PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENCE: ASIA’S BEACON OF HOPE
Erle Frayne Argonza
Philippine solidarity to all Fellows on Planet
Earth!
On the 12th of June 1896, as the sun was
rising, the Philippine Flag was raised for the first time in Kawit, Cavite. The Philippine
National Anthem was also played, in the genre of classical marches, putting it
alongside the French
Republic’s anthem. Emilio
Aguinaldo, first president of the new republic, declared the independence of
the Philippines from Spain and the
official birthing of the Philippine nation-state.
That moment of victory, no matter how short-lived
it was as the American forces soon snapped off the flame of liberty in the
islands, was of gigantic significance to all Asia.
For the first time, a modern republic was born, forged from out of the
struggles and blood of the Filipino people, who fought arduously against the
mighty empire of the Spanish Crown. Over three (3) centuries of Western
imperial cruelties, demonic calumnies and abominable barbarities were
officially ended that day.
All of Asia
watched the unfolding events in the islands then. The young patriarch of the
nation, Dr. Jose Rizal, was terminated by the Spaniards in 1896 yet, but his
ideas of nationhood spread like wildfire across the archipelago after that
infamous moment of his execution. With the founding of a new republic, the
Asians realized that nationhood ideas, typified by the thoughts of Rizal, were
viable. No matter how mighty an evil empire would be against a colonized people
of Asia, the latter will be able to forge
collective might and will, terminate imperial rule and build a new sovereign
nation-state.
Thus were our fellow Asians emboldened to study the
path of national liberation, build the patriotic ideas and revolutionary
movements that will serve as their executor vehicles, and wage libertarian
campaigns to the finish, even if it will take thousands to millions of martyrs
to conclude the national liberation project. Gandhi, Aung San, Sukarno, Sun Yat
Sen and leading patriots from fellow Asian lands, who read and digested Rizal’s
writings well, stood out among our great leaders in Asia,
and the rest was history.
Modern nationhood in Asia
started in my beloved country. This is an established fact, though seemingly
ignored and forgotten. Because it started here, let it be the duty and
obligation of all fellow patriotic Filipino to continue to spread goodwill and
good faith unto all the peoples of Earth, whether from developing or developed
states. For in today’s context, there are those powerful predatory forces that
aspire no end to snuff out the nation-states in the name of their ignominious
greed, lust for power, and tyrannical might.
Back home, here, we nationalist patriots continue
our struggle against the pro-colonial forces in all spheres of life. Rizal’s
dream here hasn’t completely galvanized yet, as the pro-colonials and the
oligarchs they serve are ensconced in all terrains of social, cultural,
political and economic life. We nationalists are in the margins, while the
pro-colonials and pro-oligarchs are hegemonic, and so we will continue with our
struggles until the destructive dragons of colonialism and oligarchism will be
effectively slaughtered here.
Let the world remember this heraldry, that on the
12th of June 1896, nationhood and the values that underpin it
(sovereignty, liberty, brotherhood, patriotism, prosperity) were born and
planted in the Philippines
as the first instance of nationhood in all of Asia.
This being the sublime narrative, we patriotic Filipinos shall continue to bear
with us the flame of liberty, and will defend the values that forged nationhood
to the last instance of our breaths and energies. That which was first will be
the last to fall, and will, with the blessing of Divine Hierarchy, never fall
in spirit and wisdom to pursue the grand mission of helping other nations build
their own narratives and practices of nationhood.
Hail the Philippine nation! Glory, genius,
grandeur!
[12 June 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila]
