PEOPLE POWER of 1986: A NATIONWIDE PHENOMENON
A Commemorative Online Exhibit in commemoration of the
36th anniversary of the Revolution that ended the Marcos Dictatorship

 

On the occasion of the 36th anniversary of the EDSA People Power Revolution, the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) pays tribute to the men and women who, a generation ago, took to the streets to defend the military defectors from Ferdinand Marcos, as well as to show the people’s discontent with the stagnation, impunity, and violation of rights under the regime. The revolution bookended this era by deposing a dictator, ushering a new era for the nation, with another chance to empower its citizens towards a better future.

While it is acknowledged that the center of protests was in Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA), Metro Manila’s main thoroughfare, owing to the locations of Camps Aguinaldo and Crame along the street as refuge for the military defectors from Marcos, evidence show that the revolution was a nationwide phenomenon. Peaceful protests broke out spontaneously all throughout the country—in Baguio, in Iloilo City, in Cebu City, and in Davao City—with grassroots organizations in these cities assembling in main streets and avenues of their cities, taking their cues from telephones, radio, and TV sets, as what was happening in EDSA was being broadcasted.

Hence it was truly “People Power”—an organic and spontaneous show of civilian support for lasting change, drawn from the metropoles and the peripheries of the Philippines.

 

METRO MANILA: Epifanio de los Santos Avenue and adjacent streets

Photographed by Roland Neveu
BAYAN KO (1986)

ELSEWHERE IN METRO MANILA

People Power participants in Parañaque City
MEMORIES OF PALANYAG FACEBOOK PAGE

Civilians block a tank at the intersection of Quezon Avenue, Timog Avenue, and West Avenue in Quezon City. Photo by Linglong Ortiz.
PUBLISHED IN PEOPLE POWER: AN EYEWITNESS HISTORY (1986)

Civilians including seminarians hold the line in the final hours before Marcos left. Photograph by Yan Morvan
BAYAN KO! (1986)

 

BAGUIO: Session Road, Burnham Park, and adjacent streets

Session Road
PRESIDENTIAL MUSEUM AND LIBRARY

*Photos from a copy of a local newspaper The Gold Ore from Jason Telles

Rudolfo Tan
PEOPLE POWER: AN EYEWITNESS HISTORY (1986)

 

ILOILO CITY: Downtown Iloilo

At JM Basa Street
PRESIDENTIAL MUSEUM AND LIBRARY

At downtown Iloilo
NEREO CAJILIG LUJAN

 

CEBU CITY

EGGIE APOSTOL FOUNDATION

 

DAVAO CITY

Rallyists encircle human rights lawyers and mass leaders to protect them from arrest at the Jones Circle, Davao City, photographed by Medel V. Hernani, c. 1983
DAVAO TODAY

Photographed by Rene Lumawag, 25 February 1986
PEOPLE POWER: AN EYEWITNESS HISTORY (1986)

 

UNITED STATES: Embassy of the the Philippines, Washington, DC

Filipino rally in front of the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C., 23 February 1986
MANILA TIMES