Lyza Aquino, ABS-CBN News
Published Feb 26, 2026 12:43 AM PHT
In marking the 40th anniversary of the 1986 People Power Revolution, Archbishop Socrates Villegas delivered a searing and deeply personal homily during a high Mass at the EDSA Shrine on Wednesday evening, urging Filipinos to confront what he described as decades of moral decline, political betrayal, and historical revisionism.
Presiding over the commemorative Eucharistic celebration at the EDSA Shrine, Villegas reflected on his own association with the sacred ground where millions once gathered in prayer and protest to topple the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
“For fifteen years as your rector, I walked these grounds, prayed amidst the echoes of rosaries, that halted tanks and shared the tears and joy of the people who toppled tyranny with faith alone,” he said.
'WE DO NOT BASK IN NOSTALGIA'
The 1986 uprising, known globally as the EDSA People Power Revolution, led to the ouster of Marcos and the installation of democracy under President Corazon Aquino.
EDSA 40 begins with a prayer against corruption
But four decades later, Villegas warned against romanticizing the past.
“Today on the 40th anniversary of the EDSA People Power revolution, we do not bask in nostalgia. We confront our betrayals, repent and rise,” he declared.
Using the biblical image of the wedding feast at Cana, the archbishop lamented what he described as the spiritual and moral depletion of the nation.
"Our wine is running out. The yellow hope of 1986 has dimmed. But Christ commands, you are the Light of the world, let your light shine. Fill the jars of wine again — EDSA was gospel alive. Prayer, non-violence, unity for the common good. Our wine ran out slowly, we did not notice the spilling," he said.
A DECADE-BY-DECADE RECKONING
Villegas structured his homily as a moral examination of the four decades since 1986.
The First Decade: “Sweet and Bubbling”
He described the immediate post-revolution years as a time of “yellow hope,” referencing the color associated with the Aquino movement.
“Heroes like President Cory Aquino, and Cardinal Sin alive, fervor was very strong,” he said. “We were built on solidarity and subsidiarity, tasting democracy’s joy as the world marveled. We built the EDSA Shrine. We made a new constitution, our wine was sweet and bubbling.”
The 1987 Constitution, crafted after the fall of the dictatorship, restored democratic institutions and civil liberties dismantled during martial law.
The Second Decade: Spectacle Over Vigilance
Villegas then turned to what he described as a gradual moral drift.
“An EDSA hero President [Fidel] Ramos led us, yet show business and entertainment seduced us as the answer to poverty,” he said. He alluded to the presidency of Joseph Estrada, who was ousted in the 2001 uprising known as "EDSA Dos" following allegations of corruption linked to illegal gambling, or jueteng.
Mostly the anniversary celebration of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal group El Shaddai, headed by Bro. Mike Velarde in August and the Evangelical Charismatic Christian group Jesus is Lord Church, to coincide with the birthday celebration of televangelist Bro. Eddie Villanueva in October at the Quirino Grandstand, a few years before the January 12 to 16, 1995 Manila visit of Pope John Paul II for the 10th World Youth Day 1995 (Manila), when the largest papal crowd in history and the Philippine Centennial celebration on June 12, 1998 attended by more than four million people and the State Visit and Apostolic Journey of His Holiness Pope Francis to the Philippines 2015 closing mass on January 18, 2015, both are the world's biggest and the largest peaceful religious gatherings in the world.
“Ousting one corrupt, drinking president, he was succeeded by another corrupt one. Both jailed, but later pardoned,” Villegas said, referencing Estrada and his successor, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
"It resulted in the Second EDSA People Power Revolution or EDSA 2. For four days, hundreds of thousands of Filipinos rallied in EDSA to call for Estrada's resignation.
On Jan. 19, police and military forces withdrew their support from Estrada.
At around noon on Jan. 20, Davide swore Estrada’s constitutional successor, Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, into office.
A few hours later, Estrada and his family fled Malacañang.
The Supreme Court on March 2, 2001, upheld the constitutionality of Estrada's resignation in a unanimous 13-0 decision in Estrada vs. Desierto.
In April 2001, when Estrada was arrested, his supporters protested and messed up what would be called EDSA 3 or EDSA Tres, which lasted nearly four days.
