WHO are they? When there is a problem with peace and order in the province, the progressive groups are always in the chopping board. They are labeled as radical, reformist and even revolutionary... anti-government.
This may sound funny because many Negrosanons are progressives but they are not against the government. They could be professionals from various fields, priests, investors, students and retired employees. They are simply advanced, avant-garde, dynamic, enlightened, enterprising and forward-looking.
Even in the rank and file of the military and the police, we have liberal minded elements with up-and-coming attitude. Believe me, they are supportive of our government. I have been with the government for so many years and I was able to work with progressive political leaders.
The Marcos dictatorship was toppled down because there were progressive Filipinos who exposed their balls for freedom and democracy. In our province, the progressives may find difficulty in adjusting themselves to the habitat. Many of us including the military and the police (not all) have framed our minds with the semi-feudal attitudes of the “hacendados” who first ruled Negros.
The Cinco de Noviembre Revolution was scripted by the “hacendados.” They were the progressives during that time. The “jornaleros” were just made to march and fight as needed without question. The progressive “hacendados” collaborated with the Americans later to save their sugar and their social status.
While Luzon revolutionaries were fighting the Americans, Aniceto Lacson headed a delegation of Negrosanon “hacedados” to Manila and declared their allegiance to the United States through Gen. Elmell Otis. On March 4, 1899, Brigadier General James F. Smith headed the first American troops to enter Bacolod. Lacson and his progressives welcomed the Americans.
Soon the American-sponsored government replaced the short lived Republic of Negros. This simply means that the progressives of Negros during the Spanish rule became collaborators when the Americans occupied our province. You belong to the progressive group depending on which side of the fence you occupy.
In our era, the progressives of Negros are opposing the manipulative attitude of some of those who are in the government who have forgotten or cannot understand the “Panunumpa ng Kawani ng Gobyerno” that they are reciting with raised hand every Monday after the flag ceremony.
This province belongs to us. The military-PNP and the neo-progressives do not need to play hide-and-seek in the way of the cat and mouse. Let us not make Negros a dog-eats-dog society. Let us commit and dedicate ourselves to genuine public service without killing each other. We determine who the Negrosanons are by what we do.