There’s nothing simple about June 12. Our Independence Day is so complicated it should evoke mixed feelings of...
Joy, that we finally decided Independence Day was June 12, 1898. On that day we proclaimed the independence Andres Bonifacio and the Katipunan fought for and wrenched from the colonial master, Spain.
And sadness, that we did not proclaim independence as a united Philippines. A year and a month before, on May 10, 1897, Andres Bonifacio, the proletarian founder and leader of the Katipunan, was executed (for treason?) by the dominant elite faction of the Philippine revolution. The day thus marked the onset of elitist rule in the country.
Sadness, that on Dec. 10, 1898 Spain ceded the Philippines to the US in the Treaty of Paris for US$20 million. But joy, that the self-respecting though fledgling Philippine Republic, against all odds and driven by sheer love of freedom, declared war on the mighty US on Feb. 4, 1899.
Yet sadness again, when on July 2, 1902 we lost our war of independence to the US, which now became officially our new colonial master. Joy, that they were less cruel than the Spaniards, but sadness that nevertheless they had their way with their brown colonial subjects.
I grew up rejoicing that the US gave us back our independence on July 4, 1946. But I was sad when later as an adult I realized that the US handed over control of Philippine sovereignty not to the Filipino people but to an elite few that owned vast tracts of the country’s land and a monopoly of its burgeoning commerce and industry. To this day political dynasties, as they soon became, remain in control of the nation’s economy.
As early as the first election, our elite rulers already telegraphed their intention to exclude farmers from government when they denied Luis Taruc the seat in Congress that he won with the votes of farmer-members of Hukbalahap, an organization that fought the Japanese invaders. His sin? He was top dog of the first communist party of the Philippines that at that time was fighting for the right of farmers to own the land they tilled.
To this day, this economic right is still denied our tenant farmers. To this day, this economic right remains beyond their reach because the elite-controlled government refuses to help them form their own political party. Without their own political party, farmers and workers have no effective voice in government, have no agency to advocate for their rights as equal citizens of the republic.
Our independence evokes a mix of joy and sadness. It’s complicated and because it is, it probably is not there at all. It is definitely not there for small farmers, small fishermen, ordinary workers etc. that comprise the country’s poor.