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================= ================= Has Revolution Now Become Necessary? ================= ================= ================= Filipinismo, the True Filipino Ideology ================= ================= ================= ================= ================= ================= Magna Carta of Social Justice and Economic Freedom ================= |
On Nationalism and Patriotism Prof. Emmanuel Yap / People's Patriotic Movement
A CALL TO NATIONAL GREATNESS By Prof. Emmanuel Q. Yap, October 2002
The People’s Patriotic Movement (PPM) is not a political party nor a partisan movement nor a movement working for the interests of any existing political party or any political leader.
The PPM is an IDEA being communicated to all Filipinos – the IDEA that all of use should raise, broaden and deepen our understanding of the historical facts that caused the nation’s grave problems, and that we should all rise above our narrow interests so that we can reconcile and unite to build a strong nation. We urgently need to do this as a people. The consequences for our country will be terribly tragic if we don’t build a strong nation NOW. This is because the domination of global politics by the Western powers in which we Filipinos have been acculturated for centuries, is ending as a new de-ideologized multi-polar world order emerges.
We Filipinos are all victims of an absurd pro-colonial dispensation now on the verge of chaos. This dispensation has produced mass poverty and unemployment; pervasive graft and corruption; crime waves; destruction of the potential of our people to build a self-reliant and productive national economy in a country that is one of the world’s riches in natural resources; destruction of the environment; huge government deficits and foreign debts; ineffective socio-political institutions that cannot provide our people with a good and wholesome life – a bad Constitution that is not the promulgation of the people, bad laws perforated with loopholes and bad policies like globalization without safety nets; deadly political fragmentation throughout the land; secessionism and rebellion; brigandage; and worst of all, an impoverished population seething with rage at injustices.
Any President, who merely tries to administer this decadent dispensation without fundamentally overhauling and rectifying its pro-colonial character, is bound to fail the people and become victim of this dispensation’s built-in contradictions and antagonisms. He or she will be trapped in a “damn if you do, damn if you don’t” quagmire of these contradictions and antagonisms.
What our people must do now is to know the historical truth about what really happened to our country and how we have been exploited, divided and ruled, benighted, as Rizal would say, and turned one against another to the point of hating and killing each other for many generations; then we must awaken t our beautiful, dignified, and productive Asian heritage; put aside our bickering and differences caused by destructive foreign manipulation; foster national solidarity; make sacrifices, be bold; be kind to one another and resolutely and vigorously move as one people to build a Strong and Sovereign Nation founded on the following indivisible and indispensable Five Pillars:
1. A strong industrialized national economy; 2. A strong commitment to universally accepted human values, principles of social justice and principles of sustainable development; 3. A strong, just and democratic government; 4. A strong armed forces for national security; and 5. A strong commitment to the principle of cooperation and reciprocity, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity; non-aggression and non-interference in internal affairs; and peaceful coexistence in the relationship between and among nations.
The building of a strong nation founded on these Five Pillars is the only way we can satisfactorily solve the centuries-old social, political and economic problems rooted in an unrectified colonial past, save our country, and attain national greatness the Filipino people deserve.
The PPM has thousands of adherents from all over the country and from all walks of life. Our country and people urgently need leaders who, in the wise words of great statesmen, possess “the nobility to rise above the whole force of circumstances, to remain unbiased by the extremes of victory or defeat, to persevere in the teeth of disaster, to greet returning fortune with a cool eye, to have faith in human beings after repeated betrayals, leaders who can rise above the turmoil of barbaric conflicts and confrontations.” We will organize it into a definitive structure when we are sure who of these adherents can raise their historical knowledge and be unselfish enough and make sacrifices to propel the effort of national reconciliation and the building of a strong nation based on the Five Pillars.
Our priority at the moment is to make more and more Filipinos appreciate the advocacy of the People’s Patriotic Movement. We are now working with many citizens in and out of government, NGOs, as well as with ordinary citizens who are concerned about the fate of their country.
The PPM is a nationalist patriotic movement with a strong internationalist spirit and outlook. It advocates new global order composed of sovereign democratic nation-states, cooperating with one another for the good of all mankind, but regulated by a just and effective United Nations Organization and not be so-called superpowers known for their hegemonic tendencies.
My dear countrymen, LET US ALL BUILD A STRONG NATION!
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LET US ALL BUILD A STRONG NATION Tayo’y magtatag ng isang malakas na bansang marangal
The undersigned firmly believe that, as a people, we Filipinos should know the historical truth, put aside our petty bickerings and superfluous differences, foster a spirit of national solidarity, make the necessary sacrifices, and vigorously move to build a strong, progressive station-state that is anchored on the following Five indivisible and indispensable Pillars:
Kaming nakalagda ditto ay matimtimang naniniwala na panahon na upang tayong mga Pilipino ay kusang-loob na isantabi ang hindi pagkakaunawaang personal, itaguyod ang diwa ng pambansang pagkakaisa, at ihanda ang sariling magsakripisyo upang ating maitayo ang isang bansa at estadong makapangyarihan at maunlad, batay sa Limang matibay at hindi maihati-hating Haligi:
1. A strong industrialized national economy; Matibay at modernong pambansang ekonomiya;
2. A strong, just and democratic government; Pamahalaang matatag, makatarungan at demokratiko;
3. A united and patriotic people strongly committed to the principles and practices of universally accepted human values, social justice and sustainable development; Mamamayang nagkakaisa, nagmamahal sa bayan at kusang sumusunod sa mga prinsipiyo at kagawiang sangayon sa karapatang pangtao, lipunang pantay-pantay at kaunlarang mapanatili dahil tunay na makatao at makakalikasan.
4. A strong professional armed and police force for national security; and Matibay at propesyonal na armadong pwersa at polisiya na nangangalaga sa pambansang seguridad at kapayapaan.
5. A free and independent foreign relations policy strongly committed to the principles of cooperation and reciprocity, respect for national sovereignty and territorial integrity, non-aggression and non-interference in internal affairs and peaceful existence in the relationship between and among nations. Malayang pakikipag-ugnayan sa pagtutulungan at pagbibigayan sa paggalang sa pambansang kapangyarihan at sa kabuuan ng lupang tinubuan, ang hindi pang-aapi at panghihimasok sa mga problemang pangloob ng ibang bansa, at ang mapayapang pamumuhay at pakikipagkapwa sa lahat ng bansa.
We believe the building of a strong nation founded on the Five Pillars is the only way we can satisfactorily solve the centuries-old social, political and economic problems we have inherited from the un-rectified colonial past, which continue to plague us in ever-increasing severity. It is also th eonly way we can successfully meet the challenges of the evolving contradictions and rivalries among powerful nations and from clashes of various cultures and civilizations.
Naniniwala kami na ang pagtatayo ng isang matibay na bayan at estado baty sa Limang Haliging ito ay ang tanging paraan upang malutas ang mga matandang suliraning sosyal, political at pangekonomiya na minana pa natin sa panahon ng kolonyalismo na hindi pa naitutuwid sa hanggang ngayon at patuloy pang bumubulabog sa ating lahat na palubhang-palubha na. Ito ang tanging paraan upang maligtas natin ang bayan sa mga kapahamakan sanhi sa pagtatalo ng mga malalakas na bansa at umpugan ng nagkakaibang kultura at lahi.
We hereby pledget to contribue whatever time, talents and treasure we can afford to promote the following aims of the Filipino People’s Patriotic Movement:
Kaya kusa kaming nanunumpa ngayon na mag-aalay sa abot-kaya naming panahon, talino at salapi upang aming makamit ang layunin ng Kilusan ng mga Pilipinong Nagmamahal sa Bayan:
1. To catalyze the unification and transformation of Philippine society to survive and develop in the 21st Century. Upang mapadali ang pagkakaisa at pagbabago ng lipunang Pilipino upang makaraos at umunlad ito sa bagong milenyo.
2. To rekindle the patriotism, pride, resilence and passion of the Filipino people to solve problems we inherited from our unrectified colonial past; Upang mapaalab muli ang diwa ng pagmamahal sa sariling bayan, pagpapa- halaga sa sarili bilang Pilipino, at kagalingan at kahusayan ng Pilipinong lumutas sa mga sariling minana natin sa kagawian pa ng kolonyalismo na hindi pa naitutuwid.
3. To arrest the continuing collapse of the Philippine economy and sovereignty due to worsening threats to internal and external security; and Upang masugpo ang tuluyan nang pagkasira ng ekonomiyang Pilipino at Kapangyarihan namamahalang mapayapa dahil sa lalong lumalalang mga banta sa seguridad galling sa loob at labas ng bansa.
4. To ultimately build a strong Filipino nation anchored on the Five Pillars of a progressive and modern sovereign nation-state at par and at peace with the best nations of the world. Upang tuluyan na nating mapalakas ang bayan Pilipino batay sa Limang Haligi sa isang maunlad, makabago at makapangyarihang bansa at estado na Kapantay at kaibigan ng pinakamagaling na mga bansa sa mundo.
We also pledge to call on all generations of patriotic Filipino citizens in all regions of the country to stop fighting brothers against brothers, and cease all attempts to dismember our territorial integrity and instead join the Filipino People’s Patriotic Movement. Together we will rediscover our common historical truth, rectify the errors of our colonial past, muster the national will to reconstruct the Filipino nation into a strong nation-state which can adequately feed, educate and protect its people by the sweat of its brow and not from mendicancy and subservience to other nations, and ultimately assure a better future to all our children.
At nanunumpa kaming aakitin natin ang lahat ng mga Pilipino sa lahat ng dako ng bansa na tigilan na ang pakikipaglaban na Pilipino laban sa kapwa Pilipino at tigilan ang sino mang may tangkang hati-hatiin o hiwa-hiwalayin ang kabuuan ng tinubuang lupa. Hihikayatin naming ang lahat na sumama sa Kilusan ng mga Pilipinong Nagmamahal sa Bayan, upang sama-sama nating alamin nag katotohanan ng ating kasaysayan, itutuwid ang pagkakamaling iniwan ng kolonyalismo, itataguyod ang diwa ng pambansang pagkakaisa, upang sama-sama nating mapalakas ang Inang Bayan patungo sa isang matatag na bansang-estado na kayang magbigay ng sapat na pagkain, edukasyon, hanap-buhay at proteksyon galling sa sariling sikap at hindi galling sa panghihingi at pagpapaalipin sa ibang bansa, dahil sa ito lang ang tanging paraang lumiwanag ang kinabukasan ng ating mga anak.
A. All are enjoined to reproduce, distribute, study, analyze and discuss these documents among your families, friends, barangays and respective organizations. Ang lahat ay inaanyayahan na magpakopya, ikalat, pag-aralan, suriin at pag-usapan ang mga documentong ito sa kani-kanilang mga pamilya, mga kaibigan, mga kabarangay at mga organisasyon.
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CIVICO-MORAL AND HISTORICAL ROOTS OF THE PEOPLE’S PATRIOTIC MOVEMENTBy Emmanuel Q. Yap
In 1939, our country had already emerged from the devastating impact of World War I and the Great Depression of 1929 but had yet to face the thunderheads of World War II, the military and economic conflicts among nations led by the United States, Great Britain and Soviet Union on the one side, and Germany, Italy and Japan on other, whose deadly fallout would kill millions of men, women and children the world over and destroy cities and national economies.
