25/02/2026
𝐄𝐃𝐒𝐀 𝟒𝟎 | 𝐀 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐁𝐞 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝
Forty years ago, the nation fought with their lives, standing their ground in the middle of a highway, unarmed, all for one thing: freedom.
Along Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, people from different regions, beliefs, and political convictions gathered shoulder to shoulder. Religious groups stood beside students. Workers stood beside families. Some carried nothing but food and water. Others carried rosaries. Many carried only conviction.
They formed human barricades in front of armored vehicles. They knelt in prayer. They linked arms. And when fear could have scattered them, they stayed—even under the threat of violence from a dictatorship. Some were prepared to lie down on the pavement if it came to that, believing that their bodies were the last line between tyranny and the future.
This is what they went through, all to preserve the freedom that allows our country to have its voice today.
History always shows us that freedom in our country has never been free. It was paid for in silence, in imprisonment, in disappearances, in blood, and in lives that never returned home. It was secured by people who chose to stand when it was dangerous to stand.
Today, there are voices that attempt to soften that history; to say it was not so dark, to suggest that nothing was broken, to imply that remembering is unnecessary, or that resistance was a mistake.
But history shall not be rewritten by those in power. It is a truth etched into our identity as Filipinos—one that empowers us and one that shall never be taken away.
Freedom in our history was paid for with lives. We cannot permit it to be erased, distorted, or rewritten. The power of the people will always remain stronger than the people in power. But once we surrender that power, we risk watching history repeat itself.
Never forget. Never again.
✏️ Nathan Louis Tumanda, Public Relations Officer
🖼️ Nathan Louis Tumanda, Public Relations Officer
