Statement of Manay Leila M. de Lima On the Anniversary of the EDSA People Power Revolution

Wazzup Pilipinas!?

There was a time when the Filipino people, unarmed and unafraid, stood together and faced down a dictator. They did not march for power, nor for personal gain. They marched for truth, for justice, for the right to live in a country where no man—no family—would hold the nation hostage ever again.

The EDSA Revolution was not a myth. It was not a mistake. It was a moment of collective courage, a moment when Filipinos proved that democracy is not just an idea—it is a fight. A fight that must be waged again and again, in every generation, because tyranny never truly disappears. It merely waits, repackages itself, and returns.

I know this because I have lived it. I was imprisoned for 2,454 days, locked away for crimes I did not commit, because I dared to confront the powerful. I know what it means to have your rights stripped away. I know what it means to be silenced, demonized, and left to rot by a government that believes it can act with impunity. But I also know what it means to resist—to hold on, to fight back, and to prove that they can jail a person, but never the truth.

That is why, on this anniversary of EDSA, I do not ask Filipinos to simply remember. Memory alone is not enough.

I ask you to recognize that our fight is not over.

We are once again being asked to forget. To look away as history is rewritten, as our institutions are hollowed out, as those who orchestrated suffering are not only welcomed back into power—but celebrated. We are being asked to tolerate impunity, to move on from the crimes of the past, and to accept a future dictated by dynasties and tyrants.

I refuse. And I ask you to refuse with me.

So today, as we mark another year since we reclaimed our freedom, I call on every Filipino: Reject fear. Reject lies. Reject complacency.

Choose courage. Choose action. Choose to fight—again, and always.

The spirit of EDSA is alive in every Filipino who refuses to bow to oppression. As long as there are those who stand, those who speak, and those who march, EDSA is not just history—it is the future we will claim, together.

Tuloy ang laban. Tuloy ang EDSA. Para sa hustisya. Para sa katotohanan. Para sa Pilipino. 

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