“Tracing back our Philippine history, do you think the 1986 EDSA Revolution

can be considered a successful social movement? Defend your position and

answer with relevant and credible sources.”

The 1986 EDSA Revolution was one of the most remarkable mass movements in the

Philippines. Thousands of Filipino people unified themselves to form an uprising to throw out

the Philippines’ most notorious dictator, or a dictatorial family, rather— the Marcoses. Without a

doubt, the 1986 EDSA Revolution became a successful event in outthrowing a president who

imposed a dictatorial rule in the Philippines for two decades. Nevertheless, the assessment must

lie in determining the success of the 1986 EDSA Revolution regarding its implication in creating

a significant social movement. A successful significance of a social movement lies within its

capacity to maintain the sociopolitical consciousness of the mass. A social movement is not an

event that limits itself to only one social revolution.

No one can deny that the 1986 EDSA Revolution had a massive impact on bringing back

democracy in the Philippine constitution. However big it may be, it is a personal take that the

said revolution did not impose a long-term social change for a significant social movement.

According to the Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines (2015), the 1986 EDSA

Revolution served as a national movement that created an amalgamation of varying Filipino

people under one dictatorial rule in the Philippines. There is a clear reiteration of the success of

the said revolution in kicking a dictator out of the presidential palace; however, it is not entirely

evident how it is influential enough to create a significant social movement. After the Marcos

family left the Malacañang Palace, they flew to Guam, assisted by the United States of America

(Mydans, 1986). Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. was not even held accountable for the corruption,

violence, and extrajudicial killings he imposed during his self-proclaimed term. With this
consideration, one can assess that the 1986 EDSA Revolution only paved the way for the

Philippines to rid the dictatorial family of the position. However, it was not efficient or

significant enough to give justice to those who suffered the most, i.e., the penitentiary verdict

against the wrongdoings of the Marcoses. Assessing the significance of a social movement must

not be limited to the concept of ousting a dictator— there must be an existing integrative concept

of revolution and justice. Aside from their great western support to escape the Philippines, the

family has ways of maintaining their grasp on power, particularly Imelda Marcos. According to

Bradshaw (2019), the power the country failed to take away from the Marcoses paved the way

for them to return to the Philippines as a family with the aim of infiltrating the governing

democracy in the country. Thus, paving the way for such fascist embodiment to have the

capacity of having political power, i.e., Rodrigo Duterte. If the 1986 EDSA Revolution had been

a significant social movement, then such a political mistake (electing fascists and corrupt bodies)

would not occur three decades after ousting the dictator.

Indeed, the 1986 EDSA Revolution was a social movement that impacted the Philippines.

It paved the way for a dictator and his accountable family to be thrown out of the country.

Nevertheless, one must recognize that that was the limit of the said revolution; it needed to be

more significant to hold a long-term effect on the country’s sociopolitical environment. As

reiterated, the long history of the Marcoses’ power in the Philippines still prevailed even after

they flew to Guam; after all, not everyone experienced the same misfortune, thus, fooling some

into thinking that the martial law era was an extraordinary political event. Analyzing the

underlying sociopolitical instances in the present times, i.e., the governance of the Marcos-

Duterte tandem in the Malacañang Palace is one of the many reasons why the 1986 EDSA

Revolution did not create a significant social movement. It paved the way for the ousting of a
dictator; however, it did not impose a justice that held the people behind the gruesome

governance of Ferdinand E. Marcos, Sr., accountable.

References:

30th Anniversary of the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution | GOVPH. (2015). Official

Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines. https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/edsa/

Bradshaw, P. (2019, December 12). The Kingmaker review – exquisitely horrible portrait of

Imelda Marcos. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/dec/12/the-

kingmaker-imelda-marcos-philippines-documentary-lauren-greenfield

Mydans, S. (1986, February 26). MARCOS FLEES AND IS TAKEN TO GUAM; U.S.

RECOGNIZES AQUINO AS PRESIDENT. The New York Times.

https://www.nytimes.com/1986/02/26/world/marcos-flees-and-is-taken-to-guam-us-

recognizes-aquino-as-president.html