Cooperation

With regards to the evils that beset the Philippines during the 19th century, Jose Rizal wrote: “A stupid government is an anomaly among a righteous people, just as a corrupt people cannot exist under just rulers and wise laws. Like people, like government, we will say, paraphrasing a popular adage. All these causes can be reduced to two classes: Defects of education and a lack of national sentiment.” We have spoken at length regarding the current state of education today. Rizal had the right of it though, national sentiment and a people working towards a common good, a common goal, is paramount in social development.

Too often our brand of nationalism is expressed solely and singularly through the vote and the mouthing of an especially resonant slogan. Nationalism and nation-building this does not make. That is the anti-thesis of responsible citizenship and leadership among our civil servants. Unfortunately, we seem to differentiate ourselves along these slogans, not necessarily along ideological lines. Then again, when ideologies are expressed in vagaries such as, “I believe in education”, differentiation is difficult. Lines then are drawn based on personality. And disagreements in laws and policies become a highly personal affair. National sentiment and national good get lost amid personal politics.

For the Founding Fathers, the goal was naturally a free, independent and democratic Philippines. Then they had an understanding that cooperation, forged associations, would be the foundation of the new republic. When Rizal spoke to his countrymen, he was not speaking to just the impoverished or the wealthy, landed elites he was speaking to the patriot in all. When Emilio Aguinaldo proclaimed, “We are no longer insurgents, we are no longer revolutionists, that is to say armed men desirous of destroying and annihilating the enemy. We are from now on Republicans, that is to say, men of law, able to fraternize with all other nations, with mutual respect and affection,” he was speaking to Filipinos.

We often speak on the importance of education. From an early age it is the vehicle through which national sentiments are inculcated. We learn to love and understand our country and our history through education. It is for this complex reason that Rizal identified flaws in our education system and national sentiment together. In understanding our history as a force for national sentiment, Father John Schumacher SJ had the right of it: “Not all of that past will provide inspiration for a better and more just society. But by depicting the whole of reality, history will make it possible to reform and reshape that society towards a better future. The historian as nationalist can do no less.” Shared history, our history as Filipinos is the touchstone and connective force that we can use to build a better country. Jose Rizal and the other propagandists understood this. That is why they spend so much time trying to exhume the Filipino past, and in turn, educate the Filipinos about it.

We offer our congratulations to President-elect Benigno Aquino III on his apparent win last week. This of course is still pending the formal results and proclamation from Congress, but all signs point towards what (in our multi-party system) is a strong mandate from the people. Elections and new administrations should be, theoretically, an opportunity for a new beginning. That flaw though, the delineation among politicians based on personal lines, seems entrenched. Even before policies and bills are on the table for discussion lines are being drawn. Is this a flaw of the political system or a flaw of the outlook of the people in the system? Or a combination of both?

It is our hope that the new administration and members of the House and Senate will be able to come to a sort of working relationship over the next six years. The problems the country faces will not be solved by personality-based conflict. They will be solved through cooperation and working on the basis of national sentiment and towards a national good.