Manila: A lawmaker is fighting efforts by his colleague to change the name of Epifanio delos Santos Avenue (EDSA) to Corazon C. Aquino Avenue.

Representative Edcel Lagman said that to name EDSA after former president Corazon ‘Cory' Aquino — the mother of incumbent President Benigno Aquino — would be a disservice to the hundreds of thousands of Filipinos who braved the risk of being mowed down by soldiers loyal to the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the fateful days of February 22-25, 1986. The anti-Marcos uprising has since been referred to as the EDSA People Power Revolution.

"EDSA must remain as EDSA to memorialise and immortalise the unrelenting collective efforts of the masses of Filipinos, particularly the workers, peasants and students, which culminated in the ouster of the Marcos dictatorship," Lagman said.

The People Power Revolution has been acclaimed worldwide as a model for peaceful but abrupt change. Lagman said Filipinos should be given collective credit not just one person for the "EDSA Revolution."

"[The] EDSA Revolution uprising [is] not of one person but of nameless and common Filipinos. [The] EDSA must not be changed as it is a constant reminder to the tyrannical tendencies of national leaders, now and in the future, to uphold, at all times, the supremacy of the Constitution and the ascendency of the rule of law," he added.

Earlier on Tuesday, congressman Rene Relampagos of the first congressional district of central Philippines' Bohol, filed a measure to rename EDSA-— Metro Manila's foremost arterial thoroughfare — to Cory Aquino Avenue, in honour of the first woman president of the country.

According to Relampagos' House Bill 5422, Cory was the leading figure in the 1986 People Power Revolution that restored democracy in the Philippines.

"From being a simple housewife, she eventually became the nation's mother as she served as president. President Cory oversaw the promulgation of a new constitution, which limited the powers of the presidency and established a bicameral legislature," Relampagos said.

But Lagman said that despite Relampagos' good intentions, such a motive could not justify the alteration of history.

Reports also revealed that delos Santos' heirs were also opposed to the name change.