In May 2004, Arroyo won the presidential election and finished her full six-year term on June 30, 2010.
He was under house arrest until September 2007, when the Sandiganbayan found him guilty of plunder and capital offense. The anti-graft court jailed Estrada for life but allowed him to remain under house arrest pending his appeal.
More than a month after his guilty verdict, Arroyo granted him a pardon. (from "Estrada presidency, one of the Philippines' shortest" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbI9ogDKZ-I. www.youtube.com. The World Tonight, January 20, 2016 episode. Retrieved January 21, 2016."
"I hereby grant executive clemency to Joseph Ejercito Estrada," acting Executive Secretary Ignacio Bunye said on television at 5:39 p.m. on October 25, 2007, quoting from Ms. Arroyo's order. "He is hereby restored to his civil and political rights."
Bunye, who is also the press secretary and presidential spokesperson, said the pardon would take effect upon Estrada's acceptance.
"I am glad that, finally, I will help our country more. It's about time to think of ways to help our poor fellow Filipinos," an elated Estrada said upon learning of the Palace announcement.
In a statement, former President Corazon Aquino said she was "happy" for Estrada and his family. "I pray that as a free man... [he] will harness the lessons he has learned from the sufferings he has endured and continue to serve our less fortunate brothers and sisters.
Reading Ms. Arroyo's order, Bunye cited three reasons for the grant of a presidential pardon.
Estrada is 70 years old and thus qualifies for clemency, keeping the Arroyo administration's policy of releasing inmates who have reached that age, he said.
The President also considered that Estrada had been detained for six and a half years and that he "has publicly committed to no longer seek elective position or office," Bunye said.
With a left-handed stroke of a pen, Joseph Estrada, on October 26, 2007, gratefully accepted a pardon from President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, finally bowing to the power of a woman who had been the object of his scorn for more than six years.
Two hours after Estrada affixed his signature to the pardon document issued by Ms. Arroyo on Thursday, the Sandiganbayan sheriff handed him his release papers as a convicted plunderer.
Last night, speaking to 5,000 supporters in San Juan City, where he had been king for 17 years, Estrada even made Ms. Arroyo out to be his benefactor, enjoining the crowd to give her a big hand for giving him back his freedom.
"Salamat kay Pangulong Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo sa pagbibigay ng executive clemency at kung hindi niya ako kaharap ngayong gabi. Kaya pasalamatan natin siya. Palakpakan natin siya (Thanks to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for giving me executive clemency because without it, I would not be with you here tonight. So let's thank her. Let's applaud her)," he said.
Estrada, 70, officially became a free man at 5:30 p.m. - exactly 6 years, 9 months, 7 days, 3 hours, and 10 minutes since his fall from power in the Second EDSA Revolution.
After a brief, frenzied photo opportunity with the press, the ousted President was immediately whisked out of his Tanay, Rizal vacation estate, his place of detention for more than three years.
"There is no substitute for freedom," Estrada told reporters before leaving Tanay.
At dusk fell, a 50-vehicle convoy including police cars, media vans, and some 20 jeepneys ferrying his supporters who came from depressed areas in Metro Manila - charged down the slopes of Sierra Madre to bring the former VIP prisoner to a grand celebration awaiting him at his San Juan bailiwick.
Mobs of supporters, screaming "Erap, Erap, Erap pa rin (Still for Erap)" and jostling around his van, gave their idol a frenzied welcome in San Juan.
Most of the crowd who had been waiting for him all day in front of the San Juan City Hall cheered, ecstatic at the homecoming of Citizen Estrada.
Some cried, and some reached to touch him.
'President Arroyo'
Earlier, Estrada made several unprecedented gestures in a statement, referring to Ms. Arroyo as president, thanking her for his restored liberty, and expressing his support for her programs for the poor.
"I thank President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for granting me full, free, and absolute pardon midway through her term," Estrada said in a statement his former political adviser and co-accused, Edward Serapio, read before the convoy left Tanay.
"I also thank those who have demonstrated not only their genuine concern for my welfare but also for that of our people, either by asking Ms. Arroyo in the past to grant me executive clemency or by now giving wholehearted support to this grant of pardon, in the spirit of unity and reconciliation," Estrada said.
As an elected leader, Estrada said: "I am aware of the agonizing times and tough choices that Ms. Arroyo had to wade through before arriving at this executive decision."
