The American Frank

The Virus of Militarism

& The Filipinos, a Separate Peace

Copyright by Frank A Hilario
Published by American Chronicle
March 3, 2006

100 MILLION FILIPINOS IN 100 TRIBES IN 100 LANGUAGES: DIVIDED WE STAND, UNITED WE FALL.

My count, composition and grammar, 2006 AD. Aesop counts, composes and grammars it differently as the moral in his fable of the 4 oxen and the 1 lion – ‘United, we stand; divided, we fall.’ My punctuation, precisely.

Today, 24 February, we watch a live & bold TV demo of Philippine Marines in what is guaranteed to raise the hackles of their Commander in Chief and President, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, yet apparently merely expressing body support for Maj Gen Renato Miranda, whom GMA was told was playing a major part in the coup plot against her and whom she has promptly dismissed as Chief of the Marines. I feel sick in the stomach. I realize the awful would-be truth of the second part of Aesop’s axiom – and that is why it seems right to call the Philippines Asia’s Modern Banana Republic:

One chop and it will have dropped to the ground.
One coup and it will have gone to the dogs.

Those 100 Marines are playing parts in a drama meant to scare and ensnare, not entertain. They are in full battle gear, with 3 armored personnel carriers within reach of verbal command of their leader, Col Ariel Querubin, at the Marines’ headquarters in Manila. Belligerence is in the air. Have gun, will battle.

If we divide now, we will fall now.

Drama in real life, present tense and pretense. A tragicomedy we shall see as we talk more about:

(a) Those 100 Marines – real or surreal?
(b) The Asian Flu – until now an undeclared dis-ease.
(c) The virus of Militarism – up to this point an unrecognized pathogen.
(d) A separate culture – a condition unrecognized even by Filipinos.
(e) A new kind of People Power – to cure the dis-ease, neutralize the pathogen. Hopefully.

(A) THOSE 100 MARINES? THEY CAN’T BE!

They have the right to be there, being their headquarters. But there is something wrong with the unspoken message of these Marines. Do they know what they’re doing?

Power comes from the barrel of a gun. Old maxim. Power comes from the show of the barrel of a gun. New maxim. The Age of Graphics is here.

100 Marines show up in full battle gear and declare on TV that they love their country. No arguments.

The armored personnel carriers are on standby and the Marines are on the alert; this is not their routine. Local and foreign journalists merge themselves into the tableau, with their portable tape recorders and handy microphones ready especially for some soliloquy or two on the powers-that-be; this is their routine. Militant Marines and militant mass media men promise to be an explosive mix.

Recall People Power I, 1986. With quavering voice, Col Querubin calls for People Power, saying, ‘I will wait for the people to come here and protect us from aggression.’ Col Querubin, what do you mean aggression? ‘I don’t know, but I expect that to happen,’ Jim Gomez of Associated Press hears him say. Col Querubin waits and talks and waits. Waiting for Godot? Apparently not.

‘Whom the gods wish to destroy, first they make mad.’ If the people come now, by the thousands, by the hundreds of thousands – as happened in 1986 via People Power I (ending in the Fall of Ferdinand Marcos, President), as happened in 2001 via People Power II (ending in the Fall of Joseph Estrada, President) – then, adios, patria adorada! Goodbye, my beloved country!

Ultimately, we want to bring together the disconnected Filipino people. But not like this.

(B) THE ASIAN FLU? IT CAN SPREAD.

Asians are vulnerable. The Asian flu affects many holders of reins of governments in this region, especially the heads of states, the powers that be. The Asian flu is so powerful it affects also those of the opposition, the powers that would be.

The Asian flu is Militarism. A high fever of the intellect, a dis-ease that feeds on rules and regulations and routines. A fever that the afflicted would not let die as they could exploit it.

In Taiwan, it was Chiang Kai Shek who learned to exploit it. Look at Taiwan now.
In Singapore, it was Lee Kwan Yew who learned to exploit it. Look at Singapore now.
In Malaysia, it was Mahathir bin Mohamad who learned to exploit it. Look at Malaysia now.
In Thailand, it is Thaksin Shinawatra who has been trying to exploit it. Look at Thailand now.
In the Philippines, it is the military who have been trying hard to exploit it. Look at the Philippines now!

For sure, these countries are democracies. But 2 are regimented democracies. I wouldn’t want to be a citizen of any of those countries. I have enough troubles being a citizen of the Philippines!

