Benevolent assimilation

Some readers complained it was difficult to understand how democratization and decolonization could be principles of charter change. Aren’t we democratic enough? Indeed, sometimes we have too much of it. It leads to chaos. The Philippines, unlike other countries in Asia, suffers from a lack of discipline and has become increasingly resistant to order. And what in heaven’s name can you mean by decolonization? Didn’t the Americans give us our independence on July 4th, 1946? We stopped celebrating our independence on that day only when former President Diosdado Macapagal, in a historic act, changed it because as he correctly reasoned, independence is not given but earned and fought for. He moved our day of freedom to June 12 when Filipinos declared the first republic in Asia on that day in 1898 after winning a bloody revolution against Spain.

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So when I write about charter change as an effort to democratize and decolonize, it is useful to compare it to a two-headed hydra. Almost any serious study of American colonialism in the Philippines tells us that it has never really left us. A single body gives life and drives the two heads of neocolonialism and elitism we are trying to eliminate through charter change. That single body is ‘benevolent assimilation’, a system that America created to depart from traditional colonialism practiced by the British and other powers of that time. But however benevolent it was, the aim was still to dominate and control the country and being less blatant it was even harder to overcome.

Our presidential system is part of that culture of ‘benevolence.’ But as one Filipino author has said it may be a different form of colonialism but it is still colonialism. The Americans ingeniously directed their lessons in democratic government at the political elite, the relatively small class of wealthy, educated, and politically powerful Filipinos.

“While they retained ultimate control for themselves, the Americans let the elite vote, hold local office, and formulate legislation in national assemblies, writes Patricio Abinales in American Empire and the Politics of Meaning. In the book he examines how Americans provided the elite with a practical education in self-government and how it played out on the ground.

American colonialists looked for solutions to their dilemma on how to reconcile their reverence for the principles of freedom and democracy with their territorial and commercial ambitions. They deemed that the best way to conquer the country was to make it in its own image but as we now know it did so fatally, without deferring to our own culture, history and our uniqueness as a people.

No wonder our leaders who had fought and won the revolution against Spain were bitter. The Americans snatched their victory and stopped them from developing a Filipino nation in the mold of a parliamentary system they had imbibed from Europe through Spain.

Filipinos who have fought for charter change that would lead to a parliamentary structure continue the struggle to shape our own destiny. The advocacy for charter change has been put down each time, through different Filipino governments, since Americans gave us our independence in 1946.

We are regaled with stories of corruption and extension of terms. But the real battle is elsewhere. It is about breaking the colonial hold that Americans have continued to exercise on us through the presidential system. Ironically it is the system that has spawned the corruption it condemns. Admittedly benevolent assimilation was shrouded with good intentions. There were many good things that Americans did for us — an extensive public school system is one.

Charter change that would shift government from presidential to parliamentary would be tantamount to a revolution, because it reverses the colonial act that made Philippines pliable to the workings of American empire. It was the presidential system that ensured America’s domination of our politics then and now.

It would be more difficult if not impossible to carry on with benevolent control if we were to shift to parliamentary government. They will have to deal with many (members of parliament) rather than with one (a president). They can bring up or take down a Philippine president at will if that is in their interest.

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In a recent column I wrote that Emilio Aguinaldo would be the Filipino counterpart of Latin America’s Simon Bolivar. I know there are already Filipinos who are working on Emilio Aguinaldo’s revival as the greatest hero of the Philippines. A good starter for us is to read the speech he delivered in Malolos when he declared our independence and the Philippines as the first republic in Asia.

“My joy today is so great that I feel like being in Heaven, now that I am witnessing the gathering of the defenders of our mother Philippines. My tongue seems tied because of my extreme joy. However, I will force myself to speak in order to tell you what I feel. I am like one who fell asleep since August 30, 1896 up to now, and dreamed of having seen the delivery, with the aid of Heaven, of our suffering Mother from the cruel Spanish domination. I saw the flower, then the fruit, which blossomed into Liberty and Freedom. And you, my dear brothers, are here to give effect and testimony to the fruits of our struggle for freedom, by establishing this Congress. I am deeply grateful to you for coming to this Congress. I can say that with the establishment of this Congress, our battle for freedom is at an end. Let all nations take notice that we have an Army), a Congress, and a Government, three things needed to replace the Spanish rule in our beloved Philippines. All progressive nations, like America, France and England, also availed of these three things to attain liberty, wisdom, and wealth.

“There are those who are patriots only in words, and others who advocate annexation. These kinds of men will destroy our nation. I plead for unity. We are all brothers, and we alone can help each other. I call upon the educated, the intelligent, and the wealthy to come forth and cooperate with our Army, which so gallantly and heroically fought for our freedom. Come, all of you, and hasten the complete independence of the country including the Visayas and Mindanao.”