EDSA III
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| Series of attempts at regime change in the Philippines (1970–2006) |
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Civil unrest (1970) |
EDSA III (pronounced EDSA Tres) was a very large protest rally that was sparked by the arrest in April 2001 of newly deposed President Joseph Estrada of the Philippines. The rally was held for several days in a major highway in Metro Manila, the Epifanio de los Santos Avenue or EDSA, which eventually culminated in an attempt to storm the Malacanang presidential palace. Taking place four months after Edsa Dos, the protests were asserted as a more populist and representative uprising in comparison to the previous demonstrations in the same location, in January 2001. The protests and the attack on the presidential palace, however, failed in their objectives. Participants continue to claim that it was a genuine People Power event, a claim disputed by the participants and supporters of Edsa Dos. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has acknowledged the divisive nature of the two terminologies by saying in one statement that she hoped to be the president of "Edsa Dos and Edsa Tres."
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[edit] Events
[edit] April 30
See also 2001 EDSA Revolution
The crowd of an alleged several hundred thousand people (although according to Iglesia ni Cristo-owned broadcast network Net 25 and to Senator Sotto, a high of over 3 million in the evening of April 30th), most of whom were members of the urban poor and devotees of the Iglesia ni Cristo which institutionally supported Estrada, gathered at the Roman Catholic EDSA Shrine, the site of the January EDSA II revolt which had toppled Estrada from the presidency.
The protest was led by members of the political opposition of the time, most notably Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Miriam Defensor Santiago and Vicente Sotto III.
[edit] May 1
The rally aimed to remove Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from the presidency and to reinstate Estrada. The rally came to a head on the morning of May 1st, 2001 when thousands of protesters stormed towards Malacañan Palace, the presidential residence; government soldiers and the policemen dispersed the marchers, causing violence. Several broadcast vans of ABS-CBN were torched by members of the crowd, while others attacked the police and soldiers with rocks, sticks, and pipes. The police and military responded with force after implementing a "maximum tolerance" policy, which led to the injury of many of the protesters. Among those arrested in the riot, 2/3 were devotees of Iglesia ni Cristo, to the surprise of the government, since there have been negotiations prior that INC will pull out its members from the rally. [1]
[edit] Aftermath
Hours after the crowds of EDSA III were dispersed, representatives of the Archdiocese of Manila and Civil Society supporters of the Arroyo administration reclaimed the Edsa Shrine where there had been alleged acts of vandalism and garbage everywhere and the vicinity stank of human waste.
Critics of "Edsa Tres," styled after the 1986 EDSA Revolution and the 2001 EDSA Revolution, argue that while this was a major protest, the spirit of it was unlike of the first and second protests. Supporters of "Edsa Tres" journalism allege that EDSA's I and II's participants were made up of the middle and upper classes and thus, not democratically-representative unlike those who participated in EDSA Tres. Other arguments also point to the success of the first two to remove the presidents targeted, versus this event's failure to do so.
