The sea of shoes : the tale of a “miracle” untold

Ladies’ shoes. Literally hundreds of them, strewn all across the internal road that surrounds the
Batasang Pambansa (national legislature) buildings, left behind in the hasty retreat of the students from
Maryknoll, who managed to disappear from sight in just a few seconds. At least none of the students
got badly injured. Strange that with all those rocks thrown at us, no one was hit squarely on the head or
something like that.

But in the ranks of the 3-4 dozen men who strode forward to attempt to protect the
Maryknollers, there were some with bad injuries, and one might have lost his life.

I had arrived there earlier that day, to visit friends who had wanted me to see their protest
action. The ladies from Maryknoll formed the biggest group, perhaps four- to five-hundred of them,
along with another hundred protesters from various community groups. Later, someone arrived to
convey to me that since I was the most senior person around, I should start a protest march using
whoever was there at that moment, then have them of walking around the Batasan Pambansa buildings,
since the Batasan was apparently going to declare that day that Ferdinand Marcos Sr. had won the snap
presidential elections of 7 February 1986.

So march we did. Unbeknownst to us, in the other side of the Batasan complex, there was a
massed group of Marcos loyalists, numbering perhaps 2,000 to 3,000... older folk who seemed to be
farmers from Central Luzon (this was later confirmed), which I surmised from all the time since 1980/81
that I spent in my dad’s farm in Nueva Ecija. At first they massed closer to where we were going to pass,
& I felt they intended to taunt us, but then they began to charge towards us, like a pack of Orcs from a
Tolkien book.

As soon as they got close enough, they began hurling rocks at us. I told those from Maryknoll to
make a run for it, to return to our part of the complex. Those not from Maryknoll, they gathered around
me to prepare to meet the onrushing horde. We made contact with the front of the loyalist column & a
few punches & kicks were thrown. They were not very many at that point of contact, as they had run
too far forward from their compatriots. For some reason I forget, we were able to break-away &
retreat. Our group maintained its cohesion, despite all the rocks whizzing by us. It seemed we were
going to make a clean getaway, when one of the men became shouting to me “my brother! My brother
is there, trapped by them.” I took stock of the guys around me, and they had courageous glances that
said to me “we will charge them to rescue the guy if you say so.” I did not want to endanger the 2-3
dozen gathered around me any further, so I reluctantly gave the order, “pull back!” We went back to
the Maryknoll “camp” in the complex. On the way back, two policemen met us & taunted us that we
deserved to get bludgeoned by the Marcos Loyalists because we were anyway “radicals” creating
“trouble.” A tabloid of the Journal group would report the next day that one man got stabbed during
the incident (so I guess this also meant that he survived?).

Little defeats like that happened then & there in that 1986 movement towards democracy. And
they served to keep that fear in us, that we were facing up against an evil foe who will give us no
quarter. But the conviction to stay the course, to be resolute, despite all the little “defeats,” got
stronger & stronger.
 But, before that month of February 1986 was over, the tyrant was deposed, scurrying away in
such utter humiliation, never to return, after four days of a truly massive outpouring of citizens joining
that giant mass of humanity, several hundred times larger than the column of protesting Maryknoll
students I led just two weeks before. All that was done to erect a protective barrier of hundreds of
thousands of human bodies, to block the despot’s forces from attacking the group of rebel soldiers led
by Gen. Fidel Ramos & Sec. Juan Ponce Enrile, who were holed-up in Camps Aguinaldo & Crame in
Quezon City, through which Manila’s central artery, the EDSA highway, runs through.

George Orwell once said “History is written by the winners.” But, in the euphoria of their victory,
might they have shot themselves in the foot, in terms of “wasting” the chance of getting to draw
continuously from that winning performance? But perhaps we are only now realizing how short-sighted
a horizon that had set.

