[Rappler’s Best] Midlife disaster

Forty years after the EDSA Individuals Energy Revolution, we discover ourselves the place we ought to not be

On the week that we have a good time 40 years of ousting a dictator in a civilian-backed army revolt that impressed the world, we discover ourselves the place we ought not to be: 

• A former president is detained at The Hague on fees he ordered the mass killing of his personal folks. His pre-trial begins immediately, February 23, and can final until Friday, February 27. Duterte as soon as advised the Worldwide Prison Court docket (ICC) to return and get him, Lian Buan notes on this piece; immediately, he’s on trial. The hearings are supposed to assist judges decide if there’s sufficient proof to proceed with the case. Lian is in The Hague to cowl the hearings with Michelle Abad. Right here’s a information to our protection. Lian interviewed Duterte’s counsel Nicholas Kaufman over the weekend; watch it right here.
• The dictator’s son, elected 4 years in the past on the again of a well-oiled revisionist equipment, remains to be grappling to seek out his presidential footing, weighed down by the worst corruption scandal to hit the nation since his father’s kleptocratic regime. Some lawmakers, in actual fact, are implicating him within the scandal. Dwight de Leon tells us extra about alleged textual content messages that supposedly incriminate him. 
• The daughter of the detained tyrant now threatens to change into the following president, declaring her bid final week in what Joey Salgado describes as an influence transfer meant to stave off her impeachment, consolidate allies, and reframe the narrative two years forward of the presidential race.
• A nephew of democracy icon and EDSA pillar Cory Aquino blunders his approach in an interview, the place he talked a couple of non-existent ultimate state of affairs for victims of extrajudicial killings.
• EDSA, which introduced collectively all shades and stripes and standing 40 years in the past, has ceased to be a platform for shared political targets and aspirations. On Wednesday, February 25, the fortieth anniversary of the Individuals Energy Revolution that threw out the Marcos household, numerous teams shall be mounting separate rallies alongside the stretch of EDSA. What’s stopping them from sharing one stage? Learn it right here.

Take all that, plus the spectacle and hoopla that surrounded Marcos’ go to to pink territory on Saturday, February 21. After which take a deep breath. 

Our current is operating towards our previous, to borrow from Arundhati Roy’s highly effective memoir. This 40-year-old so-called restored democracy is caught in a debilitating midlife disaster.

However reminiscence, as they are saying, is resistance. And so we select to recollect what introduced us collectively a lifetime in the past — to collectively maintain energy to account.

Within the aftermath of the flood management corruption scandal, residents are reclaiming folks energy by means of a nationwide initiative that turns vigilance into an accountability instrument. “Bisto Proyekto: Ang Bagong Individuals Energy” was launched on Saturday by civil society teams, church leaders, and authorities officers. A silver lining.

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