Today marks the 28th anniversary of the EDSA I People's Power revolution.
It's gotten so that every time we hear of some popular uprising elsewhere in the world, we point to it with pride and say: We helped inspire that.
But if EDSA I was such a success in changing things for the better, why the hell is our country still in the shithole? To refresh our memory (and man, does our memory need constant refreshing), watch the EDSA-inspired movie 'A Dangerous Life'. After you do, ask yourself: Where are they (the protagonists) now? Heroes have become heels and vice versa. Disgraced figures are once more in power and are continuing to win followers. We're all asking (those who give a shit anyway), WTF happened?!
Worse is that this administration (led, incidentally, by the only son of the President that EDSA I installed) uses the recent economic upgrades from Standard and Poor's, Moody's and so on as proof that government's business acumen is leading the country out of poverty, so screw those naysaying economists.
But what the economists say is that the upswing is due to dollar remittances from overseas contract workers who have despaired finding a good job here. The experts also say that foreign direct investments are on the verge of leaving (or are staying away altogether) disgusted not only by laws hostile to FDIs but by how this government changes the favorable rules midstream, all because of leftist populist pressure that Ninoy Aquino's son and namesake believe is carrying on the legacy of People Power.
(Interesting that PNoy's mother opened Pandora's Box when she set free Communist leaders who are back to orchestrating these populist protests with the aim of bringing down the economy.)
In Cory's time, investor confidence had already started to wane post-EDSA, and those that remained were finally driven off by the massive brownouts that threaten to repeat itself today because of government inefficiency and just plain incompetence in energy bodies like the Energy Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy and PSALM, all led by unqualified political appointees who not only failed to regulate, but drafted hallucinogenic-inspired creations like EPIRA and WESM.
If the Philippines and EDSA I are indeed to serve as a favorable example for the rest of the world, then the international community should also take heed of what happened after the euphoria of People's Power petered out. Witness the chaos that followed the Arab Spring which seemed to assume that matters would right itself as soon as dictators were overthrown. It would appear that they and other popular revolts before them had followed the example of EDSA I a little too well.
Ongoing revolutions in the Ukraine, Venezuela and Thailand should take heed: Don't just think of removing despots. Think even harder on what will need to be done to fill the resultant vacuum. There will be that: Duhh...what do we do now? moment, and without a doubt the new rulers will be inundated with supporters calling in favors to have a seat of power in the new government, just as the Cory administration was, with disastrous results.
(The fact that we cannot say just EDSA, but EDSA I reveals the continual upheavals in this country, the same reason The Great War had to be renamed World War I. )
The Philippines needs to get its act together. Let's educate ourselves in choosing truly qualified leaders. That way we can also serve once more as an example to the rest of the international community.
