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There are no tyrants where there are no slaves (Jose Rizal)
Which Filipino are you?
November 17, 2008
I am reminded of this phrase from the Noli Me Tangere of our hero Jose Rizal, every time I ponder on the passive submission of the Filipinos in the face of barefaced lies, abuses and many other indignities that are being heaped upon them by the Arroyo government. I can almost see Jose Rizal painfully looking down upon us right now. Sadness is an understatement of how he must be feeling witnessing that the people he gave up his life for have fallen again in misery and despair. Not anymore under a foreign despot but this time under a native born tyrant—a tyrant that is a fulfilment of one his prescient warning to the Filipinos.
The Filipinos are now modern day slaves without realizing what they have become, The absence of the Spanish conquistador, the the Castillan encomenderos, the American carpet baggers, the Japanese kempeitai and the Marcos military government, along with the presence of a supposedly legitimately elected president have lulled them into thinking that they are a free people living the life aspired for them by our heroes & forefathers like Rizal, Bonifacio & Mabini, as enshrined in the preamble of the Philippine Constitution. Let me quote it in full for the benefit of those who may not be familiar with the preamble yet.
Preamble of the Philippine Constitution
We, the sovereign Filipino, imploring the aid of the almighty God, in order to build a just and humane society and establish a Government that shall embody our ideals and aspirations, promote the common good, conserve and develop our patrimony, and secure to ourselves and our posterity the blessings of independence and democracy under the rule of law and a regime of truth, justice, freedom, love, equality and peace, do ordain and promulgate this Constitution.
This aspiration for our people has been completely flouted by this Arroyo government. The rule of law is used so that truth is hidden, justice is sold, freedom is denied, love is concealed, equality is buried and peace is rendered elusive. The majority of the impoverished Filipino people have become slaves to hunger; those who have jobs with meager wages have become slaves to the weariness of their toil; those who have knowledge of wrongdoings have become slaves to fear. Those who have been endowed with certain capabilities have become slaves to their own ambition, so that they will do anything right or wrong just to advance their own ambition. And worse, there are those who have been blessed with certain talents that have become slaves to money, and instead of becoming a blessing to the people, they have become a curse upon them. For as St. Thomas Aquinas said, “The corruption of the Best, is the worst form of corruption”.
These types of people give rise to the tyrant that we have. These are the types of Filipinos that this tyrant would like to have, to prolong her domination of the people. They will keep the poor people hungry and ignorant. They will keep the workers at the margins of society. They will make the bureaucracy and private sector fearful of government reprisals. They will offer the young professionals fulfilment of their ambitions in exchange for their idealism. And they will offer the talented Filipinos gigantic amounts of money in exchange for their soul. Tyrants do not fear these types of people, they nurture them.
What tyrants fear the most, firstly are Filipinos, no matter what their station in life may be, who are faithful to the Christian commandment of “Love thy neighbour as you love yourself”. For true Christians can never live and call themselves Christian, if they will tolerate or even participate in such large scale thievery that is being done today against their neighbour.
Second, tyrants fear Filipinos who have educated themselves in their professional disciplines, in their constitutional liberties, in their political rights, in their basic economic fundamentals, in the nuances of the humanities and of philosophy. For these are the Filipinos who have glimpsed the light of a true humane society; these are Filipinos who can share the light with the rest of the nation that are still in
the dark either by force of circumstance or by choice, for these are the Filipinos who can inflame the hearts of the masses to aspire for much more than the scraps which the tyrants throw at them from the table of their feast.
Lastly, the tyrants fear the Filipinos who truly love their country, who will not give up their idealism even in the face of alluring seduction such as the fulfilment of their lifelong ambition. The tyrants fear Filipinos who truly love God and country who will not give up their souls in exchange for huge sums of money and the promise of power in the tyrants’ court.
Which Filipino are you?
I was once asked by a journalist if I do not regret what I did, that in spite of my sacrifice and the suffering of my family, nothing have changed in the structure of Philippine society. Those who steal and lie are still there while I remain in limbo and uncertain of my future.
I gave him an answer that went this way, “Yes, I agree that it is tragic that Arroyo remains in power along with the rest of her people. But I believe that the bigger tragedy right now is the more than eighty million Filipinos who acquiesce to be subjected to the indignity heaped upon them by a handful of people”.
Defiance against a tyrant is obedience to God!