- EDSA III
EDSA III (pronounced EDSA Tres) was a
protest sparked by thearrest in April 2001 of newly deposed PresidentJoseph Estrada of thePhilippines . The protest was held for seven days in a major highway in Metropolitan Manila, the Epifanio de los Santos Avenue orEDSA , which eventually culminated in an attempt to storm theMalacañang presidential palace. Taking place four months afterEDSA Revolution of 2001 , the protests were asserted as a more populist and representative uprising in comparison to the previous demonstrations in the same location, in January 2001. The protests and the attack on the presidential palace, however, failed in their objectives. Participants continue to claim that it was a genuine People Power event, a claim disputed by the participants and supporters of EDSA II. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has acknowledged the divisive nature of the two terminologies by saying in one statement that she hoped to be the president of "EDSA II and EDSA III."Events
April 30
:"See also
EDSA Revolution of 2001 "The crowd of an alleged several hundred thousand people (although according to
Iglesia ni Cristo -owned broadcast networkNet 25 and to Senator Sotto, a high of over 3 million in the evening of April 30), most of whom were members of the urban poor and devotees of the Iglesia ni Cristo which institutionally supported Estrada, gathered at the Roman CatholicEDSA Shrine , the site of the JanuaryEDSA II revolt which had toppled Estrada from the presidency.News organizations aiming to cover the rally were advised not approach the area, as there were reports of stones being thrown at cameramen, particularly those from
ABS-CBN .The protest was led by members of the political opposition of the time, most notably Senators
Juan Ponce Enrile ,Miriam Defensor Santiago andVicente Sotto III .May 1
The rebellion aimed to remove
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from the presidency and to reinstate Estrada. The rebellion came to a head on the morning ofMay 1 ,2001 most of the people left specially the Iglesia ni Cristo members as an agreement of their leaders and the government. Still hundreds of thousands of protesters stormed towardsMalacañang Palace , the presidential residence; government soldiers and the policemen dispersed the marchers, causing violence. Several broadcast vans ofABS-CBN were torched by members of the crowd, while others attacked the police and soldiers with rocks, sticks, and pipes. The police and military responded with force after implementing a "maximum tolerance" policy, which led to the injury of many of the protesters. [http://www.pcij.org/stories/2002/inc.html] President Arroyo declared a "State of Rebellion" in theNational Capital Region pursuant to Proclamation No. 38 [ [http://www.lawphil.net/executive/proc/proc_38_2001.html Presidential Proclamation No. 38] ] and arrested leaders who participated in the said rebellion like SenatorJuan Ponce Enrile but released onbail . [ [http://edition.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/southeast/05/06/philippine.arroyo.02/index.html CNN News] ] OnMay 7 ,2001 , President Arroyo lifted the "State of Rebellion". [ [http://edition.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/southeast/05/06/philippine.arroyo.02/index.html CNN News] ]Aftermath
Hours after the crowds of EDSA III were dispersed, representatives of the Archdiocese of Manila and Civil Society supporters of the Arroyo administration reclaimed the EDSA Shrine where there had been alleged acts of vandalism and garbage everywhere and the vicinity stank of human waste.
Critics of EDSA Tres, styled after the
People Power Revolution (EDSA Revolution) andEDSA Revolution of 2001 , argue that while this was a major protest, the spirit of it was unlike of the first and second protests. Supporters of Edsa Tres journalism allege that EDSA's I and II's participants were made up of the middle and upper classes and thus, not democratically-representative unlike those who participated in EDSA Tres. Other arguments also point to the success of the first two to remove the presidents targeted, versus this event's failure to do so.References
External links
* [http://news.inq7.net/metro/index.php?index=1&story_id=74253 Ralliers tell their stories]
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