People Power

Revolution

The People Power Revolution (also

known as the EDSA Revolution, the
Philippine Revolution of 1986, EDSA
1986, EDSA I and EDSA People Power)
was a series of popular demonstrations
in the Philippines, mostly in Metro Manila
from February 22–25, 1986. There was a
sustained campaign of civil resistance
against regime violence and alleged
electoral fraud. The nonviolent revolution
led to the departure of Ferdinand Marcos,
the end of his 21-year presidential rule,
and the restoration of democracy in the
Philippines.[4]
 People Power Revolution

Hundreds of thousands of people filling up

Epifanio delos Santos Avenue (EDSA), facing
northbound towards the Boni Serrano Avenue-
EDSA intersection.
(February 1986)
Date February 22–25, 1986
(3 days)

Location Philippines, primarily

Epifanio de los Santos
Avenue, Metro Manila

Caused by Assassination of
Benigno Aquino Jr.
in 1983
 Fraud during the
1986 snap
presidential election
Decades of
oppressive and
totalitarian rule
Goals Removal of Ferdinand
Marcos and
installation of Corazon
Aquino as President

Resulted in Revolutionary victory

Removal of
Ferdinand Marcos
from office
End of the Marcos
era
Marcos fled to
Hawaii
Start of the Fifth
Philippine Republic
 Corazon Aquino
becomes President
of the Philippines
Parties to the civil conflict

People Power Marcos

revolutionaries Administration
Political groups:
Armed Forces of the
UNIDO Philippines
PDP–Laban Forces loyal to
Marcos
Liberal Party
Presidential
Military defectors:
Security Group[3]
Reform the Armed Government parties:
Forces Movement
Kilusang Bagong
Defected soldiers
Lipunan
Others:
 Anti-Marcos civilian
protesters

Religious groups:

Archdiocese of
Manila
CBCP[1]
Protestant churches
of the Philippines

Militant groups:

Bagong Alyansang
Makabayan[1][2]
Kilusang Mayo
Uno
League of
Filipino
Students
Christians for
National
 Liberation
Lead figures

Corazon Aquino Ferdinand Marcos

Salvador Laurel Imelda Marcos
Juan Ponce Enrile Fabian Ver
Fidel Ramos
Gringo Honasan
Jaime Cardinal Sin

Number

2,000,000+ protestors No figures available

It is also referred to as the Yellow

Revolution due to the presence of yellow
ribbons during demonstrations following
the assassination of Filipino senator
Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr.[4] in August
1983. It was widely seen as a victory of
the people against two decades of
presidential rule by President Marcos,
and made news headlines as "the
revolution that surprised the world".[5]

The majority of the demonstrations took

place on a long stretch of Epifanio de los
Santos Avenue, more commonly known
by its acronym EDSA, in Metro Manila
from February 22–25, 1986. They
involved over two million Filipino
civilians, as well as several political and
military groups, and religious groups led
by Cardinal Jaime Sin, the Archbishop of
Manila, along with Catholic Bishops'
Conference of the Philippines President
Cardinal Ricardo Vidal, the Archbishop of
Cebu. The protests, fueled by the
resistance and opposition from years of
governance by President Marcos and his
cronies, culminated with the absolute
ruler and his family fleeing Malacañang
Palace to exile in Hawaii. Ninoy Aquino's
widow, Corazon Aquino, was immediately
installed as the eleventh President as a
result of the revolution.[6]

Background and history

Ferdinand Marcos became the longest-serving
Philippine president for 20 years.

President Ferdinand E. Marcos was

elected president in 1965, defeating
incumbent President Diosdado
Macapagal by a margin of 52 to 43
percent. During this time, Marcos was
very active in the initiation of public
works projects and the intensification of
tax collections. Marcos and his
government claimed that they "built more
roads than all his predecessors
combined, and more schools than any
previous administration".[7] Amidst
charges from the opposition party of
vote buying and a fraudulent election,
President Marcos was reelected in the
1969 Philippine presidential election, this
time defeating Sergio Osmeña, Jr. by 61
to 39 percent.

