Paje waited for the cortege at the Rizal Park, along with friends from Payatas. One of them, Angelita Montenola, 43, also a housewife, said Arroyo and the Filipino people “have much to learn” from Aquino. “If we can only be half as good and half as honest, our country would prosper.”

Not just those who had been aware in the ‘80s had turned up at the funeral. Jen Tuazon, 24, public information writer with the Supreme Court, told Bulatlat that since she was barely a year old in 1986, she went to Cory’s funeral to get a feel of how it must have been in Edsa at the time. To get a glimpse and feel the pulse of People Power.

“It’s also my way of saying sorry because we didn’t live up to the promise of Edsa,” Jen said.

Indeed, mourners and social networks point to similarities between the last years of Marcos’ reign and that of Arroyo, and between moods of the nation when Ninoy was buried in 1983 and Cory this week.

“As in the final years of Marcos, people are deeply frustrated with today’s government. There are unresolved issues, intensifying crises. No amount of government propaganda could assure the Filipinos that we are all right,” noted Bic-Bic Chua, 42, a participant of past Edsa People Power uprisings.

When two million marched to bring Ninoy to his final resting place in 1983, Marcos had been adamant against stepping down. But in 1986, after years of protests, he was finally ousted by People Power. “We now have a president who seems to be just as intensely attached to her position,” said Bic-Bic.

Will it require another People Power to oust this one?

In paying tribute to Cory, Jen Tuazon said she was also, in a way, making a promise to “try to do better to preserve democracy.” Even Kris Aquino, Cory’s outspoken and famous showbiz daughter, vowed in her tearful speech to continue with her brother Noynoy what her parents had begun fighting for.

“People have a sense of history,” said Bic-Bic. Behind the massive outpouring of mourners and reliving of People Power is the Filipinos fervent desire to have “that good feeling again.” (Bulatlat.com)

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