A man installs Philippine flaglets at the People Power Monument along EDSA, Quezon City, Feb. 23, 2016. ABS-CBN News/File
MANILA (UPDATED) — About 6 in 10 Filipinos believe the spirit of the EDSA Revolution is alive, according to a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey released Thursday, or two days before the 37th anniversary of the largely peaceful uprising against the late President Ferdinand Marcos, Sr.
Out of 1,200 adults polled from Dec. 10 to 14 last year, 62 percent said the spirit of the People Power revolution was alive while 37 percent said it was not.
Fifty-seven percent said it is still important to commemorate the February 1986 uprising, while 47 percent said the commemoration is no longer important.
Asked about how many EDSA Revolution promises were fulfilled, 47 percent of respondents said "a few", 28 percent answered "almost none or none," 19 percent said "most," and 5 percent believed "all or nearly all."
The four-day uprising ousted Marcos, father and namesake of the present leader, from Malacañang. Marcos Jr. won a landslide victory in the 2022 presidential elections and will serve until 2028.
The SWS face-to-face national survey had a sampling error margin of ±2.8 percent.
IMPORTANCE
Martial Law survivor Loretta "Etta" Rosales said it is important to commemorate the People Power Revolution because it involved ordinary people and the poor, "who actually have to learn and understand how important it is to have the rights restored to them."
"And once they understand this, once they understand that [human rights] are inherent in them... then they will hold on to this very tightly," Rosales, a former Commission on Human Rights chair, told ABS-CBN TeleRadyo on Thursday.
It is "silly" for some people to "move on" from Martial Law and the EDSA revolt, she said.
"Because history is all about the truth, history is all about justice," Rosales said.
According to reports from human-rights watchdog Amnesty International, there were 100,000 victims of Martial Law, with 3,000 killed, 34,000 tortured, and 70,000 arrested.
Marcos Sr. became president in December 1965, and imposed Martial Law in September 1972.
The People Power Revolution installed the late Corazon "Cory" Aquino, wife of Marcos' political nemesis, former Sen. Ninoy Aquino, into the presidency. Ninoy was assassinated in August 1983.