President Marcos' second term for the

presidency was marred by allegations by
the opposition Liberal Party of
widespread graft and corruption.
According to leftists who rioted during
the First Quarter Storm, the increasing
disparity of wealth between the very
wealthy and the very poor that made up
the majority of the Philippines' population
led to a rise in crime and civil unrest
around the country. These factors,
including the formation of the New
People's Army and a bloody Muslim
separatist movement in the southern
island of Mindanao led by the Moro
National Liberation Front, contributed to
the rapid rise of civil discontent and
unrest in the country.

Proclamation of Martial Law

Barred from running for a third term as

president in 1973, Marcos announced
Proclamation No. 1081 on September 23,
1972, declaring martial law with rising
civil disobedience as a justification.
Through this decree and after obtaining
voters consent through the plebiscite,
President Marcos seized emergency
powers giving him full control of the
Philippines' military and the authority to
suppress and abolish the freedom of
speech, the freedom of the press, and
many other civil liberties. President
Marcos also dissolved the Philippine
Congress and shut down media
establishments critical of the Marcos
Administration.[8]

President Marcos also ordered the

immediate arrest of his political
opponents and critics. Among those
arrested were Senate President Jovito
Salonga, Senator Jose Diokno, and
Senator Benigno Aquino Jr., who Marcos
linked with the Communists[9] and the
man who was groomed by the opposition
to succeed President Marcos after the
1973 elections.[8] On November 25, 1977,
the Military Commission charged Aquino
along with his two co-accused, NPA
leaders Bernabe Buscayno (Commander
Dante) and Lt. Victor Corpuz, guilty of all
charges and sentenced them to death by
firing squad.[10]

A constitutional convention, which had

been called for in 1970 to replace the
Commonwealth era 1935 Constitution,
continued the work of framing a new
constitution after the declaration of
martial law. The new constitution went
into effect in early 1973, changing the
form of government from presidential to
parliamentary and allowing President
Marcos to stay in power beyond 1973.
The constitution was approved by 95% of
the voters in the Philippine constitutional
plebiscite.

In 1978, while still in prison, Aquino

founded his political party, Lakas ng
Bayan (abbreviated "LABAN"; English:
People's Power) to run for office in the
Interim Batasang Pambansa
(Parliament). All LABAN candidates lost,
including Ninoy himself.

With practically all of his political

opponents were arrested and in exile,
President Marcos' pre-emptive
declaration of martial law in 1972 and
the ratification of his new constitution by
more than 95% of voters enabled Marcos
to effectively legitimize his government
and hold on to power for another 14
years beyond his first two terms as
president. In a Cold War context, Marcos
retained the support of the United States
through Marcos' promise to stamp out
communism in the Philippines and by
assuring the United States of its
continued use of military and naval
bases in the Philippines.[8]

Assassination of Ninoy
Aquino

Despite warnings from the military and

other First Lady Imelda R. Marcos, Ninoy
Aquino was determined to return to the
Philippines. Asked what he thought of
the death threats, Ninoy Aquino
responded, "The Filipino is worth dying
for."[11]

At that time, Ninoy's passport had

expired and the renewal had been denied.
Ninoy therefore acquired a plan to
acquire a fake passport with the help of
Rashid Lucman,[12][13] The passport
carried the alias Marcial Bonifacio
(Marcial for martial law and Bonifacio for
Fort Bonifacio, his erstwhile prison).[14]

On August 21, 1983, after a three-year

exile in the United States, Aquino was
assassinated as he disembarked from a
Taiwanese commercial flight at the
Manila International Airport (which was
later renamed in Aquino's honor).[15] His
assassination shocked and outraged
many Filipinos, most of whom had lost
confidence in the Marcos administration.
The event led to more suspicions about
the government, triggering non-
cooperation among Filipinos that
eventually led to outright civil
disobedience.[16] It also shook the
Marcos Administration, which was by
then deteriorating due, in part, to Marcos'
worsening health and ultimately fatal
illness (lupus erythematosus).

