The origins of the word “Filipino” came from the Spanish colonial occupation forces. It meant a subject of Philip, the monarch of Spain. Prior to the entry of the conquistadores, there were various inhabitants of what today is considered the Philippines. All of these inhabitants had their own independent and sovereign nations. With the arrival of the Spaniards, these inhabitants were conquered and subjugated to form a hacienda economy. Even then, there were sporadic revolts that occurred throughout those years. The subjugation was followed by the American occupation which cemented the foundations of the plantation economy and subsequently transferred the colony’s administration to the pensionados.
The concept of freedom died in the Philippine islands, the day the descendants of Lapu-Lapu, Rajah Soliman, and Gabriela Silang yielded to the formation of the modern day Philippine state. The sacrifices of the independent and freedom-loving inhabitants of the island were laid to waste by their descendants who now called themselves “Filipinos”. Right from the get-go, the word Filipino in essence meant a subject, a slave. Today, the slave mentality pervades these islands more malignantly than ever – and freedom has become an alien concept to Filipinos.
Today’s Filipinos no longer know how to think for themselves. They mistake expressing of their feelings for thinking. When Filipinos say “I don’t like this government” – they believe that they have already done lots of thinking, when in fact all they did was to express their dislike for government. A thinking person would have gone further with introspection and asked “is this administration the problem – or perhaps I am asking the wrong question.?”. A thinking person would have gone further and asked “do I need another administration, do I need another form of government, or do I need to be free from government?”.
When Filipinos decry their slavery to government, what they mean really is they don’t like how their current master treats them – and they want another master – be it another government administration – or another form of government. Filipinos have yet to come to the notion that as free men, they don’t need government at all. The Filipino slaves are not comfortable with the idea of not having a master. Filipinos are scared of freedom. They think that the lack of government is equivalent to the lack of order. This notion has been disproven many times by the aftermath of Yolanda. The story of individuals who stepped up to leadership, in the absence of government are aplenty. The spontaneous mobilization and spontaneous order of the private sector mobilization is a testament to the uselessness of government. And had people pursued on that path instead of relying on government’s non-existent support, their lives would have been better served. And yet, the Filipinos remain enslaved by the notion that someone else, other than themselves have to do the thinking for them – how to be educated, how to take care of their health, and well-being and what not.
The issues of high prices of commodities and services is a continuing theme throughout the island. And the best that the Filipinos can think of is to demand that government fix the problem. Which begs the question – how can government fix the problem when government itself is the problem. How can government get Meralco to lower its rates – when government itself PROTECTS Meralco? Think about it – the more money Meralco makes, government gets more taxes. It is this same template of government protection of crony businesses which is replicated all over the island. It is a public-private partnership to keep competition out – and corner the wealth of the islands’ 90 million inhabitants and redistribute it to the already rich. The Philippines is one big plantation economy – and Filipinos are its slaves.
As Filipinos search for solutions – their solutions boil down simply to finding a better slavemaster – or in today’s politically correct environs – “better governance” . The problem with that notion is whether you are governed by a president or a prime minister – you are still governed by someone else, other than yourself – you still remain a slave. The notion of freedom is considered too radical, even primitive, by today’s Filipino slave – a notion which their ancestors fought for and died for.
Before the birth of the tyrannical Philippine state, the inhabitants of these islands practiced the rule of law without the need for a central state. Before the arrival of the Spanish colonizers in the Philippines in the 16th century, the Barangays were well-organized independent villages – and in some cases, cosmopolitan sovereign principalities, which functioned much like a city-state that conducted diplomacy and trade with different nations. Like any other society these principalities had their own social stratification structures. These social structures are still very much present today. The datus have morphed into the local warlords and trapos, the alipins are today’s blue-collar class, and the timawas are the white collar class. The difference of course is that that instead of the independent city states, there now exists a centralized state that dictates and enforces the whimsical regulations on the rest of the politically reconstituted islands. Today’s Philippines is too enamored with politics while pre-colonial Philippines was focused on trade.
After 300 years of hacienderos and Spanish friars, 50 years of benevolent assimilation by Hollywood – today’s Filipinos have forgotten what it means to be free from the dictates of colonial forces. The islands where independent cosmopolitan city states used to thrive, is now known as the Philippines – a shadow of its former vibrant self and a colony of its own elite. Colonial administration of the plantation economy changes hands from an iron fisted despot to a clueless housewife to a B-movie comedian and to stooges of plutocrats. The Filipinos are still in perennial search for “leaders” who will think for them – like sheep in wait for a shepherd (or shepherds) to find greener grass for them to munch on – before they are taken to the slaughterhouse to be fleeced or worse, butchered into veal.
Philippine independence is a sham and has plunged Filipinos deeper into slavery. To chart its way out of a dystopian present, the key to a better future for the inhabitants of modern Philippines lies in its vibrant precolonial past. The absence of a colonialist central government does not mean the absence of order and rule of law.
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