Statesman and military leader, Chiang Kai Shek modernized Taiwan and made her highly competitive in the international market. Lee Kwan Yew transformed Singapore into the logistical hub for all of South East Asia by discipline. Mahathir bin Mohamad made Malaysia an industrial country by not tolerating dissent and by restricting political freedoms (Columbia Encyclopedia, 2005). In the meantime, in Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra has been employing ‘good business principles to public service,’ with his one-product policy applying ‘sound principles of empowerment and decentralized decision-making’ (Chao Phraya River Rat 2006, Asia Pacific Management News).

And the Philippines? The Manila Messiahs – Marines or not, males or not, Manila-based or not, ministers of the Church or not, members of Congress or not, mentally prepared or not – would like to run the affairs of the country not first by planning but first by plotting. Not first by running for office but first by ramming their irresistible ideas on immovable objects. Not first by working with some people but first working against some people. They are all in a rush.

I subscribe to the meaning of what they say; I do not subscribe to the means of what they do.

(C) THE VIRUS OF MILITARISM? IT CAN MULTIPLY.

The avian flu affects poultry; the Asian flu affects people. The virus of the avian flu increases its power by mutating into the H5N1; the virus of Militarism increases its power by mobilizing more people into many mutinies. If it mutates, its power can be awesome; but it can’t because, unlike the avian virus, the Asian virus believes too much in itself to transform itself.

And what prompts the virus of Militarism to attack? Militancy: activism, aggressiveness, manliness. The audacity of youth, which I don’t have – I mean youth, not audacity. Based on what we have seen so far on worldwide TV and reports of other mass media and gut feel, in this case, the militancy is an illusion of grandeur. They are thinking: ‘If we do this, the future of the country will be bright. If we don’t do this, the future of the country will be dim.’ They invoke the stark contrast of Black and White. It makes a dramatic declaration; it strikes one as compelling logic.

If the true, the good and the beautiful were only a matter of logic, they would be right or, in any case, I would agree with them. As it is, they have their intellectual pretensions, and I have mine.

(D) A SEPARATE CULTURE? IT CAN DIVIDE.

In November 1987, in his now classic piece of journalism on the Philippines, James Fallows of The Atlantic Monthly called us ‘the damaged culture.’ Bull’s-eye. My own ideas of ‘a separate culture’ and ‘a separate peace’ have been inspired by Fallows. The Manila Messiahs have only succeeded in continuing to keep the country divided such as it is, such as it has been for 100 years. We are a culture disjointed, disconnected; the Filipinos are separate peoples in 7 ways:

(1) A separate culture because of a military complex.

I don’t mean the military-industrial complex; I mean the opposite of inferiority complex: a military complex is a feeling of superiority or over-confidence by the military (or their advocates), even of infallibility. The military and/or messianic leaders are the New Saviors of their country; they will deliver this lovely maiden from the jaws of lasciviousness, sweeping her with their own hands from the hells of the flesh and bringing her up to the heaven of prosperity, with their theory of national reform, by force of arms if necessary. They do it in the name of the poor people. With apologies to Ernest Hemingway, I say, ‘Farewell to arms!’

How many coup attempts have there been since Cory Aquino became President in 1986? Countless, says Rasheed Abou-Al-Samh (Global Nation, INQ7.net, 2003). Who’s counting? They have tried to effect their theory too many times in the last 20 years; practice makes perfect? Too many it’s not funny anymore. Even US Vice President Dick Cheney has been linked to the destabilization plot against GMA (Wayne Madsen, iGMA.tv, 2006). It’s sick.

(2) A separate culture because of language.

Not just 1 but about 100 Filipino languages in fact; languages because each one is incompatible and incomprehensible with the others. There are 12 languages with at least 1 million native speakers each in the Philippines; I list them by population: Cebuano, Tagalog, Ilocano, Hiligaynon, Waray-Waray, Northern Bicol, Kapampangan, Pangasinan, Southern Bicol, Kinaray-a, Maranao, Maguindanao, and Tausug (Wikipedia.org, 2006). How do you expect them to understand each other? A modern discovery: The Philippines has been for 500 years a Civilized Tower of Babel.

To communicate, or mis-communicate, we use language. What is language? Sequences or series of sounds, signals, symbols signifying something, that which is exchanged person to person over time and distance face-to-face or via any or all of the mass media. Language, as in: body language, impolite language, screen language, the language of history, machine language, sign language, obscene language, the language of love, visual language, techno-babble, abusive language, the language of deception.

