Background of the EDSA Shrine - Essay Example

The EDSA Shrine – A Brief Background and Overview The EDSA Shrine (full The Shrine of Mary, Queen of Peace, Our Lady of EDSA), located in the heart of Metro Manila’s commercial district in Ortigas (official site, accessed 11/12/09), is a largely inconspicuous site amidst the towering skyscrapers surrounding it. Whether by bus, cab, or train, most Filipinos pass it by on the way to work or school every day. It is easily recognizable for the statue of the Blessed Mother that stands on its roof, in front of Robinson’s Galleria – one of the many testaments to the Filipinos’ Marian devotion. Among other people, Philippine civil servants are known to gather there during times of adversity – as well as during the campaign period. The reason there is even an EDSA Shrine at all lies in the 1986 People Power Revolution. It was in that area where Filipino citizens from all walks of life – young and old, rich and poor, religious and laity – gathered in peaceful protest of the Marcos regime. Nuns could be seen in front of tanks and military men, on their knees while praying the Rosary. The military themselves, including Juan Ponce Enrile and Fidel V. Ramos, defected to the people’s side as they were unwilling to attack their own countrymen (Country Studies, accessed 11/12/09). Shortly after the rally, President Marcos was forced to step down; the ‘miracle’ that was EDSA led President Cory Aquino (who along with her husband were the central figures of the Revolution) to have the EDSA Shrine built in December of 1989. And 12 years later, another People Power occurred, resulting in the deposition of President Joseph Estrada. For these miracles, Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin declared the place ‘holy ground’. And in the present day, according to Godofredo Stuart, Jr. (2008), it stands as a testament to the masses’ hope that, one day, the Philippines will rise above corruption and poverty and return to glory. Analysis MacCannel’s process of sight sacralization is broken down into five steps: naming, framing, enshrinement, mechanical and social reproduction. The naming aspect, as he describes in “The Tourist” (1999), is when a particular object is set apart as worth preserving. Obviously, the EDSA Shrine is special to the Filipino people because of what had taken place there; special enough, as already mentioned, for it to be declared holy ground. Next is framing, the act of contextualizing and relating objects, persons, and places with various events – of placing official boundaries. Two kinds of framing, according to MacCannel, are protecting and enhancing; the former deals with taking care of the object (such as the glass around an artifact at a museum) while the latter refers to the lights that cast it into relief, or otherwise how it is emphasized to the viewer. Tourists will then be able to tell just how important and/or valuable it is, judging from the protections and enhancements used. In the case of the EDSA Shrine, it involves the floodlights that light up the monument for people to see, which of course the Shrine had. It also brings into play the surrounding area, as well as the inscriptions and plaques that explain what happened there. Not only is the Shrine a place on the map; more importantly, especially for the Filipino people, it is a testament to their love for freedom and their faith in God. Those who were actually there in EDSA during either of the People Power Revolutions will undoubtedly feel this way – the Shrine is more than just a small chapel they pass everyday. Taking it into account with other landmarks such as the Manila Cathedral, the Church at Quiapo, and even the multitude of exclusive Catholic Schools all over Metro Manila (Ateneo de Manila and De La Salle University, for instance) only further accentuates the strength of a Filipino’s faith. Third is enshrinement – the element which differentiates and sets a particular monument apart from common ground, and according to MacCannel, when the framing material itself has entered the naming phase and has been recognized as special. It may be difficult at first to see this where the EDSA Shrine is concerned, seeing as it lies at the foot of a large shopping mall. But if one looks closely, it lies in the middle of two flyovers and a superhighway as well – almost as if that particular spot in the geography was made especially for it. More interesting to think about is that the shrine is more or less the same distance from a mall, a government building (the POEA), and a prestigious Catholic university (De La Salle University) – presumably referring to the fact that EDSA happened because of people from all walks of life. If one thinks for a while, the historical significance of the Shrine can probably be extended to the whole of EDSA – it’s just that most of the action took place around the Shrine’s surrounding area. All of the Filipino people know that history was made in that area (which can be seen as the framing material in this case), twice over. Next is mechanical reproduction – creation of brochures, souvenirs, models and other keepsakes of the object or monument which have value themselves. This is what drives the tourist to visit a particular spot in the first place – to visit a monument and bring home souvenirs of it. As for the EDSA Shrine, ‘mechanical’ may be a bit misleading; while this could probably apply to prayer booklets and other such religious icons bought at the Shrine, the true mechanical reproduction is not material in nature: the