Oversleeping and "Laban" in the Philippines

Yesterday, during the workshop, the course director invited me for a meeting in Kallang to introduce me to new people. I was to arrive at the meeting place at 10 am, and alas, when I woke up, it was already 10:10 am… I messaged her and gave up…

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A few nights ago, I added some magazine-cover photos to my “MM on the Philippines” entry. All photos are about the “People Power” revolution led by Cory Aquino and then backed by Fidel Ramos and Juan Ponce Enrile.

The memories of this “EDSA revolution” of February to March 1986, the first of similar mass movements that were to come later in the country, are indelible. It was my first lesson of international politics. Not satisfied enough with two American weekly news magazines and Japanese TV news reports, I was running to the nearest station to buy the latest Japan Times. The “laban (struggle)” sign by Aquino and her supporters, the press conference by Ramos and Enrile at the Aguinaldo base, singing by Imelda from the Malacanang Palace balcony and the Marcos family’s helicopter-fleeing to Guam and then to Hawaii… All are still vivid.

I had stopped reading a US magazine as finishing it every week in time was only too time-consuming and was beyond my reading skills. Because of this Marcos-Aquino confrontation, I decided to restart my reading.