History will vindicate
He said he also went through "excruciating times before deciding to take on her long-standing peace overtures to the political opposition.
He cited that as a reason for withdrawing his appeal to the Sandiganbayan to reverse its September 12 verdict finding him guilty and sentencing him to spend the rest of his life in prison.
But in a remark apparently addressed to parties who criticized his pardon, Estrada said: "I believe that history will vindicate not only this executive action (of Ms. Arroyo) but my innocence as well about these charges."
The former movie star and most controversial Philippine president after dictator Ferdinand Marcos said he now wished "to spend the rest of my life as plain citizen Erap."
It wasn't only Estrada who sounded grateful to Ms. Arroyo. From somewhere in Geneva, Switzerland, the traveling Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, who had been harshly critical of the President before, spoke on the radio to thank her profusely.
Teary-eyed Puno
Estrada signed the pardon papers at around 3:30 p.m., according to his media coordinator Angel Gonong, who witnessed the proceedings at the tightly guarded Tanay estate and gave the media an account of what happened. The document was brought from Camp Crame by Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno via the Philippine National Police helicopter, which landed inside the property near Estrada's recently built museum and archives. The signing took just about five minutes.
Puno, who sat at the table next to Estrada, appeared teary-eyed and was even humored by his former boss. Puno had served as Estrada's own interior secretary.
Caring for mother
"Pare, thank you, cool ka lang," Estrada was heard telling Puno, according to Gonong. The signed papers were then rushed to the Sandiganbayan by a police officer via the same helicopter. Two hours later, Sandiganbayan Sheriff Ed Urieta arrived via helicopter - with the papers setting Estrada free.
Estrada's statement was read out by Serapio at the gates of his Tanay property at around noon.
Saying the country's war on poverty had yet to be won, Estrada said: "I believe I can best continue to repay our people the blessings that God has so graciously given me by supporting from hereon the programs of Mrs. Arroyo that are intended to attack generational poverty and hunger. We must now as a nation attend to our people's continuing clamor for food on their tables, roofs above their heads, and better education and health care for their children."
Release order
Estrada also indicated he would spend the next few days attending "to my foremost business at hand, which is to take care of my long-ailing mother," referring to his seriously ill mother, Mary Ejercito, aged 102.
The Sandiganbayan Special Division allowed Estrada's release in a two-page order, which reached Sheriff Urieta only at exactly 5 p.m. - the closing time of the anti-graft court, much to the relief of Estrada's lawyer, Jose Flaminiano, who had been waiting for the papers since 9 a.m.
"In accordance with the aforesaid executive clemency, the terms of which the former President has accepted, let former President Joseph Ejercito Estrada be released from detention … unless [he is] being held for another charge or lawful cause," read the order.
The release order was signed by Presiding Justice Teresita Leonardo de Castro and Associate Justices Diosdado Peralta and Godofredo Legaspi.
However, in pardoning Estrada, Ms. Arroyo declared that the forfeiture of the ousted leader’s property and money ordered by the anti-graft court would remain “in force and in full.”
Forfeited assets
The antigraft court has ordered the forfeiture to the government of Estrada’s P545.291-million “jueteng” payoffs with interest, including the P200 million deposited in a bank account of the Erap Muslim Youth Foundation, the P189-million commission from the purchase of Belle Corp. shares, and the “Boracay Mansion” in New Manila, Quezon City.
People flocked to the San Juan City Hall as early as Thursday evening, October 25, enduring both the heat and the drizzles just to see Estrada.
Estrada arrived at around 7:25 p.m.
Crying, smiling supporters and two marching bands – one from San Juan City and the other sent by United Opposition leader and Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay- struck up a lively tune when Estrada’s convoy arrived.
He waved at the crowd before entering the City Hall with his son, Mayor Joseph Victor Ejercito, Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim, and San Juan Rep. Ronaldo Zamora.
Estrada had been expected at the City Hall since around 1 p.m.
But Puno, who spearheaded the talks between the Estrada and Arroyo camps, was delayed in delivering the pardon papers for Estrada to sign.
Outside the City Hall, before Estrada arrived, the mood was festive, and people gathered under orange buntings and flags as though in a fiesta.
