Focus on the Global South joins the nation in mourning the passing of one of the icons of the struggle against the Marcos dictatorship–former Senator, human rights defender and freedom fighter Rene Saguisag.
Almost 20 years ago, a small team in Focus visited Senator Saguisag in his residence in Makati for a video interview as part of our Edsa Stories project.
The EDSA Stories Project was a documentary film project, which included a series of interviews with personalities who were part of or had been associated with the EDSA historic events—the 1986 EDSA People Power, and EDSA Dos and EDSA Tres, both in 2001.
A pioneer street parliamentarian, Senator Saguisag was there from the beginning, taking the battle out of government halls and onto the streets to the people. As he recalled in the interview, they “were in EDSA for 14 years–from 1972 (when Marcos declared Martial law) to February 1986 (EDSA People Power Revolution that toppled the dictatorship).” In the interview, he reflected on the criticisms leveled against EDSA, the failure of his generation, and the work that remained to be done, and ended with a challenge to the Filipino youth to do a better job in defending our motherland.
Rest in Power, Rene Saguisag.
You can watch the Rene Saguisag interview here:
Watch the Edsa Stories interviews here: https://www.youtube.com/
