Bayan ni Juan

Today is June 12, the day that Philippines has proclaimed its freedom against Spain

It's been 114 years since then…Now how is the Free Philippines Today?

On my own observation some Filipinos are living well, some suffered from poverty, many are growling over corruption, a thousand are jobless, and some are just care-free. Do we live in the essence of being free today? Do Filipinos still value the Freedom we have attained or have we buried it in the ground?

Let’s define Freedom first, according to dictionary.com freedom is the state of being free  or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint.

In that context yes Philippines is free. But did we really gain freedom?? Well one of my teacher said that freedom and democracy is only an idea, it never exist. It made me think yes indeed there's no absolute independence. After we have been freed form the Spaniards we were captured by the Americans then the Japanese. Philippines have been a slave, a prisoner and up to now I can say that Philippines still lives as a puppet. We still live in Constraints.

Was freedom truly a gift? I’ve heard some teens before saying that it was better if we were under the American colony and Philippines could be very rich by now. But I answered it back we will never appreciate the importance of a thing until it is taken back to us. If we were under American colony we would have lost our identity and our culture. We will never know what worst could happen in that time if we don’t raised that flag. Such pity that there are still young ones who are willing to be under the shadow of giants, to serve as a mere meek reflection.

I love my dear country, I adore my country, admire it and I am proud of it, these were few lines that were mentioned by many Filipinos but do they really mean those words???

As part of the celebration we commemorate also the 150’Th year of Jose Rizal on June 19. Rizal is our national hero and we consider him as our savior from Spanish cruelty and he symbolizes our freedom.

Before that let's start off with the legendary character Juan de la Cruz...Juan dela Cruz symbolizes Filipinos

According to Wikipedia Juan dela Cruz is the national personification used in the Philippines to represent the "Filipino". The name, Spanish for "John of the Cross", is roughly the equivalent of the American Uncle Sam and John Doe. Juan dela Cruz is usually depicted wearing the native Salakot hat, Barong Tagalog, long pants, and slippers (called Tsinelas in Filipino). The term Juan dela Cruz is also used when referring to the collective Filipino psyche.

Well in our history class I have known for teh first time the origin of Juan de la Cruz...

There was this one young boy, with no name, he was passing by when the Guardia civils were looking at a dead man's body and automatically Juan was imprisoned .He was illiterate, he was innocent but because he can't defend his self and because he was an Indio he was  put behind bars. That was the cruelty of Spaniards a long time ago and that's how defenseless Filipinos were before. That young boy was later named Juan dela Cruz, because his life symbolizes the Filipinos. Juan was the most common name being used in the Philippines at that time and dela Cruz to signify the religiosity of the Filipinos. Then another name arrived, “Juan Tamad” it is beloved that the Spaniards were the ones who used that term to cover up their cruelty. They insisted that Filipino suffers because they are lazy. It is unfortunate that some just accepted this label. For me it is untrue, Filipinos are one of the most hard working people and for the question on why we have a slow progress, I believe it is not because of laziness but rather because of this wrong system.

 Filipinos were meek because they were deprived form their rights, imagined that being ignorant in your homeland, the friars have distorted the cognition of Filipinos letting them believe that only through church and only through them they can enter Heaven.

And so in the day of 12th of June in kawit Cavite, Filipinos were victorious, for the first time they had broken the chains and that marked the end of Spanish cruelty.

With the American colonization, Juan was set free...........

But then again there is no absolute freedom, yes we have been in flight but did not evade the sufferings

Well I can say there was much less suffering in American era and thanks to them that Spaniards flew away form our land but still at that time we remained prisoners....we have no sole right for our country...and the war continued,,,,,,,,,,and now we have we what we called our Philippines

 No one is conquering us and we hold the right for our country but our own Philippine society has become our own bars...We are still trap in the system.....

In the day of our independence, we thanked the heroes for their blood, courage and love for the nation. And one of it is Jose Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonzo Realonda or better known as Dr.Jose Rizal (who was actually not a doctor, he was only named as a doctor because he performed many surgeries)

Rizal, we admire him, we want to be like him, and he is the national hero

Many times that he’s title as a national hero is being asked...Why not Andres, why not Emilio or Graciano?

Who was really Rizal??In the book by Abeth Ocampo it is revealed that no one will know who truly Rizal is because the Rizal we knew is a combination of fact and fiction and I agree on this......

I suggest you would watch bayaning 3rd world to have a different viewpoint of Rizal

There was once a question on was Rizal was a fence sitter??? was he really for the revolution or was against it...his named was used in KKK h was the head of the org and he did not know this...His name serves as the secret password of the revolution but the truth is he never participated in any activity of the KKK...Pio Valenzuela who was a physician was assigned by Andres Bonifacio to ask guidance from Rizal regarding the revolution ...he had different statements in his accounts..At first he said Rizal was strongly against for the revolution but later on he altered it and said that Rizal was for the revolution it is just that Filipinos should wait for the right time because they are not yet ready........

My stand on this is whether he was against or pro for the revolution....he was still a hero for me....He was the catalyst of the revolution......if not because of his writings no one would dare...he showed bravery ...he was fearless in divulging the truth and he inspired the Filipinos to do something......It has been said that even before and up until now Filipinos are submissive, we just agree on what the higher says and we always remain silent even though we had enough..Have we really learned to suffer in silence?? Suffering will forever endure if it is not uttered...RE WE AFRAID?? Or is it just that we thought that there could nothing be done for this to end or is it just the belief that only God can solve our sufferings??? I am a believer and I do know that with God everything is possible,,,but isn't that too much of work for God to solve every tiny flaw in our lives?? who's responsible for it anyway?/ my point is the culture of palaging umaasa has not yet faded....we need to be very hopeful everyday but we also need to use our minds, hands and everything we have to break the chains.....

We don't need to just wait for a miracle and we don't need to put all the blame in the government...First and foremost we are responsible of whatever happens in our life....We can do something about it......And That what were Rizal brought to those Filipinos before he let them know that what the Spaniards are doing are not righteous that they need to do something that they need to get away of those false beliefs.......

I don’t know but up until now friars are still alive in the church...I can never fully understand the system in the church...I could still see the hypocrite Pharisees...there are only few priest whom I truly respect and trust although many of my friends says that we should never question the priests because they are servants of God...

And I don't like system too of not questioning, it is only when we question we could truly understand and be free ....if we don't question, we won’t' seek, we won’t ask we will never know........

Happy Independence Day................Rizal shouldn't only be a memory nor June 12, it should be looked at as a virtue......we have this freedom and we should not took it for granted...we have this now and we should take care of it. It has always been repeated that we can be heroes in our own way. Now do your own thing, you have Freedom!!!......