The assassination of Ninoy Aquino

caused the Philippines economy to
deteriorate even further, and the
government plunged further into debt. By
the end of 1983, the Philippines was in
an economic recession, with the
economy contracting by 6.8%.[17]

In 1984, Marcos appointed a

commission, led by Chief Justice Enrique
Fernando, to launch an investigation into
Aquino's assassination. Despite the
commission's conclusions, Cardinal
Jaime Sin, the Archbishop of Manila,
declined an offer to join the commission
and rejected the government's views on
the assassination.

Calls for election

On November 3, 1985, after pressure

from the US government,[18] Marcos
suddenly announced that a snap
presidential election would take place the
following year, one year ahead of the
regular presidential election schedule, to
legitimize his control over the country.[19]
The snap election was legalized with the
passage of Batas Pambansa Blg. 883
(National Law No. 883) by the Marcos-
controlled unicameral congress called
the Regular Batasang Pambansa.[20]

The growing opposition movement

encouraged Ninoy Aquino's widow,
Corazon Aquino, to run for the
presidency. United Opposition (UNIDO)
leader, Salvador Laurel, who earlier filed
his candidacy as an official UNIDO
candidate for the presidency, gave way to
Cory after a political deal which was later
reneged by Cory after the election.
Salvador Laurel eventually ran as Cory
Aquino's running mate for vice-president
under the United Opposition (UNIDO)
party. Marcos ran for re-election, with
Arturo Tolentino as his running mate
under the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan
(KBL) party.[20]

1986 election

The elections were held on February 7,

1986.[19] The official election canvasser,
the Commission on Elections
(COMELEC), declared Marcos the winner.
The final tally of the COMELEC had
Marcos winning with 10,807,197 votes
against Aquino's 9,291,761 votes. On the
other hand, based on returns of 70% of
the precincts[21] of the National
Movement for Free Elections
(NAMFREL), an accredited poll watcher,
had Aquino winning with 7,835,070 votes
against Marcos' 7,053,068 votes.[22]

This electoral exercise was marred by

widespread reports of violence and
tampering of election results,
culminating in the walkout of 30
COMELEC computer technicians to
protest the deliberate manipulation of the
official election results to favor
Ferdinand Marcos. The walkout was
considered as one of the early "sparks" of
the People Power Revolution. The
walkout also served as an affirmation to
allegations of vote-buying, fraud, and
tampering of election results by the
KBL.[23][24]

Because of reports of alleged fraud, the

Catholic Bishops' Conference of the
Philippines (CBCP) through Cardinal
Ricardo Vidal issued a statement
condemning the elections. The United
States Senate also passed a resolution
stating the same condemnation.[19] US
president Ronald Reagan issued a
statement calling the fraud reports as
"disturbing" but he said that there was
fraud "on both sides" of the Philippine
election.[25][26] In response to the
protests, COMELEC claimed that Marcos
with 53 percent won over Aquino.
However, NAMFREL countered that the
latter won over Marcos with 52 percent
of votes.[27]

On February 15, Marcos was proclaimed

by COMELEC and Batasang Pambansa
as the winner amidst the controversy. All
50 opposition members of the
Parliament walked out in protest. The
Filipino people repudiated the results,
asserting that Aquino was the real victor.
Both "winners" took their oath of office in
two different places, with Aquino gaining
greater mass support. Aquino also called
for coordinated strikes and mass boycott
of the media and businesses owned by
Marcos' cronies. As a result, the crony
banks, corporations, and media were hit
hard, and their shares in the stock market
plummeted to record levels.

Vidal's declaration

Cardinal Vidal, after the result of the snap

election, issued a declaration in lieu of
the Philippine Church hierarchy stating
that when "a government does not of
itself freely correct the evil it has inflicted
on the people then it is our serious moral
obligation as a people to make it do so."
The declaration also asked "every loyal
member of the Church, every community
of the faithful, to form their judgment
about the February 7 polls" and told all
the Filipinos, "Now is the time to speak
up. Now is the time to repair the wrong.
The wrong was systematically organized.
So must its correction be. But as in the
election itself, that depends fully on the
people; on what they are willing and
ready to do."[28]

Events
Aborted military coup

Appalled by the bold and apparent

election irregularities, the Reform the
Armed Forces Movement set into motion
a coup attempt against Marcos. The
initial plan was for a team to assault
Malacañan Palace and arrest Ferdinand
Marcos. Other military units would take
over key strategic facilities, such as the
airport, military bases, the GHQAFP in
Camp Aguinaldo, and major highway
junctions to restrict counteroffensive by
Marcos-loyal troops.

