My EDSA I story

By Tony Lopez

There has been so much hype and hoopla about the two EDSAs – EDSA I and EDSA II. EDSA I is the Feb. 22-25,1986 People Power that ousted Ferdinand Marcos and installed Corazon Cojuangco Aquino. EDSA II is the January 20, 2001 church- and NGO-backed military coup that ousted Joseph Estrada and installed Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. I covered not one, not two, but three EDSAs.
There was a third EDSA, the May 1, 2001 popular and pedestrian uprising that nearly ousted Mrs. Arroyo were it for the effective sniping job done by the military and the police on the protesters. Nobody knows for sure how many people died or were killed by the military to protect the palace from a hoi polloi revolt. Nobody remembers about this EDSA III anymore, but to me, it was the most spontaneous and most genuine of the three revolts.
Not many people know it but EDSA I was triggered by greed and was won by a lie. The crowds that massed at EDSA on February 24, Monday, and February 25, Tuesday, were there not to stage a revolt but to a hold a picnic. June Keithley had announced on radio at 7 a.m. of February 24 that the Marcoses had left. It was a lie. In their glee and feeling that finally it was all over, people trooped to EDSA to celebrate.
The greed arose from a Chinese forex trader who violated the peso-dollar trading band imposed by then then unofficial central bank, the Binondo Central Bank managed and headed by then Trade and Industry Secretary Roberto V. Ongpin.
Ongpin had the erring trader arrested and loaded into a van. Unfortunately, the forex trader died. Unfortunately again, the trader happened to be a man of then Armed Forces chief Fabian C. Ver. Angered, the dreaded military chief had 22 of Ongpin’s security men arrested. They were marching in full battle gear and dressed in SWAT uniform at about 4 a.m. inside Fort Bonifacio when arrested on February 22, 1986, a Saturday.

At 11 a.m., at the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ongpin went looking for his security men. He called up then Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile who was with the Club 365 at the Atrium in Makati. Enrile thought the arrest of the 22 Ongpin security men, who turned out to be RAM Boys of Col. Gringo Honasan, was part of the crackdown against the plot to oust Marcos. The putsch was being planned by Enrile and his RAM Boys. The defense chief had grown disenchanted with Marcos, who was very ill, and become wary of the cabal led by Ver and the First Lady, Mrs. Imelda Romualdez Marcos.

Enrile summoned his boys to his house on Morada Street, Dasmariñas Village. There they plotted their next moves. They decided to make a last stand at the armed forces headquarters Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City. At 2 p.m., Enrile called then Vice Chief of Staff Lieut. Gen. Fidel V. Ramos. “Are you with us?” JPE asked Eddie. “I am with you all the way,” the latter assured.

It was not until late in the evening that Saturday that Ramos actually joined the rebellion at Camp Aguinaldo. He had contacted his loyal PC-INP commanders, like Rene de Villa in Bicol, and Rodrigo Gutang in Cagayan de Oro and found to his dismay no troops could be readily sent to Manila to reinforce Enrile’s men, then numbering less than 50, undermanned and under-armed.
Corazon Cojuangco Aquino learned about the brewing rebellion at 4 p.m. Saturday in Cebu. She led a destabilization and boycott rally there. I was there. I was covering the protest rally. After hearing about rumor of the defection, I went to the Mactan airport to book a flight to Manila. I landed in Manila shortly after 9 p.m.. With Boy del Mundo of then UPI, I took a taxi to Camp Aguinaldo.

I was surprised to find the camp commander welcoming us with open arms. Enrile and Gringo had no troops at that time. Enrile had made a deal with Marcos -- No shooting on the first night. Also, foreign correspondents were to be allowed inside Camp Aguinaldo.
Inside the Defense Ministry headquarters, Enrile and Ramos were giving an extended press conference. I asked if Cory Aquino called them up. Enrile said yes. “What can I do for you?” she asked. “Nothing, just pray,” Enrile replied.
It was me who asked Enrile by how many votes he cheated in Cagayan on behalf of Marcos – 300,000 votes. Enrile also claimed Cory Aquino was the duly elected president. Wrong.
A recount of the votes, by Namfrel, after Cory took over, showed Marcos was the real winner of the February 1986 snap election, not by two million votes, as canvassed by the Batasan, but by 800,000 votes as recounted by Namfrel.

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