EDITORIAL - Still friends

Today, the fourth of July, is celebrated as Independence Day in the US. But here it’s celebrated differently. We call the occasion Philippine-American Friendship Day to distinguish it from the US celebration.

Give the developments in the past few decades of Philippine history, especially the turbulent times, many Filipinos are asking if we are still really friends with the US. They are also asking if such a friendship, if it exists, is still worth keeping.

Admittedly, we have a very complicated love-hate relationship with this country. Right now it is our biggest trading partner, but before that it was essentially our colonial master, just like Spain was.

And history will show that more than once, even after we have been cut loose, it has put us in the backburner, sidelined us, and disregarded us in pursuit of its own policies.

And this is what rubs some people the wrong way. In fact, for some of them, it opens wounds.

We all know that colonizing nations don’t take over other countries out of the goodness of their heart, or to improve the situation there; they are always looking to further their own interests.

And this is the point of some hard-liners; the US doesn’t really see us as a friend, but as a means to advance their interests in the region.

Be that as it may, this doesn’t change that fact that somewhere in that complicated relationship, in those years we transitioned from mere colony to trading partner, friendship did form between us and the US, between their people and ours.

We have become exposed to their culture, history, and traditions so much that some of us wanted to make it their own and moved there. What Filipino family doesn’t have relatives in the US?

There is still friendship and it is worth keeping.

The current administration has made no secret of its disdain for the US, it has even hinted that it is open to an alliance with a China-Russia axis as compared to one with the US.

However, this move is ill-thought. We have too much of a shared culture and history with the US for us to easily break away from then, then to switch to an ideology so alien and so opposed to what we have been taught since we were young.

It’s a complicated relationship, with many challenges and all, but we should still keep the US by our side.