Philippine Independence: From What?

Posted by Warlito Vicente on Jun 12, 2014 

Manuel Quezon got his wish – a Philippines run like hell by Filipinos.

Frankly, nobody wants to live in a country run like hell. As far as am concerned, I prefer heaven, regardless of nationality.

Having said that we really need to reconsider – what exactly were we working to be independent of?

Do we simply want to be rid of foreign occupation forces?

Or do we want to be rid of the tyrannical impositions of government – whether it is a foreign occupation force – or a domestic self-described “elite”?

I’d say the Filipinos missed the point of this existential discussion on the nature of their self-imposed hardship.

I say self-imposed because all these tyrannical and whimsical laws – such as requiring ALL foreign investors to find a Filipino partner AND not allowing more than 40% ownership can be removed. And yet, it is it not being removed? Ergo, it is self-imposed. After all, why should foreign investors be constrained by a constitutional provision instead of the actual business conditions.

Each and every Filipino can vote to have the restriction removed – but have they done so? No they have not! Ergo, self-imposed.

How many oligarch families are there in these islands with 90 million people? Millions of people can’t outvote a few hundred families? What am I missing here?

So what gives?

This boils down to the fact that Pinoys seems to have a predisposition to believe that they are properties of society or government even – and that whatever they do has to be in deference to the “greater good” – the good of the nation or the good of the country.

The problem with this mindset (the notion of a nation) is that – NOBODY has the monopoly on what the “greater good” is. And worse, legislating each person’s whimsical notion of the “greater good” does not render any benefits for the persons who don’t agree – and have to pay for it just the same.

And when such whimsical, nay tyrannical impositions are imposed without question – it begs the question – are Filipinos truly independent?

Independence means being able to make your own decisions – and to be responsible for the consequences of such decisions – without causing harm to the limbs, lives and property of others.

It means taking ownership of pursuing your personal happiness – your dreams and aspirations – instead of electing a committee that will pass a law to create an agency that you will need to fund so your dreams will be realized (which does not happen by the way).

Clearly, independence isn’t about having your white Anglo-Saxon babysitter replaced by a Pinoy mestizo babysitter (or a parliamentary committee of brown skinned pug nosed Malays)  – it’s about not having a babysitter at all.