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Who Wants not to be a Filipino?
Contributed by Ka_Martin
Wednesday, January 23, 2002 @ 10:04:31 AM
Many Filipinos no longer want to be Filipinos. They say that the Philippines has nothing but crime, corruption, poverty, unemployment, underemployment, job discrimination, and perpetually clogged streets--and so they go off to other countries and either renounce their citizenship or live the lives of illegal aliens.
They do not know what it means to be a Filipino. What does it mean to be a Filipino? "Being a Filipino does not mean merely living in the Philippines," Grace Nono once said. She was right. There are millions of Americans in the Philippines--most of them brown-skinned.
What does it mean to be a Filipino?
The Propagandists were Filipinos. They who labored mightily on foreign soil so that those in the homeland may be given all rights and opportunities they were entitled to as human beings--they were Filipinos.
The Katipuneros were Filipinos. They who risked their lives and limbs that the Philippines their motherland may be freed from the grips of the tyrants that were Spain and the United States--they were Filipinos.
Our "seditious" writers of the 1900s were Filipinos. They who used the pen to tell their countrymen that the sacrifices they made in 1896 should not be allowed to waste away--they were Filipinos.
Our guerillas and soldiers of 1942-1945 were Filipinos. They who went through indescribable dangers that the Philippines may be freed from the monstrosities of the Japanese Imperial Army--they were Filipinos.
Our activists and revolutionaries of today are Filipinos. They who endure the heat of the sun in the streets and in the fields to put a stop to the continued control of the imperialists and their local lackeys over the Philippines--they are Filipinos.
All those who gave their lives that their brothers and sisters in the Philippines may someday live like humans--they were Filipinos.
All those who sacrifice personal profit and place their lives on the line that their brothers and sisters in the Philippines may someday live like humans--they are Filipinos.
"Who wants to be a Filipino?" Herdi Yumul once asked.
Who wants not to be a Filipino? Who wants not to be among the greatest of humans?
:: Bing Monday, April 14, 2003
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