Vice President Leni Robredo on Thursday challenged the public to fulfill the promises of the People Power revolt with "faith and fire," as she warned that the democracy restored 35 years ago was in peril.
Robredo, the highest elected official allied with the 1986 People Power forces, said the "personal agenda of a powerful few" placed the "ever fragile" democracy under threat.
"The challenge now is this: We must find within ourselves that strength, that faith, that fire to continue the work that remains to be done. And in doing so, we must find a way to walk forward together," she said.
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The bloodless uprising in 1986 toppled the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos and installed as president Corazon Aquino, widow of slain opposition leader Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino.
Marcos' heirs have attempted a political comeback and are holding elective positions. Robredo, however, beat Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. in 2016. The Supreme Court affirmed her victory last week as it junked Marcos' election protest.
"Today, 35 years after, we renew our faith in this fundamental truth of EDSA: That our people, standing united, can never be defeated. We affirm this truth, even as we acknowledge that the promise of EDSA has not yet been completely fulfilled," she said.
"Today, we are reminded of what we can do, marching towards a shared horizon, bound not only by the crisis we face, but by our collective resolve to truly achieve the promise articulated 35 years ago – isang lipunang mas malaya, mas makatarungan, at mas makatao," she said.
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