Philippine Independence Day

It's Philippine Independence Day but, I don't feel special about it. It's a hot Sunday and the temperature is not getting cooler. And, it's very noisy.

So I browsed some channels on tv and I see crowds partying because of what today represents. I really think people are mislead about the Independence Day celebration, since I don't remember when  the Philippines has ever been free from its problems? I know Independence day is celebrated because some disgruntled slaves decided on a revolution against their Spanish owners, but they didn't win their freedom. The entire Philippine archipelago was sold to the Americans in a transaction during some war Spain couldn't win against. So I don't think there is an Independence Day in the first place.

If today were a real Independence Day, I believe people would be celebrating about the culture and genius of our ancestors. Society during Pre-colonial times was an animist society. There were chieftains, workers, and  slaves who believed in the spirit world. I believe our animist centered society would mature and still retain belief in spirits. And it would be a better society than today. We were meant to be agriculture-based not industrial. And if I were to give it a name for my country I'd call it Maharlika, the illustrious class of the wealthy and powerful.

If I truly felt there is an Independence Day I wouldn't be writing in English. I wouldn't write Filipino because I know it's Tagalog and I'm Bisaya. I don't think Tagalog is rich with meaning, syntax and semantics. Usually when ones composes a sentence in Tagalog, one can't avoid using a word that is not Tagalog. It throws the whole thought off and it's actually hard to transliterate in English. Meaning and humor gets lost. It sucks. Same thing with Bisaya. So I dare not think of jumbling different words from different languages into one Tagalog sentence, or a Bisayan one. It's bizarre and smarts in the ears.

I can only dream of a real Independence Day that isn't really Filipino. Maharlika. Yeah I know it's a Tagalog word but as far as I recall the Tagalogs were descendants from early Bisayans who moved north to Luzon. But for a nationalistic reason, Maharlika represents everybody.