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TheSecond EDSA Revolution (Tagalog:Ikalawang Rebolusyon sa EDSA), also known as theSecond People Power Revolution,EDSA 2001, orEDSA II (pronouncedEDSA Two orEDSA Dos, theSpanish word for "two"), was a political protest from January 17–20, 2001 which peacefully overthrew the government ofJoseph Estrada, thethirteenthpresident of the Philippines.^[2] Following allegations ofcorruption against Estrada and his subsequent investigation byCongress,impeachment proceedings against the president were opened on January 16. The decision by severalsenators not to examine a letter which would purportedly prove Estrada's guilt sparked large protests at theEDSA Shrine inMetro Manila, and calls for Estrada's resignation intensified in the following days, with theArmed Forces withdrawing their support for the president on January 19. On January 20 Estrada left office without formally resigning and fledMalacañang Palace with his family. He was succeeded byVice PresidentGloria Macapagal Arroyo, who had been sworn into the presidency byChief JusticeHilario Davide Jr. several hours earlier.

EDSA is anacronym derived fromEpifanio de los Santos Avenue, the major thoroughfare connecting six cities inMetro Manila, namelyPasay,Makati,Mandaluyong,San Juan,Quezon City andCaloocan. The revolution's epicenter was theEDSA Shrine church at the northern tip of theOrtigas Center business district.

On October 4, 2000,Ilocos Sur GovernorLuis "Chavit" Singson, a longtime friend of President Joseph Estrada, went public with accusations that Estrada and his friends and family had received millions ofpesos from operations ofjueteng, anumbers game which is illegal in the Philippines.^[4]

The exposé immediately ignited reactions of rage. The next day,Senate Minority LeaderTeofisto Guingona, Jr. delivered a fieryprivilege speech accusing Estrada of receiving ₱220 million injueteng money from Governor Singson from November 1998 to August 2000, as well as taking ₱70 million-worth ofexcise tax money from cigarettes intended for Ilocos Sur. He also allegedly received ₱130 million in kickbacks released by then budget secretaryBenjamin Diokno for tobacco farmers,^[5] while his wife Loi Ejercito's foundation allegedly received ₱100 million "to the detriment of regular beneficiaries."^[6] Estrada was also accused of misusing 52 smuggled luxury vehicles,^[5] nepotism,^[7] and he allegedly hid assets and bought mansions for his mistresses.^[8] The privilege speech was referred bySenate PresidentFranklin Drilon, to theSenate Blue Ribbon Committee and thePhilippine House Committee on Justice for joint investigation. Another committee in theHouse of Representatives decided to investigate the exposé, while other House members spearheaded a move to impeach the president.^[4] On October 20, 2000, an early anti-Estrada rally was allegedly held inNaga City, led by former mayorJesse Robredo, Mayor Sulpicio Roco Jr., andAteneo de Naga presidentJoel Tabora who demanded the resignation of President Estrada.^[9]

More calls for resignation came fromManilaCardinalArchbishopJaime Sin, theCatholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, former PresidentsCorazon Aquino andFidel Ramos, andVice PresidentGloria Macapagal Arroyo (who had resigned her cabinet position of Secretary of theDepartment of Social Welfare and Development). Cardinal Sin's statement read, "In the light of the scandals that besmirched the image of presidency, in the last two years, we stand by our conviction that he has lost themoral authority to govern."^[10] More resignations came from Estrada's cabinet and economic advisers, and other members of congress defected from his ruling party.^[4]

On November 13, 2000, the House of Representatives led by SpeakerManuel Villar transmitted the Articles of Impeachment, signed by 115 representatives, to the Senate. This caused shakeups in the leadership of both houses of congress.^[4] Theimpeachment trial was formally opened on November 20, with twenty-one senators taking their oaths as judges, andSupreme Court Chief JusticeHilario Davide, Jr. presiding. The trial began on December 7.^[4]

The day-to-day trial was covered on live television and received the highest viewing rating, mostly by the broadcasting giantABS-CBN at the time.^[4] Among the highlights of the trial was the testimony of Clarissa Ocampo, senior vice president ofEquitable PCI Bank, who testified that she was one foot away from Estrada when he signed the name "Jose Velarde" on documents involving a ₱500 million investment agreement with their bank in February 2000.^[4]

