Iloilo mayor draws flak for defending EDSA anniversary downgrade

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ILOILO CITY, Philippines – Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas built a reputation on the kind of political convictions that come with a well-rehearsed origin story: a student activist, detained under Martial Law, standing on the right side of history. But politics has a way of bending even the proudest backbones.

This year, as the country marked the 39th anniversary of the EDSA People Power Revolution, Treñas found himself defending the Marcos Jr. administration’s decision to downgrade the commemoration into a special working holiday.

Ilonggos took notice as Facebook lit up with old statements of the mayor railing against dictatorship. His digital scrapbook showed a man who once warned about “a dark path ahead” but now, critics see him as a politician with shifting loyalties.

Treñas, who has claimed he was detained as an activist during the Martial Law regime, defended President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s move to downgrade the EDSA anniversary.

“It’s a presidential prerogative because it’s not a law,” he told a press conference on Monday, February 24, on the eve of the anniversary.

The country on Tuesday, February 25, marked the anniversary of the revolution that ousted the President’s father, the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos.

Treñas said he was not in a position to suspend classes and office work in the city during the 1986 revolt’s anniversary.

“As a mayor of Iloilo City, I will not declare a holiday because this date is not red in our calendar,” he said. “I will be made liable if I declare it a holiday – because here in the city, we have a no work, no pay [policy].”

Reactions

Treñas’ change of stance on the EDSA Revolution did not sit well with some Ilonggos, who resurfaced his past statements on Martial Law in 2021 and 2022. 

A Facebook post by the Daily Guardian about the issue has earned more than 16,000 Facebook reactions and 1,300 comments as of posting time, with many users calling the mayor a balimbing (political turncoat).

“He changes colors according to what is beneficial to him. Protective resemblance is working. The mayor is an expert in wearing camouflage to protect his personal interests,” one Facebook user said.

Another stated: “Treñas, another trapo (traditional politician) in the making and just your typical political butterfly.”

Others accused him of prioritizing political alliances over principles, suggesting that his shift aligns with boosting his daughter’s mayoral candidacy.

Treñas, who previously supported opposition candidates, has publicly endorsed the senatorial bets of the Marcos Jr. administration.

Critics pointed out the contradiction between Treñas’ refusal to suspend classes for the EDSA anniversary and his previous decisions to do so for political gatherings.

He has suspended classes because of two political events this year, citing the massive crowds they would gather, affecting the city’s traffic situation.

The first event was the Iglesia ni Cristo prayer rally in January, followed by the proclamation rally of the Marcos Jr. administration-backed Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas senatorial slate the following month.

In contrast, some local governments, including Baco in Oriental Mindoro and Hinigaran in Negros Occidental, took a stand to commemorate the revolution by suspending office work and classes.

Treñas’ stance over the years

In 2021, Treñas recalled that during the Martial Law years, he joined the Partido Demokratiko Sosyalista ng Pilipinas (PDSP) when he was a student at Ateneo de Manila University.

The PDSP and its affiliated organizations were actively involved in the opposition movement against the late dictator’s authoritarian regime.

“I participated in the noise barrage, joined a rally, and was detained at Aguinaldo, Crame, and Bicutan,” he said, emphasizing that “Martial Law is something we must never go through again.”

In 2022, he warned against allowing dictators to control the country’s future, calling it a “dark path ahead.”

In 2023 and 2024, the city mayor boasted of being a “freedom fighter” and prayed that Martial Law would “never happen again.”

He also recalled that he was detained “for only five or six days” in Camp Bagong Diwa at Bicutan after holding a noise barrage in 1978.

In 2025, Treñas urged the public to remember the “very peaceful” EDSA Revolution, saying, “It is important that we do not forget it because democracy is really worth fighting for.”

Meanwhile, three universities in Iloilo City suspended classes at all levels to commemorate the event: Central Philippine University, the University of the Philippines Visayas, and the Western Institute of Technology. – Rappler.com