People Power Revolution

FOR THE PEOPLE'S DEMOCRACY.

The People Power Revolution (also known as the EDSA Revolution and the Philippine Revolution of 1986) was a series of popular nonviolent revolutions and prayerful mass street demonstrations in the Philippines that occurred in 1986, which marked the restoration of the country's democracy. It became a subsequent inspiration for the Revolutions of 1989 that ended communist dictatorships in Eastern Europe. It is sometimes referred to as the Yellow Revolution due to the presence of yellow ribbons during the arrival of Benigno Aquino, Jr.. These protests were the culmination of a long campaign of civil resistance by the people against the 20-year running authoritarian, repressive regime of then president Ferdinand Marcos and made news headlines as "the revolution that surprised the world".



The majority of the demonstrations took place at Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, known more commonly by its acronym EDSA, in Quezon City, Metropolitan Manila and involved over 2,000,000 Filipino civilians as well as several political, military, and religious figures, such as Cardinal Jaime Sin. The protests, fueled by a resistance and opposition of years of corrupt governance by Marcos, occurred from February 22–25, 1986, when Marcos fled Malacañang Palace to the Hawaii and conceded to Corazon Aquino as the legitimate President of the Philippines.

For three days, men, women and children filled the streets of EDSA holding on frail hope. For those brief moments, they feared for their security, their lives, their future. 

Rumors were spreading all over  that the forces from the loyalists were coming in from the north to silence the cry of the people through bullets and shells. The prayers grew louder; anxiety filled the air.

From above, the citizens of Manila resembled ants swarming on the entire stretch of EDSA. Most of the streets were blockaded and trees were cut down to serve as makeshift anti-tank barricades. Curious civilians climbed the 25-ft. light posts to have a glimpse over the crowd. Along the curbs, women attended to the thirsty, hungry and the weary.  Men stood vigilant and served as perimeter guards just in case loyalist troops decided to attack. Priests and nuns prayed and comforted people as they made their way through the population with rosaries at hand..

Tanks were on the other edge of EDSA, and the people had no hesitation to meet them with bare hands and prayers.  Soldiers aboard the vehicles climbed out and were ordered to shoot. Most either shot in the air or were simply shocked at the amount of sacrifice ordinary people are willing to gamble. Tears rolled down their eyes as they were greeted with food and comfort from the rebels.  
As Marcos proclaimed his presidency atop the balcony of the Malacañang, little did the remaining supporters realize that their would-be president was already arranging his plans for Hawaii.

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All these events happened 14 years ago and are still alive in the hearts of many Filipinos who were there to experience it first hand.
This is the EDSA revolution – the peaceful cry for freedom.

Epifanio de los Santos Avenue

Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA), formerly known as Highway 54, is the main circumferential road and highway of Metro Manila in the Philippines. It is an important commuting artery between the northern and southern parts of the metropolitan area. EDSA is a partially-controlled access, mostly 10-lane divided highway (expressway) with interchanges along its length that eliminate the need for traffic lights, though traffic lights exist where there is insufficient space or funds for a complete interchange. EDSA handles around 225,000 cars per section on average every day.

EDSA forms a major portion of one of the circumferential roads in Metro Manila, C-4. It runs in a rough semicircle around Metropolitan Manila and, from the south, passes through the cities of Pasay, Makati, Mandaluyong, Quezon City, and Caloocan. Its southern endpoint is at a roundabout near the SM Mall of Asia in Pasay and its northern terminus is at Monumento, a monument to Andrés Bonifacio, in Caloocan. When the avenue was constructed during the presidency of Manuel L. Quezon, it was named Junio 19 (June 19), after the birthday of national hero José Rizal. It was later renamed Highway 54, and under Republic Act in 1959 was further renamed in honor of Epifanio de los Santos, a noted Filipino historian.

The Metro Rail Transit (MRT), Line 3 of the metropolis' railway system, runs along most of EDSA, from Taft Avenue in the south to North Avenue near the SM City North Edsa Mall in northern EDSA. Future expansion of the MRT will extend it all the way to Monumento.

EDSA also figures prominently in the recent history of the Philippines for being the site of two peaceful demonstrations that toppled the administration of two Filipino presidents—the People Power Revolution of 1986 against Ferdinand Marcos and the EDSA Revolution of 2001 against Joseph Estrada.

Traffic management

Being the most important artery of the metropolis, EDSA handles a significant volume of the traffic that flows through the cities of Metro Manila. An average of 2.34 million vehicles go through EDSA every day.

The lead agency that manages the flow of traffic along EDSA is the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), an agency that is under the Office of the President and is advised by the Metro Manila Mayors League. One of the MMDA's traffic management schemes that is in effect on EDSA, among other major thoroughfares, is the Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program, commonly known as the Number Coding Scheme. Many people observe that the cause of traffic jams on EDSA are erring bus and jeepney drivers especially as a multitude of the public utility vehicles they drive are unlicensed or "colorum". Subsequently, buses have been the target of other traffic management programs, like the MMDA's Organized Bus Route Program.