However, after Marcos learned about the

plot, he ordered their leaders' arrest,[29]
and presented to the international and
local press some of the captured
plotters, Maj. Saulito Aromin and Maj.
Edgardo Doromal.[30]

Threatened with their impending

imprisonment, Defense Minister Juan
Ponce Enrile and his fellow coup plotters
decided to ask for help from then-AFP
Vice Chief of Staff Lt. Gen Fidel Ramos,
who was also the chief of the Philippine
Constabulary (now the Philippine
National Police). Ramos agreed to resign
from his position and support the
plotters. Enrile also contacted the highly
influential Cardinal Archbishop of Manila
Jaime Sin for his support.

At about 6:30 p.m. on February 22, Enrile

and Ramos held a press conference at
Camp Aguinaldo, where they announced
that they had resigned from their
positions in Marcos' cabinet and were
withdrawing support from his
government. Marcos himself later
conducted his own news conference
calling on Enrile and Ramos to surrender,
urging them to "stop this stupidity".[31]

Sin's appeal

After Cardinal Vidal's condemnation of

the snap election's fraudulent result, a
message was aired over Radio Veritas at
around 9 p.m., Cardinal Sin exhorted
Filipinos in the capital to aid rebel leaders
by going to the section of EDSA between
Camp Crame and Aguinaldo and giving
emotional support, food and other
supplies. For many this seemed an
unwise decision since civilians would not
stand a chance against a dispersal by
government troops. Many people,
especially priests and nuns, still trooped
to EDSA.[31]

Radio Veritas played a critical role during

the mass uprising. Former University of
the Philippines president Francisco
Nemenzo stated that: "Without Radio
Veritas, it would have been difficult, if not
impossible, to mobilize millions of people
in a matter of hours." Similarly, a certain
account in the event said that: "Radio
Veritas, in fact, was our umbilical cord to
whatever else was going on."[32]

Rising mass support

At dawn, Sunday, government troops
arrived to knock down the main
transmitter of Radio Veritas, cutting off
broadcasts to people in the provinces.
The station switched to a standby
transmitter with a limited range of
broadcast.[32] The station was targeted
because it had proven to be a valuable
communications tool for the people
supporting the rebels, keeping them
informed of government troop
movements and relaying requests for
food, medicine, and supplies.[31]

Still, people came to EDSA until it swelled

to hundreds of thousands of unarmed
civilians. The mood in the street was
actually very festive, with many bringing
whole families. Performers entertained
the crowds, nuns and priests led prayer
vigils, and people set up barricades and
makeshift sandbags, trees, and vehicles
in several places along EDSA and
intersecting streets such as Santolan and
Ortigas Avenue. Everywhere, people
listened to Radio Veritas on their radios.
Several groups sang Bayan Ko (My
Homeland),[33] which, since 1980, had
become a patriotic anthem of the
opposition. People frequently flashed the
'LABAN' sign,[34] which is an "L" formed
with their thumb and index finger. 'Laban'
is the Tagalog word for 'fight', but also
the abbreviation of Lakas ng Bayan,
Ninoy Aquino's party.

After lunch on February 23, Enrile and

Ramos decided to consolidate their
positions. Enrile crossed EDSA from
Camp Aguinaldo to Camp Crame amidst
cheers from the crowd.[31]

In the mid-afternoon, Radio Veritas

relayed reports of Marines massing near
the camps in the east and LVT-5 tanks
approaching from the north and south. A
contingent of Marines with tanks and
armored vans, led by Brigadier General
Artemio Tadiar, was stopped along
Ortigas Avenue, about two kilometers
from the camps, by tens of thousands of
people.[35] Nuns holding rosaries knelt in
front of the tanks and men and women
linked arms together to block the
troops.[36] Tadiar asked the crowds to
make a clearing for them, but they did
not budge. In the end, the troops
retreated with no shots fired.[31]

