DAVAO CITY – Youth activist group urges President Benigno Aquino to reread Philippine History in response to the President’s frustration that most students are not familiar with the stories of Philippine national heroes.
Aquino reacted to the news that some college students asked actor Epy Quizon, who played the role of Apolinario Mabini in the film Heneral Luna, why he was sitting during the entire film.
Aquino said he would ask Education Secretary Bro. Armin Luistro to address the problem of what seemed to be the lack of historical knowledge among the youth.
However, Anakbayan national chairperson Vencer Crisostomo said “the president himself should restudy history.”
“With Aquino’s zealous subservience to US imperial interests, it would be no surprise if anti-imperialist stalwarts Mabini and Luna would condemn him if they were alive today,” said Crisostomo.
“(I)nstead of building our national industries as envisioned by Mabini and Luna, Aquino’s policies feature the pimping of Filipinos abroad through the labor export policy and the unlimited plunder of our resources by foreign multinationals,” said Crisostomo.
He also said Aquino’s “sacrificing of Filipino troops for the US objectives in Mamasapano and inviting US military bases back in the country might earn him the ire of Heneral Luna.”
“Baka siya sigawan ni Heneral Luna kung buhay yun (General Luna might shout at him if he is alive),” said Crisostomo.
“It is the height of hypocrisy for Aquino to mock today’s youth when it is precisely the K-12 curriculum which his administration railroaded that took away the study of Philippine History from high school. Siya ang walang natutunan sa kasaysayan (He is the one who learned nothing from history),” said Crisostomo. (davaotoday.com)
