The spirit of the Guardias did not die immediately or overnight. Some loyals kept its spirit alive by forming secret societies. When the Americans withdrew from Pangasinan, the neophyte provincial authorities had to deal with an undercurrent anarchism that sometimes surfaced in violent upheavals. One was the Natividad Uprising in 1903. Similar incidents of diminishing intensity continued for another six years then it finally dissapeared. After 1910, there were no more reports about the Honor Guards. But new and equally violent societies took their place. There was the SANTA IGLESIA and also the SAPILADA which was prevalent among the Igorots of Northern Luzon.
Present day church societies are not that bad compared to the time when the Church and the State were one. During those days, the real power resided in the clergy. The NOLI ME TANGERE and the EL FILIBUSTERISMO were the outstanding literary classics written by our national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal. Using the 1890 Philippines as a background, he drew very realistic characters and conjured events that would never happen again..
If we examine the basic problems of 1890 and compare it to the basic problems of 2006, it appears nothing much had changed. The Filipino farmer ( which comprises the majority of our population ) is still poor, exploited and easily swayed by promises of a better life or more money. The Spanish conquistadores were gone but another nationality ( or shall we say more nationalities? ) took their place. Hacienderos are still around. Bandits and tulisanes still operate at a more sophisticated level: thanks to Hollywood movies that depict bank heists with high technology. More gruesome are the thieves who shoot their victims inside jeeps just for a single cell phone. The Spanish clergymen are out, Filipino clergymen are in, but somehow the same issues on "sins of the flesh" are still smoldering like barbeque coals. Being celibate is not the question, some married pastors have the same situations: illicit sex. Now I heard in the Internet Philippine radio that the budget of the Philippines is hovering around the trillion peso mark. How will Juan dela Cruz be able to pay that amount?
What if the Philippines did not gain their Independence from the Americans? When I was young, I read about an association formed asking US to take us back as a protectorate, then maybe as an State after a while..Then we wont have to go to the US anymore to find better jobs..This association was shot down immediately of course by the "Nationalists"..
But let us count our blessings. We are not still under a totalitarian regime which does not allow any kind of demonstration in public places. Elsewhere in Asian totalitarian countries, try to say a few dissenting words against the government and with just a flick of a finger, one becomes food for the worms.
Things could not get worse. They can only get better..But how?---#
Written by mabait42
About the hacienderos, one has to look just at Tarlac, or the Visayas, then one will see that they are still there, and making money, out of oppressive labor conditions.
It is easy to say that they are the bad guys, but say we have a friend, a good friend who has a sizable piece of land, one that he has tilled with blood, sweat and tears, and you saw it with your own eyes how he did just that. And when somebody takes away that land, we wont feel gladness.
The hacienderos have the legal, moral right to that land.
The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform must be viewed differently, for us to appreciate its value. CARP in essence realizes that the land belongs rightfully to the hacienderos, but "begs" them to let some of it go, in return for a cheap compensation which is what the govt could only afford,so that poor people can rise from poverty, and the nation as a whole will prosper. Sounds familiar? It should be, its what different faiths teach, charity and service.
Whereas charity and service of the kind the Bible teaches is voluntary, in matters in the level of socio-econo-political life, it demands to be enforced by law.
In essence, taking away our land, and limiting the number of hectares that an individual can buy, must not be viewed as restricting the freedom of Filipinos. In the light of our economic standing, it must be seen as a necessary service, one that is obligatory, for the greater good, which as we all know stands above the individual, in a democratic, representative society.
Comment from longwaybye - 28/07/06 7:22 PM
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