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“I MYSELF have forgotten – didn’t we all?”

This was how historian and anthropologist Dr. Antonio Montalvan II responded to the absence of any activity here on Monday to celebrate the 33rd anniversary of the 1986 Edsa “People Power” Revolution.

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Montalvan said there continued to be so much “psychological baggage” that downplayed what Edsa meant.

He played down the then Cagayan de Oro opposition’s place in the Edsa revolt narrative.

“First of all, that tag ‘opposition country’ had been demolished,” said Montalvan, citing that the group Mindanao Alliance had folded up before the 1986 revolution.

The Alliance was led by the then opposition leaders Aquilino Pimentel Jr., Reuben Canoy and Homobono Adaza. Pimentel and Canoy are former mayors of the city while Adaza is a former governor of Misamis Oriental.

Montalvan said Canoy, Adaza, and Pimentel found themselves at odds with each other even before Edsa. He also said that “Reuben (Canoy) turned pro-Marcos.”

“So the fallibility was already there,” he said.

After the Edsa revolution, Misamis Oriental was led by the then governor Vicente Emano who would later become mayor of Cagayan de Oro.

“Dongkoy turned into the worst ‘trapo’ we could ever have, the most astute transactional politician Misamis Oriental had ever seen,” said Montalvan. “Given all that, should we be surprised why Edsa lost its commemorative meaning in Cagayan de Oro and Misamis Oriental? What is there to celebrate? Dongkoy’s geriatrics?” (Herbie Gomez)

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