Filipinos Lack of National Pride and Identity

This article was written by an American, Barth Suretsky. His observations are interesting and his comments about our culture and his respect and love of the Philippines are nicely written. Due to the worsening situation in our country, let's hope this will make an impact on other Filipinos who read it...

BE PROUD TO BE A FILIPINO

My decision to move to Manila was not a precipitous one. I used to work in New York as an outside agent for PAL, and have been coming to the Philippines since August, 1982. I was so impressed with the country, and with the interesting people I met, some of which have become very close friends to this day, that I asked for and was granted a year's sabbatical from my teaching job in order to live in the Philippines. I arrived here on August 21, 1983, several hours after Ninoy Aquino was shot, and remained here until June of 1984.

During that year I visited many parts of the country, from as far north as Laoag to as far south as Zamboanga, and including Palawan. I became deeply immersed in the history and culture of the archipelago, and an avid collector of tribal antiquities from both northern Luzon, and Mindanao.

In subsequent years I visited the Philippines in 1985, 1987, and 1991, before deciding to move here permanently in 1998. I love this country, but not uncritically, and that is the purpose of this article. First, however, I will say that I would not consider living anywhere else in Asia, no matter how attractive certain aspects of other neighboring countries may be. To begin with, and this is most important, with all its faults, the Philippines is still a democracy, more so than any other nation in Southeast Asia.

Despite gross corruption, the legal system generally works, and if ever confronted with having to employ it, I would feel much more safe trusting the courts here than in any other place in the surrounding area. The press here is unquestionably the most unfettered and freewheeling in Asia, and I do not believe that is hyperbole in any way! And if any one thing can be used as a yardstick to measure the extent of the democratic process in any given country in the world, it is the extent to which the press is free.

But the Philippines is a flawed democracy nevertheless, and the flaws are deeply rooted in the Philippine psyche. I will elaborate... The basic problem seems to me, after many years of observation, to be a national inferiority complex, a disturbing lack of pride in being Filipino.

Toward the end of April I spent eight days in Vietnam, visiting Hanoi, Hue, and Ho Chi Minh City. I am certainly no expert on Vietnam, but what I saw could not be denied: I saw a country ravaged as no other country has been in this century by thirty years of continuous and incredibly barbaric warfare. When the Vietnam War ended in April, 1975, the country was totally devastated. Yet in the past twenty-five years the nation has healed and rebuilt itself almost miraculously!

The countryside has been replanted and reforested. Hanoi and HCMC have been beautifully restored. The opera house in Hanoi is a splendid restoration of the original, modeled after the Opera in Paris, and the gorgeous Second Empire theater, on the main square of HCMC is as it was when built by the French a century ago. The streets are tree-lined, clean, and conducive for strolling. Cafes in the French style proliferate on the wide boulevards of HCMC. I am not praising the government of Vietnam, which still has a long way to travel on the road to democracy, but I do praise, and praise unstintingly, the pride of the Vietnamese people. It is due to this pride in being Vietnamese that has enabled its citizenry to undertake the miracle of restoration that I have described above. When I returned to Manila I became so depressed that I was actually physically ill for days thereafter. Why?

Well, let's go back to a period when the Philippines resembled the Vietnam of 1975. It was 1945, the end of World War II, and Manila, as well as many other cities, lay in ruins. (As a matter of fact, it maynot be generally known, but Manila was the second most destroyed city in the entire war; only Warsaw was more demolished!) But to compare Manila in 1970, twenty-five years after the end of the war, with HCMC, twenty-five years after the end of its war, is a sad exercise indeed. Far from restoring the city to its former glory, by 1970 Manila was well on its way to being the most tawdry city in Southeast Asia. And since that time the situation has deteriorated alarmingly. We have a city full of street people, beggars, and squatters. We have a city that floods sections whenever there is a rainstorm, and that loses electricity with every clap of thunder. We have a city full of potholes, and on these un-repaired roads we have a traffic situation second to none in the world for sheer unmanageability. We have rude drivers, taxis that routinely refuse to take passengers because of "many trapik!" The roads are also cursed with pollution-spewing buses in disreputable states of repair, and that ultimate anachronism, the jeepney! We have an educational system that allows children to attend schools without desks or books to accommodate them. Teachers, even college professors, are paid salaries so disgracefully low that it's a wonder that anyone would want to go into the teaching profession in the first place. We have a war in Mindanao that nobody seems to have a clue how to settle. The only policy to deal with the war seems to be to react to what happens daily, with no long range plan whatever. I could go on and on, but it is an endeavor so filled with futility that it hurts me to go on. It hurts me because, in spite of everything, I love the Philippines.

