The gigantic, militant and peaceful mass actions that ousted Estrada
From January 16 to 20, the Filipino people dealt the death blow against the despised Estrada regime through a historic uprising.
In the span of four days, the entire nation was shaken by protest rallies joined by at least a million people echoing the calls "Erap, resign now!", "Patalsikin si Erap (Oust Erap)!", "Hatol ng bayan, guilty si Erap (The people�s verdict: Erap is guilty)!" and "Sigaw ng bayan, arestuhin si Erap (The people�s cry: Arrest Erap)!". Workers, the youth, peasants, women, the urban poor, professionals and government employees, businessmen, church people, cultural workers and other sectors, including anti- Estrada factions in the military and reactionary politicians, united to launch gigantic, militant and peaceful mass actions. From factories, schools, offices and impoverished communities in the cities and the countryside, they trooped to major thoroughfares in various parts of the country. They raised an unprecedented storm that compelled rabid reactionaries in the Estrada camp, as well as the fascist military and police, to turn their backs against their president, until Estrada himself was eventually forced to relinquish power.
Evening of January 16. The public�s anger against the regime exploded when the senate voted against the viewing of documents detailing Estrada�s P3.3-billion bank account. Private prosecutors as well as ordinary folk who had been observing the trial walked out, with the public prosecutors following suit by announcing their withdrawal the next day. A disappointed people found opportunity to ventilate their outrage against the senate�s blatant suppression of the truth when the public was enjoined to gather at the EDSA shrine. Within a few minutes, tens of thousands of demonstrators had massed up at the EDSA-Ortigas intersection and along streets and plazas in cities and towns all over the country.
In the dead of night, Metro Manila and the cities of Angeles, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, Bacolod, Davao, Iloilo, Dumaguete and Cotabato were livened up by noise barrages, text messages and lightning rallies. People chanted, honked their horns, pounded pots and pans and aired anti-Estrada jingles full blast. Various statements demanding the immediate resignation of Estrada and calling for people to join massive protests flooded newspapers, radios, television, the internet and telephone lines.
The broad anti-Estrada united front including BAYAN, Bayan Muna, Kangkong Bigade, Estrada Resign Movement, COPA, Kompil II, the United Opposition, UCCP, CBCP, PCCI, MBC and other sectoral and multisectoral groups in the country�s various centers, tightened their coordination in order to push for Estrada�s resignation. In Davao, anti- Estrada forces led by the Konsensiya sa Katawhan, systematized their coordination of protest actions with other groups in Mindanao and Manila.
January 17. The people made sure to continue pouring into the streets until Estrada resigned. Factory and transport strikes, school boycotts, community barricades, office walkouts and big demonstrations were
launched to topple Estrada. Students, teachers, employees and officials of UP, UST, PUP, FEU, La Salle, Ateneo, Miriam, Poveda, St. Scholastica�s College, St. Joseph�s College, Mindanao State University, Immaculate Conception College of Ozamis and St. Anthony�s College of Antique were only some of the hundreds of schools around the nation that joined the mass actions. Officials and employees of the Department of Foreign Affairs, National Food Authority, National Economic Development Authority, Department of Labor and Employment and other government agencies also participated.
Delegations of peasants, workers, women, youth and minorities from Central and Southern Luzon readied to troop to EDSA. They were determined to go to Manila to join forces with the more than 275,000 protesters, even if the police had earlier blocked more than 50 busloads of protesters from the cities of Olongapo, Naga and various other areas in Southern Tagalog.
People from various sectors, whose numbers swelled with the presence of elementary, high school, college, medical and law students, continued to hold rallies, noise barrages and candlelight vigils in Ozamis; Roxas, Capiz; Cebu; Maasin, Southern Leyte and other cities and towns in the Visayas and Mindanao.
January 18. Estrada fanned the flames of the people�s wrath as he stubbornly clung to power despite the growing ranks of protesters. At this point, some of his closest friends had already decided to go against Estrada.
