Yesterday marked the 25th year of EDSA Revolution or “people power”, the day when then President Ferdinand Marcos was ousted from Malacanang in a peaceful manner ... the day democracy was restored according to many.
I was still young (well, not so young … I was graduating from high school) when this “people power” happened and we were living in the province then. Well, call me naive or what but in my young mind then, I really don’t understand what was going on in the big city. My family was living a simple yet happy life and even with the absence of my father (he died when I was only 8 years old), my mother being a public school teacher was able to send me in a private and best school in our province ... we never ran out of food on the table ... we lived in a peaceful town. So I never thought that there's something wrong with the government.
When the Marcoses left the country, it was only then when stories were openly told about how bad the past administration was. So that was it, there I was thinking all along that everything's okay and yet there are many who had been victims of the so called abuses by the past administration. I felt sorry for them and just like any other Filipinos, starting that day, I was looking forward for a new and more progressive Philippines.
Fast forward, 25 years after that joyous event in Philippine history, take a look at the Philippines today. With all the issues of corruption from almost all government agencies from top officials to ordinary employees, with all the crimes happening around the country, with the unemployment rate going up year after year, with our economy just lagging behind our neighboring countries, with most of our countrymen grabbing any opportunity just to be out of this country ... waaaaaaaaah, what happened?
Before I jump into any conclusion, I just want to share the four stages a team has to go through before it can successfully complete its task. Our department manager learned this through one of the leadership seminars he attended and he shared this to us during one of our department meetings. The four stages he mentioned are orientation, dissatisfaction, integration and production. In the orientation stage, the team members are at their highest morale, so full of spirit and very eager to start and finish the project surpassing the expectations of the bosses. The second stage is the dissatisfaction stage, this is where something went wrong with the execution of the plans and team members are becoming frustrated. The third stage is the integration stage, this is when after something went wrong, actions were made which put the team back to its right track and everyone is again guided by a common goal. The last stage is the production stage, this is where the team is attaining their goal, enjoying the benefits of their hard work.
Just like a newly formed team, our country was at the first stage which is the orientation stage when the "people power" just concluded in 1986. Many people were so ecstatic, so hopeful, so eager to start a government which will lead the people to a better and a more progressive Philippines. After some time, the changes that the people wanted to see in the new government did not materialize. Our government officials just can agree on most issues, corruption issues are becoming rampant, opposition parties just keeps on criticizing and finding fault on the government but once they are the ones seated, same issues are thrown at them. People becomes frustrated and disintegration stage is now on the verge. People seeing the leaders' ineffectiveness tend to break the rules thinking that they can always get away with it. This goes on for years and we just seem to rotate from orientation stage to disintegration stage then back again to orientation stage once a new president is elected. We will get nowhere if this situation continues.
With the 25th year celebration of EDSA revolution, I wish that all of us Filipinos will be enlightened and start doing our share in making this nation a great place to live. May we continue to abide by the laws even though we feel that others are not and may our government officials show their sincerity to lead the people to attain our common goal which is a peaceful and a progressive Philippines.
God bless us all.