My main thesis is: it is profoundly erroneous to refer to 1986 EDSA People’s Power as a
“miracle”. There is NO MIRACLE OF EDSA. Rather, there was already a people’s movement whose very
strength meant that Marcos would surely be ousted. The only questions left by the dawn of February
22 were: For how much longer could Marcos stay on before losing his grip entirely? And also: How
many more virtuous souls shall be martyred in pursuit of this revolution? Whether we would win or
lose, it was not a question anymore, as we all felt it in any part of the city one would go to then: the days
of the dictator will soon be over.

Then, two pragmatic individuals in the Marcos camp, Enrile & Ramos, decided to bolt away from
Marcos on February 22, & when their coup plot failed, they asked for help from the people’s movement
to assist in fraying or dissipating any Marcos counter-attack.

One of the most powerful images of EDSA People’s Power in 1986 were the photos of the nuns
bearing rosaries & flowers, facing up to the tracked armoured vehicles, mostly the huge LVTs of the Phil.
Marines, who never made it to within firing distance of the two camps of the rebels, blocked by that sea
of humanity.

Calling EDSA 1986 a “miracle” makes it easy to ignore the people’s movement that was already
well on the way to challenge the despot’s regime on all fronts. Gen. Ramos & Sec. Enrile were not the
catalysts of this people’s movement, but, rather, though heroes nonetheless, they had seen the
opportunity that any strike to unseat Marcos will be potentially supported by millions, in case it fails.
They were both opportunists who wanted to explore if they could ride the back of this dragon that was
about to burn the edifice of corruption from where Marcos ruled. Or, might they have even feared that
the movement might succeed quickly and depose Marcos, & then from the resulting vacuum, the
communists might then grab the seat of power? That for them would be the ultimate worst result.

With Pres. Marcos himself often sickly, and the tottering Gen. Fabian Ver as AFP Chief-of-Staff,
and add the potential for Imelda Marcos to bungle things, there was little that could inspire any further
abiding confidence in Ramos & Enrile in their future with Marcos as president. So, bolt away they
must... primarily to save themselves.

Enrile & Ramos were not part of the movement when they bolted the Marcos regime. Rather,
they did an effort that was outside of the movement --- the coup attempt that was nipped in the bud in
Malacanang, and when they needed support to repel what Marcos would do to strike back at them, they
asked assistance from the movement.

The assistance came in a big big way, with the charismatic leader of the Roman Catholic church
in the Philippines, Cardinal Jaime Sin, calling on the people to go to EDSA, & be a gigantic human shield
which the Marcos forces would not be able to

The movement knew that victory was inevitable. Yes, the challenge to remove the “immovable
object” was great, & many good souls had already perished trying to call-out for justice. However, by
February 1986, within all of us was this confidence, as well as a steady resolve, that victory was just
around the corner. Nobody was going to stop us.

Soon after that debacle in the Batasan Pambansa with the thousands of stones thrown by
Marcos loyalists, Cory Aquino announced that we would move to keep going against the Marcos regime
and all its supporters. This was scheduled to be told to the people at the “Tagumpay Ng Bayan” rally on
16 February 1986, which became a mammoth rally of over a million attending, & definitely would be on
anybody’s list of the top 3 largest public gatherings in all of Philippine history. In the days before it was
held, Marcos proclaimed that he needed to restore public order and that the planned rally was illegal,
and that his government would not think twice about arresting those who would be going. Over a
million went that day, & because of such huge numbers, no one was arrested that day.

With such a widespread civil disobedience campaign to be launched, we soon busied ourselves
with the research on what to educate the public about what was so rotten about the Marcos regime.
There were some missteps by the opposition, like “do not drink San Miguel Beer,” which was later
shown would not have direct effects on Marcos cronies. As my part in that, to connect with a currently-
burning issue, I remember being the one explaining to the crowds that Security Bank was one of those
crony-run businesses, and Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Junior had a very senior role there, like a
director, and the present issues about his tax evasion for the years 1982 to 1985 only involve his elected
government posts, like being governor of Ilocos Norte. So, there are even more unpaid taxes.

Among the main actors of the Cory Aquino campaign machinery, there was no big official
discussion about limiting the course of action to Gandhi-like non-violence. But, it was indeed hanging in
the air, & many were expecting such big debate would come up someday in the very near future --- if in
case Marcos still remained clinging to power despite the movement undertaking civil disobedience,
what next?

