Independence talk
If history is to be taken seriously, can we rightly say we are truly free as a nation since June 12, 1898, when our forefathers shed blood to free us from the clutches of the Spanish colonizers?
The website of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) says the 119th celebration of Philippine independence is supposed to commemorate “decades of Spanish rule” in our country.
Was it meant to describe the centuries-old slavery of Filipinos by the Spaniards or was it a reflection of how we really feel about this declaration of independence in Kawit, Cavite, which was shrouded with controversies?
Except for our ancestors who really fought hard and sacrificed to free the Filipinos from slavery, I would say that generations after generations of Filipinos have a vague sense of nationalism.
We take our “independence” as if it is a given, never really connecting our today with our troubled past, though it all seemed like the social disconnect that we are currently experiencing is but expressions of what we had in our past.
Can we be blamed for this seeming indifference that we are feeling? Is it not a fact that our political systems largely contributed to how our thoughts and senses are fashioned, or how our educational system have failed to teach love of country and faith in what we have?
We are now farthest from our roots than we care to admit, and we are still deeply in bondage than ever before. No wonder that we cannot truly say we are happy to commemorate our independence, for after all, even if there are no visible chains binding us to our masters, we cannot completely free ourselves because of that sense of insecurity that has been instilled in our psyche.
Like it or not, our minds and our hearts are completely chained to our foreign masters. So to hide our fears, we put on masks of vagueness, which is an attempt to cover our weaknesses.
Uttering unclear pronouncements about certain issues and people are sure signs of one’s inability to act according to the dictates of one’s conscience.
Do we really want to be independent? Or are we just paying lip service to the phrase “Philippine independence,” which does not really represent a reality in our midst?
President Rodrigo Duterte’s “independent foreign policy,” which he stressed is the flagship of his administration, was a welcome development upon his assumption into office.
For most peace-loving and freedom-loving Filipinos, his pronouncement was a breath of fresh air, a promise of a brighter tomorrow that we are holding on to, even as the enemies of peace continue to make attempts to distort reality and block his view of what is really the true aspiration of his people.
Yet, are we any closer to being independent from foreign meddling in our internal affairs? For one, ordinary citizens that we are, we know exactly what’s behind the vagueness in the utterances of our president lately.
Real situations will always point to what is true and authentic, but when one is surrounded with peace spoilers, reality is hidden from view. Still, we continue to believe that the truth shall set us all truly free.--