The body language of the 100 Marines and their leader, Col Ariel Querubin, spoke volumes in 24 February. The message is not really ‘GMA, Resign!’ It is really ‘We are fed up with the system! We know better! We want to set up our own!’ About 8,000 pairs of ears came to listen mouth-to-ear to what Col Querubin had more to say. And he obliged them. We need People Power, Col Querubin in effect was saying, warm bodies to protect us from the government. 1 million would be desirable, 400 thousand would be just about right. What happened that day, 24 February? Some 4 thousand came, they said. That was a clear demonstration of the economics of military politics. That was a classic case of supply supremely failing to meet the demand. The economists are not always right even if they are always insistent.

(3) A separate culture because of water.

The Philippines is an archipelago, which means a string of islands, a group of closely related islands. We are a total of 7,000 islands covering 300,000 square kilometers, slightly larger than Arizona (2006, strategypage.com/). The ocean separates us everyday of our lives.

We are 13 major islands with a considerable number of people: Batanes, Bohol, Cebu, Leyte, Luzon, Masbate, Mindanao, Mindoro, Negros, Palawan, Panay, Samar, and the Sulu Archipelago. No bridges connecting the islands, except for 1, a beautiful if expensive token of love uniting a President with his First Lady, the San Juanico Bridge. We are geographically also a country divided against itself.

The waters around the thousands of islands in the Philippines are infinite resources for human resources. The islands’ total coastal area is longer than that of the continental United States. The Philippines was designed by God (Nature if you will) to be for sea creatures like boatmen, fishermen, divers, sailors, swimmers – not sea pirates, not land robbers, not body snatchers. But so far, we have not conquered the sea because we have not conquered ourselves.

(4) A separate culture because of tribal complex.

Like ‘military complex,’ my term ‘tribal complex’ is a feeling and a thinking that one’s tribe is superior to all the others. And the one tribe that suffers the most from this malady is Tagalog, the #2 tribe. The #1 tribe (Cebuano), #3 tribe (Ilocano), #4 tribe (Hiligaynon), #5 tribe (Waray-Waray), #6 (Northern Bicolano), #7 tribe (Kapampangan), #8 tribe (Pangasinan), #9 tribe (Southern Bicolano), and #10 tribe (Kinaray-a) do not suffer from tribal complex at all. I know; I am an Ilocano.

When Filipino experts and non-experts talk about Philippine ‘tribes,’ inevitably they refer to those of the Igorots, Mangyans, Aetas, Tasadays, Tingguians, T’bolis, Ibalois, Ifugaos and many others. Headhunters. All the isolated ones on top of the mountains are the tribes, savages; all the rest in lowland towns and cities are the civilized ones. They are not tribes – they are cultural groups. It would degrade the Cebuanos, Tagalogs and Ilocanos to be referred to as ‘tribes’ or some such term.

Again, even as only the #2 tribe, the Tagalog makes the most claims as to intellectual superiority over the other tribes of the country. I should know – I’m married to one of them. The Tagalog gets much tribal fun – mostly at the expense of the Ilocano, their more active and more vocal rivals in intellectual matters. What is referred to as ‘imperial Manila’ is mostly the hegemony of native Tagalogs and their advocates.

Sadly, no tribal intelligence has been applied to come up with designs or programs to unite the 100 tribes of the Philippines. Instead, with tribal complex or tribalism, the call has always been for a separate peace. A separate peace is like this: ‘I got mine, go get yours’ (Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal, 27 October 2005). Separate tables.

(5) A separate culture because of tradition.

If you just think of the 12 major tribal groups in the country, you have 12 major sets of tradition.

Tradition – ways of thinking and behaving followed by a people continuously from generation to generation, written or unwritten (American Heritage Dictionary). Theory and practice of people since time immemorial, with imperceptible changes over the years.

Like: When Ilocanos see each other anywhere, here or abroad, they will greet each other in Ilocano, even if it be in the midst of a formal meeting with members of other tribes present. To the Tagalogs, this is uncivilized behavior; to the Ilocanos, this is great.

Like: The Tagalogs are always making fun at the expense of the Ilocanos, like the whole world makes fun of the Irish. But there’s a difference: In their making fun, the Tagalogs are serious.

Like: The Ilocanos have a tradition of thrift. The Tagalogs have a tradition of spending. The Cebuanos have a tradition of being pleasure-seekers. How do you expect them to see eye-to-eye?

The Tagalogs and Cebuanos and Ilocanos, among other tribes, have different traditions regarding courtship, marriage, family, dance, myths, legends and so on – how do you harmonize all these? Good question!

(6) A separate culture because of history.

The Spaniards dominated the country for 333 years, from 1565 when Miguel Lopez De Legazpi came with his soldiers from Mexico and conquered the island of Cebu in Central Philippines, to 1898 when Emilio Aguinaldo came with the Magdalos and their bolos and their bravery, and with many others, defeated the Spaniards with their muskets.

