The Struggles
It has been more than a century when our so-called heroes proclaimed our independence. A hundred years and we still cannot fathom the idea of full independence. Yes, we are an independent nation based on the conditions of self-governance and sovereignty but most of our policies - particularly the ones pertaining to our economy – are, at most, dictated.
Who dictates oil prices in the market?
Who dictates the costs of basic services (Water, Electricity, etc.)?
Who dictates the prices of basic commodities?
I agree there are factors but I think the government MUST protect the interests of the people and not of those businesses.
So which entity really dictates our policies? Our so-called democratic government with our leaders? Or those influential oligarchs? But most of our leaders belong to the core of those oligarchs that has always “whispered their preferences”, whoever sits on the throne in Malacañang.
Bonifacio must have been smirking in his grave to Rizal while our National Hero must have been fuming mad at how their sacrifices where treated with mockery by the not-so-young generation who has inherited the nation’s struggles both have started. Imagine Bonifacio blaming Rizal even at eternal life and telling him “I Told You So!” when Rizal rejected joining the Katipunan and the arms struggle for Philippine Independence.
A hundred years later, the country still struggles for genuine independence – from the heirs of the oligarchs of the Kastilaloys from Europe who colonized us for more than three centuries, to our modern compatriots who has inherited the same old medieval motto:
If you have the gold… you have power, you have the influence.
If you don’t have those, your struggle may be futile, unless a miraculous act from the heavens above brings the entire nation into sublime change our dead heroes longed for.