We were fortunate in De La Salle that the course of action in dismantling the dictatorship was
more flexible & eclectic. In the months preceding the February 1986 Snap elections, we had many
opposition leaders speak to us, among them the likes of Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel, Homobono Adaza,
Jovito Salonga, and even the venerable Lorenzo Tanada, whose speech was on “the right to revolution”
And each case the venue was filled to the rafters.

There were personal debates that erupted as well. Being the head of the Cory Aquino campaign
for DLSU, I also had a large number of faculty who were working with us. One area of particular concern
we were sort of “assigned” to was to campaign in Tondo. On one of those trips to Tondo, several able-
bodied men approached us and cried out “we will support you & vote for Cory, but if Marcos is still in
power, then it shall be this!” --- and his arm was pointed up with his fingers formed like he was holding a
pistol & pulling the trigger. Since I was nodding in assent, one of the professors from the Psychology
Dept. took me to task for it, criticizing me openly for assenting to the man’s point that an armed
revolution would be the next step. She was practically screaming “How could you? How could you just
allow him to say that?! You should have taken him aside, and explained to him it is wrong to think that
way”

I said simply, “If that is how you feel, then you be the one to tell him; because if you ask me, he
has the right to feel that way...” She was still fuming at me as we boarded the van to leave.

Not all Tondo experiences were so dire. On the contrary, much of it was in a euphoric air,
anticipating the upcoming victory. A few instances were downright hilarious, like when a group of
grandmothers approached me and exclaimed “Look, it is the son of Ninoy! Sir! Thank you for visiting
us! We always voted for your father! May his soul rest in peace!” And these Tondo activitieswere all
before the Feb. 7th snap election day.

I wonder how many of those I met in Tondo would a few weeks later be part of the large crowds
which burst into Malacanang after the Marcoses fled. Surely, it could have easily become a lynch mob if
anyone from the Marcos camp had been left behind there.

The euphoria was also evident in the Makati marches in Ayala Avenue, of which I think I got to
join in two in those days after Feb. 7 snap election day. And all that paper! In Makati, it was all that
confetti coming down from the high-rise buildings. In Tondo, all those handmade posters people would
make by painting on old newspapers. The irony of going around seeing all those newspaper sheets
hanging on walls all over the city, was that if one went to the Cory Aquino campaign headquarters in
that Mondragon building in Makati, one would come across lots of piles of printed posters, of which Mr.
Factoran (who was always there any time of the day I went there, leading me to suspect he never slept)
would quip “for last week’s rally! We can’t use them anymore. Not enough hands to distribute!”

Two particular rally-demonstrations stand out in my memory. First, a few days before the Feb.
16 “Tagumpay ng Bayan” rally in Quirino grandstand, we had an “internal” rally inside DLSU campus,
where we mapped-out to the La Salle students the options available now that Marcos was being
proclaimed as winning the elections. As I ended my speech, I asked the crowd, “there is a rally this
afternoon in the Liwasang Bonifacio! Shall we go?? Will we march there???” The answer was a very
loud & resounding “Yes!!!”

Bro. Andrew Gonzalez, DLSU President, accosted me as I walked off the stage. “You can’t bring
the students to that rally! You better cancel that plan!” He elaborated his main point that the rally in
Liwasang Bonifacio was by leftist groups, who anyway do not deserve to be supported because they had
called for a boycott. He was already grabbing my arm as he stressed “you will get sucked in if you go,
then you will be used...back off from that plan & cancel it! ”

I assured him, “no one is going to succeed in presenting as if I support their ideas without my
really agreeing to it; we can go there & state our position to them. Let’s unite with all forces seeking to
remove Marcos! Get him out first, then settle other issues after”

So march we did. All along Taft Avenue, from DLSU to Liwasang Bonifacio. So many who
marched that day were doing a political march for the first time. At least 800 strong, the DLSU column
turned-out to be the biggest group which arrived that day at Liwasang Bonifacio. It was easily double in
number to the next biggest group present there, out of perhaps a total of 5,000 gathered. When I gave
my speech, I stressed that we had come from a different political persuasion, but it was time to unite all
forces, and we had marched that day to demonstrate it.