Maybe it will sound simplistic, but to go back to what I said above, it is my unshakable belief that the fundamental thing wrong with this country is a lack of pride in being Filipino. A friend once remarked
to me, laconically: "All Filipinos want to be something else. The poor ones want to be American, and the rich ones all want to be Spaniards. Nobody wants to be Filipino." That statement would appear to be a rather simplistic one, and perhaps it is. However, I know one Filipino who refuses to enter a theater until the national anthem has stopped being played because he doesn't want to honor his own country, and I know another one who thinks that history stopped dead in 1898 when the Spaniards departed! While it is certainly true that these represent extreme examples of national denial, the truth is not a pretty picture. Filipinos tend to worship, almost slavishly, everything foreign. If it comes from Italy or France it has to be better than anything made here. If the idea is American or German it has to be superior to anything that Filipinos can think up for themselves. Foreigners are looked up to and idolized. Foreigners can go anywhere without question. In my own personal experience I remember attending recently an affair at a major museum here. I had forgotten to bring my invitation. But while Filipinos entering the museum were checked for invitations, I was simply waived through.

This sort of thing happens so often here that it just accepted routine. All of these things, the illogical respect given to foreigners simply because they are not Filipinos, the distrust and even disrespect shown to any homegrown merchandise, the neglect of anything Philippine, the rudeness of taxi drivers, the ill-manners shown by many Filipinos are all symptomatic of a lack of self-love, of respect for and love of the country in which they were born, and worst of all, a static mind-set in regard to finding ways to improve the situation.

Most Filipinos, when confronted with evidence of governmental corruption, political chicanery, or gross exploitation on the part of the business community, simply shrug their shoulders, mutter "bahala na," and let it go at that. It is an oversimplification to say this, but it is not without a grain of truth to say that Filipinos feel downtrodden because they allow themselves to feel downtrodden. No pride. One of the most egregious examples of this lack of pride, this uncaring attitude to their own past or past culture, is the wretched state of surviving architectural landmarks in Manila and elsewhere.During the American period many beautiful and imposing buildings were built, in what we now call the "art deco" style (although, incidentally, that was not a contemporary term; it was coined only in
the 1960s). These were beautiful edifices, mostly erected during, or just before, the Commonwealth period. Three, which are still standing, are the Jai Alai Building, the Metropolitan Theater, and the Rizal Stadium. Fortunately, due to the truly noble efforts of my friend John Silva, the Jai Alai Building will now be saved. But unless something is done to the most beautiful and original of these three masterpieces of pre-war Philippine architecture, the Metropolitan Theater, it will disintegrate. The Rizal Stadium is in equally wretched shape. When the wreckers' ball destroyed Frank Lloyd Wright's Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, and New York City's most magnificent building,  Pennsylvania Station, both in 1963, Ada Louise Huxtable, then the architectural critic of The New York Times, wrote:

"A disposable culture loses the right to call itself a civilization at all!" How right she was! (Fortunately, the destruction of Pennsylvania Station proved to be the sacrificial catalyst that resulted in the creation of New York's Landmark Commission. Would that such a commission be created for Manila...)

