Rodney King appealing to the people of Los Angeles during the 1992 riots. The acquital of police officers videotaped beating him a year earlier sparked the disturbance.
"What is produced when Filipinos form an organization? Several factions and a witty acronym for a name."
I'll go a little "Ambeth Ocampo" on you today and give a short, short history course. With apologies to the Chair of the National Historical Institute, here goes - to keep you short-attention-spanned generation from moving on to Facebook - a Reader's Digest version of history:
Andres Bonifacio (to the chismis inclined, his first wife died of leprosy and had a son, with his second wife, who died at infancy) was a founder and later leader of the Katipunan - a revolutionary movement seeking independence from Spain. By the portrayals I've seen, namely from the movies "Jose Rizal" and "Bayani," he seemed to be the fire-brand type full of conviction.
Let's set up the scene: It was a heady time with the people finally - thanks to "troublemakers" like Jose Rizal and others - recognizing an identity and uniformed Filipino soldiers battled the Spaniards both with set piece battles and guerilla tactics,
Ok, so far, we seem to have a run-of-the-mill hero story going on here, right? Ho-hum, yawn, huh? Well, this is where our story takes on an interesting "Soprano-like" texture. Turns out, there were two Katipunan chapters in Cavite (Filipinos? Two chapters in the same area? You're going "Uh-oh," right?). There was one headed by Emilio Aguinaldo's cousin and the other by an uncle of Bonifacio's wife. Telenovela fans out there may recognize where this is going: family loyalties, lots of shouting, macho posturing, betrayals, charges of treason and gun play.
Cutting to the chase: The clash between the two groups - now involving Bonifacio and Aguinaldo - becomes a full-blown power grab with both claiming Presidency of the Philippines with Aguinaldo writing in his memoir that Bonifacio "acted like a King." Wow, this is all too "Cristy Ferminit" for me: "So, Andy, ano naman ang masasabi mo sa akusasyon na you're 'acting like a king?'"
The Philippines, with a population of only 7 million back then was not big enough for two leaders. Something had to give. Here is how it went down: A party of Aguinaldo's men conducted a surprise attack on "Andy" and his men with the ensuing violence causing his wounding, the death of a brother, the beating of another and the possible...wait, wait...let's make this Oscar-worthy...and the
A trial for Bonifacio and his surviving brother ensues with charges of sedition and treason against the Aguinaldo government filed against them. Found guilty (his defense lawyer himself found him guilty), both were executed in the mountains of Cavite. The execution? Depends who does the story-telling: One account that Hollywood would surely appreciate is with him laying in a hammock, too weak to walk from his wound, being stabbed and hacked to death ("Down and out Hollywood producer, Jack Hiltzick, on his last legs halts reading the script handed to him by the Filipina maid of a more successful friend, looks at the sinking California sun and mutters to himself with great satisfaction, 'This is my Braveheart'").
Great story, huh? But did you really expect me to just stop there? What? No pontificating from the "Great Pontificator," you say? Well, here goes the "Balls and Chains" part...
Over lunch recently with my officemates (as you may surmise, they "love" having lunch with me), we discussed the whole Bonifacio story and their views say much about who we are. Firstly, of the four, only two were aware that he was killed by fellow Filipinos and are thankful to Jessica Soho for this bit of info. The Account Officer, Che Esmille, thought it was a reflection of the Filipino: "Hindi lang pala ngayon nag-aagawan ng kapangyarihan. Akala mo mas matino sila noon." My best friend, Dondi Gaite, loves pointing out the fact that historical figures are just...humans. The passage of time may allow them to be placed on pedestals with a romanticized version shown to the world, but, truth is - and this is where that Hollywood producer should get it right - these figures were human and....Filipinos.
What is a Filipino? There are the positives (we'll discuss lengthily in the future) and the not so positive, including: deep envy (asal talangka), intrigues (some of the rumors against Bonifacio included him stealing funds from the Katipunan and his sister being a mistress of a priest) and divisiveness (office politics and the common warning to avoid other Filipinos when living abroad).
The root cause of this? Kindly allow me to play armchair historian and, please, feel free to send in your differing views: It's something we picked up from our hundreds of years of occupation by different powers. Regionalism probably comes from the fact that we are different indigenous groups (170 languages, remember?) artificially put together by an outside force. Our feelings of envy probably come from the fact that there were those favored during the Spanish times. Our defeatist views and uncanny ability to adapt come from having been under different occupiers. This is in our DNA. The memes (cultural ideas and practices passed on) that we have all inherited and will pass on.
All is not lost, of course. We try to offer solutions here on this site. Firstly, we must collectively acknowledge what we are and explore why we became. We should come up with a definitive series on TV about our history. The government should commission Ambeth Ocampo to take on an expansive and entertaining documentary that will be seen as a must-see by Filipinos. There are three channels (4, 9 and 13) owned by us that could be the venue for this. History not only explains who we are, but, mirrored against those of other nations; can help us see what we may...should be.
Secondly, the government should mandate community programs that will require each and everyone of us to serve the community. The documentary series should also explore our lost values - introducing them to a new generation. We are, relatively, a young nation and we still have a long way to go towards moral recovery and efforts like these (others will be discussed in upcoming posts) will help.
Before we close out this story, you may be wondering about what finally did happen with Bonifacio and Aguinaldo. The former - in the long run - did well: He's one of only two heroes with a national holiday. Aguinaldo, meanwhile, is a different story entirely: He was forced to sign a truce with the Spaniards in exchange for cash and exile, became the first President of the Republic, lost to a landslide on another try then found himself accused of collaborating with the Japanese during the Second World War - including giving radio speeches supporting the occupier. I suppose Aguinaldo is one reflection of us: Again, the uncanny ability to adapt in order to survive.
Hard to say if there are villains or good guys in this story. Both represented the best and worst in us. Just like us, they were probably just victims of history.
By the way, my colleagues? They're glad lunch is over. Our Accountant did say that we should celebrate Bonifacio's death anniversary instead as a reminder of who we really are. "Para magising tayo," she says. Another? Cris Rayos thinks they should not be heroes for they went against the occupiers. He believes that we should just be obedient to them - in order to survive and live in peace. Just another victim of history, I guess.
Here's something that should make us all think:
Excerpt:
Nakaranas ka na ba?
Nakatikim ka na ba?
Nakatanggap o nabigyan ng kahihiyan?
Dahil sa iyong panindigan
O dahil sa iyong nakamtan
Inggit sa iyong narating
Pilit kang sisirain
Dyan sila magaling
Ilalagay ka sa alanganin kaya
Mag-ingat sa mga asal talangka
Hihilahin ka nila pababa
Namamato kapag ika'y hitik
Hitik sa bunga
This piece is dedicated to an uncle, Tonypet Araneta, a dedicated lover of the Philippines and all things Filipino and to my best friend who has helped make me see the real Filipino.
