(We yield this space to the statement of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers due to its timeliness. — Ed.)
AS THE PHILIPPINES commemorates the national day of its heroes, teachers and education workers lament the creeping influence of neoliberalism in the lives of Filipinos.
History is now in the private hands of the highest bidder, both literally and figuratively. The recent commercial auction of important Katipunan documents written by Andres Bonifacio and Emilio Jacinto without government intervention was a clear manifestation of the utter lack of respect and consideration to the nation’s history. It is only the latest in long list of events that proved that the Duterte administration puts more premium on the value of private profit, commercial interests and corporate and individual gain over the nation’s identity and history.
The regime also paved the way for the surrender of the country’s sovereign rights over its historic territories in the West Philippine Sea and justified it by stating that the commercial gain the country may obtain as promised by China by way of infrastructure investments and loans outweigh the consequences of losing our historic claims to our exclusive territories.
The revival of the political influence of the Marcos family — the most detested rulers in recent Philippine political history — courtesy of the Duterte regime was an example of brazen and unapologetic act of the application of the notion of political payback. The reburial of the dictator’s remains at the Libingan ng mga Bayani; the selection of Imee Marcos to represent the President in the commemoration of the Cry of Pugadlawin; the promotion of historical revisionism with regard to the crimes committed by the Marcos regime by way of projecting the imagined “positive gains” experienced by the country during their years of oppressive rule — are some examples of the regime’s disregard to the lives of those who made sacrifices to gain freedom during the darkest years of the dictatorship.
To further institutionalize this affront to historical memory, the regime continues to institutionalize neoliberal policies applied in education programs like the K to 12 that removed Philippine history in junior and senior high school while promoting the study of foreign languages and the development of skills to prepare our people to gain employment abroad. These are manifestations that the regime prioritizes the commodification of its workforce for them to be part of the unrestricted flow of global labor rather than have a citizenry with a strong sense of national identity and an education system committed to the promotion of nationalism through the study of our own history.
The Duterte regime is most guilty in its wanton disregard to the value of history of the nation. It is complicit in the academic crimes of historical revisionism. Its decision to hide the historical atrocities committed in the past should never be tolerated. Its actions and stand on historical controversies that favored foreign private capital, oligarchic restoration and historical omissions were manifestations of it being beholden to interests other than the Filipino people’s.
A true commemoration of National Heroes Day should be made more meaningful by confronting the lessons of history, promoting nationalism, and cultivating a critical sense of historical consciousness that recognizes the true heroes of the people.
