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The idiocy P-Noy should address
AS I WRECK THIS CHAIR By William M. Esposo
The Philippine Star 2010-06-24
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Nothing best illustrates an incident of Filipino idiocy — failure to know the truth — than when US State Secretary Hillary Clinton visited our country late last year. Here was the Foreign Minister of a superpower country with a hidden agenda which almost resulted in the Balkanization of Mindanao — had the MoA-BJE (Memorandum of Agreement — Bangsamoro Juridical Entity) been signed — and yet we welcomed her like a conquering hero.
If Sec. Clinton had a similar agenda to Balkanize a region of France, she’d be lucky to land her plane in a French airport. A patriotic French pilot would likely have shot her plane down and the French people would have cheered and toasted that pilot. If protocol compels the French government to allow her plane to land — expect her to be pelted with overripe foul smelling produce, if not feces, by protesting irate French citizens.
But here, Sec. Clinton was welcomed as if the event was a visit of the Pope. The ANC (ABS-CBN News Channel) practically covered every move and statement of the US State Secretary but these were more in the context of state ceremonies and human interest stories about an international celebrity — rather than a determination of the US hidden agenda in Mindanao. It was a pathetic moment for Philippine journalism.
The US agenda in Mindanao could place our country as the frontline in a projected US-China conflict. With the lethal arsenal both sides have, it does not take a genius to appreciate the extent of the damage we will suffer in the event that such a US-China conflict occurs.
This warm reception of a US State Secretary with a dangerous hidden agenda happened in our country because most Filipinos are ignorant of the historical truth. Not knowing what the US really did to us Filipinos, we still look up to them as if they are there to save us, instead of exploit us.
Never mind the US atrocities on Filipino civilians which were committed during the Philippine-American War. Go to Google and type General Jakob Smith if you want to know about some of these atrocities. But just how many Filipinos are aware that Ferdinand Marcos could not have imposed martial law here in 1972 if that was not in the US global plan?
The height of this idiocy was reached when the US appeared to most Filipinos as the promoter of the change from dictatorship to democracy in 1986. Why should we credit them for helping remove what they promoted in the first place?
This idiocy cannot be simply dismissed as the result of lack of education. Many from the upper class of our society do not also know the historical truth. To this day, many Filipinos still think that to be suspicious and wary of US manipulation, to try to protect Philippine national interest against US geopolitical, military and economic objectives — is to be considered a Communist or an anachronistic militant.
Ours is one of the few countries where a nationalist is looked down upon. That is how we’ve earned the tag of DAMAGED CULTURE. In other countries where people do not carry this baggage, nationalists are hailed, admired, extolled and emulated. Here they are looked down upon, even ostracized.
How come? It is because most Filipinos do not know the historical truth. Here it is perfectly legal to allow foreigners to exploit exhaustible Filipino natural resources and it is illegal when nationalists — not Communists — are trying to protect Philippine interests. Pretenders — the folks who present themselves as the fountain of knowledge of Philippine history when for the most part they only specialize in sharing trivia — help maintain this idiocy.
In Scotland, my MacGregor clansmen talk about the 1603 Battle of Glenfruin between our clan and the Clan Colquhoun as if it was a 21st century event. In a recent History Channel documentary about the Boxer Rebellion in China, it mentioned that every Chinese boy, to this day, is taught the lessons of that oppression in the hands of the Western Powers.
Here, historical events of the late 19th century are hardly discussed by Filipinos. It is as if the sacrifices of Rizal, Mabini, and Bonifacio et al are just footnotes of history when the truth is we desperately need more Filipinos of their mold to win the unsettled issues.
Early on during the campaign, P-Noy expressed to your Chair Wrecker his most fervent wish, should he be elected president, to be able to leave behind meaningful reforms which will continue far beyond his term. It is a noble aspiration when a leader wants to ensure that his people are well taken cared of long after his term of office had ended.
For P-Noy to ensure his most fervent wish, he must address the idiocy — Filipinos not knowing the historical truth — that is pervasive in the land. Like other great national leaders, P-Noy should reform not only the governance but also the mindset and culture of the governed.
Reforming the mindset and culture of the governed is actually the harder task. But it will be this victory that will establish that P-Noy is not only a good president but a great national leader.
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