Fr. Aniceto Buenafe, Fr. Julius Espinosa, Fr. Arman Onion, Fr, Michael Cuenca and Fr. Melvin Fajardo (l-r) urge the public to keep the EDSA People Power Revolution spirit alive by joining a commemorative mass and rally in Bacolod City on Wednesday, Feb. 25.* CPG photo
Four decades after the historic 1986 People Power Revolution, religious and civil society groups in Negros Occidental on Monday, Feb. 23, called on Negrenses to keep its spirit alive by renewing the fight to keep freedom, justice and genuine democracy alive.
Leaders of the One Negros Ecumenical Council, Taumbayan Ayaw sa Magnanakaw at Abusado Network Alliance (TAMA NA! Negros), and the Clergy for Good Governance — Bacolod announced at a press conference that a mass and march-rally will be held in Bacolod City to commemorate the People Power Revolution on Wednesday, February 25.
A commemorative mass to be officiated by Bacolod Bishop Patricio Buzon will be held in front of the Negros Occidental Capitol in Bacolod City at 12:30 p.m. to be followed by a march at 1:30 p.m. towards Gonzaga Street, between the Bacolod Public Plaza and Plaza Mart, where a rally will be held, Fr. Arman Onion, said.
A stage will be set up at Gonzaga Street.
About 5,000 people, including students from Roman Catholic schools, will join the rally, he said.
The youth are being urged to join the rekindling of the spirit of EDSA because they are the “hope of the now, not of the future,” Fr. Aniceto Buenafe said.
The rally will also be joined by members of the clergy, religious, civil society and militant groups.
Participants are urged to come in white , Onion added.
The EDSA People Power Revolution was a moment of grace, because it resisted and toppled a tyrannical and corrupt regime, San Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminaza said in a statement read for him at the press conference by Fr. Melvin Fajardo.
“Forty years after 1986, essentially the same social problems persist. Thus, today there is still a very relevant and urgent call for Filipinos to renew the fight against corruption and impurity, push for an anti-political dynasty law and an honest and genuine people’s governance,” Alminaza said.
The people power spirit must be kept alive to ensure that the fight for freedom and democracy continues, Fr. Julius Espinosa, of the Diocese of Bacolod Social Action Center, said.
“Let us march against the reign of political dynasties and for genuine social change, not elitist politics,” Berlita Ante of Bayan Negros said.*
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