Are there historical reasons for this lack of national pride? We can say that until the arrival of the Spaniards there was no sense of a unified archipelago constituted as one country. True. We can also say that the high cultures of other nations in the region seemed, unfortunately, to have bypassed the Philippines; there are no Angkors, no Ayuttayas, no Borobudurs. True. Centuries of contact with the high cultures" of the Khmers and the Chinese had, except for the proliferation of Song dynasty pottery found throughout the archipelago, no noticeable effect. True. But all that aside, what was here? To begin with, the ancient rice terraces, now threatened with disintegration, incidentally, was an incredible feat of engineering for so-called "primitive" people. As a matter of fact, when I first saw them in 1984, I was almost as awe-stricken as I was when I first laid eyes on the astonishing Inca city of Machu Picchu, high in the

Peruvian Andes. The degree of artistry exhibited by the various tribes of the cordillera of Luzon is testimony to a remarkable culture, second to none in the Southeast Asian region. As for Mindanao, at the other end of the archipelago, an equally high degree of artistry has been manifest for centuries in woodcarving, weaving and metalwork. However, the most shocking aspect of this lack of national pride, even identity, endemic in the average Filipino, is the appalling ignorance of the history of the archipelago since unified by Spain and named Filipinas. The remarkable stories concerning the Galleon de Manila, the courageous repulsion of Dutch and British invaders from the 16th through the 18th centuries, even the origins of the Independence movement of the late 19th century, are hardly known by the average Filipino in any meaningful way. And thanks to fifty years of American brainwashing, it is few and far between the number of Filipinos who really know - or even care - about the duplicity employed by the

Americans and Spaniards to sell out and make meaningless the very independent state that Aguinaldo declared on June 12, 1898. A people without a sense of history is a people doomed to be unaware of their own identity. It is sad to say, but true, that the vast majority of Filipinos fall category. Without a sense of who you are how can you possibly take any pride in who you are?

These are not oversimplifications. On the contrary, these are the root problems of the Philippine inferiority complex referred to above. Until the Filipino takes pride in being Filipino these ills of the soul will never be cured.If what I have written here can help, even in the smallest way, to make the Filipino aware of just who he is, who he was, and who he can be, I will be one happy expat indeed!

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Thanks to Liz Medina for sharing this.

The Prewar Intramuros

If youre a history junky chances are you've already seen this video by an American journalist taken before the war.

I need not say more... precioso!



Another video called, "Manila - Castillian Memories"

[youtube=http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOI6rc38Qic&feature=channel]

Sanctuario de San Pedro Bautista

The Franciscan Garden

Just when you thought that Quezon City has nothing to offer but the metro feel, top schools, colossal malls and trendy subdivisions, think again.

When you reflect on the old Filipinas what comes to mind is Manila and the well-known  provincia's (Vigan, Taal etc) but rarely someone would think of Quezon City as having something similar to the grand old churches and casa's of this enchanted Filipino Spanish towns.

The new fascade of the ol' Iglesia (it still stands on the original foundations of the first church, the rearrangement and renovations has drastically altered the first church)

Well, of course there are fine historical sites in Quezon City, I've always wanted to visit President Quezon's final resting place in Quezon circle but never had the time (or find not to have time). In Bagong Silang you have the site of the "Battle of San Mateo", Pugad Lawin and the Tandang Sora Shrine, just to name a few.

But the most amazing discovery I made recently was the Franciscan church in San Francisco del Monte, and it was a wonderful discovery. For hundreds of years it has served its dominion, not only establishing Christianity, which it has successfully completed but also introduce arts, like music. The town organizer and church builder, San Juan was a gifted musician.

Driving from Manila via España to Quezon City most of the times is a taxing charge(especially if your from the south metro), passing through this major roads are always better during the weekends. I thought for awhile that Sr.Gomez would take us to Santo Domingo, the church that was originally built in Manila but was later relocated because of its demolition during the American's unrelenting offensive of Manila (Liberation?). The La Naval de Manila (in Quezon City?) culture lost its continuity - but there must be some divine explanation we don't know that would explain why, the old site I believe is where BPI now stand in Intramuros.

