Where were you during the EDSA Revolution?

 Reflection

After our mass in the community this morning, we had a brief sharing on where the members of the community were on this day in 1986 (a Monday). 

That day was so full of tension as the troops loyal to Dictator Marcos tried to subvert the increasing number of anti-Marcos sympathizers among the ranks of the AFP. But the Church exercised its prophetic mission and flocked to EDSA to protect the military officers and rank who realized the evil of Marcos' dictatorial leadership. 

At the time I was 7 years old, a first grader at the basic education department of St. Paul University Dumaguete (then St. Paul College Dumaguete). I don't exactly remember where I was, but my family was pro-Marcos, so most probably I was just at home playing, as more and more people were also converging somewhere to express their disgust with the Marcoses.

One of our community members, retired public school teacher Len Negapatan, a.O.Carm. shared that she was already a volunteer at the Promotion for Church People's Response (PCPR) and they were stationed along Broadway Avenue in Quezon City documenting the different human rights violations happening during that day.

Organizational development expert and tourism consultant Marissa Alcantara, a.O.Carm., on the other hand, was in EDSA with her group. At the time she was already working in the tourism industry and her involvement with a religious group inspired her to answer the call of H.E. Jaime Cardinal Sin to join the flock to EDSA.

Fr. Gabriel Dolotina, O.Carm., who was in Escalante at the time, said that this happened approximately five months after the violent Escalante Massacre, which killed 20 innocent civilians and injured many when government troops indiscriminately fired at farmers and their supporters who were calling for "Bigas, Indi Bala" (Rice, not bullets), as poverty has taken its toll on poor farmers being abused and taken advantaged of by the cronies of the Marcoses. 

Fr. Christian Buenafe, O.Carm., co-executive secretary of the Conference of Major Superiors in the Philippines (formerly AMRSP) and a member of the International Commission on Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation of the Order of Carmelites, was in his third year at Notre Dame University in Cotabato City. He, together with other seminarians, gathered at the quadrangle to register their rage against the atrocities of the Marcos dictatorship.

As the country struggles to remember the atrocities of the Marcoses and their cronies and allies, the Carmelites in the Philippines continue to treasure these memories, remembering its many martyrs during this atrocious part of our history in order to ground ourselves with our prophetic stance in fighting disinformation, the return of tyranny, and the culture of impunity.

And so we say: #NeverAgain #NeverForget #NoToMarcosDuterte2022 #EDSAIsReal #MartialLawIsReal 

Read: O.Carm. says #NeverForget, #NeverAgain to Martial Law 

Photo: Facebook of Manuel L. Quezon III.