How we could have been a better nation

We fail to build an equitable society because we have failed to emulate our finest National Hero — the one who will truly direct us to our destiny as a nation.  We are not saying that Jose Rizal and Andres Bonifacio are not great men. Rizal and Bonifacio have earned their place in the pantheon of heroes. But there is a lot of sense in the insights provided by many historians who believe that we do have one other National Hero far more qualified to be regarded as the standard on which to anchor our national vision. 

This is Apolinario Mabini, a man of the masses and one who overcame poverty and physical handicap to become the brains of the Philippine Revolution and the first Prime Minister of the First Philippine Republic. Jose Rizal’s writings may indeed have given us a good picture of our social conditions but it was Mabini who gave us the greatest vision and the most relevant guide to attaining our full nationhood.

A review of Mabini’s The True Decalogue provides insights and deeper inspiration for coping with the issues and problems we still face to this day.

The True Decalogue

By Apolinario Mabini

“First:  Love God and your honor above all things. God, as the fountainhead of all truth, all justice and of all energy; honor, the sole power that will oblige thee to be truthful, just and industrious.

Second:  Adore God in the form that your conscience may deem most righteous, because in your conscience, which condemns the bad acts and applauds the good ones, God speaks.

Third:  Cultivate the special abilities which God has given you, working and studying according to your strength, without departing from the path of goodness and from justice, in order to attain your own perfection and thus contribute to the progress of humanity; thus shall you realize the mission which God Himself has planned out of you in this life, and realizing it, you shall have honor, having honor, you shall glorify God.

Fourth:  Love your country after God and your honor, more than yourself, for she is the only Paradise which God has given you in this life; the only patrimony of your race; the only inheritance from your predecessors; and the only future of your descendants; from it you have life, love and interests; happiness, honor and God.

Fifth:  Secure the happiness of your country before your own, making from there the Kingdom of right, of justice and of work; for if she is happy, happy shall you and your family be.

Sixth:  Secure the independence of your country, because you alone can have a true interest in her aggrandizement and dignity, as her independence constitutes your own liberty, her aggrandizement your perfection and her dignity your own glory and immortality.

Seventh:  Recognize no authority in your country of any person who may not have been elected by you and your compatriots, because all authority emanates from God, and as God speaks in the conscience of every individual, the person designated and proclaimed by the conscience of a whole people is the only one who can use real authority.

Eight:  Secure for your people a republic but never a monarchy; the latter ennobles one or several families and founds a dynasty; the former builds up a people, noble and trustworthy through reason, great through liberty, prosperous and brilliant through industry.

Ninth:  Love your neighbor as yourself, because God has imposed upon him as he has upon you the obligation of helping you and not doing unto you as he would not have you do unto him; but if your neighbor, failing in this sacred duty, should attempt to take your life, your liberty and your property, then you should destroy and annihilate him as the supreme law of self-preservation would prevail.

Tenth:  You shall love your compatriots somewhat more than your neighbor; you shall see in him a friend, a brother, and at least a companion to whom you are bound by the same lot, by the same joys and sorrows, and by common aspirations and by common interests.

Therefore, while the frontiers of nations exist, raised and maintained by the egotism of race and family, to him alone should you unite yourself in perfect solidarity of aims and interests, to attain strength not only to fight the common enemy, but also to realize all the aims of human life.”

Mabini was such a visionary that his prescriptions even provide guideposts with which to deal with our current crisis of a having a ruler who is largely perceived as illegitimate. But more than that, Mabini laid out the road map for achieving a truly Filipino national development founded on belief in God, humanism and deep love for country.

Having the wrong values, we emulate the wrong heroes. Having the wrong heroes, we fail to achieve the full potential of our race — failing even to attain nationhood.  

Are we not surprised that we suffer from a dearth of real nationalists? Are we not surprised that our people are so easily fooled into accepting false messiahs?

Are we not surprised that many of our leaders do not feel any tinge of shame or guilt to be trading the national patrimony to foreign interests? Are we not surprised that in our country it is legal to promote foreign interests and an act of subversion to protect Filipino interest?

For such a small country, why do we have so many rebellions? For a country that prides itself as a Christian bastion in Asia, why can’t we have the peace of Christ?

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Chair Wrecker e-mail and website:[email protected] and www.chairwrecker.com