BY REGINA BENGCO

PRESIDENT Arroyo yesterday said there is no room for another "people power revolt" in history, especially at a time of global crisis.

Arroyo made the declaration after laying a wreath at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in celebration of the 23rd anniversary of the Edsa People Power revolution in 1986. This year’s theme is "Pag-asa ng Bayan, Sakripisyo para sa Pagbabago."

She then had breakfast with Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, Sen. Gregorio Honasan and other members of the Rebolusyonaryong Alyansang Makabansa (RAM), and members of the Edsa Commission.

"The world embraced Edsa 1 in 1986. The world tolerated Edsa 2 in 2001. The world will not forgive an Edsa 3 but would instead condemn the Philippines as a country whose political system is hopelessly unstable," Arroyo said.

Edsa 1 ended the Marcos dictatorship and paved the way for the assumption of Corazon Aquino of the presidency. Edsa 2 in January 2001 ousted Joseph Estrada and allowed the installation of Arroyo, then vice president, as president.

In May 2001, Estrada supporters massed at Edsa and marched to Malacañang calling for Arroyo’s ouster. Some sectors have called the event "Edsa 3" while some others considered it merely the "Malacañang siege."

Arroyo said the Philippines’ political stability is one of the reasons it has escaped the worst effects of the global recession. "We must prevent the world crisis from becoming a Philippine crisis, and protect those most hurt by the global downturn," she said.

She said the Edsa 1 anniversary celebration honors the boldness of the leaders of the revolt and of ordinary Filipinos to go out into the streets "with no weapons but their faith."

She said remembering the four days of Edsa 1 means recalling their lessons and refreshing the Filipinos’ spirit as a people against today’s new challenges.

"Let us all go back to our work after this, living Edsa, living the boldness required to answer the challenges of the day," she said.

Arroyo said things have come "a lot close to full circle" because the RAM leaders who led Edsa 1 are now part of the national leadership.

Enrile, then defense minister, is Senate president. Honasan, Enrile’s aide and a former Army colonel, is on his second term as senator. Capt. Guillermo Wong, also Enrile’s aide, is now ambassador to Cambodia, and Col. (ret.) Red Kapunan is deputy head of the newly created Civil Aeronautics Authority of the Philippines.

She said Enrile’s account of the 1986 revolt showed that People Power could not have taken place had the patriots in the Armed Forces not acted boldly, although she said the Filipino masses should also be credited for protecting the soldiers holed up in camps Aguinaldo and Crame from the forces of the Marcos government.

LOST IN FESTIVITIES

In his account of what happened 23 years ago, Enrile said the patriotism and sacrifices of the soldiers to obtain change and genuine democracy are often glossed over and lost in the festivities. He said the soldiers never asked for any reward, recognition or power.

He said he has mostly foregone the opportunity to celebrate the Edsa Revolution publicly because he feels "a certain discomfiture" at being tagged as "an EDSA hero" while those who fought the hard battle were forgotten and ignored.

He said the Edsa revolution in 1986 was "a rebellion of a committed and idealistic few and a product of years of careful introspection, discernment, and preparation."

"That rebellion of a few later evolved into a revolution of the people," he said.

He recalled: "It was a day for difficult decisions to be made and for personal sacrifices to be offered for the greater good. That day called us to muster the boldness to take a stand for change. It was a day when our soldiers showed that they stood for the people and not for one man alone. We made the decision fully conscious of its risks to our own lives and we never looked back."

MAKING A STAND

Enrile recalled what happened on Feb. 22, 1986, when Marcos discovered the RAM effort to oust him, and how he intended to imprison RAM members and opposition leaders on the Caraballo island at the entrance to Manila Bay.

He said Honasan had suggested they either mount guerilla warfare in the countryside or make a stand in the city. He said he rejected the former because they could not sustain a guerilla war and they would all be killed in the end.

He said he took a stand in Camp Aguinaldo while his wife Cristina informed the late Manila Archbishop Cardinal Jaime Sin of what he was about to do. He also called up then US Ambassador Stephen Bosworth and Japanese Ambassador Kiyoshi Sumiya to inform the US and Japanese governments that he would withdraw support from Marcos. He said he also called Rafael Salas in New York to tell UN delegates the same thing.

He said Fr. Efren Datu of Radio Veritas interviewed him, during which he made his public announcement. After an hour, Sin called and told him that he would pray for him and his men. He said Aquino called him after an hour to tell him the same thing.

He said he entertained a stream of visitors in his office as Rolando Abadilla, who headed an elite force from the Military Intelligence and Security Group, tried to get him to talk to Marcos and then Armed Forces chief Fabian Ver.

SMEAR

Enrile said not everything is good in the Philippines because "there are some problems in our land that smear our accomplishments with shame."

He said the challenge still remains – "to make difficult decisions, sacrifice ourselves, unite and take a stand for reform and good government." He warned that the country will "self-destruct" if its leaders put self-interest, politics and self-righteousness above national interest and humility.

Enrile said the government may have the capacity to control or manage the impact of the current global crisis "to a certain extent" and to prepare the country "for the worst which is yet to come."

He said "our future will be very bleak" if there is no unity or cooperation between government and the people. He said national leaders should rally the people to progress as a nation by crafting or suggest possible solutions to the crisis.

"This is not the time for populism and demagoguery. Neither is it the time for cowardice. True leaders are not afraid to bite the bullet or take the bitter pill when circumstances dictate, whatever the political risk or cost may be," he said.

ARROYO AFRAID

The leftist group Kilusang Mayo Uno said Arroyo "must be very afraid of a people’s uprising that would shatter her greedy dreams" that she would discredit the people’s movement she "used to climb to power."

Joselito Ustarez, KMU executive vice president, said there is now more reason to intensify the movement against Arroyo’s administration given widespread retrenchments, measures that would be more detrimental for workers like reduced pay and forced leaves, and continued increase in prices of goods, among others.

"She has tainted, in the most dishonorable way, the spirit of the Edsa people power. But its legacy and lessons will live in the people’s hearts in perpetuity, and will enliven a collective force that is called upon us now," he said.