By evening, the standby transmitter of

Radio Veritas failed. Shortly after
midnight, the staff were able to go to
another station to begin broadcasting
from a secret location under the moniker
"Radyo Bandido" (Outlaw Radio, which is
now known as DZRJ-AM). June Keithley,
with her husband Angelo Castro, Jr., was
the radio broadcaster who continued
Radio Veritas' program throughout the
night and in the remaining days.[31]

More military defections

At dawn on Monday, February 24, the first

serious encounter with government
troops occurred. Marines marching from
Libis, in the east, lobbed tear gas at the
demonstrators, who quickly dispersed.
Some 3,000 Marines then entered and
held the east side of Camp Aguinaldo.[31]

Later, helicopters manned by the 15th

Strike Wing of the Philippine Air Force,
led by Colonel Antonio Sotelo, were
ordered from Sangley Point in Cavite
(South of Manila) to head to Camp
Crame.[37] Secretly, the squadron had
already defected and instead of attacking
Camp Crame, landed in it, with the
crowds cheering and hugging the pilots
and crew members.[31]

A Bell 214 helicopter piloted by Major

Deo Cruz of the 205th Helicopter Wing
and Sikorsky S-76 gunships piloted by
Colonel Charles Hotchkiss of the 20th Air
Commando Squadron joined the rebel
squadron earlier in the air. The presence
of the helicopters boosted the morale of
Enrile and Ramos who had been
continually encouraging their fellow
soldiers to join the opposition
movement.[31] In the afternoon, Aquino
arrived at the base where Enrile, Ramos,
RAM officers and a throng were
waiting.[37]

The capture of Channel 4

At around that time, June Keithley

received reports that Marcos had left
Malacañang Palace and broadcast this
to the people at EDSA. The crowd
celebrated and even Ramos and Enrile
came out from Crame to appear to the
crowds. The jubilation was however
short-lived as Marcos later appeared on
television on the government-controlled
Channel 4,[38] (using the foreclosed ABS-
CBN facilities, transmitter and
compound) declaring that he would not
step down. It was thereafter speculated
that the false report was a calculated
move against Marcos to encourage more
defections.[31]

During this broadcast, Channel 4

suddenly went off the air. A contingent of
rebels, under Colonel Mariano Santiago,
had captured the station. Channel 4 was
put back on line shortly after noon, with
Orly Punzalan announcing on live
television, "Channel 4 is on the air again
to serve the people." By this time, the
crowds at EDSA had swollen to over a
million. (Some estimates placed them at
two million.)[31]

This broadcast was considered the

"return" of ABS-CBN on air because this
was the time when former employees of
the network were inside the complex
after 14 years of closure since Marcos
took it over during the Martial Law of
1972. "Radyo Bandido" ended
broadcasting that afternoon, while Radio
Veritas resumed transmissions, this time
from the ABS-CBN Broadcasting Center's
radio studios.

In the late afternoon, rebel helicopters

attacked Villamor Airbase, destroying
presidential air assets. Another
helicopter went to Malacañang, fired a
rocket, and caused minor damage. Later,
most of the officers who had graduated
from the Philippine Military Academy
(PMA) defected. The majority of the
Armed Forces had already changed
sides.[31]

Marcos orders not to shoot

"My order is not to attack"

0:00 / 0:00

President Ferdinand Marcos and

General Fabian Ver during a press
conference in Malacañan Palace.

Problems playing this file? See media

help.
Prior dialogues to stop the revolution
have not succeeded with the Armed
Forces of the Philippines, which was led
by General Fabian Ver. AFP was ready to
mount an air strike on the day but was
halted under orders of Marcos.

The actual dialogue on TV between

Marcos and then AFP Chief of Staff
General Fabian Ver went as follows:[39]

Fabian Ver: The Ambush there

is aiming to mount there in the
top. Very quickly, you must
immediately leave to conquer
them, immediately, Mr.
President.
Ferdinand Marcos: Just wait,
come here.
Ver: Please, Your Honor, so we
can immediately strike them.
We have to immobilize the
helicopters that they've got. We
have two fighter planes flying
now to strike at any time, sir.
Marcos: My order is not to
attack. No, no, no! Hold on. My
order is not to attack.
Ver: They are massing civilians
near our troops and we cannot
keep on withdrawing. You
asked me to withdraw
 yesterday-
Marcos (interrupting): Uh yes,
but ah... My order is to disperse
without shooting them.
Ver: We cannot withdraw all
the time...
Marcos: No! No! No! Hold on!
You disperse the crowd without
shooting them.

