MANILA, Philippines – Top Catholic schools in the Philippines declared a non-working day on February 25, the 39th anniversary of the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution, even if the Marcos government downgraded it to a special working day.
The Dominican-run University of Santo Tomas (UST), one of the country’s leading universities, issued a memo on Friday, February 14, stating that “there will be no classes and work on February 25 (Tuesday).”
“Let us stand united and never forget that true power lies in the collective will of the people, and it is our responsibility to uphold the values of integrity, justice, and freedom for generations to come,” said UST secretary-general Father Louie Coronel in a memo addressed to the UST community.
On Monday, February 17, Catholic schools along EDSA-Ortigas belonging to the EDSOR Consortium said they “have agreed to celebrate this date as a special non-working holiday despite Malacañang’s exclusion of this historic event.”
The EDSOR Consortium is composed of Immaculate Conception Academy, which is run by the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception; La Salle Green Hills, run by the De La Salle Brothers; Saint Pedro Poveda College, run by the Teresian Association; and Xavier School, run by the Jesuits.
“We will continue to keep the spirit of EDSA alive despite active efforts to undermine it,” said the EDSOR Consortium in a statement.
De La Salle Philippines, the network of 16 La Salle schools in the Philippines, released a similar statement on Monday.
“Despite the current administration’s declaration to downgrade February 25 to a special working holiday — diminishing the significance of this historic event that toppled the Marcos Sr. dictatorship — we, in the Lasallian Family, remain steadfast in upholding the Filipino people’s victory in reclaiming their rights and liberties,” De La Salle Philippines said in a Facebook post on Monday.
“Let us resist all attempts to erase from our collective memory what our nation achieved in February 1986,” the network of La Salle schools also said in a statement dated Friday.
Rappler will update this story as more schools declare their own EDSA holidays.
The celebration of the 1986 uprising, which toppled dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos, has been muted under the three-year-old presidency of the strongman’s son and namesake, Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
In 2023, Marcos moved the EDSA non-working day to February 24, citing “holiday economics.” In 2024, he excluded it from the list of special non-working days because it fell on a Sunday.
This has been a sensitive topic for Marcos critics, including Catholics who joined the 1986 uprising.
The Catholic Church played a key role in ousting the Marcos patriarch, as it was then-Manila archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin who called on Filipinos to troop to Metro Manila’s main highway, EDSA, to protect rebel soldiers against the dictator.
The mass gathering from February 22 to 25, 1986, became a bloodless revolt characterized by flowers, rosaries, and images of the Virgin Mary. Corazon Aquino, the widow of slain opposition leader Benigno Aquino Jr. and a devout Catholic, replaced Marcos.
Decades of historical revisionism and traditional politics, however, allowed the return of the Marcoses in Philippine politics. It culminated in the victory of the dictator’s son in the 2022 presidential election, even if Catholic bishops and priests campaigned against him and endorsed then-vice president Leni Robredo.
Since the return of the Marcoses to Malacañang in 2022, critics have mounted several efforts to remember the EDSA Revolution.
In 2024, Marcos’ critics pushed back by staging more events to commemorate the 1986 revolt. There have also been calls to legislate the EDSA anniversary holiday. – Rappler.com