Recently this thought has been pestering me, but strangely enough, this morning I woke up just shrugging it off: Why does Edsa—the revolution, not the traffic—wear so many colors, today, 2026, 40 years after it happened? Pink, yellow, white, and if the Left could muster a crowd, red, a color which, irony of ironies, has also been used by the incumbent power.
The 40th year anniversary of the Filipino People Power Revolution that became the world’s symbol of democracy in the last century is happening when plunder has become the Philippines’ robust national industry. And it is run by those who the people voted in power precisely to fight thievery so that the ordinary Filipino could have food and jobs, at the very least.
That no criminal of consequence has been put behind bars in the wake of the most massive corruption scandal has angered Filipinos—of whatever color. And that is the mental setting for the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of Edsa People Power Revolution—on different dates and in different venues: Feb. 21 in the QC Memorial Circle, and Feb. 25, the Trillion Peso March at the People Power Monument along Edsa in Quezon City, and a few others.
These commemorations have different convenors and will have different speakers onstage. If at all they will have different—short-term—political strategy, tactics, and candidates on the road map to the 2028 presidential elections. So be it.
The Filipino switches political colors as fast as he presses his phone—a people noted for their highest engagement in social media, which comes with high gullibility, by the way. They could go from Yellow to Pink and White, depending on which YouTube or TikTok channel they happened to watch that morning. They seem oblivious to the fact that the color represents the crossroads in the nation’s history, which you cannot undo or fake, no matter what. There is Pink because the Yellow paved the way for it. They don’t remember that. And there is a White because Pink and Yellow didn’t seem good enough. A nation’s history is the unappetizing sum of precedents and consequences.
So—the 40th Edsa has the colors of the rainbow, a near-sighted vision. So be it. The opposition is multi-colored—a wish-come-true design for the well-funded troll farms of anti-people power. Again, so be it.
I read this rant in a group chat about the rainbow opposition: “Hindi sila maka-unite against a common enemy. Diyan ako na-e-exasperate…. they tend to focus on differences rather than what should unite them, which is to oust the worst evil…. Di ba pwede slay the dragon muna, then saka na tayo mag negotiate. Ang mga kadiliman ang bilis mag-unite kasi nga survival mode. Will go to bed with anyone to perpetuate power.”
That is raw venting. No need for an academic’s political analysis or pedantism.
Sheer exasperation. But again, so be it. We go beyond frustration into pragmatism which you hope, in time, will develop into a full awareness and understanding of the right and moral options ahead. A unifying force that will propel a unifying, upright leader for the 2028 elections.
The making of Philippine constitutional democracy must be the slowest among the countries genuinely committed to democracy (so count out military junta rule in the guise of democracy). It’s a real slow burn that is up against a bottomless financial chest built out of plundered wealth in the first place.
So be it. Don’t overthink it. A unifying force will emerge, hopefully from top to bottom. Schools always mobilize for the Edsa People Power commemoration. And so do social groups and chats, from seniors to millennials, from socialites, businessmen to office rats, from committed ones to spectators and “usiseros.”
I will not stress over this rainbow opposition. In due time, the Filipino just may realize that what is needed is a unifier opposition, not a peacock. Edsa—the people power—always happens, at whatever point in Philippine history. The Virgin of Edsa isn’t budging from where she stands, like it or not.
Read more:
May himala!: People are back in Edsa
My parents’ EDSA: I have better sense of it now
The relevance of Edsa—to someone born long after it happened