A number in the movement had misgivings about my call for a “wider umbrella” approach.
Their qualms were based on a paranoia that somewhere along the way, leftist leaders could hijack the
leadership of the movement & bring them to power. But, given the misstep of the left of calling for that
boycott of the elections, how could they even think that they could have the moral suasion to lead the
movement at any level? The march to Liwasang Bonifacio by DLSU clearly demonstrated that. Months
later, as I was involved as a volunteer in Cory’s Malacanang helping organize the first post-Marcos
national youth convention under Ranjit Shahani, a leftist leader who was there too told me that they
were so impressed with that DLSU march, and that many of them held me in high regard then, by the
simple fact I could mobilize impromptu so many people to join a march, which was more than they
could with weeks of planning. For years after I was told that the march that day was a DLSU record of
most number of students attending.

I cannot be sure it was the “largest,” because a few days later, after Tagumpay ng Bayan, there
was the march to Makati for a rally in front of Rustan’s, one of the retailers which was to be boycotted
because of its links to Imelda Marcos. This was a Youth for Cory activity, & about two-thirds the number
of the Liwasang Bonifacio march had marched from DLSU to Rustan’s. So many local people in the areas
we marched through went out to cheer us on, and when we got to Rustan’s, there were so many from
DLSU who were there already, as they drove there from campus. UP & Ateneo forces also arrived to
contribute to this YCC effort, with UP lead by our YCC Chairman, Chito Gascon. Once again, it was DLSU
which had the largest contingent.

The biggest surprise that day was that after the speeches were winding down, several from
DLSU, most of whom were from the campus hangout where the “classier” & “more prominent” crowd
supposedly spent their free time, approached me & the one leading them whispered to me, “the guys
are waiting for you to give a signal... they want to go inside Rustan’s & wreck the store & mess it up.” All
that was needed was a nod from me, and Rustan’s would have been vandalized to the max. But I told
them instead, “no, don’t do it, that can wait for next time.” Deep within me I was tickled by the irony
that those wanting to go inside were most likely those who often went in there to shop.

In both the Liwasang Bonifacio & Rustan’s rallies, we did not receive any post-event reports of
anyone who participated getting harassed or followed by the secret police of Marcos, which was
something we were expecting to become more frequent as we upped the ante to remove Marcos.
Quite the opposite was happening. The more we rallied, the more it seemed the monitoring was getting
less and less. Sadly though, because of the call by the movement not to drink San Miguel beer, any
plans to celebrate such were hampered. Our toasts will have to wait... but not for long.

