The enduring significance of EDSA rests on a simple truth: public spaces belong to the people. They must remain open as platforms for public discourse—robust, uninhibited, and free from the chilling effect of threats of dispersal or prosecution under a statute born of martial rule. EDSA stands as the people’s forum when they demand accountability and seek the fulfillment of the promise of People Power.

We reiterate that the weaponization of terror laws and financial sanctions as tools of repression, even under the pretext of complying with Financial Action Task Force recommendations, has no place in a democratic society.