Two inaugurations
Corazon Aquino was inaugurated as the 11th
president of the Philippines on February 25, 1986 at
Sampaguita Hall (Now Kalayaan Hall).

On the morning of Tuesday, February 25,

at around 7 a.m., a minor clash occurred
between loyal government troops and the
reformists. Snipers stationed atop the
government-owned Channel 9 tower, near
Channel 4, began shooting at the
reformists. Many rebel soldiers surged to
the station,[31] and a rebel S-76 helicopter
later shot the snipers at the broadcast
tower. The troops later left after a V-150
was blocked by the crowd assembled.

Later in the morning, Corazon Aquino

was inaugurated as President of the
Philippines in a simple ceremony at Club
Filipino[40] in Greenhills, about a kilometer
from Camp Crame. She was sworn in as
President by Senior Associate Justice
Claudio Teehankee, and Laurel as Vice-
President by Justice Vicente Abad
Santos. The Bible on which Aquino swore
her oath was held by her mother-in-law
Aurora Aquino, the mother of Ninoy
Aquino. Attending the ceremonies were
Ramos, who was then promoted to
General, Enrile, and many politicians.[31]
Outside Club Filipino, all the way to EDSA,
hundreds of people cheered and
celebrated. Bayan Ko (My Country, a
popular folk song and the unofficial
National Anthem of protest) was sung
after Aquino's oath-taking. Many people
wore yellow, the color of Aquino's
campaign for presidency.

An hour later, Marcos held the

inauguration at Malacañang Palace.
Loyalist civilians attended the ceremony,
shouting "Marcos, Marcos, Marcos pa rin!
(Marcos, Marcos, still Marcos!)". On the
Palace balcony, Marcos took the Oath of
Office, broadcast by IBC-13 and RPN-
9.[31] None of the invited foreign
dignitaries attended the ceremony, for
security reasons. The couple finally
emerged on the balcony of the Palace
before 3,000 KBL loyalists who were
shouting, "Capture the snakes!"[41] Rather
tearfully,[41] First Lady Imelda Marcos
gave a farewell rendition of the couple's
theme song – the 1938 kundiman "Dahil
Sa Iyo" (Because of You) – chanting the
song's entreaties in Tagalog:

Because of you, I became happy

Loving I shall offer you
If it is true I shall be enslaved
by you
All of this because of you.[41]
The broadcast of the event was
interrupted as rebel troops successfully
captured the other stations.[31]

By this time, hundreds of people had

amassed at the barricades along
Mendiola, only a hundred meters away
from Malacañang. They were prevented
from storming the Palace by loyal
government troops securing the area.
The angry demonstrators were pacified
by priests who warned them not to be
violent.[31]

Marcos' departure
At 3:00 p.m. (EST) on Monday, President
Marcos phoned United States Senator
Paul Laxalt,[41] asking for advice from the
White House. Laxalt advised him to "cut
and cut clean",[42] to which Marcos
expressed his disappointment after a
short pause. In the afternoon, Marcos
talked to Minister Enrile, asking for safe
passage for him, his family, and close
allies such as General Ver.

At midnight PHT, the Marcos family

boarded a United States Air Force HH-3E
Rescue helicopters[43] and flew to Clark
Air Base in Angeles City 83 kilometres
north of Manila.
At Clark Air Base, Marcos asked to spend
a couple of days with his family in Ilocos
Norte, his native province. Aquino vetoed
the request. President Reagan privately
derided Cory Aquino for denying Marcos
a last look at his home province.[44]

The deposed First Family and their

servants then rode US Air Force DC-9
Medivac and C-141B planes to Andersen
Air Force Base in the north of the United
States territory of Guam, then flying to
Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii where
Marcos finally arrived on February 26.
The United States Government
documented that they entered the United
States with millions of dollars in
jewelries, gold, stocks, and cash.[5][31]

When news of the Marcos family's

departure reached civilians, many
rejoiced and danced in the streets. Over
at Mendiola, the demonstrators stormed
the Palace, which was closed to ordinary
people for around a decade. Despite
looting by some angry protesters, the
majority wandered about inside through
rooms where national history was
shaped, looking at objects extravagant
and mundane that the Marcos clan and
its court had abandoned in their flight.