All through that period, friendships were impacted. The impact was in varying degrees, but the
range of them also showed nonetheless what was context of those days, what was the common weal,
maybe best illustrated by statements said, as well as those that were deliberately unsaid.
“I am sorry I cannot support you any stronger, as you know my parents work for the regime.”
Now, why is it not a single one of those who said such ever try to convince me there might be
something good about Marcos that I am missing? Shouldn’t they have tried to convince to dial it down,
if even by just a bit? There was nonesuch dialogue, because the working premise was that the heyday
of Marcos was already long past & he was soon going to crash into the dustbins of history! There might
have been a few who might have been of the mind to possibly debate, but they were not friends of
mine.
Funny that I have to repeatedly qualify that now, in 2022 --- because so many readers nowadays
have been lately beguiled by that nuance as if Marcos was such an overpowering hegemony in 1986, &
as if a small bunch of propagandists & gripers just managed by some big fluke --- shall we call that a
“miracle”? --- to convince the people to go to EDSA that led to the toppling of Marcos. It was no fluke.
Even before Enrile & Ramos broke ranks, the people were willing to go anywhere you ask them to which
contributed to the eventual downfall of Marcos. EDSA was the pragmatic opportunity initially ignited by
two previous enemies of the movement that gave an earlier occasion to get rid of the dictator, which
the people of the movement gladly took, because even before that opportunity arose, the people
already had the firmest resolve several weeks & months before that to unshackle their chains. It was
not some kind of “temporary insanity” that gripped millions, as if they were unduly influenced by
demagogues who brainwashed them that month to oust Marcos.
Another aspect that shows the context of the period is that in DLSU it was easily well-known
who were the Marcos loyalists. Even if one was not part of their gang or hangout group or block
section, one would hear so-so individual was a loyalist. And why was such gossip considered important
to talk about? Because it was exceptional. The clear majority was going against Marcos. It was
interesting conversation to say so-so was still holding out for Marcos. We the anti-Marcos were the
hegemony. For example, to wear a pro-Marcos or KBL t-shirt in campus would get one ostracized or
vilified for sure; and over time fewer and fewer did so.
In fact, there were 2 or 3 names given to me with the ones informing me hoping I would give a
talking-to to those individuals. But why should I waste effort trying to convince them? Like one of them
was a well-known palinkera wannabe socialite, a loudmouth whom I personally heard spew out really
silly opinions long before the snap election was announced. She was definitely a Marcos fan. Even if one
can assume her family had met the Marcoses, they were quite distant from the corridors of power as
she wanted it to appear. Who cared about that power anyway? Maybe she did. But then again, maybe
she needed an extra “push” from anywhere to appear more “impressive,” as she hung-out with a crowd
who were more intelligent, wealthier, more-well-connected, and way more attractive than her.
Debating with her would just give her more attention & increase her standing in her group. No need.
Going to Tondo was going to be more fruitful. And more & more colleagues in the movement were
reporting participating in other groups and sub-groups which were working to the same end.
After the February 7 snap election day, someone I associated as part of the gang of that Marcos
fan described above went to me and gave a donation of funds, and said that was their way of saying
sorry they had not been more vocal earlier, and they realized how it was indeed a time for change.
One weird surprise for me was realizing after snap election day that my two DLSU batch mates
who made the best posters for the movement, had actually voted for Marcos. They said they were really
going to do so even way back, due to family allegiances. With a totally perplexed look, I asked them why
they did all those posters if they were voting otherwise. The reply was curt, and still baffling: “because
you said so”
And for a few it was important to act for change, as a personal legacy, as one who approached
me in late January had said: “Please accept this money, we want to support what you do, but we cannot
join your activities, because were are not Filipinos. We love this country for what it has given our family,
and we believe there should be changes now, & we envy you for how you can show your love for this
country, which we cannot ever do.” There was a steady flow of donations.
And speaking further about money, I remember telling my chairman in the coalition, after he
told me of the budget he asked to do the election day quick count, that “no,no,no, that would not be
the right budget for our quick count... since you are meeting him again anyway, ask for 200,000.” He
was flabbergasted by the amount I stated, and kept asking me if it was really feasible to ask such a big
amount. I said very firmly that he can trust me that it will be approved. And it was.
Even on the snap election day, as I ran the coalition’s quick count for the city of Pasig, there
were many little ironies, like my two neighbours who did so much for it, and yet who were from the
province of Marcos, Ilocos Norte, with their father even having advanced so much during the Marcos
period in government service.

