By KIMBERLIE QUITASOL
www.nordis.net

BAGUIO CITY — As the City of Pines staged the first Panagbenga Street Dancing after the pandemic, youth activists commemorated the 37th anniversary of the 1986 People Power uprising alongside the grand parade.

Joining the crowd with their flowery headdresses and colorful outfits, members of the Kabataan Party-list and Youth Act Now Against Tyranny Baguio-Benguet raised banners urging people to live up to the spirit of EDSA and not to forget the horrors of Martial Law. However, park security and police officers drove them away for the posters and calls printed on their outfits.

In a text message, the youth activists assert that their activity showcased political art.

“We did not even hold a protest program, simply participated as an audience with our costumes, and held out our right to political expression,” says Louise Montenegro of Kabataan Partylist Cordillera coordinator.

She said they wanted to remind the people about the dark years of Martial Law and the lessons of the Edsa people’s power.

The city usually stages Panagbenga Street Dancing and Float parades on the last Saturday and Sunday of February. This year the street dancing parade landed on the anniversary of the EDSA People Power that ousted and forced the dictator Ferdinand Marcos, Sr, and his family to flee the country on February 25, 1986. # nordis.net