Our youth and the unfinished revolution

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Part of Panorama

Title: Our youth and the unfinished revolution
Creator: Roces, Alfredo R.
Language: English
Source: Panorama Volume XV (No.9) September 1963
Year: 1963
Rights
Abstract: Address delivered at the Fifth Annual Junior Members’ convention of the Children’s Museum and Library, Inc., at the FEU auditorium, August, 1963
Fulltext: ■ A young journalist peers into the local scene from the long perspective of history. OUR YOUTH AND THE UNFINISHED REVOLUTION Alfredo R. Roces Revolution is a term ap plied to the overthrow of a government or a social sys tem with another taking its place. The term unfinished revolution is new, first heard in a speech of President Macapagal last June 12. I have been asked to talk on this topic and I feel it is es sential to state at the outset that I do not represent the present administration; what I have to say is not an official interpretation of the Liberal Party’s unfinished revolution. I am not an apologist for the administration, neither am I a member of the opposite camp. I am a newspaper columnist who considers po litics a source of amusing commentary. I turn my guns on whatever crosses my sight and I wish to retain this perspective, without political color and with truth as my only interest. Objective comment Thus what I have to say about the unfinished revolu tion is a personal interpre tation and does not carry the official imprimatur of the originator of this term. Nei ther is this talk the cyni cal brick-and-tomato-throwing opposition of those po litically committed to pessi mism about any program of the administration. What I propose to attempt is a se rious and, as much as possi ble, objectiye comment about this term from a history and cultural context. The revolution referred to is that which exploded Jn the late 1800’s upon the pre mature discovery of the Katipunan. 'It is interesting to 2 Panorama point out what others have observed, that this was the first national uprising against a colonial power in Asia. But while most students re cognize the political reper cussions of such an armed desire for change, the desire for other changes in the so cial structure are seldom giv en their due importance. The revolution for one thing re vealed two strong desires among Filipinos, aside from basic freedom and dignity, and these are opportunity for education and land. It was land that brought the first troubles between the rulers and Rizal’s family. His tale of “Cabesang Tales” is the lament of those de prived of land. Tragic history Philippine history is tra gic because each time the Filipino people reached a cultural level, wherein a maturity and flowering was in sight, a force outside it self nipped it in the bud. Thus our intellectuals who had been educated in the Spanish culture first found their talents needed to spark a national revolution and later found themselves with out anyone to leave a lega cy to. The Americans had come, they had sunk the Spanish armada and, with the forces of Aguinaldo sweeping like a tide towards Manila, waited for reasons we perhaps can never really ascertain. Their mission to destroy the Spanish, navy was accomplished and they watched the Filipinos fight their way to the Walled Ci ty of Manila. Soon Ameri can troops landed and as sumed positions in front of the city. The Spaniards chose to surrender to the Americans after a mock bat tle. By right of conquest America claimed a foothold in the Philippines. Inciden tally, Spain later contested the fact that Manila had sur rendered to the Americans one day after the Treaty of Paris was signed, the peace treaty between Spain and the US, thus voiding the staged battle and the victory, on technicalities. Such is the way of history. We had lit tle to say for ourselves. Cultural gap With the coming of the Americans there was a cul tural gap created. The gene September 1963 3 ration steeped in Spanish culture soon clashed with the younger generation who spoke English, drank CocaCola and danced boogiewoogie. It is the writer Nick Joaquin who has most poig nantly written of this pain ful void between two gene rations, of revolucionarios who became useless old men instead of respected heroes, of poets who found there was no audience who read Spanish, and who had to turn to politics or business to survive. The unfinished revolution does not touch on these, rather it speaks of the many aspirations that died stillborn ifi the coming of the Yankees. Said Gen eral Aguinaldo when a clash between the US and the re volucionarios seemed inevit able, in his Otro Manifesto del Sr. Presidente del Gobierno Revolucionario: "My nation cannot remain indifferent in view of such a violent and aggressive seiz ure of a portion of its terri tory by a nation which has arrogated to itself the title: champion of oppressed na tions. Thus it is that my government is disposed to open hostilities if the Am erican troops, attempt to take forcible possession. I de nounce these acts before the world in order that the con science of mankind may pro nounce its infallible verdict as to who are the oppressors of nations and the torment ors of mankind. Upon their hands be all the blood which may be shed." Forgotten heroes The bloodshed according to Leon Wolff in his book “Little Brown Brother" to taled 4,234 Americans dead and more than two thousand wounded at a cost of six hundred million dollars. Six teen thousand Filipino re bels were killed, their corpses actually tallied by the Am ericans, and about 200,000 civilians dead of disease. The revolucionario turned from hero to a pathetic fig ure forgotten by the Ameri can-oriented generation and this is best expressed in the words of Apolnario Mabini, who after finally signing the oath of allegiance from his