"Today, we live in much different but still challenging times."
Five hundred years ago, the Philippines was “discovered” by a Portuguese explorer working for the King of Spain. To say that a lot has happened since then would be a gross understatement.
Filipinos mark this day in history to ensure that we can look at the entire five-century colonial experience, not only under the Spaniards, with a sober lens. We cannot deny that the foreigners brought us many things to improve ourselves and advance our way of life, but these did not come free. The lessons abound.
Filipino Catholics will no doubt say that religion was the single best thing that came out of our colonization. The Spaniards brought Catholicism here; it remained vibrant and intact when they left and has remained that way to the present day. The Philippines remains significantly Catholic, with estimates ranging from 82 percent to 86 percent of the population professing the Catholic faith. Our customs and traditions remain largely influenced—no, determined—by this religion.
Still, the accounts of our colonization highlight more unpleasant experiences at the hands of the foreigner. The abuses of the Spanish friars, then the face of religion here, were well documented. The political leaders from Spain looked upon the islands as a source of spices and other resources, a place of savages who must be educated, and a stomping ground for their licentious ways. Any attempts to assert autonomy and, later, independence, were met with harsh punishment, including violence.
And in the end, we were turned over to the next colonizer in a swift transaction involving 20 million dollars.
During the past 500 years, Filipinos from one generation to the next lived in fear of and intimidation by the Master. Their way of life depended on what was allowed, even as they saw for themselves the wanton ways in which the colonizers ruled. Aspirations of self-determination were quashed, leading up to revolutions and wars.
Strangely, in the period when we did enjoy freedom, we floundered, not quite knowing what to do. Filipino leaders fought among themselves and could not agree on how best to govern on their own.
Today, we live in much different but still challenging times. We are no longer colonized by another country, at least nominally. We have a purely Filipino set of leaders, our own system of government, our own set of rules. We have elections during which we choose the people to steer our government units. We have learned so much about what to do and what not to do, and every day we are still learning.