Our country, then under the dominion of the United States, was preparing for national independence. Filipino leaders, to prepare the country for independence, had to equip the people with strong moral values with which they could survive the raging global military and economic conflicts with the least casualties and destruction to property.
President Manuel L. Quezon commissioned a group of well-known and highly educated Filipino patriots to draft what the statesman Dr. Jose P. Laurel would later call the Civio-Moral Code. President Quezon wanted to incorporate the code in his Executive Order No. 217 prescribing certain civic and ethical principles to be taught in all scholls and disseminated to all the Filipinos, the better to prepare them to create and defend a new nation.
Besides Dr. Laurel, the other members of the Moral Code Committee were Secretary Manuel A. Roxas, Executive Secretary Jorge C. Bocobo, Assemblyman Norberto Romualdez; Chief Justice Ramon Avancena was chairman.
The members of the Moral Code Committee assiduously went about eh task of seeking and incorporating the wisdom of their countrymen, past and present, in the final draft – the wise ethical admonitions of the great men of our race from pre-Spanish times to the time of the Revolution of 1986 and the Philippine-American War, including especially the teachings and admonitions of Mabini, Bonifacio, Rizal, Jacinto, Lopez Jaena, Luna, Marcelo del Pilar, Gomez, Burgos and Zamora, Ricarte, Malvar, Rajahs Soliman and Lakandula and many other nationalist patriots.
This Moral Code provides the ranking moral and philosophical foundation of the People’s Patriotic Movement which is now being organized by hundreds of concerned citizens who earnestly wish to see the establishment of a strong, just, independent, sovereign, democratic Filipino nation.
The Introduction to the Report of the Moral Code Committee, 1939, and the principal provisions of the Code, as incorporated in Executive Order No. 217 issued by President Manuel L. Quezon are hereby reproduced as follows:
We are engaged in the gigantic task of nation-building in the midst of a troubled and bewildered world. So that we may succeed in this difficult task, we must forge our people into a united, patriotic, spirited, God-fearing and contented citizenry; a people inspired by a single will: the hope that the Philippines may take her rightful place in the family of nations. For this, we need all the reserve wisdom, all the clear vision, and all the patient devotion of which we are capable.
A nation, if it is to grow up strong and progressive, must be moved by the force of its own dynamic moral energy. The seeds of moral discipline must be nurtured from within, not from without. History teaches us that the rise and fall of nations depend essentially upon the underlying moral strength of their citizens. And the frantic despair and the spiritual blackout now experienced by many nations of the world are due primarily to their failure to grasp this basic fact.
Character means strength and power of will. Character, however may be true or false, right or wrong, good or evil. In any case, it is the man of character that molds and shapes the destinies of men and national for weal or for foe. Hence, the transcendental importance of giving our people the proper and correct character training. As a man thinks, so will he act; from repeated acts, habits arise, and the accumulation of habits determines a man’s character. Real character makes a man true to God and to his country, faithful to his conscience and to his principles, and loyal to his fellowmen and to himself.
A man of good moral character makes the best citizens. He is pure in thought, moderate in act, upright in deed, just in his judgement and prudent in his motives. To form a true man of character, all the infinite elements that make up the man – his desires, and even his fears, his hatreds, his prejudices – all mst be controlled, adjusted, integrated and developed into a composite harmonious and well-balanced personality.
Down through the ages there have been handed down from generation to generation as a priceless heritage certain traits of character and norms of conduct which have guided the race in its never-ending search for perfection and self-improvement. The search for the better life is as old as the instinct of self-preservation. And because man is essentially gregarious, the rules which he evolved change with changing mores of the times which are determined in many particulars by economic and social factors that result from his physical environment. It is the peculiar problem of each generation, therefore to see that the ruling traits or virtues are strengthened and developed and that they do not degenerate with the erosive impact of unwholesome modernism or the undermining influence of untried philosophies. It is the bounden duty of each generation to so balance and synchronize the stimulation of social and economic forces as to avoid the over-developing of some factors which result in the dwarfing or suppression of others needed for healthy growth.
The democratic government is often distinguished from the dictatorial government in its emphasis on the much vaunted principle that the State exists for the individual, rather than the individual for the State. But paradoxical as it may seem, modern democracies find that they must, within certain limits, subordinate the individual for the State, if the individual is to continue to enjoy the privileges that only democracy is in a position to offer. This is because the true concept of democracy emphasizes not only rights but duties as well. This compromise with the totalitarian principle is deemed necessary, so that modern democracy may acquire the much needed efficiency and efficacy consistent with the medium of personal liberty without which life would not be worth living. What is of paramount importance is that the citizen should acquire the required balance of liberty and authority in his mind through education and personal discipline, so that there may be established the resultant equilibrium which means peace and order and happiness for all.
A Code of Ethics designed to formulate a way of life for free people must perforce be didactic rather then legislative. It must be based on an appeal to reason and the conscience and not on any threat of punishment, for the sense of right and the force of tradition often far outweigh the most exacting legal sanction. It also is evident that such a code must be drawn on the history and culture of the people for whose benefit it is promulgated. In our quest for inspiration we must our people to direct their gaze upon our own heroes, our own traditions and our own history. The genius of our past must kindle the throbbing mind of the present and unquenchable spirit of the future with its immortal fire.
The object in formulating this “Code of Ethics” is not to foster exaggerated nationalism, or toglorify narrow and blind patriotism. The object is higher, purer, nobler. It is to strengthen the moral fibers of our youth; to keep alive in the hearts of our citizens the value of ethical principles; and to proclaim the gospel truth that moral discipline is the only sure road to national greatness. By these we stand; by these we fall.
Serene and confident, let us pledge ourselves to the task before us. In this labor of love we have to depend on ourselves alone. Endless days of unrelenting toil and unceasing vigil lie ahead of us for national greatness never springs from the slime of slothfulness or smug self-complacency, but from the crucible of grim struggle and patient industry. Well do we realize that national and individual progress can be attained only through work, more work, and more hard work. But we shall prove ourselves equal to the challenge flung against us, though it may mean the sacrifice of material comfort or personal convenience.
For indeed, one of the traits we seek to develop is unquestioning obedience to our country’s call, for which cause we shall gladly law down our lives if necessary.
A nation erected upon the impregnable foundation of moral discipline of its citizenry shall stand erect and defiant through the thundering ages, for it is a “house” built by loving hands upon a “rock,” of which posterity may proudly say: “The rains fell, and flood came and the winds blew, and they beat upon the house, it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock.”
1. Have faith in Divine Providence that guides the destinies of men and nations.
2. Love your country for it is the home of your people, the seat of your affections and the source of your happiness and well-being. Its defense is your primary duty. Be ready at all times to sacrifice and die for it if necessary.
3. Respect the Constitution which is the expression of your sovereign will. The government is your government. It has been established for your safety and welfare. Obey the laws and see that they are observed by all and that public officials comply with their duties.
4. Pay your taxes willingly and promptly. Citizenship implies not only rights but also obligations.
5. Safeguard the purity of suffrage and abide by the decisions of the majority.
6. Love and respect your parents.
7. Value your honor as you value your life. Poverty with honor is preferable to wealth with dishonor.
8. Be truthful and be honest in thought and in action. Be just and charitable, courteous but dignified in your dealings with your fellowmen.
9. Lead a clean and frugal life. Do not indulge in frivolity and pretense. Be Simple in your dress and modest in your behavior.
10. Live up to the noble traditions of our people. Venerate the memory of our heroes. Their lives point the way to duty and honor.
11. Be industrious. Be not afraid or ashamed to do manual labor. Productive toil is conducive to economic security and adds to the wealth of the nation.
12. Rely on your own efforts for your progress and happiness. Be not easily discouraged. Persevere in the pursuit of your legitimate ambitions.
13. Do your work cheerfully, thoroughly and well. Work badly done is worse than work undone. Do not leave for tomorrow what you can do today.
14. Contribute to the welfare of your community and promote social justice. You do not live for yourselves and your families alone. You are a part of society to which you owe definite responsibilities.
15. Cultivate the habit of using goods mde in the Philippines. Patronize the products and trades of your countrymen.
16. Use and develop our natural resources and conserve them for posterity. They are the inalienable heritage of our people. Do not traffic with your citizenship.
Sixty one years have passed since the Moral Code was formulated and addressed to the Filipino people by the Quezon administration. Today in the year 2000, our country is facing internal and external social, political and economic problems potentially far more devastating than the problems it confronted in 1939.
A global economic depression is now threatening all mankind, the nature of which, according to learned political economists all over the world, could dwarf the Great Depression of 1029 and plunge the whole world into a New Dark Age. The fundamental reason for this economic peril is the fact that the world economy and most individual national economies are dictated upon and controlled by those who have the money rather than by those in charge of real production. A financial bubble that could explode anytime threatens the whole world economy. The leaders of the world should quickly deflate this bubble to more manageable limits. Or else…
It is now quite difficult to say whether the new economic competition in the world today will not be settled in armed conflict as had happened in World War I and World War II.
In the year 2000 our country is fcing far worse internal social, political, and economic problems than those it faced in 1939. There is no need to elaborate in this article the litany of worsening internal problems we are all confronting because these are obvious to every one, especially the bad economic consequences of the armed conflicts in Mindanao and other parts of the country and the bad economic consequences on our manufacturing and agricultural sectors caused by globalization economics.
Our country is a society devastated by 450 years of foreign domination and intervention. It is a society experts describe as a pro-colonial dispensation on the verge of chaos. It is a society that continually weakens because it follows a very defective Constitution and follows very bad laws emanating from it, and because it pursues counter-productive globalization economic policies. There is over-concentration of political power because our people in general have failed to imbibe and practice the patriotic teachings our our great heroes like the Moral Code of 1939.
Clearly, the only way we can save our country and ourselves from the terrifying difficulties and perils besetting us today is for all of us to put aside our petty bickerings and superfluous differences, know the historical truth, be knowledgeable, be brave, foster a spirit of national solidarity, make necessary sacrifices and vigorously move to build a strong nation that will be anchored on the following indivisible and indispensable Five Pillars: 1. A strong industrialized national economy.
2. A strong, just and democratic government.
3. A strong commitment to universally accepted human values, principles of social justice, and principles of sustainable development.
4. A strong armed forces for national security; and
5. A strong commitment to the principles of cooperation and reciprocity, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, non-aggression and non- interference in internal affairs, and peaceful co-existence in the relationship between and among nations.
The building of a strong nation founded on these Five Pillars is the only way to solve the centuries-old social, political and economic problems rooted in our unrectified colonial past and which continue to plague us in ever-increasing severity today.
This is also the only way we can possibly survive the ongoing contradictions and rivalries among powerful nations belonging to different cultures and civilizations.
The non-partisan People’s Patriotic Movement will purposely propagate the attainment of these Five Pillars. Our people should therefore wholeheartedly support its growth and development. All generations of patriotic Filipino citizens in all regions of the country should join in this vital effort, as this is the key to our survival, security, tranquility and prosperity as a people – and, as members of the People’s Patriotic Movement, adhere faithfully to the Moral Code of 1939, the embodiment of the teachings of our great patriotic leaders.
