It’s not just an occasion to remember or a yellow color to wear.

Decades after People Power Revolution, what has the Filipinos come to terms with?

I recall Filipinos love to protest back in the day. It’s something we as citizens grew up with, and it did not have to be on the level of street activism, really.

A simple note, a letter, a gesture, an attire to express disobedience, was common place in the eighties to the nineties.

A protest does not necessarily have to be loud. It can be silent, unspoken. When silence is better than action. Many issues back home that can be a reason to disagree with– have become a litmus test for people’s patience and principles. Like unemployment, food security, transportation hike, etc. The protest may not necessarily be about change in politics but simplified issues that hurt the bottomline of our lifestyle.

To this day, some continue their protest in various smaller ways. It does not have to be grand like People Power.

That power to raise our voice against something we do not want to accept is something sacred and innate. We can say “no”. Justify our “no”. Reject instead of accept. It maybe for an issue. A policy. A rule.

Whatever way we want to express our rejection of how things are supposed to be.

A protest may not equate to hyperpunctuating democracy; but a simple dissent can be acceptable– to show one is a thinking and feeling individual capable of making a statement.

After the original Edsa People Power, the nation has become a doldrum of ideas. And maybe convictions. Please feel free to challenge this opinion anyway.

But Filipinos have moved on expecting normal routine without courage to disrupt the normalcy. After People Power 1 and Edsa Dos, politics has become reclusive at most acceptable, if not relegated to a history of conformities, for the lucid apolitical thinkers to settle in.

Not that there were no issues. It is what it is. Filipinos have outlived the essence of Edsa 1 (a popular parallel term for People Power). We languid in the ordinariness of life. Beat around the bush before we make changes.

The most that can upstage the People Power is the usual national elections when voters push for their favored candidates.

There is nothing wrong with living in the ordinary.

In fact there is peace in being “usual”.

Same old, same old events. The Philippines probably have to live a thousand histories before it can redefine itself as a nation.

But in the realm of Edsa celebration, here are some founded truths that a Filipino can share to others, about the lessons of People Power:

1. That history repeats itself. It can be rewritten or challenged but it can happen, as in the case of Edsa 2, albeit of a lesser magnitude of protest.
2. That change even if we clamor for it, will never really take place in the realm of politics. (As a matter of opinion), change can be in slow forward resolutions; but change in leadership can be circuitous in a country where patronage relations to former politicians are always looked for. I hesitate to comment further on this.

No matter what, Edsa People Power is a point in history that gives every Filipino a reason to ponder. Or a reason to regret. Ultimately, it is an occasion that can bequeath us with a reason to plan the future.

There is normalcy after People Power 2. But that ordinariness may not necessarily be a sign of progress, stability or a lesson well-learned.

Please continue reading Fated to Write by Anna. Read my other posts if you’ve got time. Comment your ideas or support my blog .

Anna