Forty years. That’s how long it has been since we won a revolution and astonished the world with how we did it.
I remember that night. I was in The Freeman editorial office editing the sports stories for the next day’s edition. The radio was in full blast; nobody wanted to miss the live coverage of the events unfolding in Manila. A hint of foreboding hang in the air; something dramatic was about to take place.
Then it came. Marcos has left the country, my cousin Roy Ladiona’s voice boomed on DYRC. Pandemonium erupted in the already noisy room.
People were gathering in Fuente Osmeña to celebrate, Roy reported. I hurriedly left. History was being made. I had no intention missing the watershed moment.
Fuente was crawling with people when I arrived. The mood was euphoric, and it was contagious. How sweet it was to be free again.
And yet amid the exhilaration, I noticed something that I found disturbing. Men with beer bottles in their hand were using the hood of nearby cars as their stage. I was fortunate that they did nothing more than twist my car’s antenna. The Ford Laser had seen better days and the hood would have collapsed from the sheer weight of two drunks atop it.
They were drunk and they were wildly happy but did respect and reason have to flee in moments of extreme jubilation? Did we deserve the freedom that our heroes earned? Can we be trusted with it?
Forty years later, the question remains relevant. The martyrs who resisted tyranny did not give us independence for independence’s sake. They envisioned a society that upholds truth and protects the rights of one another. How have we done so far?
The answer to that is mixed — marked by both progress and shortcomings. We have kept our freedom but have not always honored it.
There are still many of us who exhibit the same disturbing signs I saw in the beer-guzzling men 40 years ago. Freedom is still a convenience, not a prized inheritance to many of us. We speak without listening, choose without understanding, and care only about what our mood and our interests tell us.
On the other hand, we have preserved our democratic institutions, held regular elections and in some cases succeeded in making our leaders accountable.
That is not enough, of course. We have a long way to go but as they say, freedom is not a completed achievement but a continuing responsibility.