Exits and major intersections

A list of exits, flyovers, underpasses, and major intersections along EDSA. There are no exit numbers along EDSA, as it is not an expressway.

Epifanio de los Santos (April 7,1871- April 18,1928)

Great among the great Filipino scholars, Epifanio Cristobal de los
Santos, generally known as Don Panyong, was born on the 7th of
April 1871 in Malabon, Rizal. He was the solitary son of Don
Escolastico de los Santos, a prominent haciendero, and Doña
Antonina Cristobal, an educated musician.

At the age of seven, he was tutored by Sr. Jose A. Flores in
Manila. He later enrolled in his father’s Alma Mater, the Ateneo
Municipal. On March 16, 1890, he received the Bachelor of Arts
degree from Ateneo with the highest honors of summa cum laude.
In 1891, he took jurisprudence at the Santo Tomas Law School
where he obtained his Licentiate in Law 1898.

He also studied music and painting. Don Panyong was a gifted
musician. He was a fine pianist and a superb guitarist. During his
time, he was one of the three outstanding guitarists of the
Philippines, the other two being General Fernando Canon, a
revolutionary hero, and Guillermo Tolentino, a distinguished
sculptor. He also possessed a talent for painting, which he,
unfortunately, did not choose to pursue or develop.

Don Panyong married Ursula Paez on April 1899. Her early demise
cut short their marriage but not until she bore him four children.
Their eldest, Jose P. Santos, became a well known historian and
writer in his own right. In 1908, Don Panyong remarried. His
second wife, Margarita Torralba, gave him eight children.

When the 1898 revolution broke out, Don Panyong together with
Jose Zulueta published in Malabon a patriotic newspaper named La
Libertad. The publication was short lived having been censored by
the revolutionary government. He then joined the editorial staff
of Gen. Antonio Luna’s revolutionary paper, La Independencia,
using the pseudonym G. Solon in his articles.

It was early 1900 when he became a District Attorney of San Isidro,
Nueva Ecija, his father’s hometown, and later on became
Provincial Secretary. He was elected Governor of Nueva Ecija in
1902 and was reelected in 1904. That same year, he was appointed
member of the Philippine Commission, representing the country in
the St. Louis Exposition. He became Prosecuting Attorney (Fiscal)
for the provinces of Bulacan and Bataan on March 30, 1906, and
was reappointed as Fiscal for Bulacan only on October 1, 1907.
Governor – General Francis Burton Harrison designated him
Assistant Director of the Philippine Census in 1918.

Don Panyong toured through Europe, visiting the libraries and
museums of England, Spain, Belgium, Holland, Germany and Austria
in search of rare valuable works and relics about the Philippines.
The articles gathered from his researches abroad became the
nucleus of the Filipiniana collection in the Philippines. His passion
for acquiring rare books, manuscripts, paintings, opera records,
and antiques as well as old books, historical documents, and other
relics virtually converted his home into a combined art gallery,
museum, and archives. He was a discriminating collector of
uncommon and antique objects that are true landmarks of
Philippine culture. Through his analyses of these, he greatly
enriched the history and literature of our people. He was among
the few who could determine whether a Tagalog word is an
original or an adapted one. He knew the etymology of Tagalog as
well as other dialects like Tingian, Ibilao and Ita.  

Don Panyong’s fame as a man of letters was acknowledged,
honored and respected not only in the Philippines but also in
foreign countries. In Europe, he was recognized as a premier
philologist and writer of biographical and historical matters about
the Philippines. He was the first Filipino, of native parentage, to
join and become a member of the Royal Academy of Madrid.
Cecilio Apostol portrayed him as one of the country’s two best
Filipino writers in Spanish prose of all times, the other being
Marcelo H. Del Pilar.

Indisputably, Don Panyong was the best critic, writer and
biographer that the Golden Age of Literature of the Philippines
ever produced. An artist by disposition, he was a scholar in the
truest sense, fascinated and well versed in all branches of human
learning. He was also known as the most authoritative historian
and interpreter of fruitful and transcendental events of the epoch.

He accepted the position of Director of the Philippine Library and
Museum, upon the death of Dr. Pardo H. Tavera on May 16, 1925,
not for the relatively low stipends but because of the honor
attached to the chair. The office was by tradition only for men of
learning and erudition. He held the position until his untimely
death on the 18th of April 1928. In the prime of manhood, Don
Panyong died of cerebral attack at the age of fifty-seven. Scholars
of the Hispanic world, particularly in the Philippines and Spain,
lamented the loss of the country’s foremost erudite, a literary
genius, and a connoisseur of the Castilian language. The Philippine
government wasted no time in acquiring his reputed collection
when he passed away.

Epifanio de los Santos left an abyss tremendously difficult to fill in
the realm of Philippine Arts and Letters.