FINDING ANSWER

Yesterday’s commemoration of Philippine Independence Day got me pondering on our nationhood and country, its future, what ails it now, and the many challenges we are facing since our flag was raised from a balcony in Kawit, Cavite 125 years ago.
As I reflected on what it must have been like on that historic day in 1898 when Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo proclaimed that we Filipinos are finally free from more than three centuries of Spanish colonial rule, I remembered a controversial tweet asking what else are we free from.
“Our country is not yet debt-free, poverty-free, crime-free or corruption-free. So what are we free from exactly and why do we celebrate it?” world-renowned Filipino performance artist Lea Salonga tweeted in 2015.
Some people thought her tweet was somehow unfair considering that many countries that take pride in their independence have not gotten rid of the social ills she mentioned. But others believe that her insights on freedom deserve serious thought.
Indeed, many of our nation’s problems—for which I’ve fought for solutions while a student activist starting at age 17 who almost died as bullets killed a man beside me during a violent rally in the 70’s—remain unchanged.
We learn how many Filipinos still go hungry every day. We continue to hear stories of how many Filipinos just die without even seeing a doctor or getting medication. We are hounded by statistics on how many Filipino children are so severely affected by malnutrition, undernutrition, wasting and stunting.
And we learn that the severe effects of malnutrition and widespread hunger lead to the untimely deaths of 95 Filipino children daily, that 27 out of every 1,000 kids don’t get past their fifth birthday, that one of every three children are suffering from stunting that can be permanent, irreversible and even fatal after age two.
We also learn that, partly because of being malnourished and also partly because of a “weak basic education system,” many Filipino students are performing very poorly in reading, science, and mathematics, as shown in various assessment tests that compared the Philippines with other countries.
We all know how many of us, due to severe lack of high-paying jobs and livelihood opportunities here, just want to go abroad – even at the risk of being abused, tortured, raped, or killed – for badly needed work or just to get relief from the crippling traffic mess.
And then there’s also the continuing problem of Chinese intrusion into our exclusive economic zone in the West Philippine Sea – violating our country’s sovereign rights in WPS by massive fishing, bullying of Filipino fishermen, environmental destruction, and building artificial islands.
Yet, amid all our nation’s problems, we know God is with us. With around 95 percent of 110 million Filipinos professing to be Christians, it should not be difficult for us to believe that our country is truly blessed and God has a wonderful plan for us.
Especially so as God’s promise—“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord”—is displayed in our money. “Pinagpala ang Bayan na ang Diyos ay ang Panginoon” is the local translation of the Holy Bible’s Psalm 33, Verse 12, printed in new editions of Philippine currency notes since 2010.
So if God is with us, how come dark forces seem to be working against us and hindering our progress as a nation? How come our country is continually beset by the same old problems of poverty, rampant corruption, criminality, injustice, and a host of ills afflicting our society?
Could the fault lie in us? Filipinos are known to be deeply religious. But sociologists wonder how is it possible for our collective spirituality and religious piety to blend with a seeming tolerance for so much greed, corruption, and selfishness all around.
Thus, Salonga’s thought-provoking tweet deserves reevaluation. It should not be construed as disrespecting our heroes who struggled, fought, and died for independence. Rather, it should be an honest assessment of how Filipinos in general have been or have not been worthy of liberty obtained through the heroic deeds of our ancestors. Have we been doing what we should to be worthy of independence? Do we properly fulfill our sacred task to elect the right people to steer our country in the right direction? Are we truly showing love of country?
Apolinario Mabini said it best in his True Decalogue for Filipinos: “Love your country after God and your honor, and more than you love yourself, because your country is the only paradise that God has given you in this life; the only patrimony of your race; the only inheritance from your ancestors; and the only future of your descendants – because of your country you have life, love and interests; happiness, honor and God.
To be worthy of our independence, we must strive to do everything we can to improve the quality of life of our nation, and to establish an effective and honest government through elections that we must ensure are clean and honest. We should choose God-fearing, competent, compassionate and selfless leaders who will create jobs and livelihood for the people and bail out the country from poverty, underdevelopment, injustice, inequality, corruption, and all other social ills plaguing our nation for decades. ([[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]))