With most of them in black as a symbol of protest against Estrada, more than 10,000 workers, employees and company officials, including those from the Philippine Stock Exchange, walked out of their Makati offices holding up placards and streamers. They formed a human chain that stretched from Makati to the EDSA Shrine.
Government officials from the Cordillera also marched along Session Road in Baguio, launched prayer rallies and lit candles. Law students from the Baguio Colleges Foundation staged a walk out and rallied in front of Estrada�s Baguio mansion. The Diocese of Dagupan-Lingayen and the Erap Agco La! (Enough, Erap! Movement) of Pangasinan, Bulake�os, around 500 members of the Bayombong-Quirino Diocese and the church people of Lucena also joined mass actions.
In the Visayas, rallyists in San Jose, Antique (2,500) and Roxas City (3,000) grew in number.
Rallies in Mindanao continued, with the chants "Erap, kanaog na!" (Erap, step down!) and "Tangtangon na si Erap!" (Oust Erap!). Protest actions were launched by people in Ozamis City, Pagadian City and in the towns of Tukuran and Dumalinao in Zamboanga Del Sur. More than 1,000 people joined protest actions in Cotabato. In Marawi City, around 2,000 members of the Bangsamoro Youth Movement called for the resignation of Estrada and a stop to military operations in Lanao.
January 19. According to the Kilusang Mayo Uno, more than 450 companies employing 70 to 1,200 workers each supported the general workers�strike. The Catholic Education Association of the Philippines, meanwhile, which has 1,173 member schools across the country, declared the third day of Edsa 2 as a "National Day
of Protest". Employees of the Commission on Human Rights also staged a walkout upon hearing of the attack of a pro-Estrada pack on anti- Estrada protesters and how the police blocked the latter�s path. They said: There are no human rights under the Estrada adminstration."
Students, professionals, government employees, church people, businessmen and politicians marched in cities all over the country: Baguio 5,000), Dagupan (5,000), Cebu 20,000), Iloilo (12,000), Bacolod 100,000), and Davao (10,000).
In Pampanga, a transport strike was launched and a walkout was staged by workers and students led by the Coalition for the Ouster of Erap or CORE.
Coordinated mass actions were also held in Kalibo, Aklan and in the towns of Molave, Mahayag, Tambulig, Dumingag and Josefina in Zamboanga del Sur.
That food and drink for the protesters (mostly coming from the basic sectors and the petty bourgeoisie) never ran out was a source of awe for many and was another sign of the sheer breadth of the anti-Estrada front. Ample food supplies were ensured by anti-Estrada big businessmen, but it was the nameless ones who nurtured the rallyists that proved to be unforgettable�they ranged from those who occasionally threw biscuits from the Ortigas flyover to the simple pandesal vendor who gave away hot bread for free to rallyists who stayed at EDSA till the wee hours of the morning.
March to Mendiola. By evening of January 19, 10 cabinet members and government officials, including those at the head of the regime�s fascist machinery such as Angelo Reyes, Orlando Mercado and Panfilo Lacson, had already withdrawn support from Estrada.
Nevertheless, the protesters insisted on continuing the struggle until Estrada resigned. Confetti poured. The people continued chanting "Erap, resign now!". With hardly any elbow space between them, the throng occupied the almost two-kilometer stretch from Shaw Blvd. to Santolan Road. Their determination to push through with the march to Malaca�ang the next day to pressure Estrada to resign, prevailed.
Marching with a wave of balloons, streamers and banners, and with the police that had turned its back on Estrada at the last minute, the sea of protesters swiftly filled the intersection of Recto and Legarda, which is only half a kilometer away from Malaca�ang. A rally, fired by passionate speeches and a cultural presentation that highlighted classic and contemporary songs and dances of protest, was peacefully conducted. Moments later, it turned into a celebration, when news broke out that Estrada and his family had finally fled Malaca�ang using a palace back exit to evade the Mendiola protesters.
|