On January 16, 2001, theimpeachmenttrial of President Estrada moved to the investigation of an envelope containing crucialevidence that would allegedly prove acts ofpolitical corruption by Estrada.Senators allied with Estrada moved to block the evidence. The conflict between the senator-judges and theprosecution became deeper, but then-Senate Majority Floor LeaderFrancisco Tatad requested that the impeachment court have a vote on opening the second envelope. The vote resulted in 10 senators in favor of examining the evidence, and 11 senators in favor of suppressing it. The list of senators who voted for the second envelope are as follows:

After the vote, SenatorNene Pimentel resigned as Senate President and walked out of the impeachment proceedings together with the nine opposition senators and 11 prosecutors in the Estrada impeachment trial. The 11 administration senators who voted to block the opening of the second envelope remained in the Senate session hall together with members of the defense panel. The phrase "Joe's Cohorts" quickly surfaced as amnemonic device for remembering their names (Joe's Cohorts:Jaworski,Oreta,Enrile,Santiago,Coseteng,Osmeña,Honasan,Ople,Revilla,Tatad,Sotto).^[11] On February 14, 2001, at the initiative of Pimentel, the second envelope was opened before the local and foreign media. It contained the document that stated that businessman Jaime Dichaves and not Estrada owned the "Jose Velarde" account.^[12][13]'

SenatorTessie Aquino-Oreta, one of eleven senators who voted against opening the envelope, was seen on national television as the opposition walked out; it was assumed that she was booing back and jigging at the crowd in the Senate gallery after the Ayala group jeered her and other pro-Erap senators.^[14][15] This further fueled the growing anti-Erap sentiments of the crowd gathered atEDSA Shrine, and she became the most vilified of the 11 senators. She was labeled a "prostitute" and a "concubine" of Estrada for her dancing act, while Senator Defensor-Santiago was also ridiculed by the crowd who branded her a "lunatic".

As he did in the EDSA I protest, CardinalJaime Sin called on the people to join the rally at the shrine. During the night, people began to gather in large numbers around the shrine, including protesters who received free transportation from nearby provinces such as Pampanga and Bulacan. Similar anti-Estrada rallies took place in regional centers nationwide, including Baguio, Naga, Iloilo City, and Davao.^[16]

The crowd continued to grow, bolstered by students from private schools and left-wing organizations. Activists fromBayan Muna andAkbayan as well as lawyers of theIntegrated Bar of the Philippines and other bar associations joined the thousands of protesters. A 10-kilometer human chain was formed from the Ninoy Aquino statue in Ayala Avenue, Makati to the EDSA Shrine as a demand for Estrada's resignation.^[17][18] At the shrine area, just as in 1986, stars and icons from the music industry entertained the crowds.^{[citation needed]}

ThePhilippine National Police and theArmed Forces of the Philippines withdrew their support for Estrada, joining the crowds at the EDSA Shrine.^[3]

At 2:00 PM, Joseph Estrada appeared on television for the first time since the beginning of the protests and maintained that he would not resign. He said he wanted the impeachment trial to continue, stressing that only a guilty verdict would remove him from office.

At 6:15 PM, Estrada again appeared on television, calling for a snap presidential election to be held concurrently with congressional and local elections on May 14, 2001. He added that he would not run in this election.

At 12:30 in the afternoon, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo took her oath of office as president beforeChief JusticeHilario Davide Jr. in the presence of the crowd at EDSA.^[19] At the same time, however, a large anti-Estrada crowd had already gathered at the historic Mendiola Bridge, having left the shrine earlier in the day, only to face PNP personnel and the pro-Estrada supporters behind them, who had by now already attacked both the police and the anti-Estrada protesters and heckling them and even members of the press.

At 2:00 PM, Estrada released a letter saying he had "strong and serious doubts about the legality and constitutionality of her proclamation as president".^[20] In that same letter, however, he said he would give up his office to allow for national reconciliation.

Later, Estrada and his family evacuatedMalacañang Palace on a boat along thePasig River. They were smiling and waving to reporters and shaking hands with the remaining Cabinet members and palace employees. He was initially placed underhouse arrest inSan Juan but was later transferred to his rest home in Sampaloc, a small village inTanay, Rizal.