During the days of EDSA People’s Power, early one morning a DLSU batchmate who lived in the
same village in Pasig roused me from sleep, and said, “let’s go! We must get people to go to EDSA, as
there are few there right now!” So we drove around, honking the horn & ringing doorbells. Later on we
paused at a high point where we could see helicopters flying from the direction of Villamor Air Base and
they were heading towards Camps Aguinaldo & Crame on EDSA. I told him, “sorry bro, those are
Sikorsky Black Hawks, they can kill hundreds & really damage the buildings where Enrile & Ramos are
holed-up... this does not look good” When I looked at him, tears were rolling down his cheeks, and a
few seconds later he was pounding the steering wheel, in exasperation.
Frustration turned to instant elation when the radio news reported that the helicopters landed
in the Camp Crame parade grounds because they were defecting to the rebel side of Enrile & Ramos! By
later that day the choppers knocked-out the transmission one of the last remaining pro-Marcos
broadcast networks. The noose was getting very tight, and surely the end for Marcos was coming soon.
Later that afternoon along EDSA, walking home after taking a proud peek at the choppers in
Crame, I bumped into a close friend who often talked to me the past two years about how Marcos ought
to be deposed, marching towards Crame surrounded by many workers from their company. It was a
sight to behold & I gave a high thumbs-up. No need for long greetings. Just the sight of it, & the
thumbs-up, & the smile. All the talk was already done long before.
One of the children of Marcos claimed recently that more credit should be given to Marcos Sr.,
for his efforts to save lives, citing Marcos senior admonishing Gen. Fabian Ver on live TV news for
suggesting that the two patrolling Philippine Air Force F-5 fighter jets should strafe the people massed
on EDSA. Let it not be missed that even if the people were strafed on EDSA (how many dozens of
missions should the F-5 jets make to fire on even just 10% of the EDSA crowd?), that would not stop the
people from moving to oust Marcos. Definitely my friend whom I saw marching on EDSA with the
company staff would not be one to be scared-off by F-5s. No way, not her.
Not to mention the all the human rights violations of the preceding years that were bravely
documented, like those files I saw when researching in UCCP/NCCP complex in Quezon City. And a good
number of them being the reason their heirs received some compensation from the state in 2017-18 by
virtue of Republic Act 10368.

Many these days speak as if it is possible to contemplate a “what if” Ferdinand Marcos Sr. was
not ousted, would his “good works” manage to shine through? As if the “infrastructure projects” of
Marcos Senior might be made to be placed side-to-side with the spirit of the movement in 1986, and
justify in some way why the dictator should not be immediately removed. They accuse EDSA of being a
failure because there still exists social inequality, poverty, & corruption in Philippine society and
government. They fail to realize that EDSA People’s Power was a spontaneous and rushed, and that it
had no goals & objectives save one : The ouster of the dictator! And in that it was an undoubtedly
spectacular success!

No matter how short the administrations of Cory Aquino & Noynoy Aquino might have fallen in
terms of assuaging the public’s fears that any progress was going only to a privileged few, it and all other
failures did not denigrate from the significance of EDSA People’s Power and how well it achieved in a
very simple fashion the toppling of the dictator. Before that, the despot seemed to many to be an
immovable object who would require several phases of action to remove.

There was no room in the consciousness of the body politic during those days of 1986 to even
consider alternate courses of action other than ousting Marcos. In short, if it were a multiple choice
question of what ought to be done, it would have been “A. Oust Marcos B. Oust Marcos C. Oust
Marcos D. All of the above” And it was always a strong “D.” That was the complete and true
sentiment.
In fact, all things considered, EDSA saved the Marcoses! Without EDSA, the Marcos family might
well have been massacred in Malacanang when the movement made it there out of its own efforts,
which was anyway bound to happen, and we can surmise that when it did, would be merciless and
unforgiving. All the Marcoses would have been killed. And the militants would not have to consider any
middle ground (especially if it was allowed to play out, any additional soul who became a casualty of the
Marcos regime after February 16 would be an added giant nail into the coffin of the Marcoses, and
would surely justify any harsher retribution possible).

And the people did not need the heroics of Gen. Ramos & Enrile to start that putsch, which
obviously the movement transformed into a revolution. And once the people began any militant strike,
they did not need Gen. Ramos & Sec. Enrile to endorse it. There were already military officers
confirmed to support the Cory camp even if it meant literally attacking the Marcoses. And the one
person who reassured me about this in the strongest terms then was Noynoy Aquino himself. “Do not
think we are alone in this, or that all of those in AFP are against us, we do have many friends in the
inside” And that was many weeks before Feb. 7 th.
The movement was so committed it could have launched a thousand EDSAs if in case Marcos
was not removed right away. And those EDSA’s if directly done by the movement did not have to be
according to Mahatma Gandhi-like precepts.

