Beamed worldwide by satellite TV from EDSA for all the world to witness, the dramatic People Power Revolution that  ousted the firmly entrenched Philippine dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos non-violently from power into exile was the first of  its kind and deserves serious study, never mind that it "failed", as critics and cynics love to point out, to usher in real social  and political change. Before the failure came the success, the people stopped the tanks and Marcos fled, what a coup, no mean feat, how on earth did that happen?

Many still think that the ouster was orchestrated by the Americans-a CIA* plot. As many others, the Catholics mostly, still insist that it was a miracle, an act of God. Not to be outdone, the military rebels claim credit for the uprising: had they not defected, there would have been no EDSA.

Altogether the effect, deliberate or not, is to diminish the People's role in that unexpected triumph, to insinuate that the People were acting as mere puppets of some higher power. Contrary to Marcos propaganda, the Americans were not responsible for the EDSA Revolution. Reagan's trouble-shooter Habib knew that something was brewing but he failed to get a handle on it. The Ramos-Enrile defection (Day 1) caught the Americans napping, People Power (Day 2) knocked them out. It was already Day 3-the battle was practically won-when the Americans intervened in earnest, and only in the matter of Marcos's escape. Intelligence reports from the CIA may have helped the rebels during the four days but if the Americans had completely stayed out of it, EDSA would have happened anyway and it would have ended more decisively.

Neither were the military rebels responsible for EDSA. Their defection only served as catalyst for the display of People Power. Remove the defectors and some other agitators would have come along. At the time, Cory's boycott campaign vs. Marcos-crony businesses was beginning to peak and the business community was beginning to hurt. If the military had not defected, the business community would have had to make their own move to force Marcos to step down for the sake of the economy. The military reformists would have fallen in line, no doubt, and People Power would have stolen the show just as stunningly, just in time to render moot Marcos's inauguration. If anything, the military defectors owe their lives and status, post-EDSA, to the People who not only saved their lives but also prevailed upon Cory to avail of their armed services.

Neither was EDSA a miracle, beyond human understanding. . . Walang himala. The task of removing the dictator was well within the people's human powers.

Neither was EDSA a miracle, beyond human understanding. There is a rationalcause-and-effect explanation (unfortunately kept hidden from the public) for everything that happened during those four days, from the Enrile-Ramos defection to the Marcos-Ver escape. Walang himala! No sick were healed, no water turned into wine, the sun didn't dance, and the Marian apparition is all in the Cardinal's mind. EDSA was about ordinary people in great numbers who dared to confront, unarmed, the military might of the dictator and discovered in the process their mind-boggling powers when united by a common goal. Walang himala. The task of removing the dictator was well within the people's human powers.

In fact, EDSA was wrought by People Power, which was made flesh by the martial law regime when it jailed, and then made a martyr of, opposition leader Beningno "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr. EDSA was the climactic and final chapter of that fierce rivalry between Marcos and Ninoy which saw the widow Cory rising triumphant on a glorious wave of People Power. Also, EDSA is a sublime, if controversial, chapter in the Filipino people's continuing struggle for freedom which inspired the world but has proven an empty victory at home. As in the aftermath of the 1896 Revolution, the masses in 1986 went home empty-handed, the spoils pre-empted by old peninsulares and new ilustrados. Nonetheless it was sublime, and the Four Days (and preceding events to some extent) bear recalling and scrutinizing, if only for lessons in non-violent warfare and the dynamics of people-power.

The story of EDSA begins with the imposition of martial law in September 1972 that ushered in fourteen years of oppression. A quick run down of those dark times, that reign of greed and terror, which saw the principal players crossing paths, taking their places, setting the stage for EDSA, is in order, more fully to appreciate the interplay of forces that led to, and climaxed as, the People Power Revolution.