The people’s Patriotic Movement calls on all of us Filipinos, whether with the government or private sectors, to unite and reconstruct the present socio-political system of which we all are part of.
We all must help repair the socio-political system – now, before we all sink with it. – EQY
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THE TIMES CALL FOR ENLIGHTENED NATIONALISMFilipinos with a correct historical knowledge of their past must seize the opportunity to ensure the dignity, honor, survival and modernization of the country. By Emmanuel Q. Yap
The fundamental reason for our country’s escalating difficulties today is that until now we Filipinos have not established for ourselves an organic nation-state with all the attributes inherent to and essential in being politically independent. This prevents us from enjoying the boons of national sovereignty. As a nation and people, we are politically underdeveloped.
This is a vital shortcoming, and to understand it we must first correctly understand the history of the exploitation of our country and people in the hands of foreign interests. This historical knowledge is the basis by which we can correctly understand why our country is as chaotic and fragmented as it is in the last decade of the 20th century.
When we speak of problems that our country is burdened with by virtue of its political underdevelopment, we are talking about the very serious and dangerous problems the character of which had led to nationalists revolutions and confrontations in other countries similarly situated in the last 20 years.
The gravest problems we now face are rising criminality, much of which is perpetrated by law enforcers themselves; pervasive graft and corruption in the government and the private sector; rapid destruction of the natural environment; the de-Filipinization of the national economy, which can easily spark a xenophobic reaction from radicals and extremists; widespread poverty and a growing sense of rebellion and hopelessness among the poor, made more acute by a widening gap between rich and poor; political fragmentation induced by foreign intervention; bureaucratic inefficiency; a growing domestic and external debt the servicing of which eats up 40 percent of the national budget; the transformation of our country into a dumping ground of industrial debris and so-called sunset industries; obsolescence of many factors in the industrial sector; the deterioration of the agricultural sector; a high rate of unemployment and growing inflation; and our falling behind in the vital sphere of information explosion.
By any standards, these are problems that should alarm even the most cockeyed prophets of boom. Even foreigners are astonished at the continuous retrogression of Philippine society, at how Filipinos have become so confused and disabled that they cannot even solve simple problems like traffic jams and garbage collection. Foreigners see Filipinos desperately endeavor to leave their country in that social scientists call the new diaspora. An American economist recently commented that the Philippine economy, as a result of globalization policies, is trapped in a deep dark hole, and before it can get out of this hole it will have to first go through a deeper, darker hole.
The long shadow of foreign powers
Our country’s political underdevelopment is the product of prolonged foreign domination. It is the cumulative effect of centuries of foreign exploitation. The idea of the nation-state with all its attributes and structures, has matured in Philippine society because the overwhelming power of the Spanish and American colonizers, and, later on, the intervention of superpowers in the internal affairs during the Cold War have effectively suppressed the development of the idea in the Filipino psyche. Up to the end of the Cold War and the subsequent withdrawal of American bases from Philippine soil, the true nationalist patriots, who were seen as enemies by the foreigners exploiting our country, were systematically blocked, waylaid, imprisoned, repressed, suppressed, oppressed or killed.
True nationalism has not blossomed on Philippine soil, although throughout the history of foreign domination of our country, nationalist patriots ceaselessly fought for political independence and national sovereignty, resulting in the death and deprivation of hundreds of thousands of them. It is important that we of the present generations are made constantly aware of this fact.
What is the struggle for sovereignty and political independence all about and why had nations all over the world fought so hard for these political ideals? The answer is plain. Nations are like individuals. As an individual is, so is a nation. It is in the nature of individuals to want to establish their self-reliance, their self-determination, their freedom, their dignity and honor; they do not want to be exploited or enslaved, or fooled in a way that they are grievously taken advantage of. They want to be sovereign unto themselves. They believe this is the only way they can develop as respectable human beings. They prefer death to enslavement. This is also the case with nations. Of course, there are exceptions; there are individuals who prefer dishonor and mendicancy to foreign masters than die fighting for their independence and sovereignty. In the Philippines, unfortunately, there are many of these deviants who control the levers of power of government. But by and large, individuals, like nations, will not accept the status of perpetual mendicancy or dependence.
Political independence and national sovereignty – these are human values that have impelled nations to resist foreign domination and exploitation. This is the lesson of the nationalist revolutions in American, China, Cuba, Egypt, France, Germany, Indonesia, India, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Russia, Spain and other independent states. These are the same values our forebears fought for in the 1896 Revolution and the subsequent Philippine-American War, although to this date we Filipinos have not yet attained their fulfillment.
The American movement for independence and sovereignty is a classic example of the hard road to building of a nation-state. It took the Americans almost 100 years of incessant struggle before they achieved the status of a nation-state. First they fought British colonialism in the American Revolution of 1776. In this revolution, the Americans achieved their political independence but not their national sovereignty, because the incubus of British influence dominated their independence. So they again went through the British-American war of 1812. Although the Americans won that war, they realized that this was not enough to attain sovereignty because southern states, known as the Confederacy, continued to allow the Europeans to exploit and dominate the South. This politico-economic malady of dependency on Europe led to the Americal Civil War in the first half of the 19th century.
It was the American nationalism that created the United States of America. And today Americans are as nationalistic as ever, always concerned about their national interests.
Some colonial-minded Filipinos claim that the Philippines was granted independence by the United States on July 4, 1946. Therefore they conclude that we have been a sovereign nation-state since then. Others claim that Mount Pinatubo’s eruption drove away the American military from Subic Bay and Clark Air Base, and since then the Philippines has become a sovereign nation-state without a single shot fired.
These are farcical conclusions.
Nothing fought, nothing gained.
National sovereignty and political independence are not gifts a people beg from the colonial power. Neither are they ever granted by a colonizer to the colonized. These are political goals that people struggle for and earn through hard work and self-reliance.
The idea of a sovereign nation-state is a metaphysical idea that has to be understood by a people. And once understood, it must be established and edified with its corresponding institutions and values. If a people do not fully understand the true meaning of national sovereignty and do not know what institutions, culture and values to flesh it out, a nation will never have it. From this argument flows the conclusion that the Philippines never had real independence and sovereignty.
After 92 years of American domination, the Philippines, even after the closure of the American military bases, is weighed down by the pervasive incubus of that domination. We are still perpetuating the politics, economics, culture, institutions, jurisprudence, and other values characteristic of a client-state. We have to liberate ourselves from this dependency.
In the same way as the Americans liberated themselves from the European and British incubus in order for them to become sovereign, in the same way as the Indonesians freed themselves from the Dutch incubus, or the Malays from the British incubus, or the Vietnamese and other peoples of the Indochinese Peninsula from the French and American incubus, so too must the Filipinos free themselves from the American incubus. By this we mean that Filipinos must freely think for themselves.
Filipinos must now foster and build the politics, economics, culture, jurisprudence and other human values that befit a truly sovereign nation-state as envisioned in the nationalist struggles.
A new Philippine nation-state can have for its life force its deep historical roots, which are the Polynesian, Chinese and Indian civilizations that produced the Malay Massif, which in turn produced the various archipelagic ethnic groups of our ancestors, plus the lessons and spirit of our struggle as a people for independence and national dignity; plus adherence to truth, justice and human brotherhood; plus the firm determination to adopt the best knowledge the world has to offer for economic, social, political and scientific development.
Back to our roots, and toward a new constitution
Some historians call the stirrings among many of our people to build a new nation-state as the search for national identity. We call it a natural impulse of Filipinos to return to their Asian roots. And this is more attractive to them now because the different nations that grew out of the Malay Massif – particularly Indonesia and Malaysia – have adequately proven by nationalist struggle that they can become sovereign and dynamic nation-states.
The process toward dynamism in Indonesia and Malaysia had begun not only with the attainment of political independence, but also with the dismantling of their pro-colonial dispensations in favor of their own institutions and philosophies of life founded on the wisdom of their indigenous ancient civilizations.
Now, clearly, this political process toward independence and sovereignty has not take place in the Philippines. The best evidence of this is that we Filipinos have not, even at this late hour, promulgated a constitution based on our own collective will and wisdom as a people. The constitution we still follow is patterned after Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence and culture. It was fashioned by a handful of so-called commissioners appointed by then President Corazon Aquino after dismantling of the Marcos regime by the United States. How these commissioners were chosen and by what standards are beyond understanding up to now. What we know is that they came up with this constitution as if they were creating an American state.
A constitution promulgated by Filipinos in a convention, free from foreign intervention or influence, is the first essential step toward building a new Philippine nation-state.
Only a genuine constitutional convention can provide the foundation of national sovereignty. No framing a constitution in the past, except perhaps the Malolos Constitutional Convention, can be rightly called a people’s convention because foreign hegemonists had intervened, especially in the 1935 and 1972 constitutional conventions, and including the 1986 consitutional commission.
It is only now, after the ending of the Cold War, that we can found the real fundamental law of the land. But there is no opportunity in sight for this political act to take place, because the pro-colonials who control the reins of government are not about to give way to the authority of the people. This being the case, there is now a developing confrontation between the nationalist revolutionary forces and the forces who continue to persevere and enjoy the perks of the status quo, especially the perks, prerogatives and privileges derived from globalization policies.
This is the dilemma President Ramos is facing. He has become President of a government of an archaic system at a time when the social, political, economic, cultural and legal contradictions of that dispensation have ripened to dangerous levels. We had hoped that he would take the side of the nationalist groundswell, like all the great nationalist leaders have done in other parts of the world, instead of allowing the pro-colonials to dominate his administration with globalization policies that have proven detrimental to the nation-state.
Seize the day
In the history of all nations, a moment comes when the people rise and establish their nation-state, sovereign and independent, in which they find justice, security, protection of their patrimony, and economic advancement. In the Philippines, after centuries of foreign domination, that moment of national liberation is at hand. It is a political maelstrom that is beyond and above any individual, and it is inexorable. Sooner or later the people will defend themselves from exploitation, humiliation, injustices, mockery, corruption and incompetence. They will not be fooled all the time.
Filipinos of the young generation can and will save this country. But for them to be able to build the sovereign nation-state, they must fully enlighten themselves on the nature of foreign domination and intervention. They must possess complete historical knowledge of the past and must know exactly how their country had been divided, ruled and ruined. With such an awareness, they will know how to defend themselves and their country from the treacherous tactics and strategies of foreign interference. With such an awareness, they can bring justice to our land and build the new nation-state.
Apolinario Mabini, a true nationalist patriot, exhorted the Filipino people toalways seek the truth because truth—historical truth – is the bais of the supremacy of justice.
I say true nationalist patriot to distinguish him from the “nationalists” created by foreign powers, the foreign surrogates who are trained to assume the nationalist disguise in order to waylay or destroy the true nationalist patriots. The Philippine experience show how true nationalism was deflected and discredited by the fake nationalists. Fake nationalists are those who run to the foreign lands of their benefactors when in trouble. The true nationalist patriots are those who stay in their homeland and fight for the country’s sovereignty even to the death. True nationalist patriots are not per se anti-American, but rather against colonialist or imperialist Americans.
The fake nationalists are those who plead and beg for national independence. The true nationalist patriots are those who fight to the death for national independence and sovereignty.
