Filipinos, Bautista recalled, were hoping for a better life after ending Marcos’ 20-year rule, but most of them are still struggling to eke out a living in their country.
“If there was progress back then I would not be working here on Saipan. Our economy continues to suffer,” he said.
Nevertheless, Bautista said Filipinos should celebrate the EDSA revolution to remind the world that there is a peaceful way to bring about change.
“There was unity and peace among Filipinos at that time,” he added.
Andrew De Guzman, Marianas Variety reporter, said he was still in high school in 1986.
“Looking back, and based on what is currently happening in other countries with authoritarian regimes, the lesson that should be learned from EDSA is that change must start with ourselves,” he said.
Back then, Variety editor Zaldy Dandan was a teenage leftist activist who participated in the anti-Marcos rallies and demonstrations that culminated at EDSA.
“That’s my generation’s defining moment,” he recalled. “Blocking tanks and toppling a seemingly well-entrenched dictator without bloodshed. It has been downhill for the P.I. since then.”
Today, the Filipino community on Saipan will join their compatriots around the world in observing the 25th anniversary of what was once described as “the revolution that surprised the world.”
The consulate general will host a flag-raising ceremony at 8 a.m. in front of the Marianas Business Plaza in Susupe.
This year’s theme is “EDSA 25: Filipino Ako, Ako ang Lakas ng Pagbabago.” “I am Filipino, I am the Force of Change.”
The flag raising ceremony will be led by Consul General Medardo Macaraig and personnel of the consulate.
There will be a short program after the flag ceremony at the Filipino Workers Resource Center on the ground floor of the Marianas Business Plaza.