On the last day of protests on EDSA on January 20, 2001, Estrada left his office as president without issuing a formal resignation. Vice PresidentGloria Macapagal Arroyo was thus sworn into office bySupreme Court Chief JusticeHilario G. Davide Jr.^[21][22] Among those who opposed Arroyo's succession of Estrada as president was SenatorMiriam Defensor Santiago, who vehemently argued that Arroyo's administration was illegitimate under theconstitution due to the lack of a formal resignation from president Estrada.^[23][24]

On March 2, 2001, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Estrada's ouster based on his implied resignation in a unanimous 13-0 decision in Estrada vs. Desierto.^[25][26]

In the days after Estrada and his sonJinggoy were arrested for plunder in their home on April 25, 2001, several rallies were held along EDSA by his supporters and congressional allies calling for both his release and the removal of Arroyo as president, culminating in the rallyists heading to Malacañang on May 1 andattempting to storm the government premises.

On September 12, 2007,Estrada was found guilty of plunder beyond reasonable doubt by thePhilippine anti-graft court and sentenced to life imprisonment.^[27][28][8] He was pardoned by Macapagal-Arroyo on October 25, 2007.^[29][27]

International reaction to the administration change was mixed. While some foreign nations, including the United States, immediately recognized the legitimacy of Arroyo's presidency, foreign commentators described the revolt as "a defeat fordue process of law", "mob rule", and a "de facto coup".^[30] The only means oflegitimizing the event was the last-minute Supreme Court ruling that "the welfare of the people is the supreme law."^[31] But by then, theArmed Forces of the Philippines had already withdrawn support for the president, which some analysts called unconstitutional, a view shared by many foreign political analysts. William Overholt, aHong Kong-based political economist, said that "It is either being calledmob rule or mob rule as a cover for a well-planned coup, but either way, it's not democracy."^[30]

Opinion was divided during EDSA II about whetherGloria Macapagal Arroyo as the incumbent vice president should be president if Joseph Estrada was ousted; many groups who participated in EDSA II expressly stated that they did not want Arroyo for president either, and some of these groups would later participate inEDSA III. The prevailing Constitution of the Philippines calls for the Vice President of the Philippines, Arroyo at the time, to act as interim president only when the sitting president dies, resigns, or becomes incapacitated. Estrada had resigned from office and the constitutionality of his resignation was upheld by the Supreme Court on March 2, 2001.^[25]

After Estrada's plunder conviction and subsequent pardon, on January 18, 2008, Estrada'sPwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) bought full-page advertisements inMetro Manila newspapers, blaming EDSA 2 for having "inflicted a dent on Philippine democracy". It featured clippings that questioned the constitutionality of the revolution. The published featured clippings were taken fromTime,The New York Times,The Straits Times,The Los Angeles Times,The Washington Post,Asia Times Online,The Economist, andInternational Herald Tribune. Former Supreme Court justice Cecilia Muñoz Palma opined that EDSA 2 violated the1987 Constitution.^[32]

In February 2008, several parts of the Catholic Church, which played a vital role during EDSA II, issued an apology of sorts. The sittingCatholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president, Iloilo ArchbishopAngel Lagdameo, expressed disappointment in Arroyo's presidency and called EDSA II a mistake.^[33]

On March 13, 2008, Estrada namedLucio Tan,Jaime Sin,Fidel Ramos,Chavit Singson, and theAyala andLopez clans (who were both involved in water businesses) asco-conspirators of the EDSA Revolution of 2001.^[34]

In October 2016, Estrada claimed without evidence that it was the U.S. thatousted him from office.^[35]

• People Power Revolution - a similar event in the Philippines that ousted dictatorFerdinand Marcos
• 2001 Philippine general election
• People Power Coalition

• Greg Hutchinson; Ellen Tordesillas (2001).Hot money, warm bodies: the downfall of President Joseph Estrada. Anvil Publishing.ISBN 978-971-27-1104-6.

• CNN.com - Arroyo sworn in as president of Philippines - January 21, 2001
• The Story of EDSA II: Why Erap Failed
• The New York Times - Expecting Praise, Filipinos are Criticized for Ouster
• The Success of People Power II and what it really means

• 2000s coups d'état
• 2001 in the Philippines
• 2001 in politics
• January 2001 in the Philippines
• 2000s revolutions
• History of the Philippines (1986–present)
• History of Metro Manila
• Nonviolent revolutions
• Presidency of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
• Presidency of Joseph Estrada
• Protests in the Philippines
• Rebellions in the Philippines
• Coups d'état in the Philippines
• Malacañang Palace

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