We ask the Filipino youth to look up to Mabini as the true personification of Philippine nationalism. With him as our model – his life and his ideas -- we will never go wrong in our quest for national sovereignty. He was the one who best articulated in his True Decalogue the idea of the nation-state for the Filipino people. He was a true nationalist patriot because he was also an internationalist. He gave his life in the fight for political independence, but he also believed in the need for international interdependence founded on mutual respect among all nations.
In Mabini, we can find the truism it is in political independence or the sovereignty of the nation-state where the people can find their freedom, security, progress and happiness. To Mabini, the idea of the sovereign nation-state for Filipinos is worth dying for.
The way to a true nation-state
There are many lessons from nationalist struggles that the young Filipinos must learn before they can be counted on in the building of the new Filipino nation-state. These lessons can be found in many volumes written about the Filipinos’ fight for independence and about the nature of imperialism or foreign domination.
A new constitutional convention will have many urgent tasks. One will be the rectification of the anomalies and injustices committed upon our people as a consequence of foreign exploitation and Cold War politics. Another will be how to restructure Philippine politics in a manner whereby a government responsive to the demands of the people will be established. Still another is how to create that socio-political environment that will stimulate our people to look deeply into their roots from the great Asian civilizations. Still another is how to bring dynamism into Philippine society conducive to industrial and agricultural development. Above all, the new constitution will have to bring about the general climate of justice and dignity for all our people.
Anyone who pursues globalization policies lacks the basic understanding of what the nation-state is all about. Anyone who leads a country by pursuing globalization policies is doing a great disservice to his country and people. The alternative to globalization policies is the pursuit of international cooperation based on the five principles of peaceful coexistence: respect for independence and sovereignty of all nations, non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, non-aggression, peaceful co-existence, and economic cooperation and commerce based on mutual benefit and reciprocity.
In order for them to succeed in building their nation-state, Filipinos of the young generation must follow the old Chinese dictum: Knowledge is the beginning of action and action is the accomplishment of knowledge. For without the correct knowledge of their country’s past, they will be lost in the future. And they must always believe that if other peoples can build for themselves dynamic, just and democratic nation-states, so can Filipinos.
With their native talents and with the correct nationalistic orientation, young Filipinos can build a great nation-state founded on the best Western and Asian values. The survival and development of our country depend on the commitment and determination of young generation nationalist patriots who must now rise to claim their birthright. -- EQY
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AWAKENING TO OUR ASIAN HERITAGEPre-colonial inhabitants of the islands had many of the sterling traits that we need in order to rise up today. By: Emmanuel Q. Yap
In an analytical document issued a few months ago, the London-based Royal Institute of International Strategic Studies stated that in 20 years we could very well see not only the “Asianization” of the world economy but also that world politics. This is an admission that the 500 years of domination of the world by the Western powers is ending, and that a new multi-polar universal dispensation so different from what we have known in our lifetime is aborning.
This means that the highly pro-colonial culture that we have been practicing as a people for the past 200 years or so may not serve us well in the decades ahead. The colonial values we have imbibed from Spanish and American colonialism may have to be reconstructed to match Asian ways of thinking and doing things.
It is, therefore, to our vital interest that we vividly remember that as a people we Filipinos descended from sons and daughters of old Asian civilizations that are now re-emerging as great political and economic powers. It is vital because our own national survival may hinge on how well we can coexist and cooperate with our Asian neighbors mainly on the basis of common racial and colonial moorings.
It is for this very large and deep reason that we should reinvigorate in ourselves the Asian values that our forbears cherished. We must place great value on our roots as Asians belonging to the Malay Massif, a civilization that rose from the Chinese, Indian and Polynesian civilizations of old.
We must not ignore or belittle this calling as we begin the act of restructuring Philippine society from its colonial past, in the same way as the Westerners never ignore or belittle their deep cultural and racial roots when they build their societies.
In this year’s celebration of the Centennial of the Philippine Revolution against Spanish colonialism, one of the most substantive and meaningful lessons we should now recall is Dr. Jose Rizal’s sociological analysis of Philippine society entitled “The Indolence of the Filipinos.” This essay is so relevant for thos of us who wish to understand why we are having such a hard time uniting a people and developing a collective will to build a just and sovereign nation-state.
There is something terribly lacking in our consciousness as a people that prevents us from thinking for ourselves and acting self-reliantly and as one people, a deficiency that makes us behave like pro-colonials to this very day. The nature of that deficiency may be found in Rizal’s “Indolence of the Filipinos.”
Good reasons not to blame ourselves
Rizal attributes the retardation and stagnation of the Filipino community of his time (the Spanish called it the “Indio colony”) to social forces operating within the country, in most cases generated and set in motion by the colonizers.
Rizal reconstructed vividly and faithfully in the “Indolence” the social and economic circumstances of the ancient Filipinos prior to the coming of the Spaniards in 1521, and traced with brilliant discernment the alteration and, in some cases, the transformation of those circumstances under the colonial rule of the foreign conqueror.
Many of the forces and factors acting and interacting within the Filipino nation that Rizal examined still exist in our society today, and some of these remain as perhaps the most formidable obstacles to a rational and speedy development of Philippine economy and general culture. To such forces and factors have been added new ones at the turn of the present century, thus increasing the obstacles to social and economic growth already made formidable by the heavy hangover of the colonial past.
Consider the degree of economic development attained by the Filipinos prior to the coming of the white man in the arly 16th century. Delving into the writings of early Spanish chroniclers – Pigafetta, Morga, Colin, Chirino, Argensola, Gaspar de San Agustin and others -- Rizal marshaled facts that to the economic researcher of today reveal not only varied and well-dispersed economic productivity in the archipelago, but also an apparent healthy balance between production for local consumption and production for exchange with “all the neighboring countries.”
In contemporary terms, they did not suffer from balance of payments difficulties, and both skilled and unskilled labor was adequately employed. In no manuscript of the early chroniclers did Rizal find any mention of beggars. “All live off their husbandry, their farms, fisheries and enterprises,” Rizal writes, quoting Morga.
The flourishing maritime activity of the ancient Filipinos was described by Rizal thus:
“At that time (in the early 16th century), that sea where float the islands like a set of emeralds on paten of bright glass, that sea was everywhere traversed by junks, paraus, barangays, vintas, vessels swift as shuttles so large that they could maintain a hundred rowers on a side (Morga); that sea bore everywhere commerce, industry, agriculture, by the force of the oars moved to the sound of warlike gongs of the genealogies and achievements of the Philippine divinities (Colin, Chapter 15).”
Rizal’s summary of the general development of industry and agriculture of the Filipinos in the 16th century – long before the Industrial Revolution and the advent of the factory system in Europe, and much before the invention of the steamboat – is both eloquent and informative. He writes:
“All the histories of those first years, in short abound in long accounts about the industry and agriculture of the natives, mines, goldwashings, looms, farms, barter, naval construction, raising of poultry and stock, weaving of silk and cotton, distilleries, manufacturers of arms, pearl fisheries, the civet industry, the horn and hide industry etc., are things encountered at every step, and considering the time and the conditions on the islands, prove that there was life, there was activity, there was movement (progress).”
Upright, intelligent, polite
What sort of a human being was this 16th century Filipino who attained this considerable growth and rationalization of his islands’ economy? The following paragraph in the “Indolence” shows Rizal’s talent for inspired research, his unerring sense for the significant detail:
“The ancient writers, like Chirino, Morga and Colin take pleasure in describing them (the Filipinos they found on arrival) as well-featured, with good aptitudes for anything they take up, keen and susceptible and of resolute will, very clean and neat in the persons and clothing, and of good mien and bearing (Morga). Others delight in minute accounts of their intelligence and pleasant manners, of their aptitude for music, the drama, dancing and singing, of the facility with which they learned, not only Spanish, but also Latin, which they acquired almost by themselves (Colin); others of their exquisite politeness in their dealings and in their social life, others, like the first Agustinians (to come to the Philippines), whose accounts Gaspar de San Agustin copies, found them more gallant and better mannered than the inhabitants of the Mollucas; ‘All live off their husbandry,” adds Morga, ‘their farms, fisheries and enterprises, for they travel from island to island by sea and from province to province by land.’
What happened later on to this upright, healthy, self-reliant, industrious, courageous, intelligent and self-respecting Filipino and what happned to the balanced, self-sufficient, diversified and prosperous industry, agriculture, and domestic and foreign commerce that he had built for his archipelago?
As the colonization of the islands lengthened into decades and then into centuries, most of what was good in the natives and their economy was destroyed and much that was new and deleterious both to individual character and to the islands’ economy began to prevail, so that by the time Morga was writing his Sucesos (in the early 17th century), he already noted the natives “have forgotten much about farming, raising poultry, stock and cotton, and weaving cloth as they used to do in their paganism and for a long time after the country had been conquered.”
As to the Filipino’s personality and character, Spanish writers in the late 19th century or in Rizal’s own time, although with undoubted exaggeration and malice, have testimony on how much the Filipino personality had been debased and his character almost completely brutalized.
Thus the appalling retrogression of the Filipinos from the fine, upright, industrious, intelligent and progressive people which the Spaniards found in the 16th century to the kind of repulsive creature that Spanish writers pretended to find them in the 19th.
“To what is this retrogression due?” Rizal asks with angry sarcasm. “Is this the delectable civilization, the religion of salvation of the friars… that has produced this miracle that has atrophied his brain, paralyzed his heart and made of the man this sort of vicious animal that the writers depict?”
Without anger, and with calm objectivity, Rizal then analyzed the colonial policies and practices under which the Filipinos had lived for centuries. He discussed one by one the major policies and practices of the colonial administration, which as everyone may recall, was a Church-State regime wherein more often than not the friar-curate exercised larger and more decisive powers over the inhabitants than the civilian official of whatever rank. As for the minor Filipino officials installed by the Spanish government, like he gobernadorcillos and alcaldes, they were invariably subordinate in power and influence to the foreign parish priest of the lowest hierarchical category.
The corruption of a heritage
Rizal’s “Indolence” indeed has a great contemporary relevance and instructiveness not only because some of the colonial practices discussed in the essay still persist, albeit in modified forms, but because the effects and consequences of certain colonial policies have brought about quite a number of our major difficulties today.
The deliberate stoppage by the Spanish colonial regime of the Filipinos’ trade and intercourse or other forms of communication with other free peoples of their region was regarded by Rizal as one of the most destructive colonial policies.
This isolated Filipinos culturally, killed the once-flourishing trade and commerce with other countries, and destroyed the maritime skills of the Filipinos, which had it been allowed to continue and develop further, might later have made the Philippine an England or Scandinavia of the western Pacific.
As it turned out, owing to the isolation policy enforced by the colonizers upon the Filipinos in the 19th century we are today having difficulty in identifying our political, cultural and economic interests with our neighbors in Southeast Asia. We have become almost strangers among our racial relatives in our own home region.
To the policy of isolation that gradually destroyed the trading or merchant class in the Filipino population was added the apathy of the government toward economic development of any kind that could redound to the prosperity of the natives, or at least the improvement of their material circumstances. Those with unusual enterprises and who prospered, in spite of hamstringing policies, were harassed with all sorts of impositions.
