Wednesday 1 March 2017

                                                                 EDSA Revolution 





The Second EDSA Revolution (EDSA II) was a four-day political protest from 17–20 January 2001 that peacefully overthrew the government of Joseph Estrada, the thirteenth President of the Philippines. Estrada was succeeded by his Vice-President, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who was sworn into office by then-Chief Justice Hilario Davide, Jr. at around noon on January 20, 2001, several hours before Estrada fled Malacañang Palace. EDSA is an acronym derived from Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, the major thoroughfare connecting five cities in Metro Manila, namely Pasay, Makati, Mandaluyong, Quezon City, and Caloocan, with the revolution's epicentre at the EDSA Shrine church at the northern tip of Ortigas Center, a business district.
Advocates described EDSA II as "popular" but critics view the uprising as a conspiracy among political and business elites, military top brass and Catholic Cardinal Jaime Sin.[2] International reaction to the revolt was mixed, with some foreign nations including the United States immediately recognising the legitimacy of Arroyo's presidency, and foreign commentators describing it as "a defeat for due process of law", "mob rule", and a "de facto coup".[3]
The only means of legitimizing the event was the last-minute Supreme Court ruling that "the welfare of the people is the supreme law."[4] But by then, the Armed Forces of the Philippines had already withdrawn support for the president, which some analysts called unconstitutional, and most foreign political analysts agreeing with this assessment. William Overholt, a Hong Kong-based political economist said that "It is either being called mob rule or mob rule as a cover for a well-planned coup, ... but either way, it's not democracy."[3] It should also be noted that opinion was divided during EDSA II about whether Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as the incumbent Vice President should be President if Joseph Estrada was ousted; many groups who participated in EDSA II expressly stated that they did not want Arroyo for president either, and some of them would later participate in EDSA III. The prevailing Constitution of the Philippines calls for the Vice President of the Philippines, Arroyo at the time, to act as interim president only when the sitting President dies, resigns, or becomes incapacitated, none of which occurred during EDSA II.

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