exile in Guam, said: "After two long years of absence I am returning, so to speak, completely dis 4 Panorama oriented and, what is worse, almost overcome by disease and sufferings. Neverthe less, I hope, after some time of rest and study, still to be of some use, unless I have returned to the Islands for the sole purpose of dying.” Three months later, at the age of 38, he died. ‘Dimmed voices’ This was the unfinished revolution. The men who started it and who fought in it could have told us much about their aspirations. Some of what they had to say are available in documents, such as in the Malolos Constition, but their voices have dimmed and been ignored. For we were learning about the three little pigs that went to market and the great American democracy. "We were chewing gum, laughing at Charlie Chaplin and wear ing coat and tie. We left Cervantes and took up Shakespeare, we no longer heaped praises on Magellan and Anda and instead talked about Lincoln and Washing ton and the cjierry tree. In a little over 40 years we had forgotten the Filipino-Ameri can war, and, worse, we had forgotten the Revolution. When the Japanese hordes came, the Americans had me tamorphosed into allies, and after three painful years un der the Japanese, the Ameri cans returned as liberators. This caused even greater ob session with things American. They were the great golden gods. And what of the Revo lution and the Katipunan? Aguinaldo still lives, an old veteran who saw our best boulevard named after De wey — the admiral who rais ed the revolucionario’s hppes of casting aside the Spanish yoke, only to dash it’t» the ground wth the sudden desire of the Yankee to pick up the white man’s burden. But to day we are an independent nation. We have slowly and painfully looked long and hard at ourselves And we desire to seek our roots, our neglected past. The new concepts It has been a strange twist of local history that those who have defied the con querors and shut them out completely have slowly with ered and died, while those who learned to take in the new ideas and the new cul 5 ture managed to flourish. Thus, those who defied the Spanish regime and her cul ture still survive today only as cultural minorities. They are, for the most part, vanish ing tribes. Only the Mus lims remain strong and they are comparatively dis-oriented with the rest of contem porary Philippines. Those who fought the Americans, atid tried to conserve the Spanish heritage are slowly withering away while those who learned to acce'pt the new culture managed to prosper. But now we are in dependent and perhaps we should learn to adjust to the new concept of a young nation in Asia. Per haps those who fail to see this and remain reactionary will find themselves bitterly londy. Only time can tell. But the lesson of history is there. The present trend is to reach back for our old ideals, to return to the values and aspirations of our forefathers who embodied our greatest moment as a people in the revolt of the Katipunan. And this is the unfinished revolution you hear about. In concrete terms there are two point's which President Macapagal underscored. These are land reform and a new concept of foreign affairs which will place us in our true geographic location which is Southeast Asia. 2 vital points The unfinished revolution means a new look in our for eign affairs department in the sense that there will be greater interest regarding af fairs in Asia. There will also be much effort towards get ting to know our neighbors and much more importance stressed on Asian affairs.. This we hope, of course is not at the sacrifice of losing West ern military support which admittedly is vital to our se curity in this region at pre sent. But it indicates that we now do not expect to live under the US patronage for ever, and that we shall make efforts to strengthen our se curity on our own through allies and self-reliance in the distant but inevitable future. The unfinished revolution also seems to want to tackle the problem of land reform. In fact the bill towards such action, the Agricultural Land Reform Code which hopes to 6 Panorama abolish land tenancy, has just been signed. The merits or demerits of the bill I do not wish to discuss. Its implementaton will also be something one must wait and see before giving comment. But its intentions are worth while. Land reform is not just a possible key to our economic plight; it has be come the crying need of our present times. Every revolu tion in current history has tackled this problem of land reform. It just cannot be ignored in our present times. When Ben Bella took over Algeria from the French if was land reform he started at once, and it is the same in all emerging young na tions. The Chinese lost the mainland and the lesson learned from it led to a land reform in Taiwan, their last island home. When Fidel Castro triumphed in the Cu ban revolution, he imme diately instituted land re form, an act which led to US enmity, for much of Cuban land was owned by US fruit and oil companies and hotel magnates. Unless we want to wait for a Fidel Castro to emerge in our country, one who will push the entire na tion towards communism with Russian nuclear rockets in our midst, we should look at our agricultural land sys tem. We should awaken to current history. Land reform Land reform is necessary in the Philippines. But this is not enough^ With land reform must go dedicated and graft-free government support to the tiller of the land, and likewise a strong educational program. Other wise land reform will merely shuffle the ownership of lands without creating social progress, agricultural abun dance, and economic stabili ty. There should also be a system of just and speedy compensation for the land lords or a great injustice will have been committed. No ampunt of good