uprising

it has been 25 years since the People Power Revolution. twenty five years since the snap elections, the rendition of Magkaisa and Handog ng Filipino sa Mundo. how did the people evolved from living in a dictatorship to being lead by a series of presidents who were confronted by their demons and did not usher a tiny residue of significant changes? i haven't been home for a couple of years, but i dare say, not much. we still hear stories of graft and corruption, red tape, of the population exploding every single minute, insurgency, unemployment, traffic, hunger and poverty. the Philippines is still third world.

i could barely remember the Marcos years. i was 11 during EDSA, fifth grade. what did i know about dictatorship? the year before that i was glued to this tome, Si Imelda, ang Filipina, it was one of our textbooks, not particularly part of curriculum. she was painted as this raving, ideal beauty who got married to a smart guy. she was so kind and almost saintly. there was the hairdo, the half-moon manicure, her singing. years after EDSA and discovering her shoe collection, i was able to skim the pages of The Untold Story of Imelda Marcos by Carmen Pedrosa and realised Si Imelda, ang Filipina was the book of lies.

no, one person, one family, for decades in power is never good. it's heartbreaking. but the succeeding presidents were not without censure. they may only have served out their terms but they were as greedy as the marcoses. we saw and still seeing the blatant accumulation of wealth, amongst those in power, living in luxury, enriching themselves through kickbacks. while the people suffer. shame. what is the way to at least, a comfortable existence? it's developing insights and cutting the chain to ignorance. my arguments during high school remain the same -- plan your family, if you can't afford to have lots of kids, don't. be disciplined and honest, embrace school with a tiny bit of passion, read, adhere to the traffic lights, use the rubbish bins. now, as someone old, i'll say, refrain from using skin whitening creams, don't engage in all sorts of gambling activities, skip the portals of gossips.