黑料社

Students on Tuesday walked out of their classes while progressive groups staged rallies in some cities in the Visayas to commemorate the 39th anniversary of the EDSA People Power Revolution.

Around 100 students of the University of the Philippines in Tacloban City, Leyte walked out from their classes to participate in different activities to remember the historic uprising.

Paul Lachica, a third-year political science student of UP-Tacloban, said the 鈥渕ass walkout鈥� was to protest Malacanang鈥檚 not declaring the People Power anniversary a holiday.

鈥�(This is) to send a strong message to the Marcos Jr. administration that no executive order can erase the history of student resistance and the broader struggle of the Filipino people against the dictatorship of his father during martial law,鈥� he said.

In Iloilo, around 500 members of multi-sectoral groups and some students walked out of their classes to join a rally outside the Iloilo Provincial Capitol.

Philippe Tanchuan Hi帽osa, a sociologist-historian and book author, said the EDSA uprising did not happen overnight and that it accumulated the cries, efforts, and experiences of Filipinos amid the abuses of the Marcoses.

In Negros Occidental, the Federation of Urban Poor Negros (FedUp) marked the 39th EDSA People Power revolution with a call for citizens to exercise their rights to vote for trustworthy officials, and to refuse to allow money to determine their choices in May.

The FedUp members laid flowers at the Ninoy Aquino Monument at Araneta Street in Bacolod City and held a caravan to the Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Bacolod鈥檚 Barangay Bata for a Mass to remember the ordinary Filipinos鈥� heroism at EDSA 39 years ago.

Some private and public schools in the different parts of the Visayas also suspended classes on Tuesday to commemorate the EDSA People Power Revolution.

Among these were the University of Saint La Salle (USLS), St. Joseph High School, St. Scholastica鈥檚 Academy of Bacolod City Inc., University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos, La Consolacion College Bacolod, and Riverside College in Bacolod City.

鈥淟et us resist all attempts to erase from our collective memory what our nation achieved in February 1986. Let us, in the spirit of EDSA, become engaged citizens and demand accountability from those who govern us,鈥� a statement from La Salle said.

In Iloilo, at least four schools also canceled classes on Tuesday to honor the EDSA People Power Revolution: Assumption Iloilo, Central Philippine University, Western Institute of Technology, and Angelicum School Iloilo.

In Cebu, the schools that did not hold classes include the University of the Philippines Cebu, University of San Carlos, Colegio de la Inmaculada Conception, Don Bosco Technological College, 聽Mary our Help Technological School for Women, Tabor Hill College, and St. Mary鈥檚 Academy of San Nicolas.

Classes were also canceled in all public schools in Talisay City, Cebu, according to Rep. Gerard Anthony Gullas of Cebu鈥檚 1st district.

The Talisay City College and private schools, he said, were given the discretion to suspend classes in observance of the anniversary of the 1986 People Power Revolution.

In Bohol, the Holy Name University, PMI Colleges, Bohol Northwestern Colleges, and Mater Dei College suspended classes on Tuesday. Reports from Carla Gomez, Allaine Kate Leda, Joey Marzan, Leo Udtohan, Joey Gabieta, Ruchelle Denice Demaisip, and Ador Mayol, Inquirer Visayas

READ: PUP student regent calls for walkout on Edsa anniversary