Today — August 21 — President Noynoy Aquino is making extra noise in drumbeating as a way of proclaiming the greatness of his parents. Or in advertising the supposedly nobility of his family. And it is a deliberate strategy in marketing that the “ product” he intends to sell is prominently visible in today’s commemorative rites. The “anointed one” –Mar Roxas would bask in the limelight. As a poor performer in poll surveys, he needs not just the endorsement. Most of all the resources, both moral and material, must accrue to him from this day onward to election day.
And Noynoy is just too solicitous to grant him the much needed ride, so to speak. He does not need to recite false qualities of Mar Roxas as a successor. All he needs to do is extol the virtues of his ascendants. That would do the delivery of his message to the electorate, namely: that the members of this class of Filipino nobility to which his family belongs—and to which Mar Roxas’ family likewise belongs—are the trailblazers of the ”matuwid na daan”.
But my friends Renren and Lito and Abdul ask:
“Unsa man gyud ang kabantugan nga nahimo sa mga Aquino para sa atong nasod? Nganong nagpabilin man lagi gihapon tang nagkagidlay sa kawad-on?” [What greatness has really been done by the Aquinos? Why are we mired still in abject poverty?]
I replied, “Nakahatag silag dakong garbo sa atong nasod, di ba? Nga ang mga Pinoy dunay katakos sa kabantugan?” [Well, they have brought great pride to our nation, right? That we have the capacity for greatness?]
Renren promptly retorts, “Bag-o ba diay na? Di ba gipamatud-an na man na kaniadto nila ni Andres Boniofacio ug Rizal, ug uban pang mga bayani nato?” [Is that something new? Haven’t our heroes Andres Bonifacio, Rizal and the rest, proved that already?]
And Lito adds, “Bitaw! Kon garbo lang, dugay ra tang nabantog! Pero ang atong kalamboan wa gyud! Wa gyud ta kairog sa atong nahimutangang kalisod!” [True! Pride, we have been made renown for that! But in terms of development ,we haven’t moved an inch from misery!]
And the ever resourceful Abdul pursues a controversial query, “Lain pay ato, Sir Don, nganong di man si Andres Bonifacio ang giprokalamar nga nasudnong bayani? Segun sa akong nakat-onan sa history gibalibaran man niya ang imbitasyon sa Katipunan ni Bonifacio nga molunsad og rebolusyon para sa kagawasan?” [“By the way, Sir Don, why is not Andres Bonifacio the one proclaimed as our national hero? What I’ve learned about Rizal, is that he rejected the invitation from Bonifacio’s Katipunan to wage a revolution in order to gain freedom.”]
Before I could answer, Abdul pursues his point, “Di ba mas gipili niyang mosilbi sa Espanya isip doctor sa panahon sa rebolusyon sa Cuba? Pero si Andres Bonifacio way duhaduha ug way ukon-ukon, sukad sa pagsugod. Ug siya gyuy nangulo sa rebolusyon.” [Didn’t he choose to serve under Spain as a doctor during the Cuban revolution? But Andres Bonifacio was steadfast from the very start. And he led the revolution.]
Very true. But let us listen to our esteemed historian Renato Constantino who, in his book Dissent and Counter-Consciousness, wrote: “Rizal is a ‘United States-sponsored hero’ who was promoted as the greatest Filipino hero during the American colonial period of the Philippines – after Aguinaldo lost the Philippine–American War. The United States promoted Rizal, who represented peaceful political advocacy (in fact, repudiation of violent means in general) instead of more radical figures whose ideas could inspire resistance against American rule. Rizal was selected over Andres Bonifacio who was viewed ‘too radical’ and Apolinario Mabini who was considered ‘unregenerate.’
As far as I’m concerned, it has always been a case of what social class would be favorable to the sustainable interests of the American colonizers. In our historical experience, the moneyed class, or the Filipino economic elite, are the ones easily harnessed by the foreign invaders for the accommodation of their colonial/imperialist ends. Such upper class families as the ilustrados during Sapanish times and the educated wealthy scions of the ilustrados during the American period would be favorable to the long term interests of the US in our country.
From what we know, the upper class people , by virtue of their being schooled and their access to exclusive learning institutions—some even have to undergo “finishing schools” in foreign lands!—would be comfortable allies of the foreign invaders. Who readily succumbed to colonial policies? Who were the first collaborators of the Japanese invaders? They!—These families now at the helm of power!
During the war of resistance against Spain and subsequently against the US, who were vilified among our revolutionaries with such monickers as insurectos, infieles, tulisanes, bandits, etcetera? They were the revolutionary leaders who rose from the poor masses—the likes of Andres Bonifacio, Leon Kilat, Simeon Ola, and Makario Sakay . Most particularly Makario Sakay! Was he recognized a bayani until contemporary Philippine history?
But Rizal, Paterno, Luna and the ilustrados who were late-comers to the 1896 revolution, mostly mestizos who could speak Spanish, were not strapped with demonic labels. These descendants of the wealthy classes would earn deference as “savored with class”. Or imbued with a “taste of class”, given to classist breeding, education and refinements in social graces.
In present society, the elite classes from the time of Manuel L. Quezon and Manuel A.Roxas, Segio Osmena Sr., and Jose P. Laurel, representing the US interests, and their cohorts the big comprador capitalists and landlords, have constantly held the reigns of government at its helm. State power has never been fully entrusted to the economic upstarts such as the Estradas, the Poes and the Binays, who can not be considered classist “club members” of the real elite. They would always be side-glanced with a stigma as “wa class”, no matter their aversion for wealth and power.
The real villains, however, in Philippine society have been the economic upper classes. They are the real tulisanes, bandits, terrorists. And all their deceptions and hypocritical posturings, despite dire efforts of their marketing agents, cannot long prevail. Their “touch of class” will shatter the masks and peel off the cosmetics of pretensions in their anti-poor, anti-people policies and programs. They cannot fool for ever the “wa class” masses whom they call “bosses” in insulting nauseous prattle.
