I. Malakas na malakas ang patriotism ng Pilipino
(“Filipino patriotism is very strong.”)
In time for the 125th anniversary of June 12, 1898, public intellectual Manuel L. Quezon III, the
grandson of the country’s second president Manuel L. Quezon, questions whether that is
even the right date to mark the nation’s independence. August 1896 was when Filipinos
declared they desired to be free, and July 4, 1946 was when the United States granted the
country its independence.
In part 1 of this episode, Howie and Manolo discuss Filipino victories over Spanish forces in
many provinces in 1898 that led to a short-lived independence, before the US arrived to
occupy and colonize the country. Manolo reminds listeners that even after defeat in the
Philippine-American War, Apolinario Mabini wrote that the struggle for independence
would continue through other means, which did happen through lobbying and advocacy that
eventually won Filipinos their independence in 1946.
In asserting that Filipino patriotism is strong, Manolo distinguishes it from nationalism, which
is less so. In this view, “patriotism” or the state of being “makabayan” is a love for one’s native
land, community, and culture, as opposed to the “nation” that includes its form of government
and how it is being run.
II. MLQ’s legacy, the fate of the EDSA consensus, and the cycles of history
In part 2 of the Manolo Quezon episode, he connects the dots from the independence in
1946 that his grandfather Manuel L. Quezon did not live to see, to the fall of dictatorship in
1986 to, finally, what he asserts was the rise of a new national consensus in the 2022
elections.
Manolo and Howie tackle the meaning of one of MLQ’s most famous quotes: ‘I prefer a
government run like hell by Filipinos than a government run like heaven by Americans,
because however bad a Filipino government might be, we can always change it.”
Families can appreciate history better, Manolo advises, by doing pilgrimages together to
historical sites, and searching out and eating our heroes’ favorite food.
The full version:
