The unfinished work of nation-building

Can a nation be born in a day?

While the unfurling of the Philippine national flag marked the official dawn of Philippine sovereignty on June 12, 1898, history shows that true independence is an ongoing process rather than a one-time achievement. Thus, 128 years after the national tricolor was first raised in Cavite, the Filipino nation remains on a continuous journey to prove that the freedoms purchased with the blood of our martyrs and revolutionaries are not in vain.

Nation-building is an ongoing process, not a one-time task. Even after achieving independence, Filipinos continue to build the nation as each new generation works to eradicate poverty, eliminate corruption, educate the citizenry, and heal systemic wounds that hinder the realization of the Filipino’s full potential.

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Jochen Hippler (1998) asserts that nation-building has three major elements—an integrative ideology, “which provides for integrating the sub-groups of the inhabitants of a country into one society.” Another element is an integrated society, which implies nationwide integration of geographic regions, economic sectors, and politics. It also presupposes a functioning infrastructure and intellectual discourse of a national scale. The last element is an existing state apparatus, which actually fulfills its functions on all of the national territory. (source: https://tinyurl.com/muczn3rk).

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“Telling thee the truth, hating all kinds of injustice.” The Philippines has all these elements of statehood, but why do we continue to wallow in political disunity more than a century and three decades after Dr. Jose Rizal penned “Filipinas dentro de Cien Años” (The Philippines a Century Hence), which was published in “La Solidaridad” from 1889 to 1890?

Geography can partly explain this—we live in an archipelago with 7,641 islands, as well as cultural and linguistic differences represented by over 180 indigenous and regional languages.

But a cursory reading of that famous essay would yield insights into the same troubling thoughts that kept our national hero and his fellow reformers up at night. Rizal pointed out the colonial master’s prevailing indifference and abuses, saying: “Spain, thou hast remained deaf, and, wrapped up in thy pride, hast pursued thy fatal course and accused us of being traitors, merely because we love our country, because we tell thee the truth and hate all kinds of injustice.”

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Rizal, still hoping that Spain would listen and implement much-needed reforms, such as the grant of representation and recognition of fundamental human rights, issued Spain an ultimatum:

“What dost thou wish us to tell our wretched country, when it asks about the result of our efforts? Must we say to it that, since for it we have lost everything—youth, future, hope, peace, family; since in its service we have exhausted all the resources of hope, all the disillusions of desire, it also takes the residue which we cannot use, the blood from our veins and the strength left in our arms? Spain, must we some day tell Filipinas that thou hast no ear for her woes and that if she wishes to be saved she must redeem herself?”

And Rizal, speaking from beyond the grave through this heartfelt essay, holds up a terrifying mirror to us, reflecting an inevitable societal convulsion if we continue on our present trajectory, failing to set aside our political differences, embrace one another as brothers and sisters, and show respect for one another.

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For now, Rizal’s ultimatum may be directed at us—citizens freed from longtime colonial overlords—yet a considerable number of us remain shackled by poverty, malnutrition, inequality, and a subpar educational system, further compounded by the elite’s indifference and the political class’ divisiveness. Millions of Filipinos are still forced to leave their families behind in pursuit of better lives abroad, only to find themselves in the arms of their modern-day masters, while our graduates face a bleak future simply because they have not been raised in an environment that makes innovation and excellence a way of life.

In Rizal’s masterpiece, “Noli Me Tangere,” after rescuing Ibarra, Elias says, “I die without seeing the dawn brighten over my native land! You who have it to see, welcome it—and forget not those who have fallen during the night!” These words will continue to haunt the living.

Like the tragic deaths of Rene Baterbonia and Divine Adili during an ill-conceived team-building activity for an elite basketball team in the choppy waters of Dipaculao, Aurora, Elias’ words are a poignant reminder that although death comes to us all, the lives of those who deserve to live longer are snuffed out too soon, their dreams forever drowned, because some of us choose to look the other way.

The work of nation-building cannot stop because the Philippines continues to wrestle with the foundational sins of greed, which sustains social inequality; corruption that entrenches political dynasties and business elites; political divisiveness; and the exploitation of natural resources and the pursuit of untrammeled development that gives license to environmental abuse.

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michael Lim UbaC