Philippine Independence, when will it come about?

By Leandro D. Quintana

This stretch of time, between June 12 thru July 4 is a period in the year when there is much thought and talk of independence and patriotism. We observe with some pomp and circumstance the June 12, 1898 “independence”. We also mark the June 19th birthday of our national hero Jose Rizal. Then as we move into July, there is the glorious 4th, now referred to as “friendship day” between the Philippines and US. Recently, in the midst of all this a friend started an email trail advocating the reinstatement of July 4, 1946 as our “true” independence. And the email trail certainly lured me into participating in the conversation and here’s what I contributed:

In my opinion there really is no moment of "independence" that we can mark, honor and observe. As a nation and a country we have not attained independence. There is not one solitary moment in time when we can say that the "Filipino nation" gained independence. In 1898 we were not a Filipino nation. We were a collection of Indo-Malayan tribes occupying an archipelago of islands, speaking different languages (dialects) and crudely coalesced by the presence of a sovereign power, Spain, amongst our midst. In that time period we had a string of local “rebellions” but not quite a revolution.

The "independence" that we refer to that took place on July 4, 1946 was very much less a graduation into the community of sovereign nations than it was a convenient victory for the powerful block of southern Democrats in the US Congress who feared the eventual ascendance of a birth-prolific race of brown people to the ranks of US citizenship. "Granting" us independence while still controlling our political and business lives was a brilliant stroke of the US political establishment of that time.

One condition that defines, describes perhaps, national independence is the act of truly discarding a previous ruler and it’s system of ruling the native population such as when the colonies in a continent called America booted out the British and created a system of government that was radically different from a monarchy i.e. a republic. The same can be said of India when they kicked the British out and created a parliamentary, multi-partied democracy. In both cases each of the newly birthed nations thereafter acted independently and in pursuit of its self interests which often conflicted with the interests of their previous overlords. Clearly that has not been the case for the Philippines. The Spaniards established a ruling elite made up of some natives and mestizos and this group continued on as the foundation of an oligarchy that remained ensconced under American rule and have successfully thrived and grown even more powerful after the Americans “left”.
Having mentioned India as an example it is perhaps worth noting that Mahatma Gandhi, in leading the fight for an independent India, insisted that the their future ought not to be one where the old British masters be replaced by native born surrogates, i.e. the country should not be handed over to Indian individuals and families who would henceforth be a “ruling class”. Gandhi insisted that a true and genuine democratic government that was voted into power by , and therefore owed their offices to, the people of India is what the future of his country ought to be. And he got his way. To this day India continues to be described at the world’s largest democracy. A vast contrast to what happened in the Philippines, for sure.
Perhaps the closest thing to a “declaration of independence” by the Filipino nation came in those heady days of February in 1986 when the people rose and ousted the dictator Ferdinand Marcos from power. This was indeed a revolution in the making. We now had an opportunity to define ourselves as a nation finally able to cast aside the oligarchic yoke imposed by the Spaniards and continued by the Americans. A “new order” was in the making. The rule of law can finally prevail. Opportunity for all, founded upon a meritocracy and a level playing field all around, in education, business, and government was forthcoming. Sad to say this all fizzled away when the ineffectual Corazon Aquino merely enabled the expansion of the oligarchy to now include members of her family and their many friends and cohorts joining the “Marcos oligarchs” at the trough .

Today we are not an independent country, by any stretch of the imagination. Our "republic" is a very troubled one. We have political parties that seldom reflect any solid platform of government other than to acquire power which seems to be used mostly to enhance further the acquisition of even more wealth by a favored few. On the global stage we are a client state of the USA (regardless our pronunciations to the contrary) fearful of being gobbled up by China. Year after year for over the past half century we prostrate ourselves as mendicants seeking US “aid” and “military assistance”. We seem to jump with joy at the news that this or that country or international organization extends us
grants and donations.

At the very best all I could say is that we are an evolving nation coping with the winds of change that blow around us and around the world. Over the past 50 years or so the Filipino Diaspora, a dispersion of our people, as permanent migrants to other countries, or as “temporary” overseas workers residing elsewhere in the world, seems to be the force and characteristic that defines us. Already more than 3 million Filipinos reside in the US and have converted to American citizenship, an act which required their swearing allegiance to the US flag and all that it represents. Estimates are that between 8 to 11 million Filipino OFW’s are out of the country at any given time. This has redounded to the country’s benefit in the form of foreign remittances . In time will new, fresh and foreign ideas about government, business and culture, as seen and experienced by returning OFWs, also filter back into our country and begin to alter our own outlook vis-à-vis the form of government we shall have in the future? Will there finally be a push for “real” independence.

Indeed this period from mid June to early July compels us to dwell upon such thoughts as independence and patriotism. Perhaps this time around the conversation continues on, beyond the summer months and the monsoon rains and usher in seasons of reasoned discourse on this great topic of “Philippine Independence”.

Ldq44@aol.com