Our dear national heroes,
Today is the 111th anniversary of our country's independence. Normally, we Filipinos today reflect on its significance. But I'd like to take this rare opportunity to thank you for your sacrifices and selflessness so that we Filipinos today would have a country that we can call our own.
Doctor Rizal, thank you for Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo. They helped create a sense of nationhood among Filipinos. But most of all, thank you for willingly sacrificing your life. If not for you, La Revolucion Filipina probably would've taken longer to happen.
Supremo Bonifacio, thank you for the Katipunan. Even though the actual independence declaration makes no mention of your contribution to our nationhood, we know the whole story about Tejeros and Maragondon. Your place in history is secure, sir. Justice has been served and you will never be forgotten.
General Luna, thank you for being a true Filipino soldier and patriot. Rest assured that the memory of the cowards who murdered so treacherously you will forever remain in infamy. We know who the mastermind was. You will get justice.
Attorney Mabini, thank you for your gift of wisdom. You were the guiding light at a time when our nation was feeling its way in the dark toward freedom.
Attorney del Pilar, thank you for your dedication to justice as well as your excellent stewardship of La Solidaridad. May the Filipino journalists of today always look up to you for inspiration in keeping the flame of liberty alive.
To our other countless heroes, thank you for your contributions and sacrifices. I'm sorry I can't mention you all by name. Masyado po kayo marami. Pero hindi po kayo malilimutan kailanman. Pasensiya po.
I sometimes wonder how you all would feel if you see how our Pilipinas has become throughout the years. Spain is now our friend and Spanish is taught in college but only six or 12 units of it. Unfortunately, our Spanish vocabulary is mostly limited to cuss words. But, as you might say, so what else is new?
Anyway, sirs, I am also writing you because I want to tell you about the treachery being committed right now by our very own government no less, under the presidency of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, on the Filipino people. This treachery dishonors your memory and brings your sacrifices all in vain.
On the evening of June 2, 2009, a date that should forever live in infamy , Arroyo loyalists in the House of Representatives (unlike the Malolos Congress, we have two chambers in Congress, the other being the Senate), like a common thief in the night, passed House Resolution 1109.
In defiance of the people's will, 170 congressmen called on the House to convene as a constituent assembly so they could tamper with the Philippine Constitution, which is founded on the Malolos charter authored no less by Attorney Mabini. You should've heard them laugh oh so casually on live television , like it was no big deal. Grabe, nakakagalit talaga po. Pinipigilan ko lang ang sarili ko na maghasa ng bolo. Yes, I do have one at home.
Arroyo's henchmen claim that they want to amend the current charter's economic provisions and, therefore, give the Philippine economy a big boost in this era of worldwide recession. Yes, sirs, mabagal pa rin ang ekonomiya natin, I'm sorry to say.
But we suspect that they want to remove the limits on terms so that Arroyo and the other traidores could stay in power permanently, the same way the dictator Ferdinand Marcos did in 1972. Doctor Rizal, I'm sorry to inform you that the social ills that you wrote about are still very much here. Maraming pa ring mga Padre Damaso at Dona Victorina sa aming lipunan.
How I wish that you were all here today, especially Supremo Bonifacio with your bolo and General Luna with your revolver, to teach these traitors to the Republic a lesson that they will never forget.
Rest assured, sirs, that we Filipinos today will not allow these traidores a la patria and their politics of greed to dishonor our Pilipinas and dishonor you by reducing all that you have sacrificed for to nothing. Matutuwa po kayo na malaman na marami mga Crisostomo Ibarra na nagsusumikap magdala ng pagbabago.
We Filipinos of today will not forget our revolutionary tradition. Buhay pa rin po ang diwa ng Katipunan hanggang ngayon kahit paano. Viva la Revolucion Filipina!
Sincerely,
A Katipunero
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