Itakwil ang Pilipinas

I have a rather unexpected (but nevertheless, very much welcome) visitor on my blog site today.

It is not uncommon that somebody might visit you blog. However, the reason why he was able to get directed to my blog verily disturbed me.

(Forgive the blurred picture, anyway, the actual site is here , you can browse the list).

Thanks to feedjit.com, we can now trace our blogs' live traffic which actually indicates the location of our visitors, including some data how they were able to come through our blog.

Anyway, feedjit discloses that:

"Los Angeles, California arrived from google.com on "Mountain Top Experience" by searching for "itakwil ang pilipinas".

-meaning, my visitor came from LA, California. While searching for the word "itakwil ang pilipinas", google directed him to my site, because one of my blogs, Dekada, is a story of a man who tells his younger sibling:

"Alam kong bata ka pa at maaaring hindi mo pa maiintindihan ang sasabihin ko. Pero ang mga nakikita mong kamalian ay huwag mong gawing dahilan para itakwil ang Pilipinas.

Magbabago pa ang Pilipinas. Kung hindi man ngayon, sa hinaharap; kung saan kayong mga kabataan ay kailangang gabayan at turuan ng tamang pagmamahal sa bansa. Dahil ang pagmamahal mo sa bansa ang magbibigay-daan para sikapin mong baguhin ang mga kamaliang nakikita mo sa paligid."

I am reminded about a post made by one member of the bobongpinoy mailing list and so I have asked his permission if I can repost his article here in my blog. So here goes (article, unedited):

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I just came back here to the U.S. from a visit tomy Aunt's house in Canberra, Australia where we had a family reunion. We have no more immediaterelatives in The Phillipines and a lot of our family members from all over the world congregated in my Aunt's house. The reunion was brought about because my aunt Maritess just got her Australian Passport and was ecstatic about it.

In the middle of the party, a ceremony was made wherein a paper shredder was positioned in the middle of the living room and Filipino newspaper article clippings were arranged on a table along with a Philippine Passport. It was quite solemn and fun at the same time. People were made to sing their national anthems. First was the US people who sang "Star Spangled Banner" (though some kids did it mockingly, they haven't been to The Philippines yet and can't understand). Not to be outdone, the Canadian Citizens/Residents sang "Oh Canada" at the top of their lungs! Then came some from the UK and New Zealand who sang the irrespective anthems.

When it came time to sing "Advance Australia Fair", people first read the articles on the Filipino newspapers and put them in the paper shredder after finishing each. People just shook her heads and breathed sighs of relief after hearing the articles' details, thankful that they left behind that country and the dogs that run it. It was very symbolic of the fact that we are people who deserve to be treated as people and to live dignified lives in countries that value human dignity. As the articles were shredded, "WaltzingMatilda" was playing in the background as lyrics of "Advance Australia Fair" were passed around to everyone. Then, when the last article was shredded, the Philippine Passport was handed to my Aunt and there was a prayer and a short speech, then the passport went into the shredder for it's complete obliteration as "Advance Australia Fair" was sung.

The melody and lyrics of "Advance Australia Fair" was as musical as the gears and blades that ground the passport to crosscut pieces. My aunt was in tears, thankful that she was now a citizen of a country composed of and governed by real human beings.

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While I myself could not understand why and how people are able to disown my beloved nation Philippines, I could not help but respect their thoughts and ideas.

We differ in our beliefs. We differ in our ways. We differ in our principles and actions and subsequent reactions.

But one thing we can all share and agree on-the truth stands there-seen entirely by the naked eye-the country is in a state where there are lots of socio-economic problems, not to mention the moral issues faced by the leaders of the nation.

Then, again, we choose, our path as a citizen of the nation.

Disown the nation and be a citizen to a foregin land.

Or stay as a Filipino and help rebuild a better Philippines.

We choose. Today.