For almost 400 years, the Spaniards kept us slaves of the isolation of our own making or liking, and we never seriously attempted to break out of the cage of colonial mentality. Until our hero Jose Rizal came – he would do it with Reformation. Today, we have his Unfinished Reformation. Until our hero Andres Bonifacio came after him – he would do it with Revolution. Today, we have his Unfinished Revolution.

The Americans came, saw and conquered the Filipinos for the next 50 years, from 1898 when the Treaty of Paris was signed with Spain ceding the Philippines to the Americans (and thereby robbing Emilio Aguinaldo and the Katipuneros the glory of victory in the very first Asian revolution), to 1946 when the independence of the Philippines was officially recognized and/or granted by the United States. The Philippines then became one independent country but not one nation yet.

(7) A separate culture because of the Constitution.

To keep us disconnected one tribe from the other, there is a grand design to do exactly this, I might say, and it is almost 100 years old. A 100-year old tribal war undeclared.

Let us now consider the real author of the law that brought about the dismemberment of the Filipinos culturally – even if he did not mean it; nay, he did not foresee it, great as he was.

He was described thus: ‘Elastic, electric, Manuel Quezon is a sort of Beau Brummel among dictators’ (John Gunther, Inside Asia, 1939). Quezon knew what he wanted – and almost always got it. ‘He is a genuine revolutionary,’ says Gunther; ‘The history of the Philippine Islands in the 20th century and the biography of Manuel Quezon are indissolubly one. ’ I wish it weren’t.

On 30 July 1907, Quezon was elected to the First National Assembly and as Floorleader; Sergio Osmeña was elected as Speaker of the House. He was a proud man. Quezon must have had his DREAMS OF UMPIRE then, and so, for convenience, I shall mark 1907 as the time when this Beau Brummel of the Philippines first thought of establishing the hegemony of the Tagalog language (his own, being born in Baler, Tayabas, a Tagalog native province). This little man (he was 5 feet 2 inches) was going to play the role of the Big Brother and make Tagalog the basis of the national language of his country. He was following the dictates of his heart, which his mouth later declared in these words: ‘I prefer a government run like hell by Filipinos to a government run like heaven by Americans.’ That’s gargantuan pride. Run like hell by Filipinos – he was thinking of himself. Be careful what you wish for – you might get it.

So what do we have now? A government not run like heaven by the Americans. I don’t like it myself. I’d like to see a parliamentary form of government.

As he was President, in 1935 the first Philippine Constitution came to be, mandating under Section 3 of Article XIV that ‘The Congress shall take steps toward the development and adoption of a common national language based on one of the existing native languages.’

What happened was that Tagalog was declared by law as the sole basis for the development of a national language (now called Filipino). This is to my mind the gravest historical factor that has kept the country’s tribes divided among themselves. 100 tribes dueling in the last 100 years. When you impose a language, you impose a culture. For the last 100 years, there has been a clash of cultures in the Philippines.

Officially, Tagalog-based Filipino was rammed into our throats in 1937, or 70 years ago. Enough time to learn a new language, enough time to absorb a new culture, enough time to unify the different tribes of the Philippines into one great culture. Enough time for something not to happen. It didn’t happen.

Tagalog was made the single basis of a national language because it was, presumably, the richest of the many candidate languages. The theory didn’t work out in the practice. Basing a national language on only 1 out of 100 local languages was in the first place fuzzy logic, a practice of tribal imperialism. Tribal or not, imperialism has always been fuzzy logic.

At the time of the 1935 Constitution and up to the 1980s, the native speakers of Cebuano outnumbered the native speakers of Tagalog (reference.com/). If it had to be only one language, why did they not make Cebuano the basis instead of Tagalog?

In fact, why did they not think of basing the national language, Filipino, on at least the 12 major languages of the Philippines? That’s what English has been doing since time immemorial, lifting and borrowing from the world’s great languages – we were not paying attention to this gigantic lesson in language? Apparently not. We were immersed in our little worlds.

(E) PEOPLE POWER? IT CAN CONQUER.

The language problem of the Philippines is a clash of many cultures, and only the emergence of a class of cultures can solve it. Through People Power of another kind, I say.

Last February, People Power did not happen, so I saw we were divided but we did not fall. Instead, I saw something rise: mass-media-based militarism in the consciousness of the Filipinos.

