Why aren’t heads rolling in the DFA?

The still unresolved Taiwan row that ended with the death of a Taiwanese fisherman by Philippine Coast Guard officers has now caused at least 4,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFW) working in Taiwan to be jobless as their work permits have not been renewed. I don’t blame the Taiwanese government for reacting this way because apparently the Aquino regime seems to be in no hurry to put a finish to the investigation. Now those OFWs are coming home, which means, we will have more mouths to feed, as there is no work for them in our own country.

Surely by now we’re all but fed up with our Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) who from the early start of the Aquino presidency was already hard pressed to resolve that diplomatic row with the Special Administrative Region (SAR) in Hong Kong because of the eight Hong Kong tourists who were killed at the Quirino Grandstand. Then today we’re still in the midst of that territorial dispute between the Philippines and China.

Then the DFA had corruption problems in the Middle East when OFWs were literally thrown to the wolves, not by their employers, but by DFA bureaucrats in what is now known as “Sex for Flight” scandal. If you didn’t notice, that issue is slowly disappearing from our headlines and yet no heads have started to roll in the DFA. Why? Too many sacred cows perhaps?

Maybe we should now be clamoring for the resignation of Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario because nothing seems to be working right in the DFA under his watch. Next column, we will talk again about DFA’s continuing problems with the passport issues in Cebu. Abangan!

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I must say that our article last July 4 about our real Independence Day bagged me one of the biggest responses in my email inbox. There was only one reader who did not want to recognize July 4 because it was pleasing to the Americans. That article also got me a surprising call from an old friend, former Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Gen. Benjamin “Benjie” Defensor (Ret) who also concurred with me that July 4 should have been our Independence Day.

However since I wrote about the heroic exploits of Cebu’s Katipuneros led by Pantaleon “Leon Kilat” Villegas wherein he captured Cebu City and kept it for four days, Gen. Defensor also gave me the history of what was happening in his native Panay Island at the same time. He even sent me copies of a book entitled “Interesting Facts about West Visayas” and allow me to reprint this part and share it with my readers, many of whom love history.

“Meanwhile, Spanish Governor General of the Philippines Diego de los Rios escaped from Manila and came to Iloilo on May 1898. In a last minute attempt to retain the loyalty of Iloilo to the Spanish Crown, he created a Council of Reforms to effect reforms like expulsion of undesirable Friars and dismissal of abusive Guardia Civiles.”

But then Iloilo City was now surrounded by the Revolutionarios of Panay. “On December 14, 1898, the Revolutionarios fired the salvo for the attack on the city. The first battles were at Jaro Plaza where the rebels were repulsed by the Spanish artillery and in Molo where the Spaniards entrenched at the house of Maestra Jovita Avancenia. Gradually, day by day, the rebels gained some bits of territory until December 24 when the Spanish Governor General holed at Fuerza de San Pedro (Fort San Pedro) arranged for the surrender of the City.”

Again, we just gave you a historic account of what happened in Iloilo in 1898. As we learned, the Spanish Governor General Diego de los Rios escaped from Manila at the end of May 1898. However it doesn’t state that he was escaping from Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo’s men. So by June 12, 1898, when Gen. Aguinaldo waved the Philippine flag in his residence in Kawit, Cavite, the Spaniards were literally on the run.

But it was in the Visayas especially in Cebu on April 3, 1898 when Leon Kilat rose against the Spaniards and captured Cebu. Then the Battle of Manila Bay happened on May 1, 1898 and by December 24, the highest-ranking officer of the Spanish Crown surrendered to the Revolutionarios of Panay in Iloilo. Alas, this precious piece of history is not written in the history books taught to our students all over the country.

Perhaps you may be asking what’s my point in reprinting this piece of history? This is to inform the Filipino people that the Katipuneros in the Visayas did more for the Freedom that we enjoy today than Gen. Aguinaldo. I dare all the politicians from the Visayas to come up with a sort of truth commission composed of historians and writers to find out what should be the real Independence Day for the Philippines. For sure, if I were part of that commission, I would never vote for June 12 as our Independence Day!

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