DAY OF OUR INDEPENDENCE, OR DAY OF OUR BIRTH?

NORTH AMERICAN LEGACY: THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

The cost of speaking the English language to us filipinos is summarized in the report, http://jmgpatria.blogspot.com/2010/04/cost-of-speaking-english-to-us.html


INDEPENDENCE: FROM WHOM?

We were born as a nation after we became independent from Spain in 1898. This has made our status, a sovereign nation. Today, we are indeed a sovereign nation. But can we say that we have remained independent when after we became independent, the north americans invaded us which we fiercely resisted in 1899? Can we say that we are today independent when the north americans transmitted into our system of: defense; education; politics; economy; and culture, a massive dose of synthesized alienating identity and defilipinization process which replaced our organic national developmental code? This cost is even rising today as summarized in this report, http://jmgpatria.blogspot.com/2009/06/american-invasion-continues_7055.html

Can we say that we are today independent when in the 1900s, the chinese with the protection of their government infiltrated our country, displaced many of our brother filipino businessmen, and controlled our economy which we tried to resist but the north americans provided them protection? Can we say that we are today independent when as a result of this protection provided by the north americans, the chinese have indeed taken over control of our economy today? This is also summarized in http://jmgpatria.blogspot.com/2009/06/chinese-invasion-continues.html


HEREDITY INJURING VIRUS

After the north americans invaded us which we resisted fiercely in 1899, they tried to impose their language to cut us off from our bonds to our filipino nation. The use of English had to be legislated: Act No. 190 of the Philippine Commission made English the official language of all courts effective January 1, 1906 but Act No. 1427 amended the date to January 1, 1911 and Act No. 1946 again extended the effective date to January 1, 1913.

Even more than a decade after the north americans invaded us, Spanish language in the Philippines was still widely spoken. In 1916, Henry Ford to wrote to President Woodrow Wilson :

” Although, as based on the school statistics, it is said that more Filipinos speak English than any other language, no one can be in agreement with this declaration if they base their assessment on what they hear on the testimony of their hearing……Spanish is everywhere the language of business and social intercourse…In order for anyone to obtain prompt service from anyone, Spanish turns out to be more useful than English…And outside of Manila it is almost indispensable. The Americans who travel around all the islands customarily use it.” (The Ford Report of 1916. Chapter 3. The Use of English, pp. 365-366.)

This means that Spanish was one of the languages used by us aside from Ilocano, Tagalog, Pangalatoc, Ilongo, Cebuano, Chavacano, Tausog, and many others. It was the americans who tried to injure the spanish language in the Philippines, not us, filipinos.

Claro M. Recto, the respected filipino nationalist in the mid 1900s spoke in Spanish.


BASIS OF THE BIRTH OF OUR NATION

Without Spain having colonized the different tribes, petty kingdoms and alliance of tribes in the different islands, and established the boundaries of what is now approximately known as the Philippine Archipelago or Islands, can we say that we will have a nation of people in islands known as the Philippines today? What is our basis for our claim to our Philippine Archipelagic Baseline we present before the community of nations? Many of the Spanish government officials and many more of the spanish friars in the Philippines committed injustices and cruelties. That was up to 1898. The present spaniards are different. They have been regarding us with respect and as equals. They have been trying to promote their culture and economic cooperation in the Philippines for many years now. They have been one of the biggest donors although silent and in proportion to their economic circumstances, during disasters in our country. Spanish regard for us filipinos is cited in this report, http://jmgpatria.blogspot.com/2010/04/barcelona-cidob-paper.html

If we had an unjust and cruel mother of our infancy from whom we have separated, and after decades decided to be reconciled with us and have been trying to makeup for all those years now that we are older, is it not proper as human beings to open our arms to her?



José Miguel García