NEW FACLA NEWS
March 03, 2015

LA FILIPINOS REMEMBER EDSA, SAF 44

LOS ANGELES – The community with the largest Filipino concentration took part in a prayer service commemorating the 29th anniversary of EDSA revolution.

Community leader Art Garcia traces his activist roots to those days when he was among the crowds barricading the streets.

“We are ready. We had offered our lives to the service of our country and we were ready to fight Marcos to the death. We were ready to die but instead we won,” Garcia.

Andrea Aquino, cousin of the late Senator Benigno Aquino II, was part of the Ninoy Aquino movement in Los Angeles. As the peaceful revolution took place in the Philippines, she was joining rallies in Washington DC.

“We were asking President Reagan to recognize Cory Aquino as the president and not Marcos. We all went there. Some drove, some flew,” said Aquino.

As Filipinos remembered one of the country’s great triumphs, they also remembered the 44 lives lost in the country’s most recent tragedy.

This year’s EDSA anniversary has also fallen on the one month mark since the Mamasapano encounter that left 44 Special Action Force members dead.

“One way of looking at the events in Mindanao is that many of our good people in the police force sacrificed their lives to frustrate the attempt of one Malaysian terrorist to thwart our way of life,” said LA Consul General Leo Herrera Lim.

Lem Amit of the Filipino Ministry added, “Although it’s a tragedy, we have to remember we learn a lot of lessons out of it. We live on our past, but we also experience what we need to grow in ourself.”

The incident has sparked outcry calling for the impeachment of President Benigno Aquino III.

“We do not believe Aquino should resign. We do not believe in the so-called command responsibility because the president has already relieved the SAF commander and Purisma has resigned the buck stops there,” said Garcia.

Aquino’s cousin believes that the President will not be impeached and that the “SAF issue is getting clearer now”.

Aquino and Garcia both add that the President has successfully carried on his family’s legacy and expect him to finish his term on a strong note next year.

You can contact Steve Angeles at [email protected] for more information.