EDSA : The Day After

Leaderless Philippine Marines inside the Palace the day after Marcos fled

I recently found an old picture which was taken  way back in 1986 among the old file of debris accumulated through the years. This photo was taken early in the morning inside the Malacanang Palace. I was one among the thousands of Filipinos who “stormed” the Palace grounds upon learning that the once feared dictator President Marcos has fled after a relatively bloodless revolution  which was known and imitated throughout the world as the People Power.

Armed with my Nikon FG, I strolled inside the Palace grounds and saw a group of leaderless Philippine Marines nervously standing in formation, apparently confused and disoriented as people flocked around them. Their officers were nowhere to be found and it was obvious that all officers had abandoned them.

I was amazed as to the near chaos inside the Palace grounds that morning, yet, not a single shot was fired as the crowds inched their way inside the compound. I saw several foreign correspondents among them, flowing with the crowd.

A boy barely in his teens came running out from the back of a building carrying a typewriter and wearing an over-sized  M1 steel helmet, grinning from ear to ear.

Inside the building,( can’t seem to recall which one) foreign journalists were  emptying desk drawers as if looking for something, while the rest of the jubilant crowd smashed portraits of Marcos and Imelda.

The scene continued for over an hour until a truckload of MPs arrived which I thought was to secure the area from looters. I was  only partly correct for minutes later, the crowd chanted “ Cory! Cory! Cory!…”  The newly arrived soldiers were there to provide security for the new President Corazon Aquino.

It was a scene I would not, ever, forget. It was a historic moment of which I was fortunate to be a part of. And I know, that such historic moment may never again be repeated in history.