Forty years ago, Titus Manuel, then 33 and a working man, happened to be listening to a transistor radio when he heard a voice calling on people to head to Isetann Cubao in Quezon City. It was the evening of Feb. 22, 1986.
Little did he know that he was about to become part of a human tide marching toward nearby White Plains and would be part of a historic event.
“It was a scary situation,” Manuel, now 73, reminisced. “It was dark, the military continued coming. There were tanks,” he told VERA Files at the sidelines of the 40th anniversary of EDSA People Power revolution on Feb. 25.
He recalled sleeping while standing, and the indignity of having to relieve himself against the wall because there was nowhere else to go.”It became so crowded that we could barely move around,” Manuel shared.
He described the conditions during those four historic days as extremely challenging, but their drive to break free from the shackles of dictatorship was more primordial.
“Food was scarce then. Bread would be passed around and given to us, and we couldn’t even think about whether it was poisonous or not. But somehow, every morning, food came.”
While Manuel recalls the grit, one of the female participants, also 73, remembers the grace. For her, the three days and three nights at EDSA were a symphony of prayer, song, and hope.
”We prayed the rosario (Holy Rosary) for three days, three nights. We sang, we prayed.” She vividly remembers the morning of the 25th, when the image of Our Lady of Fatima was carried around through the sea of people. The woman left immediately after sharing her experience without giving her name.
“We were never that patriotic;
we were only simple folks,
working people.”
“We were never that patriotic; we were only simple folks, working people. But I have never sung “Lupang Hinirang” (the Philippine national anthem) that many times in a day. Every time we got sleepy, and whenever it got a little bit scary, we would sing,” Manuel recalled.
Another EDSA veteran, Ed Mercader, 74, has a different memory of that day. He recalls the beauty of peace within the chaos.
They were not there to wage war; they were there to end the long era of injustice that Filipinos had to endure during the Marcos administration. The protest’s end goal was to achieve freedom and give the people the rights they deserved.
“We put flowers on the muzzle of the tanks to show that we don’t want to fight. We wielded no weapons, we only prayed and sang,” Mercader said.
Same ground
Fast forward to 2026. There are no tanks in sight, but the same yellow flowers are just as ubiquitous in Wednesday’s celebration.
The placards, now more colorful and artsy, go beyond the traditional yellow; the ink still bleeds for the same demands, though the faces that hold them have changed.
In commemoration of the 40th Epifano de los Santos Avenue (EDSA) People Power Revolution, the Martial Law survivors and the succeeding generations of Filipinos gathered to reminisce about the varied emotions, experiences, and hardships that the country went through during those trying times.
Under the searing sun, drag queens TSN and Kennyngina of Harong Queens, stood proudly in full costume, their placards held aloft.
“While it is now easy to just post a hashtag online, showing up matters. Kaya kami nandito kahit na mainit, kahit marami tao (That’s why we’re here, even with so many people).” It is important that we never forget our past,” said Kennyngina.
In the crowd, legacy can be quite literal. A young boy, only six, who is a descendant of one of the veterans during the martial law, was also raising his own little placard.
They were there to honor the journey of his grandfather, who lived through the dark years of dictatorship.
For his family, being at the People Power monument is not just a commemoration; it is also a living lesson.
“Ang pinaka motivation namin is yung ‘never forget’. ‘Di dapat natin makalimutan ang mga nangyari before, lalo na ang nangyari noong Martial Law dictatorship, para di na maulit,” the little boy’s father, a lawyer, told VERA Files.
More importantly, they want their kids to know history and to appreciate that the freedom they now enjoy is because of the people who fought for it during the People Power Revolution.
“Put them in jail,” the young participant said when asked about what to do with corrupt politicians, as if he truly understood what corruption meant.
Unfinished song
Sr. Ma. Paz Dayap from the Dominican Daughters of the Immaculate Mother shared her experiences. In 1986, she had been with the congregation, two years of those spent in the convent.
When the revolution happened, their superior ordered them to go out because Jaime Cardinal Sin, Archbishop of Manila, called for everyone to go to EDSA. She felt great jubilation because former president Ferdinand Marcos Sr., and his family would eventually be bundled out of the country on Feb. 24, 1986.
Sr. Paz admitted being very scared at that time, but the sense of unity that she saw and felt kept her grounded.
“Nakakatakot kasi may mga military all over the place. Pero kahit takot, sige lang. Nawawala rin pala kasi yung takot kapag andiyan ang pagkakaisa. We were united, for good,” she said.
Despite everything that happened, Sr. Paz feels hopeful because the younger generation sees what happened and is choosing to stand by the truth.
She believes that the Filipino people should remain vigilant to prevent history from repeating itself. The dictatorship might have ended, but the system of rampant corruption in the Philippines remains, and appears more vicious nowadays.
“Ako naman kahit sinong politiko basta for good, iboboto ko sila. Mapa-Aquino kayo, mapa-Leni kayo, kahit Marcos yan kung maganda ang [leadership] nila, iboboto ko sila.” She added that there is not a day when she prays for good governance.
As the sun dipped over the skyline, survivors and participants also hoped for the youth and the following generations to never forget the history. Manuel knows he will not be here to witness every anniversary to come, but he feels a sense of relief hearing the noise of the new generation.
“Hindi pa tapos ang laban. We will not be around forever, but I’m happy to see [the youth], he rued.
Francis Joseph “Kiko” Aquino Dee, grandson of the late senator Benigno Aquino Jr. and former president Corazon Aquino, in his speech, underscored that while some government officials have been held accountable consequent to the previous anti-corruption rallies, the cycle of impunity has not been fully broken.
“Tayo ang people power noon; tayo ang people power ngayon. Tayo ang solusyon sa korapsyon,” Dee, now a political analyst, declared.
