I nearly shed tears of joy while reading Ramon Farolan's column titled "Balangiga and Catubig." (PDI 10/15/06) For a brief moment, I felt so proud of my country.
The government should invest heavily not only in books on Math and Science but also on Social Sciences and Philippine History. Knowledge of our country's past will make most of our youth aware of the sacrifices that our heroes offered for our nation. It will also open the eyes of our people to the real value of nationhood.
I am not advocating that our people adopt a kind of extremist nationalism. What I want is for our government to make a deliberate effort to instill in Filipinos love of country. What really keeps our nation from moving forward is that almost all of us, leaders and ordinary citizens alike, have practically no love for our country. The government refuses to be accountable to its people, while the people don't care about what the government does. There is a yawning gap between the rich and the poor. There is a general sense of depression over the present state of our nation and most of the middle class want to get out of the country in search of greener pastures, leaving behind a country in dire need of their services. Take a look at our skilled workers and professionals.
Our enemy at present is not a foreign invader or colonizer, but our very own selves. We can have a hundred Edsa revolutions but still find ourselves stuck in this mess. Some of us may say,"You can't eat nationalism for breakfast!" But with love of country, coupled with honor, justice and respect, we may yet find ourselves doing something to uplift the quality of life of every Filipino. For us to move on, we must learn to put patriotism in practice. Only then will everything we aspire for as a people fall into place.
Maybe, sometime in the future, we may yet bring the Balangiga bells back home.
(taken from the Letters to the Editor PDI October 23,2006 issue)
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