RECENTLY, I came across this YouTube post “The Top Ten Unconquerable Countries.” I was intrigued to find the Philippines at number ten, just behind number nine Japan. Number one, of course, is the U.S. of A.
The lady narrator credited us with having always resisted foreign invaders throughout our history, citing the many revolts we staged against Spain, the U.S., and Japan. Although our military is small and ill-equipped, she went on to say, any invader will surely meet fierce resistance from freedom-loving Filipinos.
Frankly, I felt more patronized than complimented by this post. First, I don’t know any nation that doesn’t cherish its freedom and will not resist foreign invasion one way or another. Second, we lost all our wars against foreign invaders because we always broke unity and granted a rich and powerful elite exclusive claim to victory.
Thus, we now suffer from our conquest by local invaders, home-grown “foreigners,” who have ruled us since Independence Day in 1898 or 1946 for their exclusive benefit. But, except for our Muslim brothers, we have yet to rage against their exploitative ways.
We managed to unite and resist foreign invaders. But we have allowed home-grown invaders who look and talk like us to sweet-talk us into abject submission.
These “foreigners” act like enemies during election campaigns and during the incumbency of one of their factions. But they close ranks against any attempt to change the set up that allows them to take turns becoming rich at our expense.
Meanwhile, in our apathy, we decided that the best way to survive is to go our separate ways and latch on to the faction of invaders that make the sweetest promises on election time.
But no faction has ever made good on its promises. Yet we never seem to learn. We have yet to summon the courage to rage against a two-tiered justice system, a brutally inhuman jail system, thirty million poor, plunder and corruption, etc. that conquering local “foreigners” have inflicted on our country.
Not even the rich and powerful Catholic Church is enraged enough, if at all, into remedial Christian action. Like what has it done to help correct the scandalously inhuman condition in our jails (that Liloan showcases so starkly) or about the homeless that abound in all parishes?
Neither the US nor China nor Russia or any other nation can save us from self-destruction. Their willingness to help has to stop where their national security interests begin. We alone can save us from our self-destructive apathy vis-a-vis the exploitative ways of our rulers.
I resent the YouTube post patronizing us as unconquerable when in fact we have always been and remain a conquered country, all this time by local “foreigners.”