History, policy and memory

The Manila Times - June 19, 2020

https://www.manilatimes.net/2020/06/19/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/history-policy-and-
memory/732820/

THE disparity between July 4, 1946 and June 12, 1898 concerning the Philippine Independence
Day does not mean that one is real and the other is not, as both came as a trifling gift though
the people fought hard for it. While there are differentiating details between the two, the former
lacks a substantiating element that insulates the country from inconspicuous imperialism by
the United States. The changing of the date celebrating independence does not come with
changing the material condition of the country. Land monopoly and elite politics remain. Why
were landlords allowed to take back full control of their haciendas? Were the economic treaties
with the US just?
American sympathizers, Japanese collaborators, elites and oligarchs continue to dominate the
arena of post-World War 2 Philippine politics. Filipino politicians should have equipped
themselves with principles petrifying the imperial interests of the former colonial master. The
political preparation, rather, was not to obstruct foreign dominance but to digest sugarcoated
declaration palatable for the local exploiting elite politicians.
Meanwhile, the people asserting genuine independence were demonized, as the post-1898
revolutionaries were branded, which today’s advocates, unionists, progressives and activists
experience. Amid threats and harassments, the people, as citizen-critics, raise concerns
demanding clarity on the condition of the country as Cebuanos are doing right now when the
city returned to the enhanced community quarantine status. It is a desideratum that citizens ask
questions, but it should not only be about the current crisis but also about things regarded as
true.
What is the status of the country vis-à-vis the US, China, the international financing institutions
and the driving ideology of today’s global mode of governance?
There is no self-rule in a neoliberal era pushing package policies like trade and industry
liberalization, deregulation, privatization and denationalization; and it’s not the technicality of
declaring independence either that we should be pursuing, but the genuineness of
independence free from the dictates of American and/or Chinese hegemony. While reports say
Chinese coast guard patrols the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, one cannot but think
beyond through the June 16 column of Reynaldo Arcilla, “Is President Duterte flip-flopping
on VFA (Visiting Forces Agreement)?”
Pronouncements and/or declarations are as murky as our history and remarkable dates.
June 19 is the birthday of Jose Rizal, yet Rizal Day is on December 30, the day of his death.
But Bonifacio Day is Andres’ birthday. Why? How come? These are just two startling
questions one may raise in dealing with selective memory implying intention in drowning vital
information to oblivion. There’ll be no peace if there’s still historical injustice. Rizal exhorted
us to bear in mind history as we tread a critical path towards the country’s destination.
“Where are we going?” Ramon Tulfo asked in his June 16 column. While we take
contemporary capitalism as gospel truth, Westfield State University political science professor
Heather Brown calls it crass. World-renowned thinkers, e.g., American Richard Wolff, British
David Harvey, French Alain Badiou and Slovenian Slavoj Zizek, posit theses sprouting from
the demise of neoliberal capitalism which the Covid-19 seconded.

Noe M. Santillan
Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Social Studies
University of the Philippines Cebu