Lawmakers oppose bill to rename Edsa after Cory

Opposition lawmakers on Wednesday criticized a bill seeking to rename Edsa to President Corazon Aquino Avenue as a distortion of history and held it up as an example of politicians using public works projects to grab credit.

The bill, filed by Bohol Rep. Rene Relampagos, would rename Metro Manila’s main highway in honor of the late President and mother of President Benigno Aquino III.

Relampagos, a Liberal Party member like the President, said in his bill that Mrs. Aquino should be recognized as the country’s first woman President and an icon of democracy after she led the 1986 People Power Revolution.

“She gained the respect and certainly the admiration not only of the citizens of our country, but also of the world. She earned certain citations, and was recognized internationally as a woman who helped pave the way for the restoration of democracy,” the bill says.

“Indeed, one cannot think of the 1986 Edsa Revolution without thinking of Corazon Aquino. Even after her term as President of the republic, she lived her life fighting for democracy.”

Edsa, the main circumferential road and highway of Metro Manila stretching from Caloocan to Pasay City, was formerly known as Highway 54. In 1959 Congress renamed the thoroughfare to honor the noted Filipino historian, scholar, journalist, painter and public servant Epifanio de los Santos.

De los Santos was considered one of the best Filipino writers in Spanish of his time and regarded as a literary genius. He served as an associate editor of the revolutionary paper La Independencia and co-founded other newspapers like La Libertad, El Renaciemento, and La Democracia.

House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. and Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone said they supported the renaming of Edsa, and that the late President deserved the recognition.

“It is only fitting to give full meaning to the Edsa Revolution,” Evardone said.

“The rallying point of the Edsa Revolution was Cory.”

But Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño, who has drafted a bill to stop politicians from grabbing credit for projects that were built using the people’s money, said the renaming of Edsa would be a major test case for his measure.

He and Zambales Rep. Milagros Magsaysay said renaming Edsa to Cory Aquino Avenue would be historically problematic.

“The Edsa uprising was not about Cory. It was about our people’s struggle against tyranny,” Casiño said.

“The name Edsa has already been enshrined in our history and collective memory due to the Edsa People Power Revolution. It’s better left that way.”

By Maricel Cruz