FUTURE PHILIPPINES: MASAMA BA'NG MANGARAP?

To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the EDSA Revolution, I thought I'd break format for a bit and feature something in the spirit of the celebration.


After the 4-day People Power revolution took place in 1986, many Filipinos thought it would be the beginning of a new age of peace and prosperity for the nation. In response to this optimistic outlook, Speed Komiks ran Future Philippines: Masama Ba'ng Mangarap ("Future Philippines: Is It Bad to Dream?"), based on Cesare A.L. Syjuco's The Philippines and the Rest of the World in the Year 2025. Scripted by Imelda G. Cruz and illustrated by Cal Sobrepena, the 4-part series took a satirical look at the possible future of our country post-EDSA. And while things may not have gone quite how the strip predicted it, it's amusing to look back at how people at the time envisioned our future to be.

In the first part of the series, from Speed Komiks #46 (June 21, 1986), it is the year 1996. A decade after EDSA, the Philippines has become a sterling paragon of peace and democracy for the rest of the world to follow. Suddenly, the Philippines and the United States find that their roles have been reversed.

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Next: The United States of the Philippines!