Ask yourselves are we truly independent?

My good friend, Fred “James Coburn” Umabong posted old photographs of Gen. Emilio Aquinaldo and the great photos he shot during the 113th Independence Day parade in Osmeña Blvd in his Facebook last Sunday. But pardon me if I’m not one with you in celebrating Independence Day for the simple reason that the whole truth and nothing but the truth is that the Philippines was granted Independence by the Americans on July 4, 1946 when all the members of the United Nations (UN) recognized Philippine sovereignty. When Gen. Aquinaldo declared his Independence in Kawit, Cavite, not a single nation recognized our sovereignty.

What is truly troubling with our nation is that our Presidents are all so powerful; they can even change our history! It was Pres. Diosdado Macapagal who wasn’t happy with our relations with the United States who changed our Independence Day as a way of recognizing the exploits of Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo. Lest you have forgotten, it was Gen. Aguinaldo who had another Philippine hero, Andres Bonifacio summarily executed, hence he should have been an outcast in Philippine history, until Pres. Macapagal changed all that. But then in rehabilitating Gen. Aguinaldo, he changed the course of our history.

Forgive me if I really didn’t feel any sense of pride in celebrating our Independence Day because the reality today is the exact opposite. We claim to be independent, but in truth we as a nation are just too dependent on the United States of America for aid when a foreign nation bullies or invades us. We are so dependent on so many Middle East nations to ensure that our Overseas Foreign Workers (OFW) have jobs abroad. We are so dependent on cheap Chinese goods in order to stock our shopping malls. So now I dare you ask yourselves… have we become truly independent?

Someday I dream of a Philippines where nations like China would show us their respect. But that can only come when we as a nation can develop or purchase our own weapons system. This can only happen when the Chinese know that Filipinos have a program like the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) to would train every able bodied citizen to serve their country just like what our heroes in Bataan and our guerillas did. Only then can we truly claim a true and real independence.

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 I just got a text message from a friend that apparently the group that calls themselves as “Catholics for RH” wanted to meet with Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma to discuss their concerns about the Reproductive Health bill now pending in Congress. But I gathered that the good Archbishop refused to meet with this group stating, “If they think they represent Catholics, I’m not giving them an audience. Catholics for RH are not authentic. They are not recognized as Catholics.” Ouch! That should hurt. But then what I would really like to know is who organized this so-called group that calls themselves Catholics for RH? Are they registered as an organization under the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

There is no question that people band together to advocate their respective causes and all organizations cannot exist without money. So the bigger question is who is funding those so-called Catholics for RH? Could it be the lobby money that we’ve heard about who is also funding those pro-RH bill in Congress?

Once again, this opens them to the question that Sen. Tito Sotto asked during the deliberations for the RH in the Senate, “Why do we need to push this RH bill into a law when people are already free to buy condoms and other contraceptives in 7-11 stores or pills in Mercury Drug? People already have that choice.” Of course we already wrote the answer to that. The lobby group behind those foreign pharmaceuticals already know that it is the poor Filipino women who can ill afford to purchase those contraceptives, hence the need for a law that forces businessmen to pay for those contraceptives.

It just makes you wonder why the Cebu Business Club, the Cebu Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Inc. (CCCI), the Mandaue Chamber of Commerce, Inc. and the Mactan Chamber of Commerce has not issued any statements for or against the RH bill when it is a fact that their member businesses will be the biggest group that would have to shell out a lot of money to pay for the sexual appetites of their employees.

Pro-RH advocates insist that the RH bill is pro-choice. But on the contrary, all businesses establishments have no choice when their employees demand for their contraceptives or condoms, but pay for this unnecessary expense lest they be imprisoned for six months and pay P100,000 in fines. So the reality is the RH bill is pro-choice for women, but not for businesses.

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