“Still, the Filipino people will always try to take back the future!”
A message for Independence Day
Warm, patriotic greetings.
It is true that June 12, that the Philippines commemorates one of the most solemn moments in its history, and yet the Filipino people are still beholden to the whims of powerful interests, who, as in the past, have kept the oppressive and unfair status quo in place while turning many aspirations, including "national independence," into empty platitudes as the nation celebrates its 125th anniversary.
For despite the impression of “independence”, and expected messages of “unity”, “solidarity”, “upholding freedom”, “liberty”, “democracy” or “promoting progress and development”, these words being babbled by the current order doesn’t suffice the problems they themselves half-hearted, if not fail to address but instead leaving it aggravated. Of course, the order tend to sarcastically recognise the problem or outrightly deny it, but will the ever growing concerned just stay mum? No! Never! People cannot just stay mum after seeing elected bureaucrats and “economic managers” talking about “development” only to see them consolidating their interests at the expense of the people- that makes no different from their once colonial masters.
The controversial “Maharlika Wealth Fund” for instance, shows that cheap words coming from legislators and “economic managers” whilst having lack of funds and a nation in debt cannot suffice present and future problems; or the recent “food stamp” program that while trying to “resolve the hunger crisis” does it benefited the farmer in need of access to needy buyers? Or the smuggler that’s wanting to make profit on the program in connivance with the bureaucrat? Such programs may appear beneficial, and this reminds of the “Build Build Build” of the past administration, once described as a “basis for the golden age of infrastructure” that rather left the country with debt like the earlier administrations, and forces people to pay taxes more with its proceeds most which allocated to debt servicing.
Furthermore, contrary to what the current order tries to impress that there’s “economic emancipation” or “political liberation”, that the struggle for peace, land, bread, and justice continues, as farmers continue to demand genuine agrarian reform and rural development, as they themselves remain chained to the whims of despotic landlords who, in connivance with corrupt bureaucrats and compradores alike, try to circumvent laws, dilute people's demands, in order to consolidate their interests, as they did in previous decades. While workers, who endure meagre pay, less or no benefits, and threats of dismissal, continue to demand for a living wage, improved working conditions, and the right to organize, these what the current status quo tends to downplay while oppressing them with unfair laws and actions that benefit the ruling class. Even small businesspeople, laity, and intellectuals are also affected by the socioeconomic crisis including that of scandals in which they themselves becoming concerned and willing to voice out their dissent regardless of risks posed by threats coming from the regime.
And it is not unexpected that, despite the fact that this current administrations looks to be lite than its bloody predecessor, assassinations and assaults on individuals who speak out against the system and tyrannical leaders have become more open. With the previous administration's anti-terrorism statute, as well as organizations such as the NTFELCAC, peasant organizers, indigenous leaders, union leaders, and religious activists, anyone who opposes corporate and landlord interests, have all been harassed or slain. Along with this oppressive governance, development aggression in the countryside continues, contractualization continues, corruption and subservience to foreign interests prevail, and these would argue that the words being babbled by the current administration be it this June 12 or any other national holiday are the same as those of the past: hollow rhetoric attempting to appease an ever-growing angry people!
These struggles, as in the past, would say that the country remains in a state of a continuing past whose people continue to demand for a future. In this 125 celebration of Philippine independence, this note is ought to say that yes, the nation appears to be free, but so long as the nation remains an appendage of local tyrants and foreign interests, this nation remains unfree and never be at a just peace, let alone silence based on fear, and order rooted on oppression and injustice. This struggle brought by an oppressed people doesn’t stop in 1898, 1946, or even in 1986, but instead a continuous one, as the relentless clamor of the people for national and social liberation is itself a rededication to the noble ideals and aspirations that inspired those from the past and present, and to keep alive the vision of a free, just, and independent Philippines.