Let's talk about what really happened in the EDSA Revolution and what the important details are. How important is it for Filipinos to remember the importance of this event? We know that the EDSA People Power Revolution had a great impact, especially on the Philippine constitution.
The EDSA Revolution happened in the year 1986, when people rallied to depose President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. The long oppression of freedom and human rights violations that they experienced during Martial in 1972 under the regime of Marcos had encouraged them to fight for democracy that had been lost for a long time since Marcos was in power. And another, Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Sr., was shot and killed at the airport on August 21, 1983. Upon his return to the Philippines from exile in the United States, Ninoy’s death further intensified the contained resentment of the Filipinos and the aging marks of the Filipinos who fought against the Marcos administration.
Ninoy's wife, Corazon Cojuangco Aquino, showed Filipinos the importance of freeing them from the hands of Marcos. Because of the intense happenings in the country, President Ferdinand Marcos decided to hold a presidential election on February 7, 1986, in order to regain the trust of the Filipino people. That election that happened is the most corrupt and deceitful in the history of the Philippines because there is evidence that there was electoral fraud. In the number of votes, you can see the discrepancy between the official count of COMELEC (Commission on Elections) and the count of NAMFREL (National Movement for Free Elections). Such flagrant corruption in that election was the last straw for Filipinos' tolerance of the Marcos administration.
The desire of the Filipinos to have democracy in the Philippines intensified, and they want President Marcos to be removed from his position in the Malacañang Palace. The revolt began when Marcos' Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile and the Armed Forces Vice-Chief of Staff Command, Fidel V. Ramos, withdrew their support for the government and urged that then-President Marcos resign from office. They blocked Camp Crame and Camp Aguinaldo, preventing probable attacks by Ferdinand Marcos' troops.
Along with others, the Catholic Church joined the imminent revolt and appealed for the assistance of Filipinos who embrace democracy. Brother Jaime Cardinal Sin, the archbishop, and the nuns also represented it. Thousands of Filipinos were called to march down EDSA Street by Cardinal Sin, whose speech was broadcast on Radyo Veritas.
The Filipinos' march was nonviolent because of their faith. The nuns kneeled in front of the tanks, holding their rosaries and praying. Because of this, President Marcos ordered his forces to retreat from their location. The celebrities also expressed their support for President Marcos' removal from power. Finally, Corazon Aquino took the presidential oath of office on the morning of February 25, 1986, at the Club Filipino in San Juan, under the supervision of Supreme Court Associate Justice Claudio Teehankee. That is when Filipinos achieved the democracy that they had been fighting for.
