Top of my Facebook feed 22 Feb was a video posted by quo-warranto’d CJ Meilou Sereno —  “Paano Kaya Nangyari ang EDSA People Power” — na tungkol lang sa Enrile-Ramos-RAM defection after Marcos cheated in the snap election, and how the people came to support them and stop tanks.  Di man lang nabanggit si Cory and her audacious non-violent civil disobedience campaign and the six days of crony boycotts that had the economy reeling in the run-up to EDSA.

Pinapalabas na all it took for the people to march to EDSA was Cardinal Sin‘s permission, hindi na bale si Butz Aquino na unang nag-call for a non-violent response, at nag-second-the-motion lang sort of si Cardinal, as in, “those of you who wish to help should do so…”  makalipas ang twenty minutes of pagdadalawang-isip. Walang acknowledgement o pagkilala na may pinanggalingan na higanteng protesta ang milyon-milyong Coryista; wala ring paliwanag kung bakit nga ba kumilos ang mga Coryista para protektahan si Enrile na “architect” of martial law — siya ang sumulat ng Proclamation 1081 — at kilalang crony ni Marcos.

Sa totoo lang, kung hindi sa higanteng protesta ni Cory, kung hindi siya nagtawag ng boycott of crony businesses to bring down the economy and compel Marcos to step down, na agad sinakyan ng milyon-milyong Coryista, malamang ay nilangaw ang EDSA.

Salamat sa biyuda ni Ninoy, kakaiba na noon ang ihip ng hangin. Mapanghimagsik na ang timpla ng taongbayan, punong-puno bigla ng pag-asa, sabik sa naamoy na pagbabago, noong bisperas ng EDSA. Kung walang naganap na defection, malamang ay sa Mendiola at Malacañang nagmartsa at umeksena ang People Power.

From Himagsikan sa EDSA–Walang Himala! (2000)
Mahalagang isaisip na noong nag-aklas sina Enrile at Ramos, pitong (7) araw nang nag-aaklas ang mga Coryista. Ibang klaseng pag-aaklas nga lang – hindi armadong pakikibaka kundi simpleng pagsuway sa Awtoridad at di-pagtangkilik sa mga produkto at serbisyo ng crony economy. Tandang-tanda ko pa ang maigting na sigla at tensyon ng panahong iyon. High na high at sakay na sakay sa kampanyang boykot ang sampung milyong Pilipino na bumoto kay Cory – binitawan ang nakasanayang peryodiko at lumipat sa mga diyaryo ng alternative press, iwinaksi ang paboritong beer at gin at nag-trip sa whiskey at lambanog, inisnab ang paboritong softdrinks at dairy products at nawili sa buko juice, dirty ice cream, at kesong puti. Naisip ko na tuwang-tuwa siguro ang mga nasyonalista’t aktibista pagkat sa isang iglap, naibaling ng madlang mamimili ang tangkilik sa mga produkto ng maliliit na negosyong Pinoy. Higit pa, nagustuhan namin ang natikman at nalanghap na pagbabago. Namulat sa katotohanang okey din pala ang lokal at puwede nga palang magbago ng ugali o kabihasnan.

From EDSA Uno, Dos Tres (2013)
The first six days of the boycott are always glossed over, remembered only, if at all, as prelude, along with the snap elections.

Yet those early days were extraordinary and quite memorable on a personal plane for the millions who voted for Cory in the Snap Election of 1986, and, when she was cheated, who merrily complied with her boycott call and changed consumption habits overnight. There was nothing ideological about it, no sense of alternative economics as a long-term option. Rather, it was purely political, to derail the economy, and only until Marcos conceded to Cory.

It was a heady, giddy, intoxicating time of engagement in political change, beyond the ballot. The boycott was in the realm of the personal, on the level of where to bank and shop, which newspapers to read, what dairy products to feast on, what softdrinks and beer to get high on. And because it wasn’t always clear which brands were tainted and which were not, some of us played safe and simply eschewed all advertised goods. We turned to unbranded homegrown stuff like kesong puti, “dirty” ice cream, fresh fruits and juices, and local spirits like lambanog. We reveled in it. I remember thinking how thrilled nationalists must be—finally Filipinos, whose buying habits were generally shaped by TV commercials, were finding out that local stuff by small entrepreneurs was good, too, if not better on all sorts of levels.

Best of all, Filipinos were finding that change, while daunting and disconcerting at first, could turn provocative and mind-blowing and consciousness-raising, reinforced by a mosquito press that daily reported how more and more people, left, right and center, rich and poor, were joining the bandwagon, and how crony banks and businesses were running and reeling.

The personal was political, indeed. What a revolutionary mind trip it was.

Of course, the boycott was too good to last. Big Business, crony and not, could not allow it to go on much longer. And to this day, no one likes to talk about it. Bakit kaya.