Is this our country?

Media

Part of The Nation

Title: Is this our country?
Language: English
Year: 1945
Rights
Fulltext: By the Many Strange Things That Happen, W·e Are Forced to ,Ask: Is THl-S 0.ur COUNTRY? TH IS is still the ·PHI- By J. M. H. a quiet, submissive, hospitable, LIPPINES. But is it our country kind race sensitive only to an instill? Is it still the land of sway- conflagrations that had wandrered suit to their own kith and kin. ing palms and bamboo groves, the through the length and -breadth of They could not let a slur on their mystic isles of the southern seas, the land. like maddened beasts of, country's honor and their nation's the garden ·spot of the Pacific, the prey, skeletal remains of historic integrity go by unchallenged and Pearl ,of the Orient, and the home mansions that had long resounded · unassailed. This was the harbor of innumerable heroes? Or has with ~he songs of our forebears; of quiet dreams. Here, tfred waythis land, more beautiful than a black, leafless, slender trees farers from the distant Weet, fleel<>ver's madrigal, suffered a sea- writhing as if in agony and des- ing from the tumult and the.-shoutchange in the last three years and pair. Gone is the graceful sweep big of men obsessed with territomade into .an empty crust echoing of shore where once the breakers :rial lust and conquest, stretched hollowly the sordid tale of broken crept timidly like tired little themselves upon the gree:1sward hearts? Is this our country, the children to their beds, gone is the and listened to the musie of darkone and only being deeply cherish- trim, white-walled, tile-roofed, eyed dalagas chanting of, the haled with a passion born of blood low cottage by the wide avenue cyon years. and fire and nurtured in the bosom bordered with spreading flame of our fecund valleys through all• trl!es. Gone are the architectonic Now, it appears, that the War the singing. years of our chronicled w;onders of the West. planted as bas "put rancours in the vessel of annals? landmarks on Oriental soil. Gon~ our peace" and bas "filed our is thEl perennial radiance of the minds", metamorphosing this counThe 'land is there but the face ad orchid and the rose in fragrant try from a sanctuary to a m - and' the heart, it s~s, haore been gardens. blowing in the sun. Only house. This ·is DG longer a home · . transformed. The face is a rigid · · the ghosts remain. Frail, ghastly, but a market plaee resonant with : mask with sharp, deep lines et- spectral shadows where once· the discord and the thunder of voices ched as if in adamant. The heart maya.B sang. raised in recrimination and e.buse. is a mailed fist for it has ceased Truly the face of the land has Here, men fl, .ushe~ with triumph , to throb. It iiv a bloodless piece been ~rttelly mutilated. seek to castigate with mordant ' of rock. This was a land of ineffable beauty. Moonrise. on lilting, rippl ... ing rills; fleet-foo~d maidens daneing on the mapy-colored grass; nondescript crowds bringing in the harvest and singing to the sun; low, squat, thatch-roofed villages asleep beneath the stars; and far below ~e wind-white lights and blue and red blinking with the beat and . thrum of the gay city... This indeed, without a loaf of bread, a jug of w:lne, and-you, beside me singing in the wllderness-was Paradise ·enough. Today this is a ruined Eden. All about :the stranger ·on -our soil are heaps of disintegrating TUbble, broken pillars pitted uglily by modern shells and gutted int.6 grey and black debris by uncontrolla-ble .JULY.