intentions can justify an injustice. This, the unfinished revolution pro poses to tackle. The coming years will be crucial. You should be aware of this for much of the future depends on the implementation of this program, its effectivity, equitable and just means, September 1963 7 and finally its desired effect which is the common good. Graft remains President Macapagal also mentioned a frontal attack on our economic problems through the removal of im port controls. He claimed that graft and corruption was thus eliminated and that moral regeneration was on the way. But 1 feel it pertinent to point out that graft and corruption has remained. This time, instead of work ing for a license as in the days of control when wealth was assured through a dollar license, the greed for illegal wealth has shifted to our har bors. Now anyone can im port anything provided he pays his taxes on it. The corruption has therefore shifted to the bringing in of goods without taxes or with a nominal amount of tax. Smuggling has become na tionwide as never before. This aspect, which involves our law agents, should be looked into. Search for soil The unfinished revolution, to my thinking, is the crystal lization of our various past, vague aspirations. These were reflected in our nation alistic actions such as in the use of Pilipino and demand for a national language, street name changing, our so-called Filipino-first slogan and our research into our past. It is the inevitable evolution of the Filipino in search of his soul. He now finds himself more and more confronted with his pro blems. He must find solu tions to them. No large power can be blamed for his ills. No large power can save him’with foreign aid for'his sufferings. No outside im perialist can now suffer the blame for our own indolence, or our own lack of morality. Our ancestors who fought for a united country free of op pressors have been rediscover ed. They stand ready to judge us. Challenge to youth The future of this unfi nished revolution belongs to you, the youth. It is hard to imagine that those of the pre-war American era will ever see the fruits of this. But you who belong to the true generation of an inde pendent Philippines may at 8 Panorama last bring the Filipino race into full flower. God will ing, there will be no outside force to nip your efforts in the bud. The land reform will be in your hands in its actual implementation. The moral regeneration is like wise in your hands. An awareness 'of Asia with a slight devaluatioin of every thing imported and foreign, specially US, is needed. For we have adopted the bad with the good. In this sense, in being completely "west ernized” we have betrayed those who fought the revolu tion. In neglecting our. mi nority tribes, we have been traitors to our own race. In discriminately denuding our forests, we have defiled our own land. In succumbing to materialism and moral bank ruptcy we have been traitors to ourselves. Peaceful fight You may ask, what have I to do with all these? The learned statesman, or if you are cynical, the politicos, have taken care of all these and they are cutting up the cake which I shall not see a share of. Allow me to re peat a thought once given by Senator Manglapus: The men who fought in that un finished revolution were young men. And they were not old intellectuals, they were young ordinary people like Bonifacio or better still like Emilio Jacinto who died at the age of 23. Bonifacio was 29 when he led the Katipunan. Antonio Luna was a general at 29. And Emilio Aguinaldo was the first Pres ident of the Philippines, af ter successful battles, at the age of 29. One who died for him, Gregorio del Pilar, was 24. Osmena was Speaker of the House at 29, and so too Roxas. Jose Rizal wrote his novels in his late 20's and was killed at 35. You may of course argue that you have no ambitions to be a hero, much less the kind who dies at 23 or be killed at 35. Remember, however, that the unfinished revolution was started by young men like you. And there is one important as pect of this unfinished revo lution today, and \ that is that it is a peaceful revolution. The final fruits are to be achieved without recourse to force or violence. You September 1963 9 will be revolucionarios in peace. There is, of course, still violence in Ilocos, in the piers, in Intramuros, and the world outside. In Vietnam, in Korea, in Alabama. That is precisely why you must join. To put an end to violence. All revolutions are desirous of a quick end. Re volutions cannot go on for ever, it is a phase in which a change is introduced as a reaction. The peaceful phase could be a happier alternat ive to another bloody bath for other reasons and other changes if our system fails today or in the future. — (Address delivered at the Fifth Annual Junior Mem bers’ convention of the Children’s Museum and Li brary, Inc., at the FEU audi torium, August, 1963.) LIVE WITHOUT PRINCIPLE If I should sell both my forenoons and after noons to society, as most appear to do, I am sure that, for me, there would be nothing left worth liv ing for. I trust that I shall never thus sell my birth right for a mess of pottage. I wish to suggest that a man may be very industrious, and yet not spend his time well. There is no more fatal blunderer than' he who consumes the greater part of his life getting his living. All great enterprises are selfsupporting. The poet, for instance, must sustain his body by his poetry, as a steam planing-mill feeds its boilers with the shavings it makes. You must get your living by loving. But as it is said, of the merchants that ninety-seven in a hundred fail, so the life of men generally, tried by this standard, is a failure, and bankruptcy may be surely prophe sied. — Henry David Thoreau. 10 Panorama
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