Remembering the People’s Power Revolution in Baguio

February 24, 2019 Provincial

Ferdinand Marcos ruled the Philippines for two decades, using his position to amass a personal fortune. When Benigno Aquino – Marcos’s key political rival—was assassinated on August 21, 1983, cross-class opposition to the regime erupted.
Opposition protests drew international attention, and under mounting pressure, Marcos agreed to hold snap elections in 1986.
Aquino’s widow, Cory, ran against Marcos; and no one was surprised when Marcos rigged the election. Just as Cory Aquino announced a plan for a nonviolent civil resistance, two military leaders defected.
The cardinal of the Filipino Catholic Church asked citizens
to protect the two defectors. Millions responded, forming a human barricade between Marcos’s troops and the officers.
Civilian resisters encouraged the advancing soldiers to defect. After several days, the majority of troops joined the opposition movement. With no sanctioning power left, Marcos fled to Hawaii, and Aquino assumed the presidency. That in a nutshell, was what happened during the 1986 People’s Power Revolution that occurred
in the Philippines 33 years ago.
But although most people would say that this was a “bloodless revolution,” many more would disagree because in the years leading to the People’s Power Revolution, countless Filipinos were jailed, tortured, disappeared or killed.