When the nation weeps under the weight of unjust ruling, hope becomes a dream in the dark. Forty years ago, on Epifanio De Los Santos Avenue, even with just a speck of hope for 2 million heads to ration, unity prevailed over the dictatorship by the hands of the then President Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
On the pouring afternoon of the 25th of February, though the day was meant for leisure, the Josephinians, with longing hearts for civic reforms and demanding fists for accountability, gathered at the Maasin Cathedral-Shrine for a peaceful act of redemption in the form of a prayer rally in commemoration of the EDSA Revolution, led by His Excellency, Most Reverend Precioso D. Cantillas.
Though most of us did not witness with our own eyes the spilled blood, the deafening cries, and the inhumane torture that fed the dictatorship, what history has already written cannot simply be eroded by time and withering memories of the afflicted. Amidst the political shifts and moral uncertainties, the people during the revolution chose to gather together and fought against the atrocities our nation was being consumed by, led not with violence but carrying with them the conscience, prayer, and humility that separated them from the tyrannical experiences they’ve endured.
In today’s time, the equally great danger, other than oppression, lies in indifference; apathy resides within most homes of the Filipinos. History has proved to us that taking action proves injustice, yet silence kills the opportunity for a change.
Let us not remain mere spectators that are shackled to the ground. Let us uproot ourselves from the barren ground of apathy as we take a stand with pride. For when one becomes ten, and ten becomes a million, the once powerless voices stand firm, and tyranny does not simply tremble but falls.
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Words: Ma. Contesa Ronariese Rufin | The Josephinian
