MIRACLE IN MANILA
WE mark today the one-month anniversary of our Revolution but we still have to shed the giddiness over our swift and startling victory, that on occasions, explodes into-venial anarchy. Where two or three are gathered together, the bidahan sa barikada threatens to surpass the heroic exploits of Ferdinand Marcos in the last war.
We have yet to stop to marvel at ourselves. How did we do it? How did we dispose of a despotic and immovable ruler of 21 years, his ruinous wife and cronies? In the nearly, bloodless process, we rid the military of its rot; set back the Communist insurgency by ten years; revived good old time religion and spirituality; installed a new government that has inspired unusually high hopes for the future of our country; restored democracy and faith and pride in being Filipino; stunned the world with our courage and we go around believing in miracles again.
And all these we did over a weekend in February.
How did we do it?
Reams of copy the world over (In the U.S., the Philippines was the biggest story after the space shuttle tragedy and was the most reported foreign news since the Vietnam war) have tried to analyze the “Philippine experince”. The Mercury News reported that the Philippine revolt “defied definition. It was a coup, but it wasn’t. It was an armed rebellion, but everyone was smiling. Tanks were stopped dead in their tracks by masses of women bearing flowers. Priests hugged soldiers.”
The New Yorker magazine explained that our decisive battle had been fought elsewhere and earlier — “in the minds of all the Filipinos over the previous weeks and months, when opinion against Marcos was forming”. The non-violent crowd in Manila was the crucial factor, that prevented the whole struggle “from shifting from the area of opinion, in which, the Opposition was irresistible, to the arena of violence, in which, the government is so often the victor”.
In her syndicated column, Mary MacGrory wrote about us being “a people so on fire for democracy”. The New York Times echoed the democracy triumphant theme but not without wonder at the strength of our nation and our “collective humanity”.
Others interpreted our victory in part “to the principled position” of the State Department particularly to the “counsel of experienced old hands” here and in the US.
In other words, no one is sure how we won the revolt against Marcos.
We who fought in the Revolution point to ourselves, “people power”, we say, did it. And we never forget to add in renewed reverence for the Miracle in Manila that it was God power working through people power that won us back our freedoms.
Are all the answers in, then? Do we know “the lessons of Manila”? We are only sure that we will never know and that we don’t want to know. If we keep unravelling a ball of yarn, we will find that we no longer have a ball of yarn at hand. Let the incredible images of those four days in February stand without analysis. Anyway, they defy logic and 20th century cynicism. Freed from the tyranny of questions, we may yet deserve to keep the magic and the miracle of our Revolution.
