On February 25, 2006, the nation will commemorate the 20th anniversary of the EDSA “People Power” (I refuse to call it EDSA One or People Power One –see related post).
PCIJ has put together a multimedia presentation called, Edsa 20/20, consisting of articles (published in the PCIJ magazine, The i Report), a photo exhibit (which can be viewed in Glorietta 1 from February 15 to 26), and a series of podcasts containing our interviews with the Edsa 20 personalities.

Of all the PCIJ podcasts, the one that featured Eggie Apostol had the most impact to me. Eugenia “Eggie” Duran-Apostol founded the publications Mr and Ms, Philippine Daily Inquirer and Pinoy Times.

To quote her: “It’s not just the leadership that must change. The people, too, must change.”

This is perhaps the folly of the Filipino. We have undergone many leadership changes (dictator to lemon to two-faced to gambler-thief to liar)yet we failed to change the most essential- ourselves. Change must come from within. It is not the leader, it is not the system. The people make the leader, the people make the system. We, the Filipino people are in need of a moral revolutionary change!

I would like to join her in another "revolution" which she is pushing (to raise the quality of public school education). Its time for real change- the change that matters- from the roots. The best way I believe is through education. It may take time but the effect will be substantial in the future.

EDSA 20 years after? It is the Filipino’s “ningas cogon” at its best! Stop the mob mentality, stop patronage politics, stop victim mentality (according to Benigno in his PCIJ blog comment), stop bickering, stop self-pity (world class ang Pinoy, maung tayo!). Let us not be spectators but initiators. Act now. We did it in ’86. Why not sustain it?