Despite such an adverse climate to business enterprise, many Filipinos tried to make an effort to assert their initiative, but again their attempts met another aspect of their colonial government – the administrative red tape of a very inept bureaucracy, which Rizal described vividly in this passage of “Indolence:”
“All the Filipinos, as well as those who have tried to engage in business in the Philippines, know how many documents, what comings (to Manila), how many stamped papers, how much patience is needed to secure from the government a permit for an enterprise. One must count upon the good will of this one, on the ifluence of that one, on a good bribe to another in order that the application (permit) be not pigeon-holded, a present to the one further on so that he may pass it on to his chief, one must pray to God to give him good humor and time to see and examine it (the application) to another, talent to recognize its expediency; to one further on sufficient stupidity not to scent behind the enterprise an insurrectionary purpose; and that they many not all spend the time taking baths, hunting and playing cards with the reverend friars in their convents or country houses. And above all, great patience, great knowledge of how to get along, plenty of money, a great deal of politics, many salutations, great influence, plenty of presents and complete resignation! How strange, it is that the Philippines remain poor in spite of its fertile soil, when history tells us that the countries now the most flourishing date their development from the day of their liberty and civil rights? The most commercial and most industrious countries have been the freest countries. France, England and the United States prove this. Hong Kong, which is not worth the most insignificant (region) of the Philippines, has more commercial movement than all the islands together, because it is free and is well-governed.”
This passage reveals to us now the origins and backgrounds of some our predilections today in our relations with government officialdom; of the all-too-pervasive conduct of the present bureaucracy; of the system now so widely deplored as “influence peddling” among those who are in power or close to them; in short, of the still formidable red tape in the government and the tolerance of so much inefficiency and vernality in the government.
Our people became accustomed to such practices, to this kind of administration, because for long periods this was the modus operandi of the government. And such modus operandi is a formidable obstacle to speedy economic progress.
On top of such bureaucratic ills, the colonizers introduced the evil of gambling, which naturally played into the superstitious credulity of the Filipinos, engendered by the friar’s teachings that attributed all natural phenomena to supernatural agencies, and, with its promise of sudden wealth, into the already aggravated native predisposition to indolence. It is thus a serious obstacle to economic development that ultimately is premised on the individuals’s diligence and steady labor, and capacity to make good use of the materials of nature.
The get-rich-quick sickness has been very much with us as a consequence of this psychological trait ingrained in us since Spanish times, and it has undoubtedly contributed to the rampant graft and corruption in public and private life at present.
Most governors and other ranking administrative officials of the national government also monopolized all important business opportunities and destroyed any competition that happened to develop from the new Filipino entrepreneurs who survived the discouraging conditions.
Again, one may note that this practice of the highest officials in government themselves engaging in lucrative business, often by means of “cutting corner” and by going around the strict interpretation of laws and regulations, has become a glaring defect or our national life.
There developed the pernicious tayo-tayo system under which a more less “charmed circle” of big politicos virtually monopolize all important business opportunities and thereby manage to perpetuate themselves in political and economic power.
A close and searching study of Rizal’s works and teachings will enable us to identify and locate the root causes of many social evils and defects of the national character and will give us at the least a better understanding of ourselves, which is, perhaps, the first real step to progress and effectiveness as a nation. This is the best way we can celebrate and give true meaning to the Centennial of the Philippine Revolution. – EQY
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TO THINK AND ACT ANEW FOR A BETTER WORLD (Speech delivered before the 44th Annual Conference of the Asian-Pacific League for Freedom and Democracy on December 18, 1998 at the Shangri-la EDSA Plaza Hotel) By: Emmanuel Q. Yap
You are most welcome to hold your 44th Annual Confence of the Asian-Pacific League for Freedom and Democracy in our country on the subject of economic stability and world peace, and I am honored to be chosen as one of your speakers, especially because I am always interested in how people improve their minds and attitudes to meet more wisely changing realities of human development.
This is to say that I find it very appropriate that your organization has changed its thrust after the ending of the Cold War from just anti-Communism into a dedicated effort to “achieve an era of freedom and democracy in our lands through the universal acceptance of international law and of the principle of peaceful change.”
There is probably nothing new that I can convey to you regarding the principal causes of why, by 1990, the philosophies, doctrines, policies, strategies, structures and institutions of the Cold War had to be discarded; and why it became absolutely necessary that international relations had to be de-ideologized by the political and intelligent leaders of contending forces led by the United States of America and the Union Soviet Socialist Republics. Nevertheless, it is always useful to remind ourselves of some pertinent historical background which can help focus our thinking to the more important and urgent issues of today and tomorrow.
Immediately after the Grand Alliance of socialist countries and democratic capitalist countries led by the United States and the Soviet Union finally won World War II against the Axis Powers led by Germany, Japan and Italy in the spring of 1945, US President Harry S. Truman, at the behest of the so-called “Europeanists” decided to adopt a hard line towards the Soviet Union, and the Cold War was openly proclaimed in the speech made by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in Fulton (USA) on March 5, 1946 in which he urged to set up an Anglo-American military alliance to fight what he called “Eastern Communism.” This was a stunning reversal of US President Roosevelt’s policty of coexistence with the socialist countries.
That Cold War was marked by the use of force or its threat in international relations; attempts to establish an economic blockade of socialist countries, subversive activities against them; and inducement of international crises. It pushed military preparations to frenzied pace thus stepping up the arms race, and encircling the Soviet Union with a network of military bases, anti-communist propaganda and so-called psychological warfare.
The Cold War policies and strategies of the Western Powers were the reaction to the growing power of the Soviet Union, to the establishment of communist dictatorships in other countries, and to the so-called “export of the Communist revolution.”
That Cold War led to growing international tensions and heightened threat of a new world war which resulted in the sharp reduction in normal economic relations between states with different social and economic systems. Notwithstanding this, the Cold War considerably diminished contact and hitherto lively interactions into the spheres of culture, science and technology.
However, this hard line policy began to deteriorate in the early 1970s as a result of a fundamental change in the balance of power and the establishment of strategic military equilibrium between East and West. By this time, the spirit of détente and principles of peaceful coexistence began to assert themselves in international relations.
From 1975 to 1990, there were already significant attempts by the most influential leaders of the world to end the Cold War that was devastating the world economy and leading mankind to a nuclear holocaust. One of the most significant and, later on, successful attempts made to end the Cold War and to bring about a new de-ideological system of international relations was the Conference on the Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE).
I am giving special emphasis to the works of the CSCE, because I believe that this organization, together with the strong influence of the United Nations, the Non-Aligned Movement, and the Pugwash Movement, gave deep wisdom to developments that finally terminated the dreadful and destructive culture of the Cold War.
The debates and positions adopted in the Confernce on the Security and Cooperation in Europe which benefited substantially the philosophy for ending the Cold War came from delegates of the following influential states: the United States of America and the Soviet Union, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Cyprus, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, the Holy See, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
It is supremely imporport and informative to point out that among the participating states of the CSCE are the very states which dominated the whole world in the last 500 years, the same states whose leading personalities created Imperialism, Capitalism, Socialism, Colonialism, Fascism, and the Cold War dispensation. They were also principally responsible for creating the post war economic system which eventually graduated to what is now more commonly known as “globalization,” the main policies of which are now wreaking havoc upon the lives of hundreds of millions of people the world over and on the natural environment.
I shall delve into the impact of globalist policies on the world economy later, but at this point it is essential to emphasize that the ending of the Cold War necessitated the recognition finally by Western Powers in the CSCE of the wisdom of the Principles of Peaceful Coexistence enunciated by Asian leaders in the early Fifties, among them Nehru, U Nu, Mao Zedong, Sukarno, Zhou En-Lai and Ho Chi Minh.
The most important part of the agreements in the CSCE, which are also known as the Helsinki Accords of 1990 is the Declaration of Principles Guiding Relations Between States. These include (1) sovereign equality and respect for sovereign rights; (2) refraining from the threat or use of force; (3) inviolability of borders; (4) territorial integrity of states; (5) peaceful settlement of international disputes; (6) non-interference in internal affairs; (7) respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms; (8) equality and the right of peoples to decide their own destiny; and (9) cooperation among states and fulfillment of obligations in good faith.
The Helsinki Accords exemplify the new approach and the new political psychology in dealing with the question of peace, cooperation, and international confidence. I can see that the transformation of your organization reflects also aims and policies congruent with this new psychology embodied in the Helsinki Accords.
In the Vladivostok conference on the Ending of the Cold War which I had the opportunity to attend yearly from 1988 to 1990, hosted by Yevgeny Primakov, now the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, I came to realize that the contending powers of the Cold War had already begun the monumental and difficult process of dismantling the culture and institutions of the Cold War and had begun ushering a new world order founded on the principles enunciated in the Helsinki Accords. These fundamental renovations in international relations coincided with similar developments in the thinking of the Non-Aligned Movement, the United Nations and the Pugwash Movement which also championed the Principles of Peaceful Coexistence and the Decolonization of 1990-2000.
The great historic moment of ending the Cold War saw also the ending of what eminent intellectuals call the evils of Barrack Capitalism and Barrack Socialism. Mankind finally saw the follies and terrible thinking in the political economy of international relations and de-ideologization of international relations.
One of the most amazing and welcome fruits of the endling of the Cold War is none other than the launching of a new space station by 16 cooperating nations which, when completed by the Year 2004, will be a most outstanding achievement of the human race. A space station 100 meters long and 80 meters wide, with a habitable space equivalent to two 747 jumbo jets. When completed, this space station will provide mankind new knowledge on all aspects of life and nature and in turn, that new knowledge and experience will produce untold benefits to peoples of the world.
I point to the new space station as the best example of what great beneficial achievements can be made when people care and cooperate with each other on the basis of mutual respect, reciprocity and mutual benefit. It is that kind of spirit and thinking put into creation of the space station, I must emphasize, that must now be put to bear in the building of a new global, social, political and economic order.
It is urgent and imperative that mankind now, after it has dismantled the evils of the Cold War, develop a new thinking for the development of a world economic order founded on cooperation rather than dog-eat-dog, free-wheeling an unregulated capitalist market systems.
The time has come for the responsible and thinking peoples of the world to reconsider the foundations of the present world economic order that is now tottering on the brink of a great depression and disorder. They must begin to think anew and seriously consider the proposition that if they can create a great space station by means of cooperation, they can also create the spaceship earth into a paradise for all mankind by way of cooperation and caring for one another, and not by way of merciless, inhumane “survival of the fittest” competition.
According to wise and humanitarian scientists, there is no reason why billions of people in the world go poor and hundreds of millions go hungry when existing technologies and scientific methods and industrial processes are sufficient to house, educate, employ everyone on earth with allowance for paid vacationing for everyone for at least five months in one year.
In the Pacific Region tens of millions of people are without leisure, and without medical care. Millions are starving everyday. The chasm between rich and poor continues to widen, with 80% of the world’s wealth being owned, controlled and enjoyed by only 20% of its population.
The terrifying reality is that 20% of the world’s population today live so miserably with only 1.4% of the world’s wealth. This is a horrible condition of human destitution and deprivation.
