Judy Taguiwalo was sitting in her jail cell holding her young daughter when the cheers could be heard.
Millions were protesting to remove Ferdinand Marcos Sr., the Philippines' authoritarian president, on February 25, 1986. Juan Ponce Enrile, his defense minister, had left the country and brought a sizable portion of the military with him. It changed the course of events and opened the door for democracy to be restored.
But Ms. Taguiwalo claims that 37 years later, as Filipinos march through the streets to mark that anniversary, her worst nightmares have come true. "Bongbong" Marcos, the son of Marcos Sr., is now in office as president, and Mr. Enrile, who once supported the People's Power uprising, now serves as one of the new leader's most important advisers.
By skillfully utilizing social media, Marcos Jr. has reframed his father's rule as a time of unparalleled infrastructure development and peace, dismissing the family's history of corruption and human rights violations as unjustified vilification.
Ms. Taguiwalo, who is now 73, says, "I feel enraged at the injustice of it all. "I'm really saddened by it. " .
She and Mr. Enrile both survived the People Power uprising in the Philippines, but they have very different perspectives on the movement's impact.
Late in February of 1986, there were a number of protests that led to the now-famous march on Manila's ESDA highway.
Thousands of opposition leaders, students, activists, and dissidents disappeared or suffered torture during the 20-year dictatorship, which protesters wanted to end. A government anti-graft agency claims that Marcos Sr. and his flamboyant wife Imelda also stole billions from the country's coffers.
Political prisoner Ms. Taguiwalo was. She claims that while her hands were being squeezed, she was forced to sit on a block of ice until she was completely numb. Mother and child were only released after Corazon Aquino was inaugurated as president and Marcos Sr. was banished to Hawaii after she gave birth while still in custody.
Years later, the Marcoses have made a comeback, with Marcos Jr. becoming president in May 2022 with the largest margin of victory in Philippine history.
Millions of Filipinos are still living in poverty while billionaires continue to amass wealth, according to Ms. Taguiwalo, who claims that this is the reason for their return. That disappointment is the main cause. ".
A prime example is Mr. Enrile's continued political success.
He was kept on as the defense chief by Mrs. Aquino, which served as a platform for him to win parliamentary elections for decades. Despite being connected to two failed uprisings, including Mrs. Aquino's, he maintained his position of authority until 2019.
Despite the People Power uprising having long since passed, he continues to serve as Marcos Jr.'s top political advisor. Additionally, he has lived longer than nearly all of the pivotal figures in the revolution.
However, according to Jean Encinas-Franco, a political science professor at the University of the Philippines, he is "not doing anything that's not typical in Philippine politics.".
According to her, Enrile's strength came from his status as a figurehead in the People Power uprising. In the nearly four decades that followed, that provided him with a platform from which to move on to other government positions.
Prior to this month, he turned 99. Marcos Jr. sent him a message of congratulations on Facebook in Ilocano, the language that connects roughly 10 million Filipinos politically and culturally. This also demonstrates how deftly Enrile has ridden patronage and regionalism in the Philippines' politics.
According to Ms. Franco, Mr. Enrile has had an easy time surviving all these years because Philippine politics are structured around interpersonal connections rather than ideological principles.
He doesn't appear to be giving up himself.
"Ninety-nine is a significant number of years, but it is a fleeting instant in the scheme of eternity. We are all going to die, so it's just life. Nobody wants to win this race, he exclaimed on his birthday.
Generation Z and millennial Filipinos joke that Mr. Enrile is the politician who was born before Mickey Mouse and sliced bread.
But for those who were abducted, brutalized, and sexually assaulted by government agents during the Marcos administration, Mr. Enrile continues to serve as the head of martial law and Marcos Sr.'s esteemed right-hand man.
Since Marcos Sr.'s administration "never adopted a policy of killing people with impunity," Mr. Enrile has refuted all claims that the government has violated human rights.
He told the media in 2019 during his unsuccessful senatorial campaign, "I do not have any regrets, with the possible exception of if there were people who were harmed as a result of my judgment, my decisions when I was holding power.
According to activists, winning the battle to ensure that young Filipinos never again forget what happened under Marcos Sr. will require more than just street protests. .
The "mosquito press" at the time, according to Ms. Taguiwalo, was critical of Marcos Sr. Clippings from this publication have been preserved in digital form for the younger generation to post and share on Facebook and TikTok.
Ms. Franco thinks there's still time to fight back against the Marcoses in their preferred arena of pop culture and social media.
These are the ones that really stick, whether you're talking about Korean dramas or telenovelas. The Marcoses are skilled in the use of this power, she claims.
The reason Ms. Taguiwalo is skipping the anniversary march on Saturday is because she has realized that People Power is a marathon and not a sprint.
Yet she has hope. She claims that after Marcos Jr. won the election in May, young voters sent her texts to express regret for the outcome. She claimed that she had instructed them to take up the battle now.
"I don't move as quickly as I once did, but I am aware that the struggle will continue.
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