People Power Revolution

The People Power Revolution, also called the EDSA Revolution, was a largely peaceful uprising in the Philippines that ended the twenty-year rule of Ferdinand Marcos. Over four days, from 22 to 25 February 1986, huge crowds gathered on Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA) in Metro Manila to shield rebel soldiers from loyalist troops. Marcos fled into exile, and Corazon Aquino became president.

Marcos was first elected president in 1965 and re-elected in 1969 amid accusations of vote-buying. Facing a constitutional bar on a third term, he declared martial law in September 1972, citing communist insurgency and civil unrest. Congress was dissolved, critical media were shut down and opposition leaders were arrested, among them Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr. A new constitution in 1973 allowed Marcos to stay in power, and in the Cold War he kept American backing by promising to fight communism and to preserve US bases. Aquino was sentenced to death by a military tribunal in 1977 but was allowed to travel to the United States for heart surgery in 1980.

On 21 August 1983, returning from three years of exile, Ninoy Aquino was shot dead as he stepped off his plane at Manila International Airport. The killing outraged much of the country. Yellow ribbons became the symbol of protest, and opposition coalitions multiplied. At the same time the debt-laden economy collapsed, shrinking by 7.3 per cent in both 1984 and 1985, the worst recession in the country's history.

Under American pressure, Marcos called an early presidential election for 7 February 1986. The opposition united behind Ninoy's widow, Corazon Aquino, with Salvador Laurel as her running mate. The official commission declared Marcos the winner, while the citizens' watchdog NAMFREL, counting most precincts, showed Aquino ahead. Thirty computer technicians walked out in protest at the manipulation of the tally, and the Catholic bishops condemned the vote. On 16 February Aquino told a rally of perhaps two million people to begin a campaign of civil disobedience and boycotts of businesses tied to Marcos's allies.

On 22 February a group of officers plotting a coup was discovered. Defence Minister Juan Ponce Enrile and General Fidel Ramos announced that they were withdrawing support from Marcos and holed up in two military camps on EDSA. That evening Cardinal Jaime Sin, Archbishop of Manila, used Radio Veritas to urge people to protect them. Hundreds of thousands came, and on 23 February crowds, including nuns praying the rosary, stopped a column of Marines and tanks without a shot being fired. On 24 February air force helicopters landed at Camp Crame and joined the rebels, a Marine colonel repeatedly stalled orders to shell the camp, and rebel soldiers seized the state television station. By then estimates of the crowd ranged from one to two million.

On the morning of 25 February Aquino was sworn in as president at Club Filipino in San Juan. An hour later Marcos took his own oath at Malacañang Palace, but most of the armed forces had changed sides. That night the Marcos family was flown by US helicopter to Clark Air Base and then on to Hawaii, arriving on 26 February.

Aquino ruled under a provisional constitution until a new one was adopted in 1987, and survived several coup attempts by disaffected officers. The revolution restored press freedom and civilian control of the military. It has been credited with encouraging democratic movements in South Korea and Taiwan and the peaceful revolutions of 1989 in Eastern Europe. A second EDSA uprising in 2001 led to the fall of President Joseph Estrada.

Our 1985 map shows the Philippines in the final year of Marcos's rule; see also the history of Manila.