Korina Sanchez on covering the 1986 EDSA Revolution and Trillion Peso March: 'Hope is eternal'
Veteran broadcaster Korina Sanchez reflected on her coverage of the Sept. 21 mass demonstrations in Rizal Park, Manila, and the People Power Monument in Quezon City, both of which clamored for an end to the culture of corruption in the Philippines.
“My first big rally on EDSA was in 1986. I believe BAYAN’s Teddy Casiño was also my interviewee. Decades later…here we are. Again. Hope runs eternal. But it is up to us how history is written,” Sanchez wrote on Instagram, ending it with hashtags like #cancelcorruptionnow and #trillionpesomarch.
On Sept. 21, the 53rd anniversary of martial law declared by the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr., thousands of Filipinos took to the streets to protest corruption in multibillion-peso flood control projects.
In Metro Manila, the “Baha sa Luneta” rally, which was organized by activist groups and university students, saw thousands of people on the streets by Sunday morning. The “Trillion Peso March” that afternoon, referring to the trillions allegedly lost to systemic corruption, at the People Power Monument on EDSA saw the closure of all northbound lanes due to the swelling of the crowd.
Sanchez was a young reporter with ABS-CBN when she covered her first rally, the People Power Revolution, or EDSA Revolution, from Feb. 22 to 25, 1986. The peaceful revolution ended with the Marcos family fleeing in exile to Hawaii, and Corazon Aquino, the widow of assassinated former senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, being inaugurated as the 11th president of the Philippines.
Prior to the Sept. 21 anti-corruption protests, Sanchez went viral with her interview with top government contractor couple Sarah and Curlee Discaya, where they showed off their collection of luxury cars. The Discayas have an alleged involvement in the flood control mess as their companies are linked to several flood control projects by the Department of Public Works and Highways.
It came after Pasig Mayor Vico Sotto, in his viral Facebook post on Aug. 21, shared screenshots of the Discayas being interviewed by Sanchez as well as Julius Babao in their respective programs about their "rags-to-riches story." He then alleged that known journalists did interviews without asking, "Uy teka, ba’t kaya handa ’to magbigay ng 10 million* para lang magpa-interview sa akin??" (In a footnote, Sotto noted that the P10 million is "not an exact figure," but told readers, "pero alam nyo na.")
Sanchez's camp maintained in an official statement that Sotto's Facebook post calling out veteran journalists who interviewed contractors entering politics, supposedly in exchange for millions of pesos, constitutes cyber libel. They stressed that "There is no such thing as a P10 million placement for an interview" with Curlee and Sarah.