experience of having attended Mass there. Finally, the last phase of sacralization occurs when famous attractions give their names to various things. In the case of the EDSA Shrine, meanwhile, people still gather there even today, to attend Mass as well as to relive history. From politicians to commoners, the place still sees quite a bit of activity even today. To those who were alive at the time, the Shrine in some way transports them to the scene of the Revolution – that spot, as well as the area around it, is where Filipinos made history and taught the whole world a lesson in democracy. This also counts as the Shrine’s social reproduction – the history behind it, as well as its status as holy ground, is why Filipinos keep visiting it even today. All of EDSA may be historic, but the Shrine in particular is the most glaring reminder to Filipinos that something big happened there – twice. In fact, as stated by MC Canlas (2007), what happened in EDSA in 1986 inspired similar protests in Indonesia, South Korea, and parts of the Soviet Union, among others. Such is its lasting impact on the Filipino people that even the second EDSA (Philstar.com, updated 02/26/09), in their eyes, failed to live up to the spirit of the first. All in all, the five processes mentioned above throw the Shrine’s significance into greater detail: that faith in God is what led to People Power and the Shrine’s subsequent reconstruction. Even today, faith in God is still one of the biggest reasons the place is still visited. The Philippines is well-known for being the only Catholic country in Asia, and for being devout in its faith; the Shrine, therefore, is the biggest testament to those facts. Reflection & Documentation Personally, my visit to the Shrine was entirely by accident. I had gotten lost on my way home at the time, and was forced to wait for a bus to arrive somewhere near its entrance. When my mother told me about the Shrine a while later, my first thought was that it seemed rather unassuming and… ordinary, at least compared to most other such monuments. The interest this aroused in me then led me to choose the Shrine to be discussed in this paper. It was not a place tour guides took tourists around, not by any means; instead, it was a place that the Filipinos pass by on a regular basis, and often take for granted. Upon further reflection, I realized that maybe that was exactly the point of the Shrine’s existence in that specific area – with faith in God, and a little divine intervention, miracles can happen anywhere, and at anytime. It was right there that God pretty much demonstrated that, figuratively speaking, lightning can in fact sometimes strike twice – in the Shrine’s case, both in 1986 and 2001. Not to mention, despite the lack of promotion to prospective tourists, it actually makes for a good tourist spot – it is within walking distance to the commercial districts various hotels and malls, as well as government buildings and schools. And, for the more devout among us, anyone seeking counseling or to attend mass can drop by anytime within the day, until 5pm. And, entering the Shrine, I was… transfixed, to say the least. I had seen it on the news while channel surfing, but it was nothing compared to actually having been there. It can then be said that this is my own experience of material reproduction – I actually got to visit the place where history was made. Due to the nature of the place, my documentations lie in the experience rather than in pictures and souvenirs. Even putting aside the People Power Revolution, the Shrine exemplifies just how religious the Filipino people are as a whole. While other countries would think that chapels do not belong in commercial districts, the Filipinos clearly have no such qualms about it – symbolizing, perhaps, that their faith in God pervades their day-to-day activities. In fact, masses are celebrated practically everywhere in the Philippines – most shopping malls set aside an area where people can attend Sunday Mass. Even and especially for someone like me, a not-so-religious Catholic, such faith and the miracles it brings is quite a bit of encouragement to go back to God. In our day and age, we tend to keep God in the back of our minds as a result of the loads and loads of work we are made to deal with. To the Filipinos, though, faith in God motivates them to live their daily lives as they do. It is the reason they can smile in spite of adversity, which is something few of the rest of us can do. And as proven by the reason behind the EDSA Shrine’s existence, faith in God can motivate them to defend that which they hold dearest, prepared to lay down their lives if necessary: their freedom. And the strength of their faith is something I deeply admire and envy. References “People Power” – A Faded Glory, Now Completely Gone 05 Apr 07, Kababayan Edition, 12 Nov 09, http://www.mbulletin-usa.com/kemain.asp?ID=170 What was the beauty of people power in the first Edsa uprising? 26 Feb 09 Philstar.com, 12 Nov 09, http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=443608 The EDSA Shrine 12 Nov 09, The EDSA Shrine Official Website, 12 Nov 09, http://www.edsashrine.com/edsa/about-edsa.html Stuart, Godofredo Jr. The Edsa Shrine, An Opinion 24 Nov 08, Salmaguni, StuartXchange, 18 Nov 09, http://www.stuartxchange.org/EdsaShrine.html MacCannel, Dean The Tourist: a new theory of the leisure class California, 1999 Philippines – From Aquino’s Assassination to People’s Power 24 May 07, Country Studies, 12 Nov 09, http://countrystudies.us/philippines/29.htm Read More