Satur tells bloggers: ‘People Power, still available to change govt’

People Power remains a tool for social change that is available to a
people who want to institute changes in government, said Bayan Muna
Rep. Satur Ocampo in a Bloggers Kapihan on Saturday at Kape Tasyo in
Anonas, Quezon City.

In his sharing with bloggers, Ocampo stressed that “Filipinos are not
frustrated over People Power 2, but with the dismal and disappointing
regime that came to power.”

He said that the source of frustration is that “People Power 2 was a
fight against corrupt and immoral governance, but we were given a
worse government by the very persons who composed the new government.”

Ocampo said that the “if ever People Power resulted in bad governance,
we cannot blame the people who took part in the uprising. It remains
an alternative way of instituting change.”

“People Power as a concept is always relevant,” Ocampo said, adding
that “It remains a mechanism for people to express their sentiments
when institutional processes fail them.”

The discussion was “liveblogged” on http://bloggerskapihan.com and on
Twitter for the benefit of those who were not able to attend.

Cristina Palabay, who was president of the National Union of Students
of the Philippines during the 2001 uprising, said that Arroyo
completely ignored the “youth agenda” that was presented to her when
she was still vice president and in the middle of the then-raging
anti-Estrada protests.

Using a photo presentation, Palabay recounted the various
contributions of student and youth groups to the ouster of Estrada but
said that “almost everybody will agree that we were all betrayed by
Arroyo when she became president”.

Palabay said that young people and the public did not expect some of
those who joined the anti-Estrada marches and demonstrations to “turn
into demons worse than our enemy then” referring to Arroyo and those
who were later absorbed into her cabinet.

Bloggers Kapihan crew members Ederic Eder of Tinig.com and Tonyo Cruz
of TXTPower also joined the discussions, relating the use of texting,
chat, and websites in efforts to unseat Estrada.

Blogger “Jester-in-Exile”, who donned his jester’s hat, stressed the
participation of unorganized professionals who went to Edsa in 2001.

The discussion closed the Blog Action Week that urged bloggers to
write about People Power 2. ###

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