Globalization policies characterized by so-called free untrammeled market systems, free enterprise, removal of protection for national currencies, privatization, deregulation, withdrawal of government planning and authority on the national economy, decimation of the value and respect for citizenship, exposure of developing agricultural and manufacturing enterprises of weak nations to the destructive onslaughts of dumping of surpluses and of sunset industries from the industrially developed countries – all of these cause so much misery and social distortions in the lives of hundreds of millions of people.
The logic of the so-called free unregulated market is precisely to destroy the market because if the market is not controlled by responsible government, that so called free market will produce monopolies, duopolies and oligopolies, monopsonies, duopsonies and and oligopsonies so powerful that they will swallow up the people and their government, if not produce local and/or political gangsterism and all sorts of Mafiosi of the highest order.
The implementation of globalization policies is causing social and economic crises all over the world. In fact, the prevalence of these same policies developed crises which caused the Depression of 1929, the First World War and World War II.
As we sit and exchange views at this very hour, the whole world economy may be already moving inexorably towards depression, perhaps more disastrous than the depressions and world wars of the past. As a student of history and political economy for the past 45 years, I have come across a document now being circulated internationally which to my mind presents a correct analysis of the global economic and financial crisis, as well as an in-depth proposal on how mankind can possibly work together in a strong spirit of cooperation to reverse and solve this deadly global crisis.
The document, titled “A Call for a Union of Sovereign Nation States,” and issued by many eminent intellectual and political leaders all over the world, describes the world as “now faced with what could become very fast the worst financial crisis in world history. As the cases of some of the victims of the present global crisis demonstrates, chaos, hunger and epidemics cost innumerable lives and potentially threaten hundreds of millions, if not billions of peoples’ existence. Since all the leading financial institutions, led by the International Monetary Fund, have failed to protect nations, their economies, and their peoples, nothing less than a radical reorganization of the global financial system will be sufficient to prevent an early chain-reaction disintegration of the present international financial monetary system.
The document proposes fundamental solutions to the impending global economic catastrophe to which I fully subscribe. Salient among these properties are: (1) establishment of relatively fixed parities among national currencies; (2) establishment of just levels of price stability; (3) generation of large flows of long-term, low-cost credit for supplying needed machine-tool-design technologies and basis economic infrastructures; (4) respect for the voice of developing countries as equal to that of the industrial nations; (5) writing-off of tens of trillions of US dollars nominal valuation of highly speculative financial assets, while stabilizing the medium- to long-term valuation, at arbitrarily low yields, of popular savings and agro-industrial and infrastructure capital assets; (6) complete rejection of geopolitics and technological apartheid; (7) free access to technology for all nations without exception, in order not to delay the possibility for development; (8) putting to rest forever all forms of imperialism, colonialism, and oligarchism.
These proposals, if integrated with the imperatives of the Principles of Peaceful Coexistence and the principles approved in the Helsinki Accords, can provide the foundations for the creation of a new global order, a world order that is just and humane.
I earnestly hope that you seriously consider the merits and efficacies of these proposals and, if you find them favorable, I wish you will find the time to promote them in your respective circles of influence.
The Asian-Pacific League for Freedom and Democracy can play a very important role by taking initiatives at provoking debates on the perils now facing the world economy and by strongly supporting the spirit aptly admonished by Mahatma Gandhi: “There is enough for everybody’s need but there can never be enough for anybody’s greed.”
Again, I congratulate you for introducing new thinking into your organization and for keeping abreast with new trends in the world. I am sure you can help reshape the world order. Long live the Asian-Pacific League for Freedom and Democracy!!!
Incidentally, you might wish to include also the principle of Justice in the name of your organization, in addition to Freedom and Democracy.
Thank you very much for giving me your most valuable time. – EQY
===================================== INHUMANE, SANGUINARY POLICIES
The logic of the free market is precisely to destroy the market, because if the market is not regulated by government, that so-called free market will produce monopolies, duopolies and oligopolies so powerful that they will swallow up the government, if not produce blatant gangsterism and all sorts of Mafiosi of the highest order. By: Emmanuel Q. Yap
A powerful reaction against the evil effects of globalization policies is developing all over the world today. Globalization, which is predominantly characterized by so-called free untrammeled market systems, removal of protection for national currencies, privatization, deregulation, withdrawal of government planning and authority on the economy, decimation of the value of citizenship, exposure of developing agricultural and manufacturing enterprises of weak nations to the destructive onslaught of dumping of surpluses and sunset industries from developed economies – all of these cause so much misery, deprivation, and social distortions in the lives of hundreds of millions of people.
No ugly social fact can better dramatize the evils and stupidity of globalization policies than the ever-widening chasm between the rich and the poor, which the Jesuit intellectual Bishop Xavier Gorostiaga of Nicaragua describes as 80% of the world’s wealth being owned and controlled by only 20% of its population, while only 20% of the world’s wealth benefit the greater 80% of the population. The more horrifying reality of the statistics is the datum that 20% of the world’s terrible condition of human destitution accompanied by hunger and famine, widespread ignorance, homelessness, high rates of infant mortality and hopelessness.
Globalization policies which actually evolved from earlier free market, free trade policies imposed by the stronger economic interests upon the weaker nations, especially the so-called Third World countries have pushed the whole world economy today on the verge of global depression which can be more devastating that the 1929 Depression.
The world today is perilously back to the crisis situation where it was from 1920 to the advent of World War II. That world then was dominated by free trade capitalist policies. The supremacy and implementations of those policies created exclusivistic and antagonistic contradictions among the world capitalist powers themselves that had to be settled by a world war which annihilated tens of millions of people, including women, children and the old.
The inhumane and sanguinary features of free trade, free market policies are well described in the UNDP 1996 Hoffman Lectures by the well-known political economist Robert L. Kutner, where he stated in truthful scholarly fashion that free trade, free market policies which today are called globalization policies, caused the collapse of the European economy in the 1920s, caused the Great Depression in 1929, and caused World War II in the 1940s between the Axis Powers and the Allied Powers.
The economic conflict of those horrible decades was so intense that the capitalist powers led by the United States, Great Britain and France, in order to save themselves from social, political and economic disaster, found it utterly necessary to enter into alliance with the Communist, Socialist and Nationalist forces all over the world. Thus, we saw how Roosevelt and Churchill, the capitalist leaders, became close allies of Stalin, Mao Tse Tung and Ho Chi Minh, the socialist leaders, against Germany, Japan and Italy.
The truth is, free market, free trade or globalization policies or the “economic survival of the fittest” are stupid aberrations which serve only the interests of the rich and powerful and only temporarily, never permanently. We say “stupid” and “temporarily,” because, as history clearly teaches, with such policies prevailing, the rich and powerful, at some point had to go for each other’s throats in order to survive, as demonstrated in the historical lessons of economic collapse, depression and war in the period from 1920 to 1945.
There can never be permanent free markets or systems of free competition. The logic of the free market is precisely to destroy the market, because if the market is not regulated by government, that so-called free market will produce monopolies, duopolies and oligopolies so powerful that they will swallow up the government, if not produce blatant gangsterism and all sort of mafiosi of the highest order.
The German economic philosopher Wolfgang Sachs agrues in his book The Development Dictionary “that the only thing worse than the failure of this massive global development experiment would be its success. For even at its optimum performance level, the long term benefits go only to a tiny minority of people who sit at the hub of the process and to a slightly larger minority that can retain an economic connection to it, while the rest of humanity is left groping for fewer jobs and less land, living in violent societies on a ravaged planet. The only boats that will be lifted are those of the owners and manager of the process; the rest of us will be on the beach, facing the rising tide.”
And that is where the people of the world are in today. The great tragedy is that the world economy is back to the general condition of economic conflict of the same powrs that collided in World War II and back to the same pitfalls of global depression. Against this international backdrop is our little country brought into the vortex of globalization economics where our agricultural and manufacturing sectors are left to the mercies of powerful external economies against whom they have no power to compete, because our political leaders by and large have led this country to a state of dependency on foreign products to the detriment of our productive potentials. An ugly aspect of this dependency is theat so much money is expended on foreign luxury and non-essential imports, which otherwise could have been used to capitalize the development of domestic manufacturing.
Although, we might well add, there were heroic endeavors by some of our nationalistic presidents to counteract the powerful forces of free trade and globalization policies. Presidents Quirino, Garcia and Marcos tried to promote economic and nationalism in their governance. President Quirino pushed planned socially-oriented industrialization and President Garcia followed suit with his Filipino First Policy. While President Roxas, Magsaysay, Macapagal, Aquino and Ramos followed the path of globalist free trade economics.
In 1969, President Ferdinand E. Marcos, upon the advice of Speaker Jose B. Laurel, Jr., certified as urgent to the Sixth Congress the passage of House Joint Resolution No. 2 or otherwise knows as the Magna Carta of Social Justice and Economic Freedom. This was a comprehensive economic policy plan, which was intended to counteract the negative effects of free trade, free market policies in the lives of the great majority of our people.
After intense and searching debates by its members, the Sixth Congress unanimously approved in special session this Joint Resolution and on 4 August 1969, President Marcos signed it to assume the force and effect of law. The approval by the Congress and the President made this policy plan and economic law of the land and, therefore, had to be obeyed, implemented and pursued unless amended or repealed by Congress itself.
However, when Speaker Laurel pushed for the promulgation of the implementing statutes mandated in the Joint Resolution, overwhelmeing political pressures were applied on him to desist from his determination. When he persisted to do so, his closest nationalist advisors were forced out of office on the fraudulent allegation that they were communist-inspired or were radical nationalists. The prevailing Cold War cultural milieu then was such that any person of group of persons who opposed or did not conform to the policies and strategies of the global capitalist system could be easily and effectively demobilized or marginalized by simply circulating disinformation alluding to them as “leftist” or “radical nationalist.”
When, subsequently, it became clear that he really was fully committed to the implementation of the Joint Resolution, Mr. Laurel himself was toppled from the speakership on 1 April 1971, by the vote of the same members of the House of Representatives who earlier unanimously approved and passed the same Joint Resolution which he sponsored. The deposition of Speaker Laurel once again manifested the pro-colonial opportunism that has pervaded our land.
The Joint Resolution, as a matter of record, had no communist or Marxist undertones. The real communists even labeled it as reactionary in character. It was just simple plan that called for the industrialization of the national economy through the establishment of basic and integrated industries to be capitalized mainly from savings of the people, it called on the Filipinos to practice austerity and to restrain their extravagant consumption of luxury and non-essential imports so that valuable foreign exchange could be channeled for the establishment of manufacturing industries; it called for the protection of Filipino entrepreneurs so they would not be displaced by foreign investors; it called for the encouragement of foreign investment to complement, but not supplant, Filipino capital; it called for profit-sharing for workers in order that demands of social justice could be better served; it called on the government to plan the development of the national economy based primarily on the exercise of private initiative; it called for the regulation of private ownership so that the inalienable right to private property would not be subverted by unjust and exploitative individuals; it called for the regulation of the financial system so that economic power would be channeled to the needs of Filipino citizens and the need of industrialization; and it called for population planning based on the individual’s religious beliefs. These policies were no different from those that made other democratic and liberty-loving nations prosperous like the United States, Japan, Great Britain and France.
For championing an economic program based on enlightened nationalistic policies, Speaker Laurel was toppled and lost a historic battle. After his defeat, Martial Law was declared to marginalize the nationalists and pave the way for the furtherance of global economics.
