hi, john. as i've written before, I visited Edsa Tres to talk to people there. I have always said Edsa Tres was genuine People Power. I do not buy the idea that most people were there because they were bribed or told to go. At the very least, many were there because they felt insulted and angry at the way Estrada was arrested.
I agree. It took one angry religious leader (Bro Manalo of INC) to start Edsa Tres. Nakita nya yung nangyari kay Estrada, kaya pinapunta niya ang mga INC people at followers niya sa Edsa.
Tapos, sumunod si Mike Velarde of El Shaddai, bringing along his followers.
Edsa 3 failed because its leaders had been mainly the targets of People Power in 1986 and 2001, and because of that, didn't understand its dynamics too well.
Walang kinalaman ang mga Marcoses sa Edsa Tres, but you're partly right on why edsa tres failed. Most of the civil society and mainstream media's attitude back then was: erap's worse than GMA. Erap's corrupt. Arroyo's not. Erap's immoral. Arroyo's not, so we need to stick with Arroyo and help fight the erap rebellion. yan ang Conventional Wisdom dati.
But the bigger reasons kung bakit nag-fail ang edsa tres ay dalawa:
1) No military support.
2) minimal/hostile ang media coverage ng Edsa Tres compared to the previous two.
Sa pagkaka-alala ko, yun NET25 lang ang nagbigay ng live 24/7 coverage sa Edsa Tres. most of the MSM OTOH, including GMA7 and ABS-CBN, gave little coverage to edsa tres, unlike nung coverage nila sa edsa dos.
The media's coverage of edsa dos was a boost for the anti-Erap movement. But their deliberate lack of coverage for Edsa tres showed the MSM's bias at that time, i think.
For example, two cardinal principles are: it is peaceful, and organized (that's where the middle and political classes come in), and the leaders lead from the front, and not the back. That is why, for example, in 19883-86 you had the Chino Roceses etc. being water cannoned, why you saw Randy David and so on at the front of the barricades in 2001.
well, edsa dos could have turned violent. And I recall the commies threatening to march all the way to Malacanang to take Erap out if he didn't vacate Malacanang.
Kung hindi bumaba si erap, di nagkapatayan na, hindi ba?
As for leaders leading on the front, I don't recall Ramos or Enrile leading from the front. Weren't they holed up somewhere, asking people to come save them? Cory was hiding somewhere in Cebu during Edsa 1986, IIRC. And Cardinal Sin told people to go to Edsa.
Sa Edsa Dos naman, most of the leaders, including GMA, Cory, Ramos and Sin, stayed put at the Edsa Shrine (Mike Arroyo said there will be no bloodshed at Edsa), while the commies on the last day marched to Malacanang to try to take out estrada by force. I also recall pidal threatening violence vs erap did not resign on the last day. Here's Big Mike:
Our group there was a back-up strike force. In fact, it was our group that won over to our side the PNP first. If Panfilo Lacson had resisted, he and his men would have been repelled: there would have been bloodshed, but not on EDSA. In every place where Erap loyalists had a force, we had a counter-force to face it, with orders to shoot. And not only in Metro Manila. Carillo had already been sent to the provinces; and in Nueva Ecija, for instance, we had Rabosa. This was a fight to the finish. That's why those five days that Erap was demanding were so important. He was counting on counter-coups and baliktaran.
"I was negotiating with Pardo up to three o'clock in the morning: niloloko lang pala kami. But I told him point-blank: "If by six o'clock this morning you haven't given us the resignation letter, we will storm the gates of Malacañang!' But they insisted on more talk: with De Villa up front, and my back channel debate with Pardo, which even became a three-way contest, with Buboy Virata pitching in.
"But the threat to march to Malacañang was for real. And so was the danger of bloodshed. I wasn't telling Gloria everything: I didn't want her alarmed. So she didn't know about the orders to shoot."
So it's not really about leaders going to the frontlines, kuya. It's more about the people + military support.
When the people finally marched on May 1, the leaders disappeared. Then it got violent. And, at the Palace, no one was there to direct them, encourage them, help them regroup, etc. With a President ordering any means be used to disperse them, the effort failed. Since then, the PNP learned to adopt the strategy that no longer should any crowd last longer than a few hours before being dispersed.
I think it just got out of control after the gov't sent tanks and Armored Personnel carriers to the NET25 station to stop their broadcast of Edsa Tres.
Kasi, without media coverage, mahirap talagang mag succeed ang people power.
as for "leaders disappearing" kuya manuel, hindi ba inaresto sila ng admin?
katulad nung nangyari kay beltran, at gustong ring gawin sa "batasan 5" ngayon.
More from MLQ3 here. read the comments in DJB's blog too.
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