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Like
some of our citizens, I felt that moving the
Independence Day holiday a few days earlier to give
everyone a long weekend diminished somewhat the purpose
of declaring June 12 a holiday. As one editorial pointed
out, a pause from the daily grind once a year helps
remind us of the significance of the occasion we
commemorate.
But,
beyond the nonworking day, traditional parades and
speeches on June 12, how we value our independence can
be seen from our words and actions, particularly those
of our political leaders. And lately, we have the Senate
to thank for reminding us of our independence—if not its
substance, at least its form.
Recently, the Senate summoned the representatives of the
Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce (JFC) to a committee
hearing to question them about a letter they wrote to
President Arroyo, urging the government not to amend the
Electric Power Industry Reform Act. Our senators, in a
rare show of unanimity, condemned the JFC’s act as
“impertinent” and took the members to task for
interfering in our country’s internal workings of
government.
Some
citizens, particularly the “worldly and sophisticated,”
may cringe at the display of nationalistic fervor. After
all, “independence” and “sovereignty” are words that do
not trickle from the tongues of our people as
spontaneously as they did over a hundred years ago, when
the Philippine revolutionary government proclaimed our
independence against Spain. Passionate defense of these
ideas seems passé in this era of globalization,
multilateralism and interdependence. That’s why the
Senate’s swift reaction to the JFC’s “breach of
protocol” is a welcome reminder of the need to be
sensitive to the form, as well as substance, of
independence.
As for
substance, it’s worth remembering how ordinary citizens
reacted when the United States of America, after seizing
victory from the Filipino revolutionaries, posted a
proclamation of conquest on public buildings. Official
records of the US government note that “the natives tore
down the proclamation from the walls and trampled upon
it . . . thousands of natives left the city to join the
insurgents. . . . Even the Filipino women declared, in a
paper drawn up and signed by a large number, that they
would resist the Americans, side by side with their
husbands and sons, and would shed every drop of blood in
their veins for the independence of their country.”
(Corpus, p.391)
There
lies the meaning of Independence Day.
The author is the director general of the Intellectual
Property Office of the Philippines. Comments may be sent
to e-mail address: dg_asc@ipophil.gov.ph. |