Going back to this goldmine of a discovery, we headed to the San Francisco del Monte Church and was welcomed by its historical markers, appraising it made me appreciate that I was in one of the oldest church in this once Spanish province, here, in the heart of the metropolis.

The Antillan

I found this brief history of the place and its venerated Spaniard saint, San Pedro Bautista & his Iglesia.

Pedro Bautista Blasquez arrived in 1584 with the 4^th group of Franciscan Missionaries to the Philippines, was not an inexperienced man. He was 42 years old who acquired fame as a preacher in the cathedral of Toledo, Spain. He taught philosophy for three years in Madrid and was an excellent musician. He arrived as the head of the mission and was to preside as the chapter of custody. In a word he was a mature man, educated, experienced and placed in a position of authority.



The fourth Chapter of Custody and the first after the arrival of Pedro Baustista was held in the convent of Manila on September 24, 1584. The conference elected Pedro Bautista, Custos of Superiors of all Franciscans in the Philippines.



Apparently he preferred not to accept the position of authority. After the election Fray Pedro hid and only later when his brethren refused to accept his resignation did he took the position. That was in 1588. having accepted the responsibility he put himself dynamically into his work. He animated his religious to live out their profession and to care the conversion of others. To encourage them he learnt the language of the natives. He counseled his Friars living at a distance and encouraged them with his letters worthy of a holy man.

Because of his  deep concern for the spiritual welfare of his friars, Pedro Bautista saw the need for a secluded place where the missionaries, true to reform spirit of their province, could revive their spiritual vigor by prayer, reflection and discipline. After a long search, he selected a site a little over a league from Manila.



On February 15, 1590 Gov. Santiago De Vera donated "Una Pequeña Encomienda", an estate of some 150 hectares to the Franciscans: Pedro Bautista immediately ordered the construction of a small  bamboo  and nipa convent and church under  the title of Nuestra Señora de Montecelli, which however, was popularly known from the very beginnings of "San Francisco Del Monte".



It was opened as a retreat for missionaries and as a novitiate house from 1580 the novitiate had been in San Francisco De Manila but the noise of the city and the coming and going of the friars to the Provincia headquarters made it less than appropriate for contemplation. The first profession recorded in San Francisco Del Monte took place in December of 1591.

The cave for prayers (yes, this guys are pretty serious with their prayers that they dug a cave where they can pray in complete silence)

In 1699, a church was made of stone was built and the convent restructured. This was dedicated t the newly beatified Blessed Pedro Bautista and his companion martyrs. This church had now become the sanctuary with the Baroque altar that is still preserved today.



In 1895, the friars abandoned the lace and Filipino revolutionary forces occupied the church. In 1898, American Negro soldiers of the occupued the church. the church was left idle until it was repaired in 1912. In 1914, the Church was blessed and a town fiesta was held in honor of San Pedro Bautista.



On November 11, 1932, the Church was declared a parish name in honor of its founder and patron saint, San Pedro Bautista, before the decree, the parish belonged to the parish of Caloocan.



In 1989, the three century old baroque altar was transferred to the main sanctuary. In 1990, a statue of San Pedro Bautista was enshrined at the center of the altar. One February 5, 1997, the parish marked the 400^th anniversary f the Martyrdom of San Pedro Bautista. On February 25, 2007  the parish church was declared an  archdiocesan shrine to be known as Sanctuario de San Pedro Bautista in view of its monasterical and religious significance.



After a successful effort from Padre Gobo left for Manila but he was lost at sea. Gov. Dasmariñnas waited one futile year for his return then decided to send Pedro bautista as his new ambassador. brother Gonzalo Garcia who knew Japanese very well was designated as the new emissary's interpreter; tow other completed the group. after his diplomatic mission Pedro Bautista was to stay on as the permanent representative of the Governor of Manila and labor for the conversion of the Japanese.