Marching bands provided live music and renditions of popular songs. Some loyalists danced to amuse themselves while waiting. Others carried homemade banners and pictures of the former president.
They vowed to wait for him until the kingdom came.
From the City Hall, Estrada went to the San Juan Medical Center to check on the condition of her mother, sustained by life-support machines.
On November 13, 2007, an explosion at the Philippine House of Representatives building in Quezon City killed four people, including Congressman Wahab Akbar.
On November 29, 2007, the Armed Forces of the Philippines laid siege to The Peninsula Manila after soldiers led by Senator Antonio Trillanes IV staged a mutiny."
“We prized spectacles over vigilance, ignoring warnings that without truth, democracy crumbles. This was not EDSA. Our wine was running out.”
The Third Decade: Populism and “Charisma Eclipsed Conscience”
Villegas described the following years as marked by economic growth but growing disinformation and polarization.
He referenced the “Daang Matuwid” governance platform of Benigno Aquino III, whose administration was widely credited with improving economic indicators.
“We had clean government, but trolls poisoned our minds,” he said. “We mocked the honest president, even if he served us well. Yellow was mocked. Pink was jeered. Only black darkness was made to look beautiful.”
Without naming him directly at first, Villegas sharply criticized the brutal anti-drug campaign of Rodrigo Duterte, who is currently detained in The Hague in connection with investigations by the International Criminal Court.
During his six-year presidency, the 30th Southeast Asian Games were held in Manila from November 30 to December 11, 2019, the May 5, 2020 shutdown, and the July 10, 2020 denial of the renewal of the franchise for ABS-CBN.
“We knew that killing was a sin. Insulting women, mocking God, death threats, law breaking, siding with foreigners against the nation — this screamed evil, yet we justified addict murders, vulgar jokes, blasphemy was tolerable, due process was disposable,” he said.
“Charisma eclipsed conscience. Nakakahiya, nakakasuka, nakakapagtaka, bakit tayo nagkaganun?”
Filipinos who justify drug war deaths 'up to now' need 'self-examination'—Carpio
The archbishop revealed he personally faced threats and ridicule for speaking against extrajudicial killings: “I was threatened, I was mocked, when I warned that murderers cannot be leaders. I was trying to live EDSA. This was not EDSA.”
The Fourth Decade: “This Is Not EDSA”
Villegas also criticized the return to power of the Marcos family, referring to the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
“The dictator’s family returns, dazzled by trolls, algorithms, fake gold legends,” he said. “Corruption leaps a hundredfold, poverty surges, crime explodes, traitors defend China over our seas, quiet while lowly fishermen are harassed. This is not EDSA.”
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In an unusually pointed section of his homily, Villegas addressed various sectors of society one by one.
To the youth: “Matatanda na kaming tumindig dito sa EDSA. Puti na ang buhok ko, patay na yung iba sa amin, mga kabataan, kayo naman… Don’t chase viral posts like dumb goats. Think critically, question, discern, kill lies before sharing.”
To the poor: “Ang para sa pelikula ay hindi para sa senado at lalo na’t hindi para Malakanyang.”
To professionals and parents: “Live honestly, no tax cheats, no bribes… Integrity at home shapes politics."
To politicians: “Shun political dynasties and epal culture… Enter politics poor. Live poorer, but richer in virtue.”
To academics and journalists, he warned: “Tell EDSA’s full story. Prayer, people, peace, victory. Reject revisionism, only truth heals wounds.”
To the International Criminal Court: “ICC, The Hague. Kayo naman. Bring to justice murderers of drug users, who also murdered our national virtues and values.”
And to corrupt officials: “Mga korap, at mga kasabwat ng korap, kayo naman, kayo naman ang dapat alisin sa gobyerno.”
Despite the stern tone, Villegas ended with hope.
“God’s EDSA miracle was grace undeserved. We squandered it. This is the time to repent and choose what is right,” he said. “May pag-asa pa. Nasa puso ang EDSA. Pakawalan natin sa puso ang EDSA. Nasa ating mga kamay ang pagkabuhay muli ng EDSA.”
As the Mass concluded, the archbishop called for prayer for national conversion: “Ipagdasal nating taitim ang bayan upang bumalik ang alak ng mahal na birhen ng Hesus.”
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