People Power Movement In The Philippines

Abstract

This paper attempts to discuss and analyze a prominent social movement in the Philippines in 1986. The people power movement was coined with a lot of names but it was famously known as EDSA Revolution or People Power Revolution. The historical protest occurred in the main artery of Metro Manila, Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA), and was attended by more than two million people. Furthermore, EDSA Revolution was the first nonviolent and bloodless revolution recorded in the history. Thus, it remains as a significant reminder not only to the spectators of the Philippines during those challenging era but most especially to the Filipinos, then and now, about the power of a unified people fighting for democracy. Christiansen (2009) discussed

It is commonly caused by how an authoritarian government executes its policies and structures and such circumstance eventually incites people to react. However, in a people power movement, the people’s reaction is primarily characterized by nonviolent actions like protest demonstrations, acts of civil disobedience, and interventions (Ackerman & Kruegler, 1994 and Sharp, 1973 as cited in Schock, 1999). Interestingly, these nonviolent responses to challenge a regime through protests, demonstrations, forms of noncooperation, and direct interventions to mention a few, in actuality, weaken the government’s power to further control the mass (Ackerman & DuVall,

From individualistic discontent of the oppressive government, the assassination of Aquino developed a sense of collective grievances among Filipinos that led the politician’s funeral procession to a mass anti-Marcos demonstration. Two years after Aquino’s death, Marcos had ultimately lost his legitimacy to the Filipinos. Due to increased and formidable protests, he called for snap elections in February 7, 1986 with the hope of legitimizing his stay in power. Aquino’s widow, Corazon Aquino, ran against him for the presidential seat (Thompson, 1995 as cited in Schock, 1999). Shortly thereafter, thirty-five government election workers who were responsible for the tabulation of votes walked out as a protest to the tampered election results that declared Marcos as the winner. In response to the palpable election fraud, Corazon Aquino led the rally attended by approximately two million Filipinos and declared herself and the people as the rightful winner (Elwood, 1997 as cited in Schock,