~ 19# · This was ~ haven of peace and sarcasm and innuendo their al~ trab.quiiity. This was the home of ready sorrow..strldten broth~ peace-loving citizens· who were frustrated by long suffering and bound to their hearth, race, and per11ecution. This is bedlam. · soil with hoops of steel. ·They were· There·js paiademonium in the Ind. Instead of canticles·· of thanksgiVing trilled· in unisoR for the benison of liberty reatOJ"ed, all we hear . is . the deafening roar of · raucous voices in violent dissension and insult. By the strangest irony of all, we have a War t.o prosecute to , the last diteh th~t this country might never agaiµ fall beneath too awful shadow of heartless 6ppression and , cumulative infamy ·and we fritter away · precious time and energy by warr~ ing among ou~lves. Where iii! our sense of national . pride, our · feeling· for unison? Where is. ttiat spirit of . kindness ~for a. fa;tlen · 11. FOR GENUINE BUNTAL HATSMrs. DELFINA 8. PALINll MANUFACTURER & EXPORTER WHOLESALE & RETAIL 1510 Rizal Avenue • • • • • • • • • • • • WHISKY~IN-RUM ' Only GOV'T LICENSED LIQUORS ARE SOLD D. G. PALINIS Licensed Liquor Dealer 2143 Rizal Avenue CHIN TIN LIO Contratlsta de llanquetes ·C~lda China • SANTIAGO UY, Prop. General Representative We serve Chinese & American · Food 727 Magdalena, Manila. Welc0me to the STARDUST .CLUB where there are charming hoateases Toot'• DILA a.nd His Jump Combo I 1126 Misericordia A. CAIAIE OPTICAL CO. . . . ·. JlwnlMll OIMil Phted llJO~ MERCEDITA'I PHARMACY DrU81 a Pat.a' ~ ... 1111 . .t.aeanqa Jf•r....,..._A. .e • I _I . I • I I . I . I I I The Same Old Famous Pinc ITERI I ,. AnTIGUA (formerly. of Plaza ·Sta. Cruz) :now located at 1445 Misericordia, near Alvarez. Established in 1865 Speclallzed in· chinese dishea and caterer for Banquets and parti~s. : · For reservation, See Mr. Lamberto BautiSta, . Manager . brother? Where is that gallantry, ed out the light of reason. Peace where that generosity which kept has been destroyed at last. us together in the darkest days of The Philippines has been known our history from Mactan to Ba- in ancient as well as contemporary taan ? Are we still a kindly race history as a land of selfless maror i.ave we been transfigured into tyre and noble heroes. Memories angry beasts astray on a wasted of William Tell are evoked by Lacountryside? pulapu, of Paul Revere and Hate and disaffection, pride an~ Washington hf Diego Silang and insuperable arrogance have blott- Rizal, of Lincoln by Bonifacio, of 'Leonidas at Thermopylae by Del M+•••+++++++++++++++++~ Pilar· at Tirad Pass. And the deTHE AROMA .CAFE WELCOMES YOU TO GOOD FOOD AND BEVERAGES 807-9 RIZAL AVENUE MANILA LOUIS LIM GEN. MANAGER• SAY IT WITH FLOWERS.-FOR @ Weddlq- Bouque .. @ Baaketa @c...a.. @&oxes @ Wreathl 8 Spray Of Orcbidl Sl&op and OrtWr atTlmea COffee Shop (Times Theatre) Life Restaurant (ViUonco Bids.} ·. Tnl Chlo (Avenida Rial) 120 Barboe!t. St. FASHIONAIJUI FLORISTS •. DllCO&t.TOBS . fense of Bataan recalls the loyal three hundred Spartans; the rearguard action of t})e 26th Cavalry of the Philippine Scouts calls back the charge of the light brigade at Balaklawa; and the defense of Corregidor reminds one of Malta. Yet in the mysterious alchemy of war and its aftermath we have become a nation of traitors. Only a few honorable men, hand-picked perhaps by the inscrutable wand of Destiny, are the spirits dedicated to the pantheon of heroism. They are the only patriots. They are the only · lovers of this once beautiful, peaceful country. And they are honorable men. We cannot dispute their words of · pontifical wisdom. We must not question their motive or their speech. They are honorable men. We should not come to bury them but to praise them. Their word is law. For they are honorable men. While these men 11ow maligntid as traitors were suffering under the boot-heel of the Eastern monster, the great patriots were in the hills "'atcbing with eagle eyes when the myrmidons ofi Hirohito would come up and chase them out of their lair. Or they might have been ten . thousand miles away, fa the Zand of tits fret and tke home ·of the bravo fighting the Nipponese invader of these sltbres by just being Filipinos. And they reaped rewards for that-material and otherwise. They came back to thts scared soil, enshrined heroes. They · are the only patriots. · They ·aJl8 honorable men. Thia is 11till the PHILIPPINES. Ia it ours. still, or does it belong ~ to the patriots· from the hi~ or t]\e Filipino heroes from . over• ...., . Th~ NA'nON