In other countries, people also rejoiced

and congratulated Filipinos they knew.
CBS anchorman Bob Simon reported:
"We Americans like to think we taught the
Filipinos democracy. Well, tonight they
are teaching the world." [31]

Some authors say that Marcos prevented

civil war similar to the Syrian Civil War by
refusing to use guns notwithstanding the
insistence of his top general, and by
agreeing to step down during the EDSA
revolution.[45][46] The White House said
"By leaving the Philippines at a critical
juncture in his nation's history, Mr.
Marcos permitted the peaceful transition
to popular, democratic rule."[47]

Aftermath
 Wikisource has original text related
to this article:
Proclamation № 3: Provisional
Constitution of the Philippines
(1986)

Immediately after her accession, Aquino

issued Proclamation № 3, a provisional
constitution which established a
revolutionary government. The edict
promulgated the 1986 Freedom
Constitution, which retained or
superseded various provisions of the
1973 Constitution that was in force up to
that point. This allowed Aquino to wield
both executive and legislative powers;
among her first acts was to unilaterally
abolish the Batasang Pambansa (the
unicameral legislature duly elected in
1984), pending a plebiscite for a more
permanent Constitution and the
establishment of a new Congress by
1987.[48]

The revolution had an effect on

democratization movements in such
countries as Taiwan and South Korea;
other effects include the restoration of
the freedom of the press, abolition of
repressive laws enforced by the previous
regime, the adoption of the 1987
Constitution, and the subordination of
the military to civilian rule, despite
several coup attempts during Aquino's
rule.[49]

The revolution provided for the

restoration of democratic institutions
after thirteen years of totalitarian rule
and these institutions have been used by
various groups to challenge the
entrenched political families and to
strengthen Philippine democracy.[50]

Legacy

A visitor to the Bantayog ng mga Bayani Museum

browses through a timeline of the EDSA Revolution
browses through a timeline of the EDSA Revolution,
one of the last sequences in the Museum's coverage
of protest movements against the Marcos
dictatorship.

The People Power Revolution has

inspired a call for change of government
through peaceful protests rather than
bloodshed. Many similar revolutions
have followed since then, taking the
Philippine example of nonviolent regime
change, such as that in East Germany
and many other former Soviet Bloc
countries.[51] It also helped inspire the
Arab Spring in 2011.[52]

The EDSA Revolution Anniversary is a

special public holiday in the Philippines.
Since 2002, the holiday has been a
special non-working holiday.[53][54]

10-peso coin commemorating the People Power

Revolution

Rampant corruption during the term of

President Joseph Estrada led to the
similar 2001 EDSA Revolution leading to
his resignation from the presidency.

In 2003, the Radio Broadcast of the

Philippine People Power Revolution was
inscribed in the UNESCO Memory of the
World Register, the official documentary
heritage list of the United Nations'
educational and scientific body.[55]

On September 12, 2007, Estrada was

found guilty of plunder beyond
reasonable doubt by the Philippine anti-
graft court and sentenced to life
imprisonment.[56][57][58] He was pardoned
by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on
October 25, 2007.[59][56]

Timeline

See also
Epifanio de los Santos Avenue for
more information about the road
 Handog ng Pilipino sa Mundo
EDSA Shrine
People Power Monument

General:

Timeline of the Marcos Dictatorship

Similar events:

EDSA II
EDSA III
Gdańsk Agreement of 1980 and Round
Table Agreement of 1989, both
induced by peaceful protests in Poland
by Solidarity
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
Romanian Revolution
 Velvet Revolution, in Czechoslovakia
8888 Uprising, in Burma (now
Myanmar)
May 1998 riots of Indonesia
Iranian Revolution
Tunisian Revolution
Egyptian Revolution of 2011

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