Philippine's experiment in nationhood<\/p>\n
MANILA: At a time when a gang of hostage-takers defines the
\ninternational image of the Philippines, it is difficult to escape
\nthe conclusion that our experiment in nationhood is itself
\nhostage to circumstance. Even today's official celebration of
\nIndependence Day -- a simple affair determined in part by the new
\ngovernment's budgetary discipline -- is a study in straightened
\ncircumstances. There is an almost palpable air of what the
\nphilosophers call contingency, a resigned sense that we are in
\nthis state of affairs not by choice but by circumstance.<\/p>\n
Today is a good day to remind ourselves that our nation was
\nborn because our founding fathers chose to heed the call to
\ngreatness.<\/p>\n
It is true that our sense of nationhood began in victimhood,
\nas an almost involuntary response to a shared experience of often
\nbrutal colonialism. In a famous essay published in 1890, Rizal
\nwrote: "A new factor is present which did not exist before. The
\nsoul of the nation has been aroused; a common misfortune and a
\ncommon abasement have succeeded in uniting the people of the
\nIslands."<\/p>\n
But if the experience of injustice was the motive power that
\ndrove the country's independence movement, it was the hope of "a
\nnoble society" that directed it. After centuries of failed
\ninsurrections, both large and small, the founding fathers knew
\nthat for the revolution to succeed, it must not only be a blow
\nagainst oppression but a campaign to build a better life for all.<\/p>\n
Several days after declaring independence, and speaking for
\nthe new government, Aguinaldo called on his countrymen to join
\nhim in the endeavor. "(T)aking reason as its sole norm of action,
\njustice as its sole end and honest labor as its sole means, it
\nnow calls upon and invites all Filipinos ... to come together in
\na perfect union for the purpose of creating a noble society."<\/p>\n
That was 103 years ago this month. In the century since, the
\nstruggle to create a noble society was often reduced to a more
\nbasic contest: keeping the freedom won with so much difficulty in
\nthe revolution against Spain. We are all familiar with freedom's
\nstory line, and how it has ultimately survived the great
\nupheavals in our short history: the American usurpation, the
\nJapanese occupation, the Marcos dictatorship.<\/p>\n
As the example of Edsa shows, the more basic struggle of
\nregaining lost freedom is a simpler one. Like the prospect of a
\nhanging, it concentrates the public mind wonderfully. There is
\none side, and there is the other.<\/p>\n
As our sometimes sorry experience since Edsa, however, the
\nhigher struggle to build a society worthy of the nation is a more
\ncomplicated task.<\/p>\n
The political turbulence of the last several months -- of the
\nlast year, if we include the previous administration's all-out
\nwar in central Mindanao; of the last two years, if we include
\ndeposed President Joseph Estrada's rollercoaster ride through the
\npublic opinion polls -- can be understood as a test precisely of
\nwhat free men ought to do with their freedom.<\/p>\n
"Many there are who talk of freedom without knowing what it
\nmeans," Mabini wrote more than 100 years ago. "Many believe that
\nonce they have gained freedom they may do what they please, good
\nor bad. This is a great error. One is free only to do good, never
\nto do evil."<\/p>\n
Right from the start, with the Marcos burial issue, the
\nEstrada administration signaled that it would exercise this
\nfreedom on its own terms; that is, in whichever way it pleased.
\nPerhaps it could not be helped; there are many other Filipinos
\nbeside Estrada for whom Philippine history is really nothing more
\nthan "weather-weather" politics. His comeuppance at Edsa II,
\ntherefore, triggered by the sight of 11 shameless senators
\nsubverting both truth and justice, may be best understood as
\nMabini's sublime revenge. A moral people had had enough.<\/p>\n
"Such a people is called to greatness," Aguinaldo declared in
\n1898, "chosen by Providence to be a sturdy instrument for the
\nadvancement of mankind; such a people cannot fail ... to take its
\nown place at last, modest, to be sure, but merited, in the great
\nassembly of free nations."<\/p>\n
-- Philippine Daily Inquirer\/Asia News Network<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/philippines-experiment-in-nationhood-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }