The Philippine Online Chronicles

“Five months after his inauguration in January 1962 as fifth president of the Third Philippine Republic, Diosdado Macapagal stunned the nation, as well as the United States, with a proclamation declaring June 12 as Independence Day, replacing July 4, the day when the United States relinquished sovereignty to Filipinos in 1946.”

Accounts show that a euphoric and united people celebrated that historic Independence Day held for the first time on June 12.

According to respected political analyst Amando Doronilla, “more  than a million people packed the Luneta [now Rizal Park] in a sea of humanity, compared with fewer than 300,000 that attended previous Fourth of July celebrations. The first June 12 celebration crowd was surpassed in size and nationalistic fervor only by the Independence Day parade at the Luneta during the 1998 centennial of Philippine Independence proclaimed by Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo in Kawit.”

But the independence day crowds have decidedly thinned out since.  Does this imply the fading of nationalistic fervor? If so, why does our national pride have to be the blow-hot, blow-cold kind? What does it take to draw in and turn on the crowds?  Not another change in commemoration date.  And please, not another bloodless people power revolution. 

What does Independence Day mean for the ordinary Pinoy?

Is it “wala lang,” as some youngsters posted in an online forum?

Is it just a vacation, pure and simple --   a welcome one-day respite from the grinding sameness  of our work-a-day life?   A day when we may choose or not to turn on the TV to watch the parade in the comfort of our homes.  Is this a manifestation of this thing called freedom?  Or shall we call it  democracy in inaction?

Let’s give it to our war veterans,.  They who look forward to every June 12 as a once-a-year opportunity to don their old military uniforms with pride – and, don’t forget the badges and medals please – and trying to march without limping and wilting in the mid-day sun  -- or worse in the sudden June rain -- as they join their contingents or battalions or whatever is left of them.

Popular culture will have it that Independence Day is a birthday celebration for the country.  Or an anniversary of sorts.  A gala marked by flags waving, bands playing, soldiers marching,  crowds cheering, fireworks exploding.  After which crowds settle down on seats for the pageantry and pomp to begin on stage.  Pageantry, compliments of spectacular shows and song and dance acts.  Pomp, thanks or no thanks, to the fiery but often hollow speeches by the country’s leaders.

But for many a good and law-abiding citizen with a modicum of national pride,  it’s a time to feel special about our  flag and all that it stands for, displaying it just outside the car or by the window of one’s home, and letting it fly aloft -- high and proud.

And the high and proud way to celebrate June 12 is to bear in mind that independence is the heart and soul of the country.  And to remember– with a lump in our throat -- that it is a day of liberation.  A deliverance from subjugation, otherwise known as colonization.  And that we have won this at great cost.  This is what we honor on this day.  But we forget, we often forget.

We forget to remember on this day, what the struggles our country and countrymen had to go through – think Lapu-lapu battling Magellan, Cry of Balintawak, Cry of Pugad Baboy, Battle of Tirad Pass, Death March, etc. etc. -- to make it this far.  But how far?

In 113 years of Philipine independence, where exactly does our country find itself?

Still poised – but tired waiting --  as we have for more than 50 years, to make that elusive economic take-off?

Can there be authentic political independence without real economic self-reliance?

How independent can a country be that still has a hand stretched  bearing a beggar’s bowl and asking the WB, the IMF, the ADB,the United States, Brunei or some other prosperous country for grants and more grants, for loans and more loans, and "invest in our country puh-leeze?"

How independent can a country be that is divided not only by reason of its geography but more sharply by   petty  political interests and parochial kanya-kanya and tayo-tayo mentality?  How can a fractious and conflict-ridden people begin to pull its act together?

Can the answer be in this elusive thing called national pride?  But pride in what, we may all be burning to ask.

Pride in a Manny Pacquiao who has collected almost all that can be won in worldwide boxing championships– who many admirers say has out-boxed and out-shadowed Muhammad Ali in popularity?

Pride in singing sensations Charice Pempengco, Lea Salonga and Arnel  Pineda who virtually raise the Philippine flag every time they perform in an international stage?

Why not?  These are authentic Pinoy achievers who worked hard, fighting or singing their guts out, giving inspiration for young Filipinos to be dreamers and doers and risk-takers.

But there are other more solid reasons to be proud about.  And I do not include here pride in being the world’s No. 1 users of Facebook and other social-networking sites and being among the world’s top exporter of its workforce.

Many of our qualities as a people are well known – the hospitality that we extend even to strangers, the gift of  happiness in the face of economic want, the capacity for giving until it hurts, the spirit of bayanihan and volunteerism,  the amazing flexibility and adaptability Pinoys are capable of that have made us choice employees anywhere we go.

Joey Concepcion of Go Negosyo takes note of how Filipinos have survived countless battles and crises.  "We have a beautiful country with people with unmatched values of hospitality, service, and hard work." 

According to Pastor Ed Lapiz and his essay circulating in cyberspace, Filipinos are brown, spiritual, timeless, spaceless, linguists, groupists, weavers, adventurers.  These are qualities that seldom find personification in one people, he marvels.

Filipinos, he asserts, should be allowed to contribute their special traits to the world-wide community of men.

But first, we should know and like ourselves.

Then and only then can we start feeling like the independent, self-reliant people that we technically have been for more than a hundred years.

A fiercely proud and independent people does not cheat in an election nor ask for a bribe nor offer one, nor make money out of shady deals, does it?  A proud and independent Pinoy wouldn't be caught sleeping on his job, turning out poor-quality work, doing busiiness unfairly, and putting one over his fellowmen, does he? 

Photo from: “Philippine independence day” on 9mmdotnet