It was a time of great stress for our country, a time when once again the forces of free trade globalist economics took the high ground to defeat the Marcos-Laurel agreement to resurrect nationalism under the banner of the Nationalista Party. President Marcos and Speaker Laurel were nationalists who had personally experienced the continuing and grueling battles between nationalism and colonialism. They both saw how President Quirino and President Garcia were deposed to the hands of the pro-colonials for their espousals of nationalist economics.
The political power the Macos-Laurel alliance achieved was great that the two political leaders never in their wildest dreams thought of defeat. The passage of House Joint Resolution No. 2 was the evidence of their power and influence over the political complexion at that particular historical moment.
But when the free trade, global forces fully unleashed their power against the two leaders, there was no way they could stand together and save their alliance. President Marcos was compelled to let Speaker Laurel relinquish his post as condition for continuing his presidency.
Throughout the period of Martial Law, President Marcos danced to the tune of globalist economics which earned him the notoriety of being a dictator of U.S. imperialism, a lackey of free trade, globalist economics. But while playing along, he at the same time build under the very noses of the “free traders” economic, political and military power which was essentially nationalist-oriented. He pushed for industrial projects which could challenge the economic officers to take control of the military establishment; he terminated parity rights for the Americans; he opened diplomatic relations with the Socialist countries; he purposefully moved to reclaim Sabah as part of the Philippine territory; and he reduced the term of the presence of the U. S. military bases on Philippine soil.
For all these nationalistic moves, President Marcos was himself abducted by certain U.S. forces and deposed, ironically not as a nationalist but as a lackey of American imperialism and facist dictator.
As in the Philippine-American was and the war between the Japanese and the Americals on Philippine soil, the episode of Martial Law demonstrated that in the pursuit of free trade globalist economics, the enemies of nationalism would resort even to the foulest inhumane and sanguinary tactics and strategies to achieve their material advantage.
There can be no more dramatic proof of the evils of free trade globalist economics than the present crisis situation where millions of Filipinos are landless, jobless, homeless, and so poor and without education, when the truth is that had our islands been governed by nationalist leaders, the island of Luzon alone could have been developed and made to progress better then Japan or the island of Negros better then Taiwan.
The struggle between humane economics and inhumane, sanguinary economics goes on and on. Sooner or later the young generation Filipinos will learn what it really and what it really takes to destroy the evils of free trade globalist economics. When that awakening takes place, then our country will begin to really develop and prosper in a regime of justice, honor and liberty.
In the meantime, our people on the whole continue to be benighted, and nothing can demonstrate this ongoing political tragic comedy any better than the current presidential elections where the relevant issues involving the life and death of the country under globalization is being discussed. In the meantime, we all have to swim in the waters of pro-colonial politics and bide our time until the spirit of national independence and national sovereignty takes deep roots in the hearts and minds of our people.
We conclude this particular article with an adage of Mencius, the Chinese sage, who said around 2,300 years ago: “To centralize wealth is to dispose the people, to distribute wealth is to collect the people.” -- EQY
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WE ARE ALL VICTIMS OF AN ABSURD PRO-COLONIAL DISPENSATION ON THE VERGE OF CHAOS By: Emmanuel Q. Yap Statement delivered before concerned citizens convened by San Juan Mayor J. V. Ejercito at the Club Filipino on June 4, 2002
I must clearly state at the outset that I have nothing to do nor have any role in the ongoing tragic-comedies and hypocritical bickerings of people who are in power or out of power, simply because I have long ago realized, after 50 years of participating in the nationalist struggle for the independence and sovereignty of our country, that I must regard all my countrymen as my brothers because they, like our ancestors in the past 450 years, are also victims of foreign domination, exploitation or intervention, or of designs and international policies of outside powers who, by the way, are now frantically or desperately repositioning themselves for survival in an emerging new world order which is no longer capable of being controlled or dominated by the traditional western powers as in the past 500 years.
The present pro-colonial dispensation is the creation of direct foreign intervention. It is a dispensation that has produced mass poverty among our people; pervasive graft and corruption; crime-waves; destruction of the potential of our people to build a self-reliant and productive national economy in a country that is probably the world’s richest in natural resources, destruction of the environment, huge government deficits and foreign debts, ineffective socio-political institutions that cannot provide our people with good and wholesome life, such as a bad Constitution that is not the promulgation of the people, bad law perforated by loopholes, and bad policies, like globalization policies without safety nets; deadly political fragmentation throughout the land; rebellion; banditry; brigandage; and more dreadfully, a desperately improverished population seething with rage at injustices – what Rizal calls a people angry and dispossessed.
All of us must now fully realize that a decadent, rotten and archaic dispensation like this is bound to implode, lie all societies in recent history which have been colonized or have been manipulated to serve foreign interests for so long.
It is such a pity and so tragic that the present crop of politicians who govern this decadent and obsolescent dispensation do not seem to realize that they too are victims of this dying order. They continue to quarrel and compete with one another to take control of the helm of a sinking ship, oblivious of the historical fact that when an impossible national order like this collapses and sinks, it is those who rule or wallow in wealth and profligacy who will severely suffer the most.
The leader Siri Matak of Cambodia desperately tried to escape the rage of his people but was unable to get on an overcrowded helicopter on a rooftop. He was captured and before he was shot with a single bullet to the head, all he could utter were these words, “My gravest mistake is I listened to the advise of the French.”
Many observers know what happened in Cambodia. Can anyone of us say that such a political denouement or final unraveling in Phnom Penh is not possible to happen here? What happened in Cambodia is just one of many historical facts to tell us that it is a grave folly to assume that such a social upheaval cannot happen here.
The fact is, there are a number of situations in our country today that can provide incendiary conditions for a revolutionary phenomenon. The Mindanao conflict is one such situation. The continued detention of President Joseph E. Estrada in spite of the botched impeachment proceedings who was arrested and continue to be treated like a common criminal is another. Many analysts, including foreign legal experts, believe that the impeachment proceedings were faulty and incomplete; therefore, it was illegal to file a suit against him, much less arrest him.
The most powerful Tokugawa dynasty in Japan simply collapsed when that rotten regime experienced the killing hands of three unknown young, daring samurais. This was the condition that led to the Meiji Restoration.
The Estrada factor in the current political equation cannot be haughtily disregarded for the simple reason that thousands upon thousands of our people cannot accept the meanness by which a duly elected President is being treated so unkindly by personalities whom they believe are themselves very corrupt, greedy, ignorant and unpatriotic.
Many analysts believe that President Estrada was ousted because he wanted to physically destroy the Mindanao separatists, demobilize the traditional economic elite who continue to plunder the economy, stop government guarantees of huge foreign loans which have become sources of thievery, and because he beat in the elections political forces whom the electorate knew as corrupt and ineffective.
Rising costs of energy coupled with escalating prices are other causes for grave concern. The people including the rich are furious over the high costs of electricity caused by previous contracts which are now seen by many people as absolutely unnecessary but were entered into to provide undue advantage to favored contractors.
I have cited only a few situations which contribute to what the Texas-based think-tank Stratfor (Strategic Forecasting) predicted as a “shakey road ahead for the Arroyo administration.” The Stratfor report stated only three days ago that Mrs. Arroyo is experiencing a rise in tentions on many fronts, which is most likely to continue.”
As I stated earlier, I regard all Filipinos as my brothers. The Macapagals and Estradas are my brothers. Therefore, it is not within me to add to the ongoing tensions or to do anything to destabilize the government. What I am interested in most of all, together with my colleagues in the People’s Patriotic Movement, is how to make all our people realize that the present political, social and economic difficulties are in fact problems we all have inherited from our rectified colonial past – which continue to plague all of us, rich and poor alike, powerful and powerless alike, literate and illiterates alike, in ever-increasing severity.
We are all victims of this absurd and obsolescent pro-colonial dispensation which is dying and bringing about chaos, tensions, and conflicts which could harm all of us.
What we must do now above all is to know the historical truth about what really happened to our country, know how we have been exploited, divided and ruled for many generations, awaken to our beautiful and dignified and productive Asian Heritage, put aside our bickerings and differences caused by foreign domination and intervention; foster national unity and solidarity, make sacrifices, be bold, be kind to one another; and vigorously move as one people to Build A Strong and Sovereign Filipino Nation founded on the following indivisible and indispensable Five Pillars:
1) A strong industrialized national economy;
2) A strong, just and democratic government;
3) A united and patriotic people strongly committed to the principles and practices of universally accepted human values, social justice and sustainable development;
4) A strong professional armed and police force for national security; and
5) A free and independent foreign relations policy strongly committed to the principles of cooperation and reciprocity, respect for national sovereignty and territorial integrity, non-aggression and non-interference in internal affairs, and peaceful co-existence in the relationship between and among nations.
In his solitute, President Estrada carefully studied the advocacy of the People’s Patriotic Movement as contained in its Manifesto. Now, he has come out with his personal message urging all Filipinos including his political opponents and detractors to support this Movement as the way to save our country and bring prosperity to the Filipino people, a copy of which I am told will be distributed to you by his friends in this important gathering.
It is essential to emphasize that the People’s Patriotic Movement is not an anti-American or an anti-foreigner movement, but rather a movement that strongly advocates the true spirit of internationalism or brotherhood among nations of the world.
Neither is it a movement against foreign investments, but, rather, an economic movement that champions economic cooperation founded on reciprocity and mutual benefit. We want foreign investors to complement Filipino investors, but not to supplant Filipinos.
We respect al foreigners who respect the independence, sovereignty and dignity of the Filipino people. Because this is how the emerging world order should be -- an international community of sovereign nation-states and self-respecting peoples.
The economic thinking of the People’s Patriotic Movement contained in House Joint Resolution No. 2 or otherwise known as the Magna Carta of Social Justice and Economic Freedom, a full copy of which is printed in the pamphlet of President Estrada’s message. This is an economic plan initiated by President Ferdinand E. Marcos and Speaker Jose B. Laurel, which was approved unanimously in 1969 by the Philippine House of Representatives and the Senate and signed to have the force and effect of law by President Marcos. Unfortunately, this economic policy plan has never been implemented even though its approval has the force and effect of law by both the Executive and Legislative departments.
I am happy and proud to say that by issuing this message in support of the Five Pillars for the People’s Patriotic Movement to all our people, President Estrada has revealed without doubt, as I suspected all along since he was acting in the movies and acting as a political leader, that he possesses a big heart for nationalism and patriotism, that actually he is a far taller and greater man than what his personal enemies and Cardinal Sin prefer to think he is.
It is my fervent hope that other political leaders of this country will also give their support for the People’s Patriotic Movement as President Estrada has done, because this is the path to our national greatness as a people.
But I would like to thank my friends who have seen fit that some of my articles about the survival of our nation be read by our people. I am glad if these articles will serve to enlighten our people especially the young generation Filipinos who can renew this nation.
I also thank Mayor JV Ejercito for organizing this gathering. I pray that this young man develops into a true nationalist patriot so that he shall carry on his father’s nationalism.
By way of parting, le me remind you that a strong and united people can never be vanquished.
Mabuhay ang bansang Pilipino, mabuhay tayong lahat!