Images of People Power I: 2 million warm bodies led by Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin in the same Epifanio De Los Santos Avenue (EDSA) showing support for rebel soldiers Juan Ponce Enrile (Secretary of National Defense) and Fidel Valdez Ramos (Chief of the Philippine National Police), driving the dictator and his family out of the country.

People Power II: 1 million warm bodies in the same EDSA led by Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin showing support to rebel political leaders including Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. In both glorious events (as they were bloodless people coups), the military played major roles but they were not the principal actors. The Catholic Church was the leading force, showing there was no separation of Church and State. Only in the Philippines!

And so I now call for PEOPLE POWER3 (raised to the 3rd degree), the triad of the Church and the State and the People working together to bring about a new Filipino nation. This calls for a new process; I call that process Filipination, Filipino + nation, the making of a new nation in the old islands of the Philippines. In other words, Filipinizing the Filipino.

In fact, I did not start this one; only the name FILIPINATION is new; the concept was enshrined in the Constitution of the Philippines 30 years ago yet, in the 1987 Cory Constitution, which states in Section 6 of Article XIV: ‘The national language of the Philippines is Filipino. As it evolves, it shall be further developed and enriched on the basis of existing Philippine and other languages.’ And in Section 9: ‘The Congress shall establish a national language commission composed of representatives of various regions and disciplines which shall undertake, coordinate, and promote researches for the development, propagation, and preservation of Filipino and other languages.’

Save for the name, what I call Filipination is already a law; all we have to do is implement it. What have we been waiting for all these 30 years? Nothing. To explain the nothingness? Jose Rizal, our national hero, has the word for it; it’s the Filipinos’ ‘profound lethargy.’

The language of the 100 Marines of the February military might was that of political change that portends the spilling of blood; the language the 100 Filipino tribes really need is that of cultural change that promises the sharing of the true, the good, and the beautiful.

How do we unify the fractious Filipino people? We just need to talk. Talk the language of Filipination, this linguistic undertaking of a lifetime.

We don’t need another bureaucratic national language commission or institute to do it. For Filipination to accomplish its goal in the shortest possible time, let it be a grand educational enterprise led by the people, not led and dictated upon by the Department of Education, not by the Commission on Higher Education, not by University Presidents, College Deans, Institute Directors and School Principals. Let us harness the energies of the youth in schools in colleges and universities all over the country. Let it be supported by Internet Cafés set up by the institutions themselves or by private initiative, supported by the Church and State. With Filipination, we can come up with these:

(1) A working model of a new Filipino vocabulary within 4 months, with mostly adopted/adapted Spanish and English words – already accessible via the Internet and CDs.

(2) Compilation #1 of a completely new Filipino vocabulary within 6 months – with contributions from 12 major languages of the Philippines.

(3) Compilation #2 within 12 months – with contributions from all other local languages.

(4) Compilation #3 plus 1st print version within 18 months, with contributions from foreign languages.

Exactly how shall we go about Filipinizing Filipino? Simple – with 2 or more gathered in the name of Filipination, jot down the shared words, idioms & terms (WITS) found in 2 or more Philippine or foreign languages and compile them into a new Filipino vocabulary. This can be done in school, at home, office, even at the coffee table.

(In fact, you can do it right now and without company. Log on to the Internet after reading this, go to Google Groups and search for Lingua_Franca_Filipino, or copy & paste this link

http://groups. google.com/group/Lingua_Franca_Filipino/
click Go, and read. Better yet, register as a member of the group and do something. Think!)

After exhausting shared WITS, go after unshared WITS from other languages, to offer later for common usage.
It is a daunting challenge, and that is why I pose it.

How do you unify the Filipinos, a fractious race? This is how. When we begin to do any or all of that, Filipination would become a great adventure of the intellect. A great national energy would manifest itself and swell, invigorating everyone. Then, Phoenix-like, a great new spirit of the Filipino would rise from the ashes of the past.

AND ALL WE DID WAS TALK.

If not, we will always be haunted by the images of that fateful day of 24 February with that Marine talk-show in Manila.

Of it, interestingly, Scott Harrison, Managing Director of Pacific Strategies & Assessments, said that pieces of information gathered on certain personalities suspected of involvement ‘indicate that insubordination never got beyond the planning stage.’ Do I believe Scott? No! According to Carlos Conde (International Herald Tribune, 26 February), Harrison also said that the events last week were simply scenes from the Philippines’ very own ‘rowdy political theater.’ Yes!

Indeed, Harrison’s last remark describes in an excellent manner Philippine nationalism today: rowdy political theater.

It’s rowdy.
It’s political.
It’s theater.
It’s theater of the absurd.