Two Decades On
by TheDivineMissM!
We were between ten and eleven years old when People Power happened. My dad has already resigned from the military less than two years earlier, and was already working in Saudi Arabia. But we still had relatives who were in the military, and my family were notoriously pro-Marcos so not surprisingly, we weren't in EDSA.
But I came of age with the images and music and sentimentality of People Power. Even today, I get an unexplainable stirring at the pit of my stomach when I hear the strings of the song Bayan Ko. I swear when I got married to a non-Filipino that no matter where my children are born or how they will be raised, they will learn to sing with emotions:
Ang bayan kong Pilipinas
Lupain ng ginto't bulaklak
Pag-ibig ang sa kanyang palad
Nag-alay ng ganda't dilag
At sa kanyang yumi at ganda
Dayuhan ay nahalina
Bayan ko, binihag ka
Nasadlak sa dusa
Ibon mang may layang lumipad
Kulungin mo at umiiyak
Bayan pa kayang sakdal dilag
Ang di magnasang makaalpas
Pilipinas kong minumutya
Pugad ng luha ko't dalita
Aking adhika
Makita kang sakdal laya
Today, I heard the song again, right outside my office window. Looking out I saw confetti floating down from the top of our building. Everyday when I look out that window, all I see are the traffic below and the gym across the street. Today, the gym people were also staring out, and on almost every building top on Ayala were people raining down confetti on the yellow-clad crowd below.
I can't believe that I am not ten years old anymore watching all these on TV and the grown-ups debating over politics. I am now among those who are part of the story, writing about it. I am one of those Makati office workers on the street and leaning out their office windows watching the marchers, still in their yellow shirts, still flashing the "Laban" sign, and still calling for the President to resign.
What changed? Camera phones. Yup, Makati office people, and even the vendors had their cellular phones out and clicking away. Other than that, nothing has changed. The shade of yellow has changed, and the players have more lines and grey hair. But people are still getting arrested, communication (albeit now texting) is still being intruded upon, and people are still struggling.
Twenty years on... laban pa rin.
