It’s that time of the year again when “Indepedence Day” becomes a “trending” topic. Yet, year in and year out we continue to wonder whether or not Filipinos really understand what it means to be truly independent. This is because the facts surrounding this debate are quite confronting. The Philippines lacks any real means to walk its talk of “independence”.
For one thing, the Philippines is unable to defend itself. Generations of lazy, tunnel-visioned governments and a constant din of limp-wristed “activism” had reduced the Philippine military into a merely ceremonial national ornament. As a result, the Philippines continues to rely on foreign “friends” and “international tribunals” to assert its territorial claims. Unfortunately the world does not work to suit this snowflake outlook. People with the guns and money get to set the agenda and determine how things work. The Philippines, for now, has neither.
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Second, the Philippines is not good at making stuff the people of the world want and are willing to pay good money for. This is evident in how the country is flooded with imported stuff, how its consumers salivate over all things foreign, and how its industry relies on foreign capital to get things done. Without an indigenous wealth creation capability and a modern industrial — and, specifically, manufacturing — foundation to put its economy on a solid footing, the Philippines will remain hopelessly dependent on foreign stuff to prop up any semblance of modernity.
Third, Philippine political discourse continues to remain predominantly colonial-minded. Its “thought leaders” engage in endless petty debates on who dominates who, and to what world power their country needs to suck up to. Its politicians defer to “international courts” when seeking “justice” and key members of its media reserve their highest reverence for the content produced by liberal Western counterparts. Indeed, no less than the “vice president” of the Philippines invites foreign agencies to meddle in her own country’s internal affairs. Until Filipinos and their politicians grow up and apply an adult attitude to the way the Philippines conducts itself among its global peers, the idea that it is an “independent” state may need to be taken with a grain of salt.
From the top down, Philippine society continues to exhibit signs that it still clings to the laylayan of former colonial masters to validate its existence. The highest aspirations of its citizens is to land a job overseas to feed their families and “hope” is hinged not on a strategy to achieve self-sufficiency but on a constant pitch to keep a river of foreign funds in the form of “investments”, loans, and aid flowing in to keep national cash flow balanced.
There can be no national “pride” if there is no real national independence. This should be the key message Filipinos need to comprehend in this year’s “Independence” Day.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
rice production is our independence. get back hacienda luisita, built a deep well water pump, and plant rice. now we’re independent.
We are not truly independent. Our political leaders, who are mostly crooks and scammers, made us all too dependent on them; so that they can have our votes, and they can be elected over and over.
We are a Feudal Oligarchy, a remnant class situation, from our former Spanish colonizers. The Filipino farmers cannot feed the country; because Land Reform is not implemented. So, we have to import most of the rice we eat. We are too dependent on Vietnam, Thailand, etc…to feed us…
The Filipino Oligarchs, rule us. They control the economy. They control the media. They control all the businesses. Most are in politics; or they control the politicians. They control our lives…
We are too dependent on the United States, in our national defense. We encourage the Duterte administration, to fully modernize our military equipment and materials. Return the ROTC training in colleges and universities. This promote discipline in our young..
Some opposition idiots, go to the toothless, International Criminal Court, to resolve our conflict with China, regarding the territories, secretly sold by Trillanes and Aquino to the Chinese. We should hang these two traitors; instead of us going to the ICC Court
We have no manufacturing or industrial base. We are too dependent on OFW remittances, to float the Philippine economy. Some basic things or materials in our daily needs; we have to import, because we cannot even make them.
We export semi finished products , processed from our natural resources. Countries, who buy our semi finished products, tun them into finished products, and sell them to us at high prices … How stupid can you get?
We even export people with talents, good education, skills and brains to foreign countries, as OFW. BRAIN DRAIN has been going on ever since, in our country.
True independence, does not mean celebrating independence day with pomps , fireworks, and idiotic patriotism. It is being independent in all aspects of our lives !
Take the civil service out of government and the country will collapse, take politics out of government and the country will flourish.
“Independence” in this country is just the hollow facade put up by people who believe that their needs should be met by dole-outs from other people (or other nations) because they believe they are entitled to it. Even families teach their children to beg at times.