MANILA, 26 February 2004 — The Filipinos have not learned the “lesson of freedom” from the 1986 “People Power revolution,” Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales said yesterday, on the 18th anniversary of the bloodless uprising that ended the 20-year rule of dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

“There are lessons unlearned from EDSA... We have yet to learn that freedom is a gift. We have yet to be taught that freedom is an educative process,” Rosales said in a homily at a historic shrine on Manila’s main EDSA highway, where millions of Filipinos gathered in 1986.

“There is a discipline and restraint in being free,” Rosales said during the mass, which was attended by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Rosales said that the “style of politics,” which had persisted after the downfall of the Marcos dictatorship, would make it harder for the Philippines to be “educated and purified.”

Rosales also called on the public to rekindle the ideals of the revolution, which he said was the fight against all forms of oppression.

“EDSA is not only a place. It is a spirit that needs to be remembered,” Rosales said.

In a brief program, President Arroyo, along with two key figures in the revolt ‘ former presidents Corazon Aquino and Fidel Ramos ‘ led about 2,000 people reciting a pledge for “honest and peaceful elections.”

The rites were held at the “people power” monument on EDSA outside Camp Aquinaldo, the military headquarters that was surrounded 18 years ago by hundreds of thousands of people to protect soldiers led by former defense chief Juan Ponce Enrile and Ramos, then deputy military chief, who broke away from Marcos.

Marcos, accused of illegally amassing millions during his presidency, was forced to leave the country on Feb. 254, four days after the uprising began. He died in exile in Hawaii in 1989.

Aquino, who assumed the presidency after Marcos left, urged Filipinos to remember the sacrifice of her husband, Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, an anti-Marcos opposition leader whose assassination Aug. 21, 1983, triggered massive protests.

“I want all of us working together to make this country the great country it was meant to be,” she said.

Ramos also urged Filipinos to unite in achieving “the important ideals of our people.”

President Arroyo later signed a law declaring the date of Aquino’s assassination a national holiday in recognition of his heroism.

‘Betrayal’

About a kilometer (half a mile) away, anti-riot police blocked a march by about 1,000 leftists to the monument to protest the “betrayal” of the spirit of the revolt ‘ democracy, good government and respect for human rights.

“It is sad because this is the anniversary of EDSA (people’s power revolution),” said Teddy Casi?o, secretary-general of the leftwing Bayan. “Let the people celebrate ... in a meaningful way, not just through flag-raising and speeches by politicians.”

He said despite the ouster of the dictatorship, many unarmed members of leftwing groups continue to be killed, allegedly by government forces.

“We must remind the people that severe repression in our country has not yet disappeared,” Casi?o said.

The 1986 revolt inspired a similar uprising in January 2001 that forced then-President Joseph Estrada to step down.

Estrada, accused of corruption, was later arrested and remains in detention awaiting the outcome of his trial for plunder, a capital offense. (Additional input from agencies)