Dramatis personae

Lights, camera, action! Was the former assemblyman Homobono Adaza along with the four ex-military officers attempting to stage a La Liga Filipina? I doubt it. Seems to me like another drama unfolding, choreographed by either the opposition or administration parties.

What else is new? We are a “demented” bunch of actors and actresses all wanting to stage a big plot to get some attention or to change the ebb (or flow) of the tide. Blame it on that streak of culture we got from our Latin blood. But this is also what makes our society so colorful and exciting and the very reason we are so much “loved” and “hated.”

Whatever is the real score about that alleged coup plot, it just so happens to fall on the same month as when the short-lived revolutionary movement, La Liga Filipina was created.  What a coincidence, huh? What is more interesting is that both (if Adaza’s alleged coup attempt is proven) happened to have existed for only 3 days.

What was the name of that first radical revolutionary movement which replaced Jose Rizal’s more moderate, but no less steadfast, La Liga Filipina? Just as Rizal was thrown into Fort Santiago to await his first sentence of “deportation,” on the night of July 7, 1892, a handful of “plotters” met at No. 72 Azcarraga Street (now Claro M. Recto Avenue) in the home of Deodato Arellano (a brother-in-law of Marcelo H. del Pilar) to establish a secret society dubbed the Kataastaasan Kagalanggalangan na Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (Highest and Most Respectable Society of the Sons of the People). The founding fathers were Andres Bonifacio, Arellano himself, Valentin Diaz, Teodoro Plata, Ladislao Diwa, Jose Dizon and a number of others.

The aim of the organization was to mobilize others through a cautious method known as the “triangle,” until each district would have a balangay or branch. It is reflective of our inflationary peso that the original entrance fee was one real fuerte, the equivalent today of 20 pesos.

It is intrinsic that the old Katipunan stressed not just the martial arts, including fencing and the use of explosives, but the teaching of “democratic” morality, good manners (urbanidad), hygiene, religious tolerance (a backlash against the Catolico serado fanaticism of the hated friar overlords). The Katipunan abhorred the “weakness of character” and “obstructionism” that the Spanish friars had “inflicted” on the Filipino people. Alas, the proud name of Katipunan has deteriorated while the weakness of character has been commemorated. Not to mention the stupid dictum that “democracy” is demonstrated by vulgarity and bad manners, lack of respect for others and respect only for one’s selfish “self”.

True, none of these Katipuneros can be classified as “intellectuals.” Perhaps, this was why, unlike our filosofos who delight in engaging coffee shop gossip and endless discussion and debate, those Katipuneros were doers and not talkers. They were fighters and not wimps. They were “real” men with strong minds, great hearts and true faith.

Today, what sort of Katipunan does GMA envision? A league of talkers – or those who dare and do?

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My friends from the US of A texted me, “Happy 4th of July.” I know that this day is celebrated in America with much more spectacle than New Year’s Eve. So what really gives it this spark? In one of his columns, my dad (the late Maximo V. Soliven) had already answered this question. I would like to share it especially to the youth who need to rekindle the sense of nationalism and patriotism during these confusing times:

It has become customary for Filipinos to ignore the Fourth of July. Many of us are, in fact, so eager to reinforce our “nationalistic” credentials by criticizing or even bad-mouthing our former colonial overlord, the United States of America.

I agree with the late President Diosdado Macapagal’s decision to move our Independence Day from July 4 to June 12, that day our Revolutionary government declared Independence.

That having been said, let’s cheer the American people today on what they call their Glorious Fourth – it was truly one of the most remarkable Revolutions in history. And the nation born of it, through many wars – including one of the most cruel Civil Wars – and challenges, for all their missteps and mistakes, remains vigorous and strong.

What is remarkable about the men and women who made that Revolution is that they were ordinary folks who, for all their bickering among themselves – and, mind you, many in America fought for England and the Tory cause – finally came together in common purpose. The men who signed the Declaration of Independence did not, after putting their “John Hancock” (as the expression goes) on that stirring covenant, go off into history in a golden glow to be enshrined in the hearts of future generations (or to be forgotten by them as is the case today). They had to fight to make that Independence a reality. They pledged their fortunes, and their sacred honor – and often they lost their fortunes, their homes, their families, and sometimes their own lives in the carnage of war. Many of the signatories were to die in battle. This is the price they paid. This is why the Fourth of July is not merely fireworks, and hotdogs, and speechifying.

Our founding fathers, too, had that fire in the belly, that ideal of sacrifice. They, too, fought. Many also died. It is that legacy which we have lost. In our old National Anthem were the lines, corny if you will, which went, “with fervor burning, thee do our souls adore!” It meant that we loved our country with fervor. Does anybody love this country anymore?

That is where this generation has gone wrong. Too few love our country. Too many love themselves. And only themselves.