(Redirected from People Power II):''This article is about the events of February 2001, for the April-May 2001 events, see
EDSA III.''
The 'EDSA Revolution of 2001', also called by the local media as EDSA II (pronounced as Edsa ''dos'') or the 'Second People Power Revolution', is the common name of the four-day
popular revolution that peacefully overthrew
Philippine President Joseph Estrada in January
2001. He was succeeded by his then vice president
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
EDSA is an
acronym derived from
Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, the major
highway that encircles
Metro Manila. The revolt took place in the
business district of
Ortigas Center.
Background
On
October 4,
2000.
Ilocos Sur Governor
Luis "Chavit" Singson, a longtime friend of
President Joseph Estrada, went public with accusations that Estrada, his family and friends received millions of
pesos from operations of the illegal numbers game, ''
jueteng''.
[1]
The exposé immediately ignited reactions of rage. The next day,
Senate Minority Leader Teofisto Guingona Jr. delivered a fiery
privilege speech accusing Estrada of receiving P220 million in jueteng money from Governor Singson from November 1998 to August 2000, as well as taking P70 million on
excise tax on cigarettes intended for Ilocos Sur. The privilege speech was referred by
Senate President Franklin Drilon, to the
Blue Ribbon Committee and the
Committee on Justice for joint investigation. Another committee in the
House of Representatives decided to investigate the exposé, while other house members spearheaded a move to impeach the president.
More calls for resignation came from
Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin, the
Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, former Presidents
Corazon Aquino and
Fidel Ramos, and
Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (who had resigned her cabinet position of Secretary of the
Department of Social Welfare and Services). More resignations came from Estrada's cabinet and economic advisers, and other members of congress defected from his ruling party.
On
November 13,
2000, the House of Representatives led by Speaker
Manuel Villar transmitted the Articles of Impeachment, signed by 115 representatives, to the Senate. This caused shakeups in the leadership of both houses of congress.
The impeachment trial was formally opened on November 20, with twenty-one senators taking their oaths as judges, and
Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilario Davide, Jr. presiding. The trial began on December 7.
The day-to-day trial was covered on live television and received the highest viewing rating at the time.
Among the highlights of the trial was the testimony of
Clarissa Ocampo, senior vice president of
Equitable-PCI Bank, who testified that she was one foot away from Estrada when he signed the name "Jose Velarde" documents involving a P500 million investment agreement with their bank in February 2000.
Timeline of events
On
January 17,
2001, the
impeachment trial of President Estrada moved to the investigation of an envelope containing crucial
evidence that would allegedly prove acts of
political corruption by Estrada.
Senators allied with Estrada moved to block the evidence. The conflict between the senators, judges, and the
prosecution became deeper, but Senator Francisco Tatad requested to the Impeachment court to make a vote for opening the second envelope. The vote resulted in 10 senators in favor of examining the evidence, and 11 senators in favor of suppressing it. The list of senators who voted for the second envelope are as follows:
After the vote,
Aquilino Pimentel, Jr. resigned as Senate President and walked out of the impeachment proceedings together with the 9 opposition Senators and 11 prosecutors in the Estrada impeachment trial. The 11 administration senators who voted YES to block the opening of the second envelope remained in Senate Session Hall. They were chanted with "JOE'S COHORTS" where their surnames were arranged.
===Day 1:
January 17,
2001===
All 11 prosecutors in the Estrada impeachment trial resigned, following an 11-10 vote by the Senate the previous day to block a key piece of evidence. Sen. Tessie Aquino-Oreta, one of the three female senators who voted for "NO" (no for opening of the envelope), was seen on nationwide television and most people had the impression that she was dancing joyfully as the opposition walked out. This further fueled the growing anti-ERAP sentiments of the crowd gathered at
EDSA Shrine, and she became the most vilified and accursed of the 11 senators. She was labeled a "prostitute" and a "concubine" of ERAP for her dancing act. Sen. Defensor-Santiago was also ridiculed, as the crowd tagged her as a "lunatic" (it came from her reputation of being overly intelligent).
===Day 2:
January 18,
2001===
Hundreds of thousands of protesters choke a major
Manila intersection calling for the resignation of President
Joseph Estrada.
The crowd continues to grow, bolstered by students from private schools and left-wing organizations.
===Day 3:
January 19,
2001===
The
Philippine National Police and the
Armed Forces of the Philippines withdraw their support for Estrada, joining the crowds at the EDSA Shrine.
At 5:00pm, Estrada appears on television for the first time since the beginning of the protests and maintains that he will not resign. He says he wants the impeachment trial to continue, stressing that only a guilty verdict will remove him from office.
At 6:15pm, Estrada again appears on television, calling for a snap presidential election to be held concurrently with congressional and local elections on
May 14,
2001. He adds that he will not run in this election.
===Day 4:
January 20,
2001=
At noon, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo takes her oath of office in the presence of the crowd at EDSA, becoming the 14th president of the Philippines.
At 2:00 pm, Estrada releases a letter saying he had "strong and serious doubts about the legality and constitutionality of her proclamation as president", but saying he would give up his office to avoid being an obstacle to healing the nation.
Later, Estrada and his family leave Malacañang Palace, smiling and waving to reporters and shaking hands with the remaining members of his Cabinet and other palace employees. He was placed under house arrest and eventually confined to his rest home in Sampaloc, a small village in Tanay, Rizal.
Criticism==
The only means of
legitimizing the event was the last-minute Supreme Court ruling that "the welfare of the people is the supreme law." But by then, the
Armed Forces of the Philippines days ago already withdrew support for the president, which some analysts call unconstitutional and most foreign political analysts would agree. William Overholt, a
Hong Kong-based political economist said that "It is either being called
mob rule or mob rule as a cover for a well-planned coup," "But either way, it's not democracy." It should also be noted that opinion was divided during EDSA II about whether
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as the incumbent Vice-president should be president if
Joseph Estrada was ousted; many groups who participated in EDSA II expressly stated that they did not want Arroyo for president either, and some of them would later participate in
EDSA III. It must however be noted that the prevailing Constitution of the Philippines calls for the Vice-President of the Philippines, who at the time was Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, to take the position of the President of the country during events that the current president cannot function in that capacity. During these demonstrations, Joseph Ejercito Estrada clearly was incapacitated, the government stifled, and that was even before the Armed Forces withdrew its support for him as president.
International reaction
World reaction to the administration change was mixed. Though foreign nations, including the
United States, immediately expressed recognition of the legitimacy of Arroyo's presidency, foreign commentators described the revolt as "a defeat for
due process of law", "mob rule" and a "de facto coup".
See also
★
People Power Revolution
★
Joseph Estrada
★
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
★
2005 Philippine electoral crisis
References
1. http://www.supremecourt.gov.ph/jurisprudence/2001/mar2001/146710_15.htm
★
CNN.com - Arroyo sworn in as president of Philippines - January 21, 2001
★
The Story of EDSA II: Why Erap Failed
★
The New York Times - Expecting Praise, Filipinos are Criticized for Ouster
★
The Success of People Power II and what it really means
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