Colonial mentality

Philippine Daily InquirerFirst Posted 02:16:00 02/17/2009Filed Under: Foreign affairs & international relations, Subic rape case, Crime and Law and Justice, Veterans Affairs

That is one mental and psychological affliction that we as a people are still suffering from, more than a century after we won our independence from Spain and more than half a century after we regained it from the United States. And colonial mentality reared its ugly head again last week.

The first manifestation was when Philippine officials said they could not have US Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith, a convicted rapist, detained in a Philippine jail despite a ruling of the Supreme Court that he be kept in a Philippine-run facility, and not the US Embassy, while he awaits the result of his appeal.

The second manifestation occurred when many people, including government officials, jumped up and down like chimpanzees after the US Congress passed a stimulus bill that includes a provision granting Filipino veterans of World War II a $15,000 compensation each if they are living in the United States and $9,000 if they are in the Philippines.

Bayani Mangibin, spokesperson of the Department of Foreign Affairs, said that any new negotiations on the custody of Smith would have to wait until the Americans are ready to talk. Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said the government could not start negotiations on the transfer of Smith to a Philippine jail because his conviction for rape is not final yet.
But the right approach to the issue was that suggested by retired Chief Justice Artemio V. Panganiban: Junk the Philippine-US Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) and consider Smith like any other accused, whether Filipino or otherwise, and confine him in a Philippine jail immediately. That should have been the move taken by a self-respecting sovereign nation.
Administration Senators Joker Arroyo and Miriam Defensor-Santiago have also urged Malacañang to scrap the VFA and immediately take custody of Smith.

The Supreme Court has spoken: Smith has to be detained in a Philippine-run facility and not at the US Embassy, and yet the Executive Branch is hemming and hawing and awaiting word from the US Embassy. What are we, an independent, sovereign nation or a colony of the United States? Panganiban, Arroyo and Santiago have pointed the way to an honorable and self-respecting approach to the issue, and we hope Philippine officials will heed their advice and assert the sovereignty of the Philippines in this case.

On the matter of compensation for Filipino World War II veterans, Arroyo said it is “too little and too late.” The senator estimated that each Filipino veteran would get only P7,000 for each year of the 63 years that he waited, or a measly P600 per month. Filipinos now cannot help but suspect that the United States kept postponing the payment of compensation to Filipino veterans so that their number would be substantially reduced by death.

Is this any way to treat the surviving members of the army of nearly 200,000 Filipinos who were drafted to fight side by side with the soldiers of Gen. Douglas MacArthur? President Franklin D. Roosevelt promised to indemnify Filipinos to the last carabao they lost fighting the Japanese. But here we are not talking about carabaos being killed but about Filipino soldiers who risked their lives in fighting the Japanese.

Filipino soldiers risked their lives to defend not only their homeland but also America. Some historians said that the Filipinos’ valiant stand on Corregidor and Bataan upset the war timetable of the Japanese and thus they may have prevented a Japanese invasion of the United States. And for doing this, all they get is peanuts?

The $9,000 lump-sum compensation for the surviving Filipino veterans is a measly amount. Let us hope that our officials will lobby the US Congress for additional compensation, and for other benefits extended to US veterans, such as health care and insurance. The Filipino veterans of World War II deserve nothing less.

It’s time government officials and ordinary citizens shed their colonial mentality. It has been more than a century since the Philippines gained its freedom from Spain and more than half a century since it regained its independence from the United States. The government should stop acting as if the Philippines were still a US colony, assert the country’s sovereignty and stand up for the rights of its people.

(Comment: When are we Filipinos learn to accept the fact that Americans are Americans and Filipinos are Filipinos. When are we going to start learning to stop being dependent to the Americans? (With respect to our more than 2 million Filipino-Americans in and out of the U.S.) Though President Obama is the first U.S. colored president, still Filipinos - and other non-white Americans - are considered 2nd class citizens. That is a solid fact. Our American colonial mentality should stop NOW! Let us start thinking that Filipinos can do it too! That we can create our own, produce our own, and rule our own. Now that the U.S. is in deep recession, there is no way that the country can send aid to us or help us in future conflicts. We have to strengthen our own foundations by getting rid of corruption, cleaning the government, and bringing back the respect of our people. We should stand in our own two feet and we can only do this if we are united, are able to feed our people, and guard our own resources. Slowly but surely we can do many changes in our economy, way of thinking, attitudes, lifestyles, and discipline. These and other factors will surely make us independent and are able to revive our dignity and respect as a nation. There is no need to hate anybody or make war with somebody. Let's work together and help each other towards a common goal of developing ourselves.