SOMEONE ELSE’S WINDOWS: The heirs of EDSA

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews / 24 February) — In 1984, maybe earlier, according to the Left, then-Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile and then-Armed Forces Vice Chief of Staff General Fidel V. Ramos, head of the defunct Philippine Constabulary, were already plotting to overthrow the dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos. As expected, it was dismissed as an intrigue meant to sow divisions within the Martial Law regime.

Two years later, the four-day EDSA Revolt would unfold, triggered by the discovery of a coup plot led by Enrile and Ramos amidst the political uncertainty gripping the nation after the fraud-marred snap presidential elections. Cornered like rats in Camp Crame and Camp Aguinaldo, the cabal was forced to appeal to Jaime Cardinal Sin for help. Apparently, the Gringo Honasan-led Reform the Armed Forces Movement was too self-assured that they didn’t have a backup plan.

Sin agreed to help the beleaguered Enrile and Ramos only if they agreed to expose the fraud committed by their erstwhile master during the snap polls and declare that Corazon C. Aquino was the real winner. Enrile revealed the election anomalies in a press conference where he said that in his region alone they cheated her of at least 350,000 votes.

Hundreds of thousands of civilians responded to Sin’s call over Radio Veritas, blocking the Marine tanks that came to bombard the trapped mutineers, a show of courage that awed the world and ended the 20-year rule of Marcos, 14 of it under martial law.

The presence of the civilians who came to protect the rebel soldiers stopped the tanks. In a matter of hours, majority of the Armed Forces deserted Marcos, forcing the ailing strongman and his family into exile on the night of February 25 aboard an American aircraft.

(I read somewhere that on their way to board the helicopter that would take the Marcos family to Hawaii, the ousted strongman and Enrile met somewhere at the Palace grounds where the two men gave each other a long hug. Marcos’s chief of staff General Fabian Ver, a true Pretorian Guard, was also there, ensuring that no harm could come to the Apo who revealed his dream of immortality with the words “I refuse to die,” while waging a losing battle against lupus.)

Enrile, obviously frustrated that the coup plot didn’t end in his favor – i.e., in his installation as president or junta leader – would later disown any involvement in EDSA. He was fired as Defense chief after the failed “God Save the Queen” coup plot in November 1986, but salvaged the 24th Senate seat in the 1987 congressional elections, one of the only two opposition candidates – the other one was Joseph Estrada – to win. He would become Senate President in the latter part of his political career, the highest position he has held in the post-EDSA setting.

Meanwhile, Ramos managed to endear himself to Aquino by defending her administration from a restive military. The most serious coup attempt against Aquino erupted on August 28, 1987, during which the US Air Force intervened through “persuasion flights” that turned the tide of battle against Honasan’s forces. Another coup try was launched in December 1989, but it, too, was quelled.

Ramos later became Defense secretary, a position from which he carved his own design to take a shot at the presidency. He tried to get nominated as the standard bearer of the then dominant Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino of Ramon V. Mitra Jr. for the 1992 elections. Failing that, he formed his own Lakas-Christian-Muslim Democrats with him as presidential candidate, and obtained Aquino’s endorsement as administration bet. He would go on to win, beating by a narrow margin Miriam Defensor-Santiago, who claimed that she was cheated.

There were other heirs of EDSA, personalities who, either by chance or connection, reaped a windfall from that historic event. One of them is former President Rodrigo Duterte, who was plucked out of relative anonymity as a prosecutor when he was appointed as OIC vice mayor of Davao City. He would go on to do things that evoked memories of the despotic regime, not least of which was allowing the dictator to be buried in a place reserved for heroes.

But the greatest tragedy is the return of the Marcoses to power. They were disinherited by a people who said “Tama na, sobra na,” only to be restored to their former pedestal through lies and deceit spread on social media. The same people who elected them are now saying they were duped but are willing to be fooled again by the other half of the tandem that deceived them.

In 2028, another tragedy awaits if: 1) the people elect another member of the Marcos-Romualdez clan to the presidency; 2) they elect another politician who criticizes the Marcos administration only because she wants to enjoy unfettered power as well.