Friday, June 12, 2009

Happy Independence Day, Philippines!

Happy Birthday, Philippines! Today is independence day here in the Philippines and it's certainly not quite taking shape as I thought it might. Despite my best efforts not to let my American identity dictate my expectations here, I did expect something a little celebratory, but in the provinces, it's just another normal day, a work day for many.
This morning I met my counterpart, Sir Erwin, and a group of students outside my house at 9:00 am to bring the books my grandma sent to the school. We lacked transport, which we sufficiently made up for in manpower. Each student carried an armload of books from my house to the school, about a 12 minute walk away. While we waited outside my house for more students to arrive, Sir Erwin asked one of the students how old the Philippines is today.
"111 years old, sir," he responded.
What!? What about the American and later Japanese occupations? I mean, the Philippines officially was a colony of the United States until July 4, 1946. And why would June 12th be independence day when the Philippines became independent on the 4th of July, a symbolic move on the part of the U.S.?
This takes some explaining. One hundred and eleven years ago today, Emilio Aguinaldo declared independence from the Spanish on June 12th, 1898. Filipinos regard this event as the first and only declaration of independence and view the American presence here as a usually amicable occupation, of which the Philippines had remained independent throughout the duration (this is an inference on my part).
After the United States abdicated sovereignty to the Philippines, the newly-founded Philippines government decided to move the holiday to their self-proclaimed day of independence; but Filipinos are forever gracious and declared July 4th Filipino-American Friendship Day.
I sent out a blanket text to the Filipinos near and dear to me and I did get some interesting responses. I wanted to be sure to share two of them. The two responses come from two highly educated women who continue to inspire me with their wisdom and lovingly critical opinions of their country. The first, "Thank you. I am sad about the situation in my country today. I hope it will get better after the election next year." Text the second, "Thank you Sean, but I still wonder whether we are really independent yet." I do not include these to provoke heated political debate but rather to exemplify the fact that while it's fun and easy to get drunk with your buddies, have a BBQ and blow things up with illegal fireworks from Wisconsin, Missouri or North Carolina like we do in the states, there are people in other countries who spend their independence days contemplating the nature of their democracies and the welfare of their country and it's people. This realization, I must say, was truly moving.



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