Born on the 4th of July!

Didn't we write more than a dozen times here that politicians should never meddle with history? History is better left to historians or academics, but never to politicians who practice the art of compromise because you can never compromise with history. Read any history books especially the history of the United States and you will never hear of any politician altering the date of American Independence on July 4, 1776 because that is the date that America was able to free itself from British colonial rule.

And so it was way back 68-years ago when the imperial powers of the world, wounded and broken by World War II decided to give freedom to the colonies that they held for centuries. The Dutch left Indonesia, the French left Vietnam, the British gave India its Independence and much later in the early 60's Malaysia was granted independence by the British and America gave the Philippines the independence that our fathers have always longed for on the 4th of July 1946 a year after World War II ended.

It was a joyous occasion for those who fought and sought Philippine independence and a dark day for those who believed that the Philippines would fare better if we became a vassal state under the United States of America or better one of the Federal States of the USA. In short, we could have been like Puerto Rico or Guam and Saipan. But then that decision was made by our politicians at a time when American politicians believed that the people living in the Philippine Archipelago were not ready for self governance.

Perhaps it is time to rekindle this debate on whether it was better for the Filipino people to be under the US or are we better off in our current so-called independent state. Sixty eight-years ago, when America gave the Philippines its independence, its ulterior motive was that America was freed from their obligation to fix what World War II had destroyed in the country. This is why America was able to rebuild the Japanese economy instead of the Philippines.

Manila was next to Warsaw, Poland as one of World War II's most ruined cities of the war. Cebu City was unrecognizable because of American bombings by B-24 Consolidated Liberators. All our businesses along Colon St. like the Oriente Theater and the Imprenta Avila that ran the daily newspaper The Cebu Advertiser were lost. I do not even know if my grandfather Don Jose Avila was paid reparations for his loss.

Of course at this point in time, it is akin to crying over spilled milk if we had that debate on whether we should have embraced the independence that America bestowed on us or whether we should have remained under the American Commonwealth, more so that before he died, Pres. Manuel L Quezon left our nation with that curse, "I'd rather see the Philippines ran like hell by Filipinos, rather than ran like heaven by Americans."

This is why it always boils my blood that today, Filipinos are only celebrating Philippine-American Friendship Day instead of Independence Day because during the time of Pres. Diosdado Macapagal, he ordered to change the date of Philippine Independence Day from the 4th of July to June 12, 1898 when then Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo raised the Philippine flag in his residence in Kawit, Cavite. But for people of my generation we will always say that the Philippines were born on the 4th of July!  Damn those politicians!

Sixty eight-years later, today especially under Pres. Benigno "PNoy" Aquino III, we Filipinos are all the more tied up with the United States of America especially for our defense. We have had the RP-US Mutual Defense Treaty for many decades now, but we know too well that this is a one-sided deal - America coming to our military aid if we are attacked by foreign powers and it is not the other way around that we Filipinos would help America if they are being invaded because we know too well that would never happen.

Today we have another addendum to the RP-US Mutual Defense Treaty called the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, which allows the US Navy free access to Philippine Ports. But what did we get in return? Nothing, except perhaps the US government propping up the beleaguered Pres. PNoy Aquino at this time when he is literally drowning because the Supreme Court has finally ruled that the Disbursement Acceleration Program that he invented out of nowhere was declared unconstitutional. So in the end, the Philippines are not truly independent as a nation.

Speaking of the DAP, now that it has been declared unconstitutional people want to know what is the involvement of Pres. PNoy Aquino on this? Well, if you did not know when he was still a senator, Pres. PNoy Aquino authored Senate Bill no. 2131, seeking to prohibit the Executive Department from utilizing savings without the express consent of both the House and the Senate? If you ask me, Pres. PNoy Aquino cannot play innocent on this. You can read it here in http://www.senate.gov.ph/lisdata/105799392!.pdf.

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