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AUSTERITY: AN IMPERATIVE POLICY For Country’s Sake By: Emmanuel Q. Yap
The fundamental flaw in the prevailing economic policy is that it expects growth, development and prosperity to come about without imposing initially an effective austerity program. This policy permits and encourages the expenditures of wealth and hard-earned foreign exchange by the minority of the population for luxury, non-essential imports and other non-essential expenditures, and when foreign exchange becomes scarce or reaches critical levels where foreign obligations can be hardly met, it resorts to devaluation, deficit spending, and prescribes more foreign borrowings even at exhorbitant interest rates.
This permissiveness in the expenditures of wealth and foreign exchange for luxuries and non-essentials in a time of great national distress and amidst widespread poverty is founded on some Western principle that the private individual’s right to dispose his privately-owned wealth as he sees legally fit is equal, if not superior, to the right of the state to regulate the use of wealth or to allocate foreign exchange in accordance with the dictates of the national interest or in the furtherance of the common good. It is assumed in this prevailing economic policy that sooner or later the Invisible Hand of God will make this nation also a tiger economy like Taiwan or South Korea even while the rich squander their wealth for frivolities and vanity.
However, we are not told by the aggressive and cocky opponents of the prevailing policy that Japan, Korea and Taiwan attained their strong foundation and momentum of economic growth and development not by liberal permissiveness in the disposal of wealth and foreign exchange but by the control and judicious allocation of it for industrialization and not for luxury consumption.
The basis of Japan’s economic miracle were the three principles of: one, severe austerity; two, shrewd planning and management of scarce resources; and three, fanatical nationalism. These were the three principles that propelled the Japanese economy under the wise leadership of the Meiji Empire.
All other nations which became economically developed and powerful started with the same principles pursued vigorously by the Meiji Restoration, like the United States, England, the Soviet Union, China, India, Germany, Korea and Taiwan, to cite some examples.
We seem to be the only country that finds wisdom in doing things contrary to these three principles. Many of the dominant policymakers in present-day society believe strongly perhaps that we can have our cake and eat it too. Perhaps they believe that the present chaos and economic turmoil will just turn around by itself and create a tiger economy for the Philippines.
The prevailing economic policy is exactly what the strong nation today repudiated even to the extent of going to war, because they know from plain and simple reasoning that this policty would weaken and destroy them.
Someone had said that at the rate we are fast retrogressing with the prevailing economic policy we will soon overtake the poverty and destitution of the poorest nation in Asia. This is overtaking somebody in reverse.
Unfortunately, there is no political force in this country strong enough to impose austerity, that is, to persuade the right or compel them if necessary, to channel first their wealthy for industrializing the economy before they wallow in extravagance. They will own the wealth but first must be used for industrialization.
Until such a political power emerges that can effectuate austerity, we can expect the worsening of the national condition, as exemplified by growing external debt (we have to borrow more in order that we can pay the interests of the previous amount we borrowed), giving up the national patrimony to non-Filipinos in the name of “internationalism,” escalating price inflation, continuous devaluation of the peso, spread of poverty, growing unemployment, worsening of inequitable income distribution, rise in criminality, rise in insurgency and rebellion, scandalous profligacy, graft and corruption induced by the prevailing economic policy, and, of course, destruction of the natural environment, and imminence of widespread social and political disorder.
It is very strange indeed that the dominant political leaders and economic thinkers at this time insist on curing the maladay of the body-politic with a prescription that is precisely killing it. -- EQY
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CAUGHT IN TURNING WHEELFor Country’s Sale By: Emmanuel Q. Yap
Keeping cordial relations with foreign friends who want to be helpful is a humane and civilized act, therefore, desirable; provided the relationship is based on mutual respect.
But uncritical or blind dependence on foreign advice, no matter how well-meaning, can be counterproductive. In the end, it could only destroy friendship or lead to enmity.
Take, for instance, a case where your foreign friend tells you that in the interest of your country you must fight the Soviets and other communists in every way and with everything you have got because they are evil, worse than the devil himself, that it is better to be dead than Red, you must fight them because they are out to destroy what he calls the Judeo-Greco-Roman Christian heritage.
For years he has been giving you this advice and for some strange consideration you follow him with animal loyalty and perform your political act along his anti-Soviet line.
He has convinced you that to defeat the Soviets and its allies, like the emaciated and rice-eating Vietnamese, we have to resort eventually to the use of nuclear weapons against them. He gives you all the details on how to prosecute limited or universal nuclear warfare in a scenario that he and his colleagues have carefully and beautifully articulated in “strategic” jargon.
If at first you doubted the wisdom of using nuclear weapons, he has healed your doubt with his argument that if we all die in a nuclear war, this would be only in fulfillment of the Armageddon in God’s Revelations. So now you are also spiritually prepared to perish in a nuclear holocaust because you want to go to heaven.
Your foreign adviser tells you that any person who disagress with his advice must me immoral, a dangerous leftist or fellow traveler, or a downright Marxist-Lennist or Communist; therefore, he must be marginalized, demobilized or liquidated with extreme prejudice. And you accept and adopt his line.
You now turn against your own long-time friends and own people who do not act, think and talk the same way was your foreign friend. Since he has convinced you that nationalists and patriots are often allied with the communists and socialists, you now regard every nationalist and everybody fighting for national dependence as security risks and evil. You now also begin to believe that Rizal, Mabini, Bonifacio, and other Filipino revolutionaries must have been moles of the communists.
You are told that there are special economic models designed to resist communist expansion. Now you want to follow only the Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan or South Korea model. If you get to be sophisticated along this line of politico-economic logic, you might want to mix all these models together and make the combination tastier with some Italian models.
You come to a point that you cannot believe anymore that your own people can develop their own national economy with their own thinking and experience, because you are already set in your mind that Filipinos are stupid and very gullible to communist propaganda. In fact, they should all be suspect.
Your mind is also now preoccupied with searching for communists, pro-communists, socialists or nationalists, because you are told that they can be everywhere, including places like your closet, your drawer or under your bed.
In short, you have cast your entire life with the dictates, arguments and scenarios of the political, social, economic and military doctrines of the Cold War.
Then, as it often happens in the long history of human civilization, the relationships of nations take radical turns. The Soviets, the Chinese and the Americans become good friends and partners. They de-ideologize their relationships, cooperate in ending regional conflicts, and work together in de-ideologizing international relations.
Your foreign adviser disappears because he has become by force or powerful circumstance irrelevant in the new mood of the world. And because you have followed him with great devotion and admiration you also become irrelevant before you even reach your political ambitions.
You are caught in a political turning wheel, and you now think you have been misled by our friend and, because of this you now regard him as your real enemy all along. -- EQY
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LESS STORY OF THE PRESIDENCYFor Country’s Sake By: Emmanuel Q. Yap
President Corazon Aquino is now being pulled, swayed and pushed with increasing momentum into the vortex of that horrible political whirlpool of antagonistic circumstances and conflicting forces peculiar to the postwar history of Philippine society - the same ungrateful whirlpool that swallowed up her predecessors.
It has been that way in the unfortunate story of the Presidency of the Philippines.
In the beginning, a president is inaugurated into office with glowing optimism, extravagant festivities, dizzying and seemingly unending euphoria; sometimes attended with gory fatal shootouts here and there among political followers (like what we see in the movies) or with teasing exchanges of extruding tongues (like what low-minded children do when they play their little games).
After the gloating and their celebrations, the mourning and the funerals, the new president starts office by apportioning the political power along the persons he believes helped him to the top. The criterion for dividing the cake is a hidden formula, known only to him and certain invisible figures whom, he has been meeting secretly in the most unlikely places.
Since there is no detailed program of government or pertinent clear cut specific objectives to go by which prescribe what specified positions should go to specified individual qualifications, but only general slogans and worn out clichés, it may be correctly presumed that the criterion for power-allocation can be anything except one which has been arrived at by open democratic consensus or one which enjoys the collective mind and democratic power of the electorate.
Ordinary people believe that, as president, the newly-inaugurated head of state has the final word on the appointment of government officials, that he and he alone holds the zenith of political power in so far as their country is concerned. They are not of course aware that the presidency is rigidly constrained and inhibited by numerous varying considerations and by internal as well as external pressures not found or defined in the laws of the land.
They do not realize that within the presidency there exist two enclaves of power which are, one, the power which the president can enjoy and exercise largely out of his own initiatives, wishes or caprices; and two, the power which originates or is generated from what might be called international geo-political strategies.
Two sets of public officials emerge out of these two power structures that make up the presidency: which are, first, the president’s personal choices who are usually his friends, cronies or family acquaintances: and, second, those who have to safeguard and implement the objectives of certain globalized interests.
As the president’s administration operates with that peculiar complexion of political power residing in the presidency, conflicts and antagonisms immediately erupt within the inner sanctum of the regime, usually caused by contradictions of interests and approaches of those two circles of power.
The power dichotomy penetrates and adversely affects the psyche of the president and, consequently, his ambivalent incoherent decisions or indecisiveness over many fundamental issues start to surface and become very visible to the public.
The differences and contradictions between the two power structures take place on vital issues involving foreign policy, foreign investments and foreign loans, directions o international trade, monetary and fiscal policies, military and security affairs, labor policies, education, and jurisprudence; because it is usually in these areas where the nation’s basic interests often collide with organized international geo-political interests.
At some early juncture, in the president’s administration, it becomes clear that the nation’s problems which the people, especially those who had to go through the ordeal of Philippine-style elections to vote for the incumbent president, expected to be swiftly solved instead become worse than what they were in the time of the previous administration.
Poverty and unemployment get worse, prices of commodities escalate (including the price of galunggong) to levels beyond the reach of millions of people, natural resources are more rapidly depleted, the peso continues to slide downwards, rebellion grows and qualitatively becomes more threatening, incidence of crime and violence multiples, more guns become more visible like in the honky-tonk towns of America, delivery of public services becomes more inept, graft and corruption practices proliferate and become more surreptitious, the quality of education deteriorates, the external debt grows well as the trade deficit, uneven distribution of income becomes more pronounced, misunderstanding and quarrels among public officials become more frequent – in short, the state of the nation has sunk to lower levels than before.
The disenchantment of people over the government grows. It grows geometrically and in direct proportion to the worsening of the people’s livelihood and to the failure of the president’s administration to deliver the services it promised at inauguration time or during the elections. First the disenchantment is directed to the president’s appointmentees, including those he had no real wish to appoint. Then gradually but more vigorously, it shifts towards the president himself. The political whirlpool is now in full motion.
But we know it, invectives, recriminations, bickerings, personal insults, destructive criticisms among the president’s allies fly in all directions, pervading the atmosphere with venom and hatred – in the same way it happened just before the president’s predecessor was ousted from office.
One more ridiculous political cycle is about to be completed with Filipinos fighting Filipinos, Filipinos blaming Filipinos.
The president desperately tries to explain the problems of his government, but to no avail. He tries very hardly to put up an image of composure amidst great stresses, coolness under fire, and poise of self-confidence, because that would be his final effort to save his “amor propio.” But the die is cast. He is already well on the way to being gobbled up by that horrible political whirlpool which also finished his predecessor -- that political whirlpool which, by the way, is neither the making of the president nor of his real men nor of the Filipino people. -- EQY
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