27th year of bloodless revolt in Phl remembered

The Filipino people will celebrate on Monday the 27th anniversary of the bloodless revolt staged for four days along Epifanio delos Santos Avenue (Edsa) in Quezon City by rebel soldiers in February 1986.

In an interview Saturday over dzRB Radyo ng Bayan (People’s Radio), Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Hermino Coloma Jr. said President Benigno Aquino III is inviting the public to join the significant celebration.

With the theme “Pilipinas Natin, Abot-Tanaw Na” (Our Philippines, Now Rising), Coloma also said joining the celebration is important for it will make the Filipino people aware of the historic event when they fought and ousted a dictatorial regime more than two decades ago.

He said the celebration will have greater significance to every Filipino, especially to the young who failed to witness the unfolding of a nation’s new political history.

It can be recalled that Filipinos launched a civil disobedience campaign to boycott products of companies connected to the Marcoses following a snap election in February 7, 1986. They alleged that the late president Corazon Aquino who ran against the deposed dictator was cheated. The campaign culminated to the People Power revolt in that month.

The celebration will begin at the People Power Monument in Edsa. After the flag-raising ceremony, President Aquino will sign the Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act of 2013, the state’s official recognition of the atrocities committed by the Marcos administration against its own people.

Malacanang grounds will be opened to young people for story-telling and sports events to impart Filipino values to the country’s youth as well as its doors leading to Kalayaan Hall (Freedom Hall).

Children from different orphanages are also expected to participate in traditional Filipino games, according to Coloma. Youth leaders will also deliver their messages.