THE DAY AFTER EDSA PEOPLE POWER REVOLUTION

By Philip M. Lustre Jr.

THE clock struck midnight. The proverbial new day came. But throngs of humanity were still dancing and celebrating on the streets of Metro Manila and other cities. Public euphoria set in. The celebratory mood was spontaneous.

A massive outpouring of joy, relief, and disbelief pervaded the air. Finally, the dictator was ousted and he was ousted in the most embarrassing way. He lost and fled the battle like a defeated dog with his tail at the back of his legs.

If not for the timely intervention of the Americans, Marcos, wife Imelda, his children, and even their close allies could have been dead meat. Multitudes of angry Filipinos stormed Malacanang. They could have killed them if not for Americans, who took them by helicopters to Clark Air Base, one of the two military installations in the country. Clark was not yet closed during those days.

The state owned television station, now the PTV-4, had streams of visitors, who gave testimonials about the evils of the Marcos dictatorship and expressed their sentiments about the departure of the once powerful family, who stood for profligacy and abuse of power.

Opposition leaders, civil society activists, religious workers, public servants who suffered under Marcos, victims of human rights abuses, and closet democrats gave their testimonies as soon as the Marcoses and their ilk left Malacanang.

The trio of Jim Paredes, Danny Javier, and Boboy Garrovillo, who comprise the fabled APO, the Champoy team of Noel Trinidad and the late Subas Herrero, newscaster Bong Lapira and several others suddenly came out of their cocoons to provide the people of how it was to be set free from a dictatorship notorious for its massive human rights violations and world class kleptocracy.

It was about this time when massive looting happened in Malacanang. Local and foreign broadcast journalists captured images of citizens who practically took everything and anything from Malacanang.

It happened with impunity after elements of the Presidential Security Command, which became an army within the army during the dark days of the Marcos dictatorship, discarded their uniforms, changed to civilian clothes, abandoned their posts, and went home in complete anonymity.

It was also about this time when angry citizens kicked the pictures of Marcos and his wife, or his family to show to the world their utter anger for their misdeeds, which brought mass poverty and misery for the people.

It was about this time when people learned of a mini-hospital in Malacanang, confirming that the dictator was indeed sick, It was about this time that people learned that Imelda and Ferdinand had separate rooms; Imelda's room looked something that befitted a queen or princess, while Ferdinand's was austere with those hospital gadgets.

Of course, it was about this time when people learned that Imelda had hundreds of pairs of shoes and that her wardrobe had hundreds of expensive jewelry and ternos. Indeed, the people caught a glimpse of her life of privilege and opulence of scandalous proportions.

It was also about this time when people learned that Marcos had left many incriminating pieces of evidence, which later proved to be the paper trail of intricate webs of world class corruptions that showed Marcos and his cronies receiving payoffs for big ticket state projects.

Moreover, Marcos left adult diapers in his study room with his feces to indicate he lost control of his bowel movement and that he had become incontinent.

Thanks to the ubiquitous presence of opposition leaders, who took efforts to secure them. These papers have become bases for our claims to the loot which the Marcoses stashed here and abroad.

If not for the timely intervention of opposition leaders, those pieces of evidence could have been destroyed or compromised during the attack on Malacanang.

Cory Aquino, for her part, took efforts to assert her presidency. Among the first orders she gave when the Marcoses left Malacanang was to secure the papers, although some state troopers could not contain the anger of the crowd that entered Malacanang soon after the Marcoses left.

The Marcoses stayed overnight at Clark. American personnel were quite upset at the dictator, who appeared grumpy and demanding at every turn. An American soldier was quoted as saying that Ferdinand Marcos behaved as if was still the president.

After sleeping a few hours at Clark, an American aircraft took the Marcoses and their chosen cronies to Hawaii, where they had to spend five years of exile. One of the pictures that showed him arriving in Honolulu had this unpalatable caption: "A stooping has-been."

Cory Aquino, meanwhile, led the country to the tortuous route to democracy punctuated by at least seven military coups, and public bickering of her allies.