SUBJUGATION TO TYRANNY
By Caloy Bueno
What does the 'Marcos bane' actually represent for the Filipino?
Perhaps it is a form of unrelenting punishment ~ imposed across political, economic, social, cultural, psychological, and all other plausible human traits comprising the collectively damaged consciousness of a people that suffered colonial subjugation (not just once, but twice in succession) ~ without experiencing the cathartic release of having truly won and deserved true independence from continual oppression and subjugation (across the very same human traits that were 'civilized' upon us by our 'superiors,' foreigners and local/native elites alike).
How come?!
Because up to this day and age, our people still feel within the core of their being the dead weight of unworthiness to be able to enjoy and benefit from any kind of freedom. We are still compelled by our centuries-old bowed backs to acknowledge our collective inferiority to 'superior' beings (particularly those with white skins or fair complexions).
We feel unworthy ~ mainly because we never truly united as a brown race and on our own real merits (militarily, politically, socially, etc.) to be able to fully cast off the foreign colonial yoke, or even that of their local successors who were simply gifted the privileges of assuming the role and function as the ruling class (but without having actually fought for nor victoriously claimed in real battles the 'rewards' of liberty and independence) for our Motherland.
We fought the first colonial masters ~ the Spaniards; we fought the next colonial masters ~ the Americans; then we fought the Japanese invaders during World War II. But we could never claim any victories for ourselves ~ because we were just subsumed under our 'patrons' within whose shadow of superiority and leadership we conformably acted upon our menial and/or sacrificial tasks and roles. While even also fighting amongst ourselves, inordinately a lot of times.
We indeed declared our "independence" (not just once, but many times), but all became hollow exercises in futility ~ either undercut by betrayals by our own kind, or undeniably bested by superior foreign firepower and capabilities. (We demonstrably have so many 'Judases' among us that probably even Jesus himself would be utterly at a loss, if he were to come and minister among us!)
Thus, our common experience of the economic boom-bust cycles; the political zarzuelas tailored for mass indoctrination or propagandizing (at the same time also "entertaining") to the masses; endless internecine battles among our basic sectors; the constant discomfiture of lopsided social classifications and discriminations; the unvocal but nevertheless intense rivalries and tensions in our various religions and/or 'religiosities' ~ practically touching and affecting the whole range of the native spectrