By Rex Catubig

 

TO paraphrase a writer’s thought, “Why did our leaders give our people the freedom they don’t really need, rather than the bread he badly wants?”

In the context of the colonial past, with the discrimination and abuses documented in two epochal novels, our leaders might have done right and with hindsight, the patriotic brick road was paved with the noblest intentions.

But between the heroic dream and the tragic aftermath, I don’t believe the leaders realized what was forthcoming.

The proud aristocratic Manuel Quezon, who bravely claimed he “would rather have the country run like hell by Filipinos” must be rolling in his grave. He seemed to have gotten what he wished for–but it’s the short end of the stick.

Riding on the defeat by the Americans of the Spaniards ending their 300-year rule over the islands, Emilio Aguinaldo proclaimed the independence of the Philippines in the balcony of his Cavite house. Not long after, he boldly proclaimed war against the United States.

It would be a long brutal battle, and ironically, the same MacArthur who later liberated the Philippines in another war, was instrumental in quelling the Filipino rebellion.

All was not lost, however, as the US government through, the Tydings-McDuffie Act, provided for a 10-year transitional period of Commonwealth government on the road to independence.

Then the Japanese invasion happened, and it’s war all over again.

When rubbles finally cleared, the Philippines finally realized the independence that had been fought hard for.

ut was it all worth it? Was the idealism enough to sustain the patriotic fervor? Would we have been better off as a US territory? Like Guam or Puerto Rico? After all, the US bought the Philippines under the Treaty of Paris for $20 million.

Sadly, our history chronicles steady downfall rather than rapid rise to progress. Wasn’t it not too long ago when the country was considered a Tiger of Asia? Now it has become a poster country for unabated corruption.

And where has the freedom from colonizers really ceased? The mad rush for work to other countries is a blatant negation of basic freedom and an indictment of the failure of the country’s leaders to give flesh and bones to the concept of independence. Sadly, the OFW’s have become the country’s main export, and the government idolizes them for doing what it has failed to deliver–which is freedom from want. The fact remains that we are chained to a patriotic dream that does not hold up to reality. All the brouhaha over independence and cultural integrity is all gobbledygoook–an embarrassment of confused pride and idealism.

Shall it be freedom or bread? Is there a chance in sight for a choice?

Sana all.

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