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A bigger critical mass base and a broader alliance with political forces are clearly the gains of People Power 2. Militant leaders say the challenge now is for this heightened level of political awareness to be sustained. They failed to encircle Malacaņang as originally planned. But for the leaders and members of militant groups who had toiled for over a year in the struggle to oust Joseph Estrada, the job had been done. January 20 was no ordinary Saturday morning, as thousands of tired and sleepy faces with determined souls gathered in Welcome Rotonda, the boundary of Manila and Quezon City. Just before noon, rallyists with tousled hair, sweating shirts, droopy eyelids and faces still shiny from the previous night's smog anxiously lined up in preparation for the "final march" toward Mendiola. The people's 'siege of Malacaņang' had begun. At the forefront were militant personalities (Satur Ocampo, Teodoro Casiņo, Liza Maza, Nathaniel Santiago and many others), tireless leaders from the progressive forces and cause-oriented organizations who marched arms locked with those of the others. It was a striking scene that left an impression of courage and determination. A few hours after protesters swept the streets of Mendiola, a dejected Estrada emerged from the sanctuary of Malacaņang Palace. Outside, people were dancing from joy, as leaders of the Left ecstatically embraced each other. Consolidating The Gains As traditional politicians and defectors are busy scrambling for top posts vacated in Malacaņang, militant leaders said they are better off consolidating their gains from the recent uprising than joining the division of spoils. "A bigger and more critical mass base and a broader alliance with political forces" were clearly the gains, said Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) secretary-general Teodoro Casiņo. "I would consider the political education of the masses as our No. 1 gain from People Power 2. Now, we have a more mature and a more critical mass base, and this level of political awareness of the people should be sustained," he said. Nathaniel Santiago, secretary-general of party-list group Bayan Muna agreed. "The participation of the people in ousting Estrada can't be belittled. In the 1986 People Power, we had to wait for 20 years before Marcos was ousted. Now it only took two years for Estrada to be deposed," he said. According to Santiago, many Filipinos became so fed up with Estrada's gangster style of leadership. "The people were already disillusioned with Estrada right from the very start. His position that Marcos should be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, his adamant stand to change the Constitution, the implementation of anti-labor and anti-peasant policies, rapacious cronyism and corruption under his regime - these are the reasons that accelerated his ouster," he added. "When Estrada successively proposed anti-people policies like Concord and conducted an all-out war in Mindanao, organizing and alliance-building became easier with the Church and other groups," Bayan-Davao general secretary Alvin Luque stressed. Casiņo also noted the importance of the impeachment process and the parliament of the street as important stimuli that helped open the people's mind to the rottenness of the incorrigible Estrada administration. "The people have learned so many things from the 1986 People Power. Then, it was the military who led the people to EDSA. Now, it's the Filipinos themselves who led the uprising. The military then didn't come in not until they saw the conviction of people. In fact, the people were the ones who eagerly pushed that we march to Mendiola," he explained. Professor Carol Almeda of the Department of Social Sciences at the University of the Philippines also credited the conscious effort of the people to see through the truth behind the clouded impeachment trial. "We can credit the media and the different modes of information that help people see how guilty President Estrada was through the bodies of evidence presented during the trial," she explained. Not An Overnight Struggle But the broad involvement of the people in clamoring for change did not come overnight. Organized groups like the Estrada Resign Movement, Bayan and Bayan Muna had been conducting activities as early as 1999 in educating the public on the need to pressure Estrada to step down. But at that time, the people refused to make any decisive political stand. "We were laughed and ridiculed at first by those important personalities we approached. They would tell us: 'Talaga bang m-a-oust ninyo, ha, talaga?'" Luque recalled. People's organizations in Southern Tagalog likewise experienced hoots and public ridicule when it launched on November 14 a protest camp in Laguna, Batangas, and Mindoro. Bayan-Southern Tagalog chairman Orly Marcellana recalled how passersby jeered at them. "They shouted at us. 'Why don't you just help Erap rebuild the nation?'" In two separate incidents, drunken men even harassed organized anti-Estrada protesters. But as the economy plunged and Estrada's guilt became more apparent, the people's apathy was transformed into a united and militant force. "People started pouring in, attending our group discussions. Some would just pass by and hand over food or financial assistance," said Dr. Jun Saturay, one of the organizers of the protest camp against Erap in Mindoro. "It was remarkable that we were able to get by through donations and the collection boxes," explained Marcellana. Another Middle-Class Upheaval? The role of the elite in People Power II has constantly been stressed by the international media and political analysts. Initial analysis here and abroad emphasized that the "mob" was mainly composed of urban elites. Newsweek magazine, for example, reflects how the international community views the political event stating that "the poor loved the man they knew as Erap" and though "did not mobilize strongly to support Estrada, they have a deep-seated suspicion of the urban elites --- the very people who led the anti-Estrada crusade." But while Professor Almeda agreed that the spontaneity of action coming from the poor community was not properly projected, she believes the presence of people from the marginalized sectors were distinctly felt during the upheaval. Workers and peasants trooped from their factories and fields to join the rallies. Some of the Mendiola marchers even came from as far as Quezon and Bicol. Almeda explained that the poor were restrained by their economic status in joining the EDSA people. Their hand-to-mouth existence hardly gave them extra budget for fare. "Malayo sa kanila ang EDSA. So in terms of priorities, they would first think of how their meager budget could get them a single meal. But organized urban poor organizations like Kadamay had been there since Day One, or even way back the initial campaign against Erap," she elaborated. Kadamay (Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap) is an organization composed of people from different urban-poor communities in the country. It has been one of the active and regular participants, together with other cause-oriented groups, in various mobilizations against Estrada even before the jueteng scandal broke out. Lessons Drawn "Many Filipinos are closely monitoring how Arroyo will perform in the coming days since they know for a fact that the Arroyo government is just another faction that replaced the Estrada faction," Casiņo stated. Because of what transpired in January, Santiago said Arroyo must realize that the people no longer base their judgment of how a president will perform by the end of his/her term. "The people's judgment are now more performance-bound. They are ready to go back to the streets as soon as they see Arroyo failing to meet her promises to the people," he said. (Ibon Features) |