Let us build a strong nation

Jose Ma. Montelibano Philippine Daily Inquirer Asia News Network Manila

It seemed like a sudden outpouring of the wisdom and generosity of the universe. The new year brought with it the serious challenges of the old one and threatens to intensify threats to political and economic stability. New opportunities are being brought by terrorism and the American effort to eliminate it by force. War, not productivity, has fed the optimism that business and the stock market have experienced very recently.

This is dangerous, to say the least. Short-term solutions to historical problems can only exacerbate and extend the conflict brought about by a widening gap between rich and poor and the religious prejudice between Christians and Muslims. The United States will be spending almost US$400 million for their defense and offense in the war. Some of that money will find its way to the Philippines via the VFA and its attendant military exercises -- of course, while the bulk is hoped to pump-prime a bearish American economy.

I wonder what it would be like to be part of a war economy. We only used to read it from books and hear it from traditional anti-West rhetoric. Now, it will be part of our experience. And no bravado from Secretary Reyes or Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo herself about the Philippines being in charge in Basilan can change the fact that America will do what it thinks it has to do -- right or wrong -- to wage its resolve to demolish international terrorism. And this need not be connected to the al-Qaeda either. It will be terrorism by any group, any people, any nation that America and George W. Bush will attack and pulverize. And you can take that to the bank.

The reality is that we are a weak people and a weak nation. We have willingly allowed ourselves to be led by the nose to play a game we can never win, or even be good at. Oh, there are exceptions, of course, exemplified by the likes of Manny Pangilinan, Mark Jimenez and Lito Camacho who excelled in the money game of the foreigners. However, the backdrop of 50 million people living poorly and millions more just less poorly above them is a sad commentary about our collective capacity to adapt to the dominant global system.

We are a nation of addicts, blindly salivating for products we are unable to produce in adequacy or adequately. We see a car and we must have it. We see a new cell phone and we must buy it. It hardly matters whether we need it or not, whether we can afford it or not. We have become the consummate consumerist and erratic producer, the formula which spells disaster. Worse, we even believe we are on the right track.

Unable to recognize our basic weakness, we are unable as well to recognize the global order which feeds off our weaknesses. Our political and economic leaders are so enthusiastic in following the suggestions of the First World, just like Argentina. They forget that the whole history of their compliance to foreign suggestions has done nothing to alleviate the crunching misery of tens of millions of Filipinos. They forget that their zeal in trying to prove themselves to the global pecking order has many times intensified poverty and inefficiency in the Philippines.

Without any history of success but, instead, an unbroken streak of failure to guide them, our leaders continue their merry ways in becoming lapdogs to creditors and former colonial masters. It would be so funny if it were not so repugnant. And if we believe that our leaders were so smart, then their subservience to foreign dictation at the cost of a people's misery borders on treason.

Alas, that is our collective fault. While barbarians forced us on our knees for four centuries to follow or die, the last 50 have been our choice. Instead of recovering what we had lost when we had a chance to do so, we opted instead to perpetuate the perversion of foreign values and cultures on ourselves. Thus, we are paying dearly for that mistake. Poverty, corruption and criminality stalk our daily landscape to establish a new beachhead in our evolving culture while the noblest of traditional and communal values have all but disappeared.

Except in the hearts of Filipinos, and only in their hearts.

That is why the few among us who still remember the historical truth -- those who are still in touch with our customs and traditions, who still feel the beat and smell the scent of native originality -- must with courage and determination hold on to that truth and propagate it aggressively. We must bear the ridicule and prejudice of a dominant mindset and see with objectivity and sympathy the misery of fellow Filipinos. We must insist on becoming a strong nation founded on the principles of self-reliance, industrial capability, mutual respect for nations and fierce independence in our national affairs.

But building a strong nation requires austerity. It needs the efforts of those who rise from dependency toward their rehabilitation. It needs a rearrangement of personal and collective interests, with the collective good having priority. It needs the resurgence of solid values, of the Bayanihan spirit, of the emergence of a new national order based mostly on caring, sharing and service. It needs an awakened citizenry, a professional military and police force to defend sovereignty and ensure community security.

Learning the historical truth will return our dignity. Understanding that our pre-Hispanic civilization was more refined and accomplished than that of our conquerors will return our confidence. Recognizing the dynamics of international politics will return our wisdom and skill in co-existing with our global neighbors. Traveling the journey to our buried past and re- connecting to our native gifts and energies will return our strength. And all these, in combination, will return our identity and unity.

Let us build a strong nation.