People Power is back

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor GUILLERMO TEJIDA III Desk Editor PATRICK JAY PANGILINAN Busines Editor NIDA A. BUENAFE Sports Editor RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

Over the past few days, the massive outpouring of sympathy and support for the family of Cory Aquino from Filipinos of all walks of life has been compared to the funeral of her martyred husband Ninoy Aquino in 1983, which ultimately led to the People Power revolution of 1986 that toppled the regime of an increasingly unpopular dictator.

People power, the phenomenon that put the Filipino nation on the world map, had lately been regarded as dead.  Most of this is due to the persistent efforts of the bastard children of people power to undermine, trivialize, demonize, and make irrelevant the very same set of events that swept them to power.  Because of them, people power had been reduced to a cheap and easy way out, instead of being a genuine expression of a nation’s collective desire to hold a corrupt leadership accountable to the people they have solemnly vowed to serve.

When Cory Aquino died, the nation remembered again what the essence of people power was all about, and its embers that had been virtually extinguished were suddenly fanned back to life. The past few days have shown us that this nation is desperately aching for leaders who are morally upright, full of integrity, and are humble servants who can actually inspire us to be a better people than we already are.

A government that is truly of the people, by the people, and for the people should not be afraid of people power.  In fact, it is only proper that government should be afraid of its people and not the other way around.  If the sight of so many people converging towards the remains of Tita Cory to give their last respects and show their appreciation for her service to the nation has been worrying for those who are in the position of power, then, perhaps, they should think about reevaluating their priorities and joining the people power movement by giving this nation a government that it is honest, morally upright, accountable and geared towards the service of its people.  If not, then they have been warned.  The spirit of people power that they have tried to extinguish over the past decade has been revitalized by the death of its most powerful icon.*