Category: edsa

EDSA AND INEQUALITY

By Mong Palatino

Inequality in Philippine society is reflected in the whole stretch of Edsa. Despite its People Power past with its egalitarian promise, the site Edsa is still very much a territory dominated by the elite. In fact, the relics of the feudal past are visible along Edsa. Several prime properties which dot the 54 kilometer highway are former hacienda estates of the old rich. The Cubao Araneta Center was part of the estate owned by the Aranetas. Their relatives (Tuason family) used to own the nearby Katipunan and Marikina. The Madrigals have properties in New Manila, while the Quezon family is the original owner of the PSBA lot today which used to have the best view of the quaint Marikina Valley. Adjacent the Araneta Hacienda is the estate owned by the Ortigas Family. They donated some parts of their vast estate to the government which later became Camp Aguinaldo. The hacienda owned by the Ayalas in Makati was developed in the 1970s and quickly evolved into a major financial mecca.

Read on…

EDSA Uno, the book, in Solidaridad…

EDSA UNO, A Narrative and Analysis with Notes on Dos & Tres (2013) is now available in Solidaridad Bookstore in Malate, Casa Roces near Malacanang Palace, and still in the U.P. Press Bookstore in Diliman and Mt. Cloud Bookshop in Baguio.

check out the cover here.  for orders email radikalchick@gmail.com or text/call katrina: 0915 532 2578

EDSA UNO… the book, at the manila int’l book fair, sept 11-15

copies of EDSA UNO, A Narrative and Analysis with Notes on Dos & Tres (2013) are available in the booth of U.P. Press at the Manila International Book Fair, SMX Convention Center, Mall of Asia Complex, Pasay City 1300, September 11-15.  go get a copy, now na :))

“EDSA UNO, A Narrative and Analysis with Notes on Dos & Tres”

my third, and last, book on EDSA.  448 pages including endnotes, bibiliography, and name index.  foreword by ninotchka rosca, afterword by patricio n. abinales, and blurbs by randy david, peque gallaga, and rene saguisag.

EDSA UNO… was launched last sunday and is now available at the UP Press Bookshop in diliman, qc, and Mt. Cloud Bookshops in upper session road, baguio.  tomorrow it will be available at AKLATAN, an all-filipino book fair in magallanes, makati.*

of course i am somewhat unsettled by the timing, i.e., the synchronicity, the unplanned co-incidence, with the pork barrel protests presently rocking the nation.  these are testy times, and i would be the last to call for an EDSA kind of ouster of the president.  that would be a big mistake just because we have no one better to replace him with — i mean, one who offers an alternative program of government and development sans pork barrel, one we would, could, all happily get behind.

but i have no problem with #ScrapPork rallies at the EDSA shrine, and any other place for that matter, as long as the goal is to gather people together for consciousness-raising re Freedom of Information and the evils of the pork barrel system.  let a hundred rallies bloom, indeed.

*AKLATAN, September 7, 2013 at the Alpha Tents. 6th floor, Alphaland Southgate, EDSA cor. Chino Roces Avenue (Beside the Magallanes MRT station.)

* for orders write radikalchick@gmail.com or text/call katrina: 0915 532 2578