ALTHOUGH some local government units (LGUs) in Cebu are mum on their plans for the 37th anniversary of the Edsa People Power Revolution on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023, Cebu City officials announced that they will hold a simple wreath-laying ceremony at Freedom Park to commemorate the yearly event.
Vice Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia who chairs the committee on cultural and historical affairs of the City Council claimed this would be the first time in the city’s history that a commemoration in honor of the Edsa People Power Revolution will be held by the City Government.
Bryner Diaz, head of the Cultural and Historical Affairs Office (CHAO), told reporters that it was the commissioners who chose Freedom Park as the venue for the commemoration.
The commemoration which will be held at 8 a.m. will have the theme “Edsa 2023: Pagkakaisa Tungo sa Kapayapaan at Pagbangon.”
Diaz said the City Administrator’s Office has already issued a memorandum ordering all city employees and officials to attend the commemoration.
Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama will be the main speaker while Garcia will also give a speech.
There had been doubts on whether Rama and his administration would hold activities to commemorate the People Power Revolution of 1986 since the mayor is currently allied with President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., whose father was deposed during the peaceful uprising 37 years ago.
During the campaign period in 2022, Rama courted controversy when he endorsed Marcos Jr.’s candidacy even though his uncles, the late former Cebu governor Osmundo Rama and journalist and Constitutional Convention delegate Napoleon Rama, were both arrested when the elder Marcos declared martial law.
No plans
In Lapu-Lapu City, Mayor Junard Chan said the City Government had no plans to commemorate Edsa and would just go with the flow of the National Government’s activities if there were any.
Chan also endorsed Marcos in the 2022 elections.
Cordova Vice Mayor Boyet Tago, for his part, said they also had no activities in relation to the anniversary.
Tago noted that the Department of the Interior and Local Government had not issued a directive mandating local government units to conduct any activity or program.
As of Friday afternoon, Feb. 24, Malacañang had also given no word to the press on whether Marcos would commemorate the Edsa Revolution anniversary. Neither had Marcos released an anniversary message.
Ahead of Marcos’ victory in last year’s polls, there had been fears that there would be no more commemorations of the historic Edsa revolt that ousted his dicator father from power in 1986, if he became president.
Meanwhile, progressive groups in Cebu staged a protest on Friday, demanding a stop to government attacks against political activists. They also protested against the increasing inflation rate.
Kabataan Partylist Cebu Chapter chairperson Kyle Enero said around a hundred protesters from various groups marched from Fuente Osmeña Circle down to Colon Street in Cebu City.
Enero said with the return of the Marcoses to Malacañang, commemorating the first People Power Revolution has become even more significant.
They called on Marcos Jr. to uphold justice and human rights, renewing the call for the abolition of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac).
The group also urged Marcos to increase the minimum wage of ordinary workers and decrease the prices of basic commodities as more Filipinos suffer from effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, natural calamities and high inflation. (PAC, JKV, EHP, MKG, CTL)