On February 25, 2026 at precisely 12 noon, youth, workers, farmers, urban poor, women, elderly, indigenous peoples, church people, and many more gathered in the streets of EDSA. They brought with them colorful placards, flags, and banners that had texts in bold capital letters demanding accountability and genuine good governance.
Thousands walked to the EDSA Shrine unbothered by the sweltering heat of the sun, withstanding excessive force from the police blocking the people’s march. This was the 40th anniversary of one of the most significant events in Philippine history, the so-called EDSA People Power Revolution (EDSA)–widely known as the peaceful people’s revolution that overthrew the Marcos dictatorship and “restored” democracy in the Philippines.
Being part of a generation post EDSA, I have to admit that it is hard for me to believe that this is the same country. Decades have passed and yet conditions have not changed for Filipinos. The country remains poor, systemically plundered, with a government submissive to foreign imperialist powers yet repressive towards its dissenters.
The Filipino people are still divided by political differences stratifying support into varying ideologies and to top it all off, the return of the Marcos family to Malacañang with Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. sitting as the 17th president of the Philippines. It now seems that everything fought for 40 years ago have been overturned and the sadder truth that cannot be ignored about the Marcos family’s return to power is that the brutality and massive corruption of the regime the so-called People Power Revolution once toppled can be forgiven, forgotten, and even glorified.
Perhaps EDSA was an imperfect revolution because many of the conditions that sparked the massive mobilization of millions of Filipinos at EDSA and across the country, continue. Human rights violations including enforced disappearances, extra-judicial killings, incarceration and conviction of activists on fabricated charges, persist.
But this should not be taken to mean that mass movements like the EDSA People Power are a failure in achieving true democracy, rather, a reminder that the people’s struggle for genuine change must be sustained.
Today, there are many narratives about EDSA that distort its real essence. To simplify the EDSA as “bloodless” or “peaceful” is a disservice to all the martyrs killed and tortured by the then Marcos Sr. regime; and, in public perception, creates a standard of a “good protester” that abides the law even if manipulated by the government.
EDSA did not exist as a singular event in history but an accumulation of years of people’s struggles and assertion of their human rights. What makes EDSA important is not the absence of violence or even bloodshed but because Filipinos have shown to the world something thought of as unimaginable—the Filipino people’s united and collective goal of overthrowing an abusive, corrupt and authoritarian government.
In a desperate effort to obliterate the significance of the EDSA People Power from the Filipino people’s consciousness, the Marcos Jr. administration used strategic machinations to muffle the administration like the declaration of the EDSA People Power 40th anniversary as a special working holiday, implementation of the no rally zone policy, and setting up police blockades to discourage people’s participation in the commemorative actions. These lies extend even after the protest when the police authorities attempted to cover up well-documented police brutality on the protesters. It is clear that there is an element of deception involved in hindering people’s participation which is why Filipinos must become more forthcoming and militant with their demands.
The commemoration was a success with at least 12,000 protesters defying the government’s repressive measures. Amid the flood control anomalies and outright lack of accountability, the Filipino people’s calls echo the same sentiment, that genuine change must happen now. The worsening crisis in the country has revealed a government unworthy of people’s trust and more and more Filipinos are becoming more courageous in taking action.
EDSA taught us that power resides with the people—but this is only true as long as we continue to claim it. Present conditions may be far from what the revolution aimed for but the reality of this uprising gives hope that amid continuing repression and abuse of power, there will come a time when people will push back to change a repressive system. EDSA People Power is already recorded in history and no amount of effort to invalidate this historic people’s uprising against a most corrupt and abusive government can strike it out from historical record.
To truly commemorate EDSA People Power, we must embody its spirit in the present and history will once again write itself in the streets.