Editorial

Unfinished business

WE can understand how disappointed former President Fidel Ramos must have been when President Arroyo stayed away from the culminating rites of the 23rd anniversary of the Edsa People Power uprising.

?I don?t understand why the President is not here,? Ramos was quoted as saying. ?Everyone should be here and give respect.?

Ramos, who was instrumental in igniting the first People Power revolt against the dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986, also took exception to Mrs. Arroyo?s statement that the world would not forgive another people power uprising?a clear rejection of the instability that would result if Filipinos were to topple yet another government by taking to the streets.

While both remarks provided fodder for some newspapers, neither was particularly relevant to our post-Edsa 1986 world.

Mr. Ramos? remarks were a personal expression of the disappointment, but to assume that the President?s absence was a sign of disrespect seems extreme, as was his insistence that the Vice President should have stayed longer than the flag ceremony that day. This interpretation of the presence or absence of certain officials at public ceremonies seems to be a throwback to authoritarian or communist regimes where the public had few other signs of who was truly in power.

On the other hand, Mrs. Arroyo, who has survived four impeachment attempts since 2005, has made the point many times before that the Philippines can ill afford to constantly change governments by way of street protests. Her repetition of that position during the People Power anniversary might have seemed self-serving, but it was also unnecessary. After all, nobody has galvanized enough people to launch a serious uprising since 2001.

The message we missed during this last celebration of People Power was how the uprising was incomplete, and how much more we need to do before we realize the ideals of personal and economic freedoms that launched the revolts. We need to hear about how Edsa was hijacked by an ill-conceived Constitution that saddles this country to economic backwardness. We also need to hear how our leaders continue to betray the spirit of civil liberties behind the uprising?some of them even now supporting legislation that would tell newspapers and broadcast networks what they must print, certainly an evil of equal measure to telling them what they cannot publish.