Nothing much has changed – analyst
Credit to Author: CATHERINE A. MODESTO| Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2019 16:19:46 +0000
THIRTY-THREE years have passed since millions of Filipinos gathered on EDSA to topple the Marcos regime, but that bloodless People Power revolt, the first in the world, has not brought much significant change, a political science professor and analyst said on Monday.
“There hasn’t been much change after 33 years. We should not call it a revolution because there was just a circulation of elites. Pinalitan mo si (You just changed) Marcos et al, ng (with) Aquino, Roxas etc.,” Clarita Carlos, a political science professor of the University of the Philippines, said in a panel discussion hosted aired by TMT TV in a test broadcast on Monday.
Carlos pointed out that for an occasion to be called a revolution, there must be “structural change.”
However, she pointed out that the country’s political system is “still broken.”
“First, we are still under a presidential system, where every 2,000 days you change the face of the president; and every 1,000 days you change the face of Congress,” Carlos said.
She explained that scientific evidence suggests that if there were structural changes, the behavioral change should follow.
“What I am saying is, if we go parliamentary like many countries do, the election period is just two weeks and the campaign will be taken care of by the political party, but you have to mouth and follow the party,” she said.
Going beyond the country by thinking regional might be the best structural change that could happen to the Philippines, she suggested.
“Now we are trying to remove the barrier among 10 Asean countries. We are moving regional. We are saying that later on we will have an integrated Asean defense and security forces,” she said, referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
The professor expressed hope that the youth, who comprise the majority of the country’s population, would change the nation for the better because of their high level of social and political consciousness.
Former Senate president Aquilino Pimentel Jr., however, said change takes time and was “incremental.”
Pimentel, who was among the guest panelists at the TMT TV broadcast, stressed that change must not rest solely on the government.
“People want that under a new government, their lives will already change. No, sir. It will take time before you can really progress. You have to work for it,” he said.
“Do not rely [on] the government to answer [and give you] everything you want in this life, otherwise, you will become a dependent. [This will result in] a totalitarian kind of government set-up. That is hard,” he added.
Pimentel, a political detainee under the Marcos regime, said that as the country progresses as it undergoes change, Filipinos should continue to uphold their good traditions and culture.
“Let us fix the wrongs [in society,] but basically, we should not forget, we are not Americans. We are not Chinese. We are Filipinos. Therefore, we should retain our culture and tradition,” he added.
Former ambassador Alejandro del Rosario, meanwhile, said while the EDSA uprising might not have been a revolution in the truest sense of the word, it inspired other countries to do the same to overthrow dictatorial leaders.
Fr. Larry Faraon, former station manager of Church-run Radio Veritas, which ran the call of the late Cardinal Jaime Sin to the Catholic faithful to join the EDSA rally, said the 1986 People Power revolt “will never catapult us to change.”
“But it is a historical event that we could always remember,” he added.
Not enough
Veterans of the EDSA revolt agree that whatever change that might have happened since 1986 was not enough.
Theater artist Cecile Alvarez said the greatest contribution of the EDSA revolution was democracy and the freedom of the press. She cited the case of The Manila Times, the first newspaper to be shut down during the 1972 Martial Law days, which again opened after the people power uprising.
“The freedom of the press was restored nu’ng ibinalik natin ang demokrasya at sa EDSA mapayapang itinakwil ang diktadurya, walang karahasan at naging modelo sa buong mundo (when we restored democracy and we rejected dictatorship without violence and has become a model globally),” she added.
Journalist Belinda Cunanan echoed Alvarez’s statement, saying that freedom of expression and the press had emerged from discontent over repression during Martial Law.
Former senator Heherson Alvarez said the right of the people for proper trial was restored, citing the widespread unlawful arrests during the Marcos Martial Law.
Buhay party-list Rep. Lito Atienza said Filipinos learned fundamental lessons from the EDSA revolution, namely, democracy, human rights and the right to be critical of a government when it commits wrongdoings.
“Let us not revise history para tuloy-tuloy ang ating benepisyo (to continuously reap the benefits) of a peaceful revolution. Kailangan magtuloy ang katotohanan (the truth must prevail),” Atienza added.
WITH RALPH EDWIN U. VILLANUEVA AND DIVINA NOVA JOY DELA CRUZ
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