By Atty. Howie Calleja
It was 36 years ago when the people-led revolution overthrew the despot and dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Now, his son Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. is seeking the presidency to regain power in our beloved motherland. But in both instances, we will again bear witness to the power of the people’s movement versus the political machinery of a family dynasty and his minions.
This four-day protest along EDSA (which gathered millions in the 1986 People Power Revolution) was a manifestation of the discontent and furies towards Marcos’ totalitarian rule —- a people’s movement to shake off the suppression. It was a grassroots mobilization heartily encouraged by the Catholic Church; to streets gradually seething with people to quietly face-off with armored tanks, a confrontation of linked arms and prayers and flowers and songs — the four days of EDSA People Power in itself was an archetype of the evolution of the People’s Movement in the Philippines.
Political machineries are characterized by a controlled and hierarchical organization, reaching down to community and barangay organizers, that enables the machine to respond to the problems of individual barangays, or even families, in exchange for loyalty at the polls. The term refers to their ability to elect candidates or enact measures with mechanical efficiency and dependability.
The primary goal of a political machinery is to keep itself in power rather than providing responsible public administration. Organizers who “deliver” the votes are often rewarded with patronage jobs. However, patronage can result in inferior service to the citizens because appointees may be neither qualified for their jobs nor interested in performing them. Control of both elective and appointed posts also gives a “machine control” of government salaries and revenues, which can be used to enrich the political machinery’s setup at the public’s expense.
In stark contrast, a people’s movement similar to our EDSA PEOPLE POWER is a freely organized but sustained campaign in support of a social goal (or national interest), typically either the implementation or the prevention of a change in society’s structure or values. Although social movements differ in size, they are all essentially collective. That is, they result from the more or less spur-of-the-moment coming together of people whose relationships are not defined by rules and procedures but who merely share a common vision for our Philippine society.
Moreover, contrary to popular belief a people’s movement is not merely a perpetuated crowd, since a crowd does not possess organizational and motivational mechanisms capable of sustaining participation through periods of inaction and waiting. Furthermore, crowd mechanisms cannot be used to achieve communication and coordination of activity over a wide area, such as a region or nation. A people’s movement is a mixture of organization and spontaneity. There is usually one or more organizations that give identity, leadership, and coordination to the people’s movement, but the boundaries of the movement are never coterminous with the organization.
The PASSION and PURPOSE of a people’s movement is more powerful than any well-oiled political machinery because the spontaneous convergence of social action creates the tipping-point or “social pandemic” necessary for social change. 36 years ago, we dreamed of change and we stood together at EDSA to achieve this change. So what’s different now? Now, as a people we can invoke a similar call to action. A call to rid our nation from the same dynastic families and to rally behind a true leader for Change — VP Leni Robredo. And we have this 2022 National Elections to make this all happen. And no Political Machinery can ever outweigh the power of the people willing to sacrifice everything all for the common good.
