Independence Day

Independence Day came and went as it does every year. Everyone looked forward to a holiday, and in this case a long weekend, except those who had to participate in June 12 events.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo chose to raise the flag in Mindanao, a welcome break from the traditional ceremonies in Rizal Park. It is unfortunate that news coverage was more focused on Chief Justice Reynato Puno’s speech in Caloocan about the social volcano threatening to erupt rather than the symbolic flag raising in Koronadal that stressed that Mindanao is an indivisible part of the Republic of the Philippines. Some people pined for the traditional parade while the President was focused on jobs, climate change, and the fact that heroism is not some 19th century antique fossilized in our textbooks.

I used to wonder why most of our major heroes come from the late 19th century: from Gomez, Burgos and Zamora in 1872 to Rizal and Bonifacio in 1896 to Aguinaldo, Mabini, Luna and others in 1898. Why was it that our heroes seemed to have known each other or were in a sense a barkada? Surely, we have many more heroes than those highlighted in textbooks, monuments, stamps, street names and the faces on our paper bills. Maybe we should look harder and be inspired by lesser known heroes from outside the capital, like Hizon, Makabulos, Maxilom, Tinio, Kudarat and Leon Kilat.

The late Adrian Cristobal stumped me once with a question: Who is Kalentong? Since I never aspired to be an Ernie Baron all I could remember was that the famous Mandaluyong street was named after General Kalentong who fought during the Philippine Revolution. I did not even know his first name! What did he look like? What battles did he fight? How come he is not in the history textbooks I used? History should be more than just random and obscure facts that figure in TV game shows and school quiz bees. Surely, history can be more relevant than the way it is presented to schoolchildren.

June 12 always reminds me of the declaration of Philippine Independence from Spain that was read from the window of Emilio Aguinaldo’s home in Kawit in 1898. It was short-lived because the United States stepped in and governed the Philippines for the next half century. It was only on July 4, 1946 that the representative of the US president read a document stating that the US “recognizes the independence of the Philippines.” Aguinaldo, who was then present, was quoted as saying, “Ibinalik lang nila ang kalayaang nakamit natin noong 1898 (They just returned the freedom we won in 1898).”

This explains why many Filipino patriots and heroes who continued to struggle for our independence from the US were branded as bandits and need to be rehabilitated in our textbooks. Our patriots were often referred to as “insurrectos” and our struggle belittled as the “Philippine Insurrection” rather than the Philippine-American War.

It was only in 1999 that the US Library of Congress changed its bibliographic classification of materials from Philippine Insurrection to Philippine-American War. This may seem like an insignificant change, but if you know the true meaning of the terms you will realize that an insurrection is merely an uprising against an established government. The Filipino struggle for freedom was downplayed as an insurrection, because to use the correct term “war” would have described a conflict between two countries.
“Philippine-American War” was not a convenient term during America’s expansion in Asia. Thus, when all the archival records of that struggle were returned to Manila from Washington, this vast archive was known as the “PIR” or the “Philippine Insurgent Records.” A decade ago this record group now in the National Library of the Philippines was renamed “PRR” or “Philippine Revolutionary Records.” Is this a simple change in name? Is it relevant?

The change from “Philippine Insurrection” to “Philippine-American War” not only acknowledges that we had freed ourselves from Spain in 1898, that we established a republic in 1899, complete with a Congress and Constitution, the first in Southeast Asia. The change in name, a change in viewpoint, a re-interpretation of our history, from a history written by foreigners to one that is written by Filipinos for Filipinos.

This also puts in context the executive order issued by President Diosdado Macapagal that moved our Independence Day from July 4 to June 12, pushing our short memories back from 1946 to 1898.

Independence Day should remind us not just of Kawit on June 12, 1898 but of other events before the declaration going maybe as far back as Lapu-Lapu’s victory in Mactan in 1521. Perhaps Independence Day should also go forward to help us remember the World War II and even Edsa 1 and Edsa 2.

I used to be guilty of commemorating June 12 by waking up late and spending the day in the mall. This year I forced myself to remember what the holiday is all about.

Comments are welcome at aocampo@ateneo.edu