That was the plan of the Governor but the "Superior of the Jesuits in Manila" reminded him of the prohibition of Gregory XIII. The Governor called a meeting at the church of San Agustin on May 18, 1593 to discuss with the prominent theologian and authorities what could be done. The outcome was his firm decision to send Bautista's party.



On May 30, 1593 Pedro Bautista and his companions sailed for Japan, their new work and eventually their martyrdom four years later.



Continuing  the policy of his famous predecessor Fray Juan de Placentia, "The Father of Reductions", San Pedro worked to gather  the native of the towns. In Morong, he obliged the numerous rancherias spread throughout the mountains to form the "Doctrinea" of Morong. He was the moving spirit behind the behind the foundation of many towns. In Camarines: Quipayo, Cagsawa, Baac, Oas, Libmanan and Buhi. In Laguna - Rizal area: Tanay, Baras, Longos and Paquil. And in Bulacan: Catangala (Polo). He likewise started churches and convents of Meycuayan and Calilay, centers in the days of Bulacan and Tayabas.

It was a great experience walking around, seeing people celebrate mass on a Sunday, thinking that Catholic tradition here is almost as old as the founding of the walled city, it was alive, surviving the wars (both sectarian and military conflicts). The place is a legacy of the Catholic missionaries. It reminded me how it all happened, the religion and the country.

One of the most interesting historical facts that were not taught in schools is that this Catholic missions, founded almost all of our old towns, paving the way to unanimity, inspiring the shape of the islands into what we know now as the Philippine Islands, christianization and domination, and perhaps its unseen and under valued gift, our identity.

As I was walking along the Franciscan garden I tried to visualize what it was like living their lives, far away from their beautiful mother country, the endless prayers and the remote, often, perilous missions to convert, some say we never desired their interference and Christian convertion but we still remain transformed Katoliko's anyway, to say now that 'all Friars' - are wicked and that they corrupted us, is plainly erroneous.

Let's give credit, where credit is due

...speaking of credits, this two brought me here.

...speaking of credits, this two brought me here.

Gracias, mis amigos...

Pepito, me & the man, the legend GGR

Remember Heneral Cailles!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="The great Heneral Cailles"][/caption]

One of the greatest commander in Aguinaldo's army, Juan Cailles the great field general in Tayabas and Laguna is all but forgotten now. Unpopular to our history text, unfamiliar to most of us, the Nasugbu born, half French half Indian Cailles, got his early education in the Jesuit run Escuela Normal in Manila and became a maestro in Cavite towns. He taught in Spanish and would be regarded even later in his life as ‘El Maestro', a fitting moniker for he was a brilliant strategist in battle and in public administration.

At the outbreak of the war against mother Spain, he enlisted and held an officer rank under revolution heroes Evangelista, Tria Tirona and Noriel. Due in part to the deaths of his battle masters, the colonel rose from obscurity to become head master himself, he was commissioned heneral by Aguinaldo in the years that followed. And this adopted son of Laguna would not disappoint.

He was with Noriel when the General was itching to capture the walled city, American historian Benjamin Beede in his book "The War of 1898", "assigned to the primera zona, Cailles warned of a US troop build up and defied US forces' attempt to persuade him to retreat. His daring won him praise from Aguinaldo."

But Aguinaldo, cowed by that American might, later conned by its sales pitch, never took the city. Much to the disappointment of his field commanders, Noriel and men like Cailles, so close but it must have felt like light years for the brave Filipino warriors. No, Intramuros, Manila belongs to the new American lords, not to Aguinaldo's revolutionary state. The American stole what could have been the greatest victory of the revolution, Americans became new conquerors, It completed the vicious cycle from one master to another. The cry for freedom, remained a cry for it never materialized, no one was liberated. It snapped before it could fulfill its promise. Foreign domination looms as the future of the Filipino state.

