Many of us are still recovering from Leni Robredo’s defeat in May 2021, and, although we have somehow moved on,...
The Philippine High School for the Arts’ (PHSA) production of “Nagwawalang Gubat”—Guelan Luarca’s translation of Caryl Churchill’s “Mad Forest,”...
THE PHILIPPINES has had a long and bloody history—from over 300 years of Spanish colonization, to 40 years of American...
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FOR THE 30th anniversary of Edsa Revolution this month, Ballet Manila will celebrate the spirit of People Power through the...
Philippine “people power” did not start with the millions who welcomed the papal visits of Saint John Paul II in 1981 and 1995 and of Pope Francis last year. It started in 1937 when for the first time in history, the International Eucharistic Festival (IEC), the spiritual festival centered on the Holy Mass that started at the turn of the 20th century, was held in Asia—in solidly Catholic Philippines.
“The enemy—and who is that?” Cardinal Luis Tagle asked his audience in his homily at the Edsa Shrine on the 29th anniversary of People Power, Feb. 25, his chinky eyes narrowing yet to give way to tears or laughter or both. I was listening at home, watching him in the intimacy of television close-ups. As a holy man, possibly he had no clue, but, like everybody else less holy, I think I knew and put his words in the context of the massacre of the 44 soldiers in Maguindanao.
Be very still. Understand your oneness with the One Power in the universe. Understand that this One Power is God.
In 1970, a spoken-word composition called “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” by American soul and jazz artist Gil Scott-Heron featured haunting lyrics that ended with the line, “The revolution will be live.”
In the time of People Power, on Dec. 5, 1987, a lively gathering was going on at the “in” place at that time, Limelight at the Remedios Circle. Political activists, socialites, artists, bohemians and academicians of all stripes had trooped to the fun district of Malate to toast and roast themselves in the launching of the book, “History of the Burgis.”
