Filipino nationalism and the Americans

Title

Creator

Soliven, Maximo V.

Language

English

Source

Panorama Volume XVIII (No. 4) April 1966

Year

1966

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Abstract

Filipino-American relations as viewed by an independent American journalist on the basis of current problems.

Fulltext

■ Filipinb-American relations as viewed by an in dependent American journalist on the basis of cur rent problems. FILIPINO NATIONALISM AND THE AMERICANS A few days ago, I urged that Congress take a vote without delay on the contro versial Vietnam Aid Bill so as to enable us to move on to the discussion of more pressing domestic problems. But now that the political situation in South Vietnam has taken a turn for the worse, it may be wiser to shelve the Vietnam Bill un till conditions clear up in that dissension-torn country. The main argument being fielded by the administra tion, after all, in favor of sending 2,000 Filipino en gineers to Saigon is that the South Vietnamese govern ment made a specific request for this type of assistance. It is only logical that we should determine whether this government will remain in powers before taking a vote on committing our en gineers. This does not mean that we are any less concerned about the future of South Vietnam. But our foreign policy, far from being rigid and inflexible, should be dic tated by common sense. • * * The lead article in the March 12 edition of “The New Republic,” a presti gious magazine published in Washington DC, is entitled: “The Philippines — Sugar, Rice and a Great Deal of Vice.” It was written by Alex Campbell, an old Asia hand, who is now the periodical’s managing editor. In his story, datelined "Manila,” Campbell asserts that “the White House is said to have used every poss i b 1 e pressure, including sending Hubert Humphrey to the Philippines twice in a matter of weeks, to get a re luctant (President) Marcos to ‘show the Philippine flag’ in South Vietnam, by dis patching a military engineer ing unit there and so becom 24 Panorama ing the first Asian member of the Southeast Asian Or ganization to respond to the Saigon government’s appeal to SEATO for military help. Notice how candid they are, even in Washington DC, about the fact that what is wanted in Saigon is Filipino MILITARY involvement. Over here, we’re still talking euphemistically about “cons truction engineers” and in serting clauses into the bill about prohibiting the pro posed engineers from getting into a fight with the Viet Cong. Let’s get rid of the sugar-coating once and for all. It takes two to tango, but only one side to start a battle — and the Viet Cong have already announced that they intended to start one. • • • Campbell further com ments that "Filipinos have reasons to be sensitive about their special relationship with the United States.” “Some Americans,” he de clares, "still behave as if the Philippines is nothing more than a company town, and they, the Americans are the company. They find the la bor docile on the whole, and cherish the illusion, dear to all tycoons, that the workers revere their bosses and are loyal to the company. It fol lows, of course, that any un rest that makes itself felt must be caused by agitators, probably Communists. Fili pinos don’t love Americans, or hate them either; they, do resent them. After having been ruled first by Spaniards, then by Americans and also brutally overrun by Japanese, the only way many Filipinos seem able to express the na tionalist fervor they genuine ly feel is to resent the United States.” • * • The "New Republic’s” edi tor no^es that “Americans here mutter darkly about ‘Communists’ when what ac tually happens is that Fili pino nationalist sentiment is cooly inflamed by forces that are concerned with pro fits. A rising class of Fili pino businessmen wants to elbow out foreign capital, especially American, in or der to have the exclusive rights to exploit an abun dant and intelligent labor force whose members are lucky if they earn as much as $50 a month. Filipino April 1966 25 capitalists own the newspa pers and magazines that fea ture loud ‘left-wing’ criticisms of the US.” Campbell concludes: “In spite of their depressing eco nomic situation and appal ling politics, Filipinos are cheerful, warmhearted, im pulsively generous and essen tially optimistic people who tend to believe that they will always manage to muddle through somehow. They are neither pro-Communist nor pro-Chinese. Chances are they will tolerate the American bases for as long as they are supposed to — the agreed date is now 1985 — and may tolerate Ameri can business beyond 1974. But in terms of international relations, neither date is real ly far off, and before either is reached, more Filipinos will1 be < thinking seriously about their place in Asia and their relations with China. US policy ought to be recep tive to that. If it isn’t, the next demonstrations at the US Embassy in Manila may be neither small nor deco rous." • • • Not all of Campbell’s re marks may make us happy, but they were made by a ve teran observer who covered Asia for several years and lived in Japan for four years, at the end of which he wrote the bestseller, "The Heart of Japan.” Perhaps one rea son he can write about both Filipinos and Americans with such detachment is that he is a Scotsman, born in Edin burgh in 1912, and a former correspondent of the London “Economists.” His views are intriguing, for they give us an insight into how foreigners see us. They should be equally in teresting to Americans here for they were not written by those whom they seek to dismiss as “Little Bungs” or fire-eating nationalists. 1 don’t agree with everything Campbell observed in his ar ticle, but one thing can be said — he lets the chips fall where they may. — Maximo V. Soliven, Manila Times. 26 Panorama

pages

24+

Media