Even the supposedly pro-Marcos knew they were getting close to zero in “moral ascendancy,” &
is best captured in statements like:
“Dad said you are on the intelligence list, so be extra careful in the next several days”
Or they would not respond when brusquely told off, like what my own father said to one of the
key officers who launched Martial Law: “My son got attacked the other day in Batasan... that might be in
Manila, but I know they were your goons, your style of moving... You know my son, & you know he
doesn’t deserve to get hit by your goons...If it happens again I myself will launch attacks here” Before
1985 none of us could ever imagine we could tell-off a military officer closely linked to Marcos that way.
No reply from him when he was told off. Even he knew the countdown to the demise of the dictator
was already running.
And yet some now want us to believe we might have considered all the “infrastructure projects”
to counter-balance that sentiment that Marcos was so bad for our country???
The manipulation of the historical context nowadays --- often called “historical revisionism” ---
gains traction precisely because of the “miracle of EDSA” framework. This was loudly proclaimed when
Marcos was deposed, capitalizing on the high euphoria of the unexpected ouster. We of the militant
factions in the Cory camp did not oppose it then or argue against it since, as we anyway already got
what we wanted: the ouster of Marcos. Many of the “Soc-Dem” or moderate liberals who supported
Cory Aquino grabbed the “miracle” hook, line & sinker, and proceeded to “sell” that version of events to
the movement. And since anyway the movement was very loosely based, it being easy to assume that
at least a million who engaged in the actions were not formally part of any organization anyway. There
was not going to be a lot of “leaders” who could protest. And anyone protesting would anyway be
viewed with a quizzical “why do you have to argue about that?” At the same time, we were anyway
swamped with so much to do --- on my part it was participating in organizing the first post-Marcos
National Youth Conference, to map out how to move on after the Marcos-era Kabataang Barangay.
Others were busier than I was, what with the new constitution, the PCGG, etc.
The so-called “Soc Dems” needed the “Miracle” rhetoric badly, because of their paranoid
concern that people’s movements could be ‘hijacked” by the communist left, who might suddenly pop-
out from nowhere & control the movement. I had to keep hearing that paranoia in 1985-86, which in
fact continues this day in different forms --- like in this current online attack against a left-leaning
senatorial candidate by someone openly supporting the present “opposition,” who if asked I bet will
described herself as liberal democratic. I cannot even relate that paranoia to other periods in history.
What are they so scared of?
More especially so if we are referring to 1986, when the left had made the huge error of calling
for a boycott of the Feb. 7 Snap Elections and so was so discredited at that time. There was also the fact
that there were still big U.S. military bases in the country, with the 2 biggest, Clark & Subic, under 100
km. from Manila. Definitely Pres. Ronald Reagan of the USA was not going to tolerate any sudden
communist power-grab.
And since the church was going to unwittingly help to proclaim it, all the more the “miracle of
EDSA” was pushed. It was very good to do so, since it showed the triumph of good over evil, not to
mention it served as concrete proof that political change was possible without resorting to “radical”
leftist upheavals. So, the more militant wings of the Cory camp were set aside, as if they did not exist.
The matter was anyway still all under wraps, since it had been such a short time --- one week only, even
less --- from Tagumpay ng Bayan to Gen. Ramos & Sec. Enrile bolting away from Marcos. Given that
single week, the militants were still busy participating in promoting the anti-Marcos civil disobedience...
and giving time to elapse before demanding that things must be levelled-up to more aggressive and
potentially violent measures. EDSA 1986 had been the much-welcomed interruption to evolving that
process of how the movement was going to steer to oust Marcos. But, it is now time to recognize it, in
order to repel the move to change the full contexts and to twist the nuances of how things truly were
back in that day.
The citizenry did not suddenly wake-up on that morning that Cardinal Sin made his call for the
people to surround the camps on EDSA, to block the military under Marcos from attacking Ramos &
Enrile. They were “woke” already long before that. The writing on the wall was so clear, with the
events after Feb. 7th clear evidence of that.

3,000 pairs of shoes in Malacanang, all of the same size, owned by one..... the 300 strewn all
around that Batasan road, well, that had greater value. The 300 is the reality. And rings more true now.
Yet you only heard of it now.

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