The Tagalog warrior would continue fighting for his el Presidente. The most skillful commander in Aguinaldo's army was only in his mid 30's; he was young, brilliant and fearless. He was battle tested, he gained invaluable experience fighting the most powerful military force then, and now. The white men he saw  Manila bay, the same men who stole Intramuros from his hands is already inland and there is nothing more he could ask for. The war is now in the Tagalog heartland.

"War, War, is what we want!", he told Aguinaldo. The size of the American contingent is nothing to him, he was a confident fighter.

The same year he was appointed by Aguinaldo's revolutionary government as military Governor of Laguna. He would employ guerilla warfare, it was his antidote to the overly large American army. Hit and not be hit. He was so successful in his campaigns that it was told then that the confident General proclaimed himself successor to Aguinaldo. The self appointed heir apparent was the shimmer man of the Luzon battlegrounds.

He was ruthless; he commanded deaths for Filipino collaborators. He used terror to his advantage. The New York Times on April 29, 1901 reported about a unit in Cailles army called Mando-Ducats, this men conducted assassinations for American collaborators. In that paper, it was reported that the group was also involve in burying men alive, an act intended to strike fear among the population. He went after the Federalistas, tagged them as traitors and executed them in public. He was branded; warlord by some, Aguinaldo never restrained his actions, communication between the leader and follower even reflected a common stand. He would not be held responsible for the alleged war crimes even during the peaceful years of Quezon's commonwealth nation. He smoothly transitioned from warrior to public servant.

The American so hated him that they would employ their entire arsenal chasing the Lagunense's army, much to their disadvantage. He was fighting small, they were fighting big, and it was a classic elephant versus tiger confrontation. So effective that he dealt a major blow to the Americans when he defeated them in their invasion of Mabitac.

The Americans in their desperation to capture the mustached hero circulated 16 blown up photographs and suggested rewards leading to his capture.

Americans portrayed him barbaric and murderous but he would surprised everyone, even his men and his adversary Col. Cheetham when the morning after the battle he allowed Cheetham to retrieve his dead soldiers in the fields of Mabitac, making sure that wounded and dead would be brought to their camps, a sharp contrast to the American propaganda against the brave Heneral.

His military genius would be put to use as Governor when he suppressed the Sakdalan rebellion.

Cailles failure to make progress in Tayabas and in light of Aguinaldo's capture led him to accept terms for his surrender in Santa Cruz, ending his legendary war career that goes back to his gallant stand with Noriel in the gates of Manila. Together with 650 of his men they laid down their arms. In a ceremony, he tendered his sword to Gen. Summer. The General would return the sword and revolutionary flag to the local hero. Cailles would present these items to Gen. MacArthur, marking the end of his resistance.

He served Laguna as its Governor in 1901 - 1910 and again 1916 - 1925. Later on he was appointed, representative of Mountain Province in the national legislature in 1925, until 1931. He then again became Laguna governor in 1934. He was Laguna's first Filipino governor.

During his term he built the capitolyo, regional hospital and other important provincial service buildings. He donated years of his salary to a school, being a schoolteacher he understood the importance of educacion, this would later became  the Cailles Fund. His adversaries hated him but during his years as public servant, his people loved him.

Aside from the jueteng allegations that Quezon administration raised as a concern, the president said it was more of his wife's doing - "brave as he is", the Mestizo leader said, "like all men he's afraid of his wife", he would later recognize and call on Cailles as the greatest provincial governor the nation ever had. He lived a peaceful and honest life after he swore allegiance to the new government. He died in 1951 of heart attack.

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I dedicate this incomplete history of General  Cailles to his great grandchildren, who now tries to learn more about the heroism of their great lolo.

Remember Cailles.

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My thoughts on the paralytic hero

I took this Picture at A Mabini Corner Quirino, it was an odd place for the monument. Homeless people occasionally do their thing near it or on it. Good thing it was made of bronze not iron for if it was, it won't last!



