Volume 7, Issue No. 40
OPINION/COMMENTARY
/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /
. . . . . A community service of The Filipino Web Channel (TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail. com) and the Philippine Village Voice (PhilVoiceNews@gmail.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America . . . .
Our latest as of Saturday, February 21, 2026
~ A news event 40 years ago this month had afforded journalists the chance to witness and be part of what had turned out to be a historical epic. That moment presented itself on February 22-25, 1986 in the Philippines' capital region. I watched and recorded that extraordinary occurrence as a foreign correspondent for an international news agency. Notwithstanding the dangers to life and limb typical in armed struggles, the event must be covered and reported like what hundreds of local and foreign journalists did on those fateful days.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
FEBRUARY 22-25, 1986 IN MANILA
The Breakaway That Turned
Into People Power Revolution
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Editor, The Filipino Web Channel
“We have it in our power to begin the world over again.” ― Thomas Paine
TORONTO - On the afternoon of February 22, a Saturday, 40 years ago, staff of Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile informed local and foreign journalists that he was holding a press conference later in the day at his office at the Department of Defense headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.
The briefing had been highly anticipated. And when it was announced, people knew something big was afoot. The situation then was at its boiling point.
At that time, the Philippines had two opposing claimants to the presidency, namely, Ferdinand E. Marcos, the incumbent at Malacanang Palace, and his challenger, Corazon C. Aquino, the housewife and widow of former senator Benigno Aquino who was assassinated at the airport in August 1983.
Enrile held the levers of power over the military. As such the unfolding scene had thrust him to the unenviable role of arbiter of an election dispute between two powerful forces. That reality soon became clear at his early evening press conference on Feb. 22, 1986.
I was there, and so were the hundreds of journalists from foreign countries who descended on Manila to cover what had been predicted as the coming fall of an ailing dictator, Marcos, who was president for nearly 20 years.
With General Fidel V. Ramos, chief of the Philippine Constabulary, at his side at the heavily-fortified camp, Enrile declared he was withdrawing support for Marcos. He emphasized he and Ramos now recognized Mrs. Aquino as the duly elected president in the Feb. 7 snap election Marcos himself had called.
It was a dramatic breakaway, a perilous one at that. Some sectors of the military still looked up to Marcos as their commander-in-chief. General Fabian Ver, the armed forces chief of staff, swore loyalty to him.
The Enrile-Ramos withdrawal from Marcos would soon turned into a popular uprising. At that very moment, the revolution had begun. What started as an expression of support for Mrs. Aquino by a segment of the military soon developed into a "people power" revolution unprecedented in modern Philippine history.
The Philippines has had revolts in the past against Spanish, American and Japanese colonizers, but this one in February 1986 had been monumental in the fact that Filipinos themselves rose up against one of their own.
Hundreds of journalists reported the story from within the camp, anticipating an attack by forces loyal to Marcos under the command of General Fabian Ver, his chief of staff.
Even as we were fearful of what might happen, a visiting colleague from dpa (Deutsche Presse-Agentur) in Hamburg and I, and many other journalists, stayed there to cover, hopeful it would not result in a bloodbath between two factions of the military.
In our mind, either one of these two realities could happen. One, the massacre of civilians if the military loyal to Marcos tried to crush it; and two, the abdication of Marcos to pave the way for a peaceful transfer of power.
As it were, hundreds of journalists, local and foreign, could potentially be caught in the crossfire. However, that tension-filled day passed without incident.
February 22 was just the beginning. The wick was lit with the Enrile-Ramos breakaway. And that further evolved into a full-scale revolution once the archbishop of Manila, Jaime Cardinal Sin, summoned his Catholic flock to protect the rebels in Camp Aguinaldo.
And so in the days following up to February 25, Marcos fled to Hawaii and the housewife Corazon "Cory" Aquino was sworn into office as the eleventh president of the Philippines. (Video at: A New Day Dawns in the Philippines in February 1986).
The "People Power Revolution" on February 22-25, 1986 - that watershed moment in Philippine history - is the only revolution I witnessed and experienced as a foreign correspondent working for the international news agency dpa (Deutsche Presse-Agentur) based in Hamburg, Germany.
Prior to that, I covered for the Japanese daily Asahi Shimbun the major events preceding it, namely, the declaration of martial law on September 21, 1972, and the assassination of Benigno Aquino on August 21, 1983 at the Manila International Airport.
It's been 40 years and the euphoria of that golden moment seems to have been gone. (Related video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8-B9rGHoXw)
During a visit to the Philippines in February 2018, I attended a photo exhibit by photojournalist Sonny Camarillo chronicling the People Power Revolution. I had the chance to do a brief interview with him. (Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIi0EMVWRt8 and interview at the 15:23 mark). (Copyright 2026. All Rights Reserved).
