Remembering 9/11: We must stand together

There are moments in history that we never forget. Sept. 11, 2001, is one of them.

Twenty-five years have passed, yet the images remain painfully vivid: a passenger plane slicing into the World Trade Center, flames consuming the towers, terrified people running through streets covered in ash and finally those mighty buildings collapsing before the eyes of a stunned world. Another aircraft tore into the Pentagon, while passengers aboard United Flight 93 fought back against their hijackers, sacrificing their lives and preventing an even greater tragedy.

Nearly 3,000 innocent people from many nations died that day. They were office workers, firefighters, police officers, airline crews, travelers, mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. Among them were Filipinos who had gone to America in pursuit of opportunity and a better future. Their families carried a grief that no passage of time can ever completely erase.

I unabashedly wept with emotion as I watched the attacks unfold on TV. This was not simply an assault on buildings or symbols of American power. It was a calculated attack on innocent human beings and on the values of freedom, tolerance and open society.

In one of my earlier columns following the attacks, I expressed my support for President George W. Bush under the title “When Bush comes to shove.” America had been attacked, and the world was being asked where it stood.

Addressing a joint session of Congress nine days after the attacks, President Bush declared: “Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.” It was a line that would define his presidency and the global campaign against terrorism.

For the Philippines, there was never any doubt. We were with the United States.

Then-president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo strongly condemned the attacks, ordering heightened security for the United States embassy in Manila and other possible targets, extending the solidarity of the Filipino people. She was the first Asian leader to telephone President Bush after 9/11. Her government offered Philippine airspace and facilities in support of the campaign against terrorism and said the country was prepared to go every step of the way with its longtime treaty ally.

That response reflected more than official diplomacy. Filipinos grieved with Americans because our connections are deeply personal. Millions of our countrymen live and work in the United States. Filipino nurses, doctors, caregivers, teachers, servicemen and ordinary workers are woven into the life of American communities. Many Filipino families have loved ones on both sides of the Pacific. When America mourned, the Philippines mourned with it.

Our solidarity also came from experience. Long before 9/11, the Philippines had confronted violent extremism and terrorism, particularly in the southern Philippines. We understood that terror respects no border, nationality or religion. It feeds on fear, exploits grievance and targets the innocent. But ignoring such evil would never make it disappear.

The struggle that followed was long, difficult and controversial. But nothing that came afterward should blur the enduring moral truth of Sept. 11: the deliberate murder of civilians can never be justified by any political cause or religious claim.

The attacks also transformed the Philippine-American alliance. Only weeks later, President Arroyo visited Washington as the two countries marked the 50th anniversary of the Mutual Defense Treaty. President Bush thanked her for her uncompromising leadership and for the moral support and assistance extended by the Philippines. The two leaders declared that Americans and Filipinos stood together in the campaign against terrorism.

That cooperation helped strengthen our own capacity to confront extremist groups. Our alliance, forged in war and sustained through generations, found renewed purpose against a threat neither nation could defeat alone.

Today, the strategic landscape is very different. Terrorism remains a danger, but nations must also contend with cyberattacks, disinformation, coercion, armed conflict and challenges to the rules-based international order. The lesson of 9/11 is therefore not confined to the past. Security cannot be taken for granted. Alliances must be nurtured. Intelligence must be shared. Preparedness must be constant, and nations must stand together when peace and human dignity are threatened.

Remembering is more than security. At the 9/11 Memorial in New York, the names of the dead are carved in bronze, each representing a life, a family and a future stolen.

Twenty-five years later, a new generation has grown up with no personal memory of that clear September morning. We owe it to them to tell the story truthfully: how hatred produced unimaginable destruction, but also how courage answered terror. Firefighters climbed stairways while others fled downward. Police officers and emergency workers ran toward danger. Strangers carried strangers. Passengers fought back in the sky. Across the world, people lit candles, offered prayers and stood with America.

For Filipinos, remembering 9/11 also means remembering who we chose to be at a decisive moment. We did not hesitate. We did not look away. As a friend, treaty ally and a nation that values freedom, we stood beside the American people in their darkest hour.

The smoke over New York and Washington has long since cleared, but our obligation to remember has not. Buildings can be rebuilt and cities can heal, but memory is the sentinel that guards against complacency.

On this 25th anniversary, we honor those who perished, those who rushed in to save victims and those who still bear the wounds of that terrible day. And we reaffirm a simple truth that emerged from the ashes: when evil strikes at innocent people, friendship cannot be neutral. Freedom cannot be silent – and the Philippines and the United States must always stand together.

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