August is famous for the simultaneous commemoration of Ninoy's heroism in EDSA chapel and in the other parts of our country bearing relation to the slain solon; his dedication towards bringing the nation back to democracy is truly inspiring. Even knowing well in advance that his life was in peril, he knew that his death would only fortify his fight and this in the end, would strengthen the nations resolve to move against the dictatorship.



Amidst the solemn dedications, televised mass offerings and media publicity, I was unsure why I kept on thinking about this other hero, this Mabini person - it could be because I have been reading books about him lately, his biography by Majul and his letters that were compiled by TM Kalaw, now published by NHI. This books were great resource if one is to understand what Mabini was like. I'm sure he was the serious kinda guy type unlike Rizal and his buddies. In Mabini's letter you would feel his tone, his formality and his admirable courtesy.



I read that there were two events held in Manila in his honor, celebrating his birthday this year, one was in A. Mabini (Manila), where the former Mayor of Manila erected a handsome looking ‘Paralitico' in bronze, I barely recognized the image, I thought at first it was the great Mayor Lacson! Mayor Lim led the commemoration with some students, government employees and bystanders. The other celebration was in PUP grounds, where his small house was moved from its former location in Nagtahan. I could not understand why it was transferred but there it is, in a school campus waiting to be harmed by vandalizing souls.



In all honesty, I never really admired Mabini with the same esteem I've had with the other giants of our history, I've read about him, for one it would be difficult to avoid his name, much his role. His presence is consistent in all of our history texts. I failed to recognize how this man, with his paralysis and loneliness conducted himself during the endless battles of the first government. How he, at some critical moments orchestrated the governments operation, leading the battered republic with Aguinaldo.



In a undated letter circa 1899, Mabini, with no military experience other than witnessing real battle and assisting in planning battle positions with the other commanders, provided a seasoned warrior in Aguinaldo how ‘to seize Manila', his ‘pointers' were that of a fighting general, minus the distinguished uniform. This only goes to show how this man, deserves his title as the ‘brains of the revolution'.



In all his letters to Aguinaldo, although always respectful, one could sense that he had always doubted the Generals capacity to lead the nation. His criticism were sharp, his objections, direct to the point. In one of his letter he acknowledged his being ‘troublesome' to the presidents busy schedule but still insisted that he be heard. His observation that living the treasury in the hands of the ‘rich people of Manila' would mean trouble for the people. How it was ‘set up' would place the government ‘under its power' according to him - how brilliant is this man that he understood even the minds of soon to be grafters.



Nick Joaquin, in his popular book, ‘Questions of Heroes' noted that Mabinis character always wanted to be ‘blameless' of all the missteps that the government commits. The great national artist has pointed out that Mabini was too critical of the government that he himself help designed. In Malolos, he objected to the point of alienating the rich and ilustrados, when substantial number of this faction retracted their support and went back to Manila accepting America's rule, it made matters even more difficult for the revolutionary government. The ‘blameless' Mabini has antagonized all, the story of his relation with with his old master ends up in a sour note, his allegation against Aguinaldo's misled government and abuses was a show of a complete breakdown. Much to his credit, he swore allegiance to the American only after securing certain rights for the Filipino under the bill of rights of the Yankees, while everyone, all his contemporaries swore to the American flag without any guarantees.



It would be difficult to understand what Mabini desired the most, he was said to be against allowing the rich in power, he saw it as a class issue, that this few should not be allowed to reign - their rise in his mind must be averted, he insisted that the peasantry and the lowly soldiers must have a say and be represented, something that does not really sit well with the men of properties. In all of this, one could not help but think that Mabini led a campaign that disunited the most important elements (the mass, the soldiers and the rich, the ilustrados) that could've increased the chance of the government's survival. The Mabini with the great revolutionary mind was a flawed statesman, unwell in compromising with his fellow Filipino, a luckless diplomat who end up fighting a crucial class, the group that Rizal wanted to be involved in order to win the battle.



I saw in Mabini the intellect that none of his contemporaries could match, he is a perfectionist - he always demands what is ‘right' in his eyes. He always questions, clamoring for answers. He could be the most beautiful mind our revolution ever had, for his time was different one, he was fighting - not physically but mentally. War was in front of him most of the time; his battles were different in so many ways to that of the ‘propagandistas' and the other political thinkers who wanted to liberate the country.



My view of this man is, yes, different from the usual Mabini we think of when we were younger - but reading how he lived made me ask more questions about who he really was. For me, he is a great Filipino - still but I long to know more, that in time, I'm certain would be answered by my lifelong study of our nation's history. No one could deduct what he has already done for his country. In a biography I saw how this Tanauan native rose to prominence because of his intellectual mind, how he valued education and how passionate he was for his fellow Filipinos welfare, which should served as an example for all of us. In his letters and writings, I saw his mind and how accurate were some of his observations, some are still very relevant to our modern times. He was not perfect, but in the end, his story, his role in our history, his achievements, his heroism and yes, his failures deserve to be read and studied by all young Filipino historians.

Dreams of America

I was reading the opinion section of Philippine Star last Saturday. My day of reading would not be complete without Alejandro Roces' Roses and Thorns. One of my favorite commentary in print. His article was entitled, The great US experiment - the Philippines. Although I happen to disagree with what was written, I was even more surprised by the comments when I scrolled down.

Bunch of people were talking about the good years we had with the US, and how we could have benefit as a nation if we were an American state - that we needed them, one even went far as saying that we should lobby to be part of the states today. When I signed in, and shared my view of how far fetch their ideas were, they made jokes out of it, in fairness to them they were funny.


"The Forbidden Book"

It's unfortunate that some of our young people would even spend time dreaming about the this so called 'land of opportunity'. It's a clear sign of desperate times, aspiring that we could go back in Americas good graces, that they could retake their prodigal son and help it regain past glory.

I'm reminded of the "federalistas" during the turn of the century, when America cut short Aguinaldo's republic before it could even legitimize its existence. When US was already in power, this party was so eager to join the American states that they shamelessly threw themselves at the feet of the new rulers, untiringly lobbying for the poor Philippines to be assimilated to the great empire, to be with the great states in the mainland, only to find out that we were unwanted, that US does not need this country to be theirs, only its resources and its strategic location.

I love reading old notes, it reminds me of the reality - how we were treated as a people, like this one from Senator Albert Beveridge of Indiana in 1900, his take on Filipinos, ''not of a self-governing race . . .. Savage blood, Oriental blood, Malay blood, Spanish example -- are these the elements of self-government?''

It was said that imperialism is always, racist. I think with that kind of statement from an American leader. It is.

American regards themselves for converting us to Christianity, when we already are Christians, thanks to Catholicism. We have stronger Christian values and beliefs than them when they came, that I am sure.

We are all happy to recall our deep relationship with the US, but we find it hard (almost impossible in most cases) to even visit relatives in the US mainland when we want to, while Japan, who once attacked them, killing thousands, not counting their soldiers who fought in the Pacific - enjoys the luxury of a pass, without restrictions. Its high time that we accept that America is a friend, when it can find good benefit, but if you're the third world nation, the sick ol' man of Asia, reminding them of history is fruitless.

I've come full circle in my political history studies; I have been an admirer as a young man of the American ideals for this nation of ours. Later on, when further study has shown that, the ideals that I once admired are but a façade of a more intricate plan, that of an ambition of an imperialistic super power, the "large policy" as it was called by its leaders.

And like Aguinaldo and his men, many people have been fooled by the cunning of the American leaders. For they have been after this lands long before the revolution has even begun, only using it to further their advance here and in the region, their real purpose can be understood by this letter of John Hay to his friend Theodore Roosevelt, referring to the war with Spain, "a splendid little war, begun with the highest motives, carried on with magnificent intelligence and spirit, favored by that Fortune which loves the brave."