First, a note of thanks to the owners of the flower separator photographs. They’re fabulous. I am grateful.

Pinoy: when will you be yourself again? (urging myself to keep looking for the truth about how it has been) — A Short Statement on an Emotional Rediscovery of Philippine History

formerly titled: Pinoy_1

————————————————————————————– an excerpt:

“In the Philippines, the United States was engaged in a war of conquest, although Americans both at the time and later have seen fit to hide their actions by referring to the enemy as insurgents, or worse. There could be no insurrection, however, because the United States did not control the Islands when the Philippine-American War begun in 1899. The fighting that ensued took place between two organized forces, one representing the government of the United States and the other representing the revolutionary government of the Philippine Republic under the leadership of Emilio Aguinaldo.”

-John M. Gates

[found in: Major Problems in American Military History: Documents and Essays. edited by John Whiteclay Chambers II and G. Kurt Piehler.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. 1999.]

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Lahing Kayumanggi, since 1521 you have not been your own self.  You had thought it would happen at last in 1898, but, alas, your hopes were dashed to the ground.  You spilled life onto the ground, shed valiant blood of those pure in heart, and yet your liberation was snatched away from you.

Today I shed tears for your millions of children lost in the struggle for identity, for the chance to finally breathe freely the pure air exhaled by the verdure cultivated by her calloused hands.  Today I read for myself the truth of your betrayal.

The full text of the book that the above site used (The Conquest of the Philippines by the United States, 1898-1925 (published 1926; authors– Storey, Moorfield, 1845-1929; Lichauco, Marcial Primitivo, 1902-))can be accessed here: http://archive.org/details/afj2371.0001.001.umich.edu

though our culture is entirely different we are not inferior

formerly titled: Pinoy_2

———————————————————–  an excerpt:

“Another prominent feature of the biological determinism of the early twentieth century was its stress on racial inequality. In Europe racist ideologies proliferated in the 1890s and early 1900s, partly under the influence of Darwinism and biological determinism. Many biologists, anthropologists, and physicians considered black Africans or American Indians less evolved than Europeans. As Europeans colonized vast stretches of the globe, many scientists proclaimed that non-Europeans were culturally inferior to Europeans. Further, they believed that these cultural differences were manifestations of biological inferiority.” (Richard Weikart, Department of History, California State University, Stanislaus)

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Dear Sacada, if during these times, mentioned above, things were different with us (…like, say, we had not been in a revolution against the Spanish, had we not shown that we were capable of organizing ourselves, had we been nearer geographically to the heart of European-American strongholds, had we been disconnected from our Asian neighbors, had we been… etc…), we, too, would have been decimated, like the Indians of North America, the Indians of India, the Jews, the Tasmanians, and, of course, the Africans.  Yes, many of us died, men & boys from ten years old, and all those who weren’t able to run fast enough to hide (remember “Malayo Pa ang Umaga”??? –or that television series of like-sounding title?)

Dear Sacada, many peoples today have woken up.  They are starting to reclaim their lost selves.  They’re getting to know themselves again.  While others simply refused all along to let their identities be diffused, or erased.

My dear dear Sacada, we, too, must do that, or we won’t survive.

Sin-o kita? Ano ang nagapalipay sa aton? Ano ang importante sa aton? Mas importante bala sa aton ang kampeon nga balay/awto/propiedad sang sa himpit nga pagkabalaka sa aton isig-kapareho? tupad-balay? ka-minuro? ka-barangay? Ngaa ikahuya ta ang girom ta nga panit, kay kun wala sang may naga-pangabudlay sa talamnan kag dagat wala kita sang matarong nga kalan-on? Ano ang kahulugan para sa aton sang maputi nga panit?

Ang mga Intsik sadto pa nga panahon nagdulhog na ina sila sa aton para mangig-abyan– sila sang mga Bombay, mga Arabo, mga taga-Pacific nga mga isla, mga halin sa kaingod ta nga mga katawhan (Malaysia, Indonesia, etc. – kag tanan halin sa India idas asta sa ingod sang Palawan nga side).  Antes nag-abot ang mga Espanyol hamtong na kita nga tawo.  Nahibal-an na naton ang kalipay sang nagakabuhi.  Anak na kita sang Diyos, parehas sang bisan sin-o nga katawhan sa kalibutan.

Dear Sacada, utod, may ara kita mga kauturan sa ingod ta nga kinanglan ta talupangdon — ang mga Ati kag ang iban nga mga Katutubo — importante ini sila, bahin ini sila sang aton kabilugan nga pagpangabuhi diri sa kalibutan — LET US WAKE UP AND NOT LET OURSELVES INCUR THE GUILT OF DECIMATING THEM!

Let us reclaim our identity.  We are not North Americans.  We are not Europeans.  We are the varied peoples living peacefully among our thousands of islands near the equator.  We do not have Spring, Autumn, and Winter.  How, therefore, can we ever imagine ourselves to have worldviews other than those of Summer’s?

Wake up, dear Sacada, wake up from your self-induced decimation.

This Page’s content was among the earliest that I created. It was in two parts, but today, 3 June 2014, I compressed them into 1. I do intend to add more here. It’s just that things are just too busy around here for now 🙂

Salamat sa paghapit di ❤ Salamat po at napadaan sila. Harinawa. ❤