and murdered a million of our ancestors when we fought back. The only reason why EDSA was peaceful is because President Marcos Sr. ordered his General Fabian Ver (who was ready to attack the angry mob at EDSA) to stand down and said: “My order is not to attack. You disperse the crowd WITHOUT shooting them.” The angry mob at EDSA was mostly from Metro Manila and a mere 2% (NOT DEMOCRACY) of the country’s population which was 56,000,000 at the time. Cory Aquino called US Ambassador to the Philippines Stephen Bosworth and told him to “get them [Marcos] out of the Philippines”. She demanded the Americans kidnap Marcos and his family and send them to Hawaii from Clark Air Base.

US Secretary of State George Shultz himself admitted the US role in removing Marcos when he said it was the “unanimous conclusion of people from defense, state, and CIA” that Marcos “was not able to govern” and that “WE should get him out of there.” President Marcos Sr. said 2 months after EDSA that he “was deposed by a coup d’etat, by friends that I trusted and aided by the American Government.”

The Americans later had Marcos Sr. tried in a Hawaiian court finding him guilty of human rights abuses of “10,000 Martial Law victims” and ordering him to pay $2 billion in damages. Thankfully, the Philippine Court of Appeals blocked this fake case created by foreigners from being implemented in the Philippines. Imelda Marcos’ lawyer Gerry Spence (never lost a criminal case) once said that the “largest group of CIA is in the Philippines”. American spies were all over the Philippines.

Why did the US go through all that trouble? Because in 1966, Marcos Sr. cut the terms of permanent US military bases (1947 Military Bases Agreement) in Subic and Clark from 99 years to 25 years and demanded the Americans pay $900 million for rent in the form of “economic aid”. Marcos Sr. had said that US military bases expose the Philippines to US conflicts which we did not make and would endanger Filipinos from attacks by enemies of the US. America’s enemies would become our enemies.

The noisiest propaganda machine today demonizing Marcos Sr. – with ill-gotten wealth (no criminal cases, civil forfeiture cases do not prove theft, never proven through a trial with evidence) and martial law deaths/torture (fake 70,000 arrests /30,000 tortures/ 3,000 deaths numbers never proven/claimed by Amnesty International but by American scholars Alfred McCoy and Richard Kessler) is US owned and funded Rappler (Dual US citizen Maria Ressa, funding from CIA’s National Endowment of Democracy).

In 1986, it was a US public relations firm named Sawyer Miller led by a British man named Mark Malloch-brown who coached Cory Aquino and the Yellows to brand Marcos Sr. “dictator and corrupt”. The anti-Marcos slogans (Magnanakaw, Diktador) we hear today from anti-Marcos activists began here. According to Cory Aquino’s spokesperson Carmen Pedorsa, Mark Malloch-Brown made sure their camp would win “by hook or by crook”.

The evil “Spirit of EDSA” was banished back to hell where it came from, when Marcos Sr. was finally buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in 2016; 30 years after his death – all thanks to the political will of President Rodrigo Duterte. The controversy regarding his burial at the time was also nonsense, as the requirement for someone to be buried at that place was that they had to be (1) Filipino, (2) soldier, (3) President. The Supreme Court came out with a decision saying Marcos Sr. was neither “pure evil” or
“pure good” and that he met all the requirements to be given a Hero’s Burial. And a hero he was, who built everything (electrification, hospitals, roads, highways, railways, schools) that all Filipinos still benefit from today, who saved us from becoming a communist dictatorship (declared martial law to fight the power grabbing terrorist CPP-NPA-NDF killing 50,000 of our citizens, soldiers, and police), who implemented his vision to develop the country after World War 2 (took over Meralco for cheap electricity, 11 industrial projects like Bataan Nuclear Plant, steel industry; achieved rice self-sufficiency/rice exports), who paved the way for our independence from foreign domination (made sure US paid rent for Subic/Clark military bases & would leave by 1991), and who laid the foundation for our place in the Asian Century (occupied Pag-Asa Island establishing our claim in the Spratly Islands, established diplomatic relations with China in 1975 even before the US). All that was thrown in the trash for a housewife Cory Aquino who had no political experience and returned Meralco to the oligarch Lopez family who were her buddies. 30 years later, we now have reports that Meralco owes its subscribers P200 billion in overcharging fees. Who really was the “Magnanakaw”?

In 1982, the American controlled International Monetary Fund demanded Marcos Sr. stop his development projects for the Philippines in exchange for financial assistance as a result of the global crises at the time. Thus, we now know that the legacy of EDSA is nothing but a power grab among elites and a project by the Americans to keep us poor, block our development, and prevent us from standing on our own two feet.

BBM must take concrete steps to stop the revival of the evil “Spirit of EDSA”. These actions are necessary exorcisms to drive EDSA’s legion of demons out of our beloved Motherland. First, he must nationalize public utilities/basic needs like power and water. Following his father’s footsteps, he must take over Meralco from the oligarch Manuel Pangilinan who brags about profits while Filipinos are suffering endless brownouts and the country having the most expensive electricity in Asia driving away foreign investors.

Second, he must push for the amendment (like he promised) or termination of Gloria Arroyo’s EPIRA law which banned government involvement in the power sector. President Erap was removed by the oligarchs with another cursed “EDSA 2” when he stood up to them and refused to raise the price of electricity and water.

Third, he must terminate EDCA (Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement) which restores American military bases in the Philippines. He must honor (1) his father for kicking them out and paying the price for it, (2) his presidential running mate the late Miriam Santiago who believed it was unconstitutional, (3) his own statements against EDCA as Senator. (4) the country’s sovereignty and 1987 Constitution banning those bases.

Fourth, he must finally open the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant built by his father and sabotaged by Cory Aquino to lessen our dependence on oil and lower the cost of electricity. Finally, he must fully embrace President Duterte’s foreign policy with regards to the South China Sea and honor the 2018 deal for a 60%(for PH)-40%(for China) joint oil and gas venture in the Reed Bank. The ownership debates are moot and academic (useless), just share the resources in the disputed area. There are 115 million barrels worth of oil in the Reed Bank waiting for us. War with China in the seas is not a realistic option since they have a superior military. Besides, Vietnam and Malaysia also have claims in the Spratlys – not just China.

The anti-China demonization campaign is led by the same anti-Marcos forces like Yellow billionaire backer Loida Nicholas Lewis who also pushed for a boycott of all Chinese products. China is now the sole manufacturing superpower and our largest trading partner so antagonizing our neighbor China is stupid. Remember the words of Marcos Sr.: “China is on the side of developing countries like the Philippines.” Note: (Please check out Ambassador Rigoberto Tiglao’s book “Debunked” for more information debunking the propaganda surrounding Marcos Sr.’s martial law.)

   

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