PAGBABAGO               Dr. Florangel Rosario Braid While going over activities being planned for the forthcoming Philippine Quincentennial, I suddenly recalled an observation made during the Globalization Lecture series held 20 years after James Fallows wrote his essay, “A Damaged Culture.” It stated: “The Philippines is just going around in circles while other countries have progressed. What is innate in Filipino culture that keeps development slow and the gap between extreme rich and extreme poor wide?” The quincentennial celebrates the achievement of science, our part in the circumnavigation of the world for the first time, and the 500th anniversary of the Victory at Mactan and 500 years of Christianity. In 1987, Fallows, an American writer with the Atlantic Monthly, shocked and angered many Filipinos when he described our society as having “degenerated into a war of every man against every man,” and because of fragmentation, the lack of useful nationalism, people treat each other worse than in any country I have seen.” His essay was disturbing but many of us would admit that it contained indisputable truths – that indeed, the haves in our society had created boundaries limited to their families or tribes but excluded 99 percent of the other people. This continues up to this day as we pay lip service to lofty goals – social justice, inclusion or “learning to live together,” as well as attributes such as tolerance, empathy, and “bayanihan.” As we retrace our steps back to the past, which is what the National Historical Commission and the Quincentennial Committee plan to do, what should they specifically examine that could explain the flaws in our national character? In the interaction with various cultures, what road did we fail to take? In our re-telling the narrative today, what do we emphasize? De-emphasize? What incidents in our historical journey could help our electorate in 2022? The countdown to the 500th anniversary which officially starts March 16 and ends October 28, started mid-January when the theme song “Bagani” was launched. “Bagani” refers to the peace-keeping force of tribal warriors that defend the country, and protect the people’s lives as well. Note the lyrics which celebrate bravery, nobility, and courage as well as compassion and inclusiveness:

“Tulungan ang kapwa't bigyang halaga, Huwag hatakin ng pababa,

Isipin huwag sana ang sarili lang, Pakisama’t bayanihan.”

We have altogether seven months to celebrate – unveil markers, hold art competitions, cultural exhibits, 500 online lectures, settle controversies like the Limasawa mass, rectify historical errors (this started during National Centennial Commission in 1998 where historians and social scientists re-wrote the histories of their regions), focus on dialogues among various sectors of our society, discover commonalities between Christians, Muslims and indigenous groups, inaugurate the newly restored Metropolitan Theater, among many others. Hopefully, the commemoration will provide learnings that would help us address our divisiveness and the search for our national soul. My email, [email protected]