In October 2023, Malacañang issued Proclamation No. 386, which lists the regular and special nonworking holidays for the year 2024. However, the Edsa People Power Revolution, traditionally observed on Feb. 25, was surprisingly left off.
The Palace explained that the anniversary of the Edsa Revolution was excluded from the list because Feb. 25, 2024, falls on a Sunday, so there would be “minimal socioeconomic impact in declaring it a holiday, since it coincides with the rest day for most workers and laborers.”
In an interview with Rappler, Kiko Aquino Dee, grandson of the late President Cory Aquino, one of the main figures of the Edsa revolution in 1986, said that “a fire was lit under us when the holiday was canceled, which was questionable because other holidays that fell on a weekend like the Chinese New Year were recognized as a holiday.”
In addition to being recognized as an official holiday for 2024, the Palace also announced in January that the day prior to Chinese New Year would also be declared as a “special nonworking holiday,” with the justification that it would give people “the full opportunity to celebrate the Chinese New Year and enable our countrymen to avail of the benefits of a longer weekend.”
Given that the current President is the son of the dictator who was overthrown during the 1986 revolution, this furthered the perception that the administration was only seeking an excuse to ignore the anniversary of the Edsa People Power and prompted concerns that they were attempting to “rewrite” history.
Not the first time
Though, granted, this is not the first time that the anniversary of the Edsa People Power was not declared as a holiday.
The Edsa anniversary was first observed in February 1987, when President Cory Aquino issued Proclamation No. 59 designating Feb. 25 as a “national nonworking, special public holiday.”
During the time of President Fidel V. Ramos, Feb. 25 was declared as a “special nonworking holiday” on 1993 and 1994. In 1995, it was declared as a “special day,” since Feb. 25 of that year landed on a Saturday. In 1996, President Ramos did not issue a holiday proclamation, but declared Feb. 25 as a “National Ecumenical Day of Prayer and Reconciliation.” There were no Edsa holiday proclamations as well for 1997 and 1998.
In 1999, rather than designating Feb. 25 as a holiday, President Joseph “Erap” Ejercito Estrada signed Executive Order No. 82, establishing the Edsa People Power Commission, which has been the main organization in charge of honoring the historic event ever since. In 2000, he issued Proclamation No. 242, designating Edsa as a “special national holiday.”
President Erap was ousted in January 2001 during the Edsa 2 uprising.
In February 2001, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who took over after Erap, did not declare the Edsa 1 anniversary as a holiday of any kind, possibly because the new uprising that led her to her presidency was still quite recent.
From 2002 onward, the anniversary of Edsa was consistently declared as a holiday.
Unlike for Ninoy Aquino Day (Aug. 21) and Araw ng Kagitingan (April 9), there is no law in place that establishes the Edsa People Power anniversary as a fixed nonworking holiday. As a result, the President has the discretion whether or not to declare Feb. 25 as a holiday each year.
Upon the issuance of Proclamation No. 386 that excluded the Edsa anniversary as a holiday, Albay 1st District Rep. Edcel Lagman has sought to file a bill that institutionalizes Feb. 25 as a “regular, public nonworking holiday.”
As of writing, there are still no updates as to the status of the bill. “Never again, never forget” has always been the chant of the people when it comes to the commemoration of Edsa. It serves as a reminder, and as a promise, that us Filipinos will never again let another dictator rise to power, and that we will never forget the human rights violations and the various atrocities that befell our country during the time of the martial law era.
Never again
I can only imagine the emotional toll that having another Marcos in office and having this historic day barred from commemoration brings upon those who were victims or had loved ones who perished under martial law. This is especially true in this age of misinformation and historical distortion, where Marcos supporters continue to claim that the martial law era was the “golden age” of the Philippines, ignoring the crimes and bloodshed that happened in broad daylight. It’s Feb. 22 as I write this and there’s still no word on whether the decision to exclude Feb. 25 as a holiday will change, nor is there any news on whether the succeeding weekday would be declared a holiday.
Nevertheless, whether or not it is true that the only reason for the nondeclaration of Feb. 25 as a holiday was simply a matter of innocent circumstance that it fell on a weekend, it doesn’t mean that the Filipino people will not commemorate the historical event that proved to the world that the power will always be with the people.
Nevertheless, we will continue to remember the victims of the martial law regime; those who laid their lives in order to ensure that the future generations would never suffer the same atrocities that they did and those who fought valiantly against all odds in order to ensure democracy for our country.
Nevertheless, we will #NeverForget. —CONTRIBUTED