The US purchased the Philippines from Spain in December of 1898. Yet, earlier in June of that year, having practically won the revolution, we had declared our independence from Spain. Rightfully, therefore, we resisted the American intrusion, but soon we had to bow to a superior military force and once more became a colony, this time of the US.
In 1946, the US gave us back our independence and we finally gained full ownership of our country. The most basic privilege of owners is the enjoyment of the benefits of their possessions. This, however, never materialized for the majority of Filipinos. Until now only a few, big business and big landowners and their political surrogates, are enjoying the benefits of the country’s independence.
On account of this, I’ve refrained from writing about the WPS (West Philippine Sea) issue. I find it irrelevant to the majority of Filipinos who are not enjoying the benefits of the country they are supposed to own. Ownership of the disputed WPS would not make a difference in their lives. Why would it when they do not enjoy the benefits of ownership of the undisputed part of the country?
This is not to advocate for the abandonment of our claim to WPS. But we must do it in context like by ensuring first that the rights and privileges of ownership are enjoyed by the bigger number of Filipinos. If only a privileged few are enjoying ownership benefits of the undisputed portion, how can ownership of the disputed WPS be of any value to the rest of the population should we begin to own it?
First things first… So, how about righting a botched-up agrarian reform program so Filipino farmers can own the land they till? And please don’t insult them by saying they are lazy and will just sell it back for easy money. Yes, many of them are selling back because our agrarian reform program is designed to fail, mainly for lack of adequate financial and educational support to farmer-beneficiaries and secondarily for the corrupt practices of its implementers like making themselves or their kin beneficiaries of the program.
How about also going on a program to industrialize the country, including the agricultural sector to increase its productivity, and thus provide jobs for all instead of grandstanding by jacking up wages out of context, without considering its possible total negative effect on the economy.
And how about fully funding health and education instead of channeling funds to personal pockets or to dole-out programs that are not meant to help but induce people to vote for ayuda-giving politicians.
We just celebrated our independence from a foreign power, yet millions of us are not yet free of domination by local ruling powers. Worse still, while two dynasties are fighting for the power to dominate us and steal our money, we are happy to ride on one dynasty’s or the other’s bandwagon instead of uniting to form the people’s true opposition. We are like sheep lining up for slaughter yet happy over our freedom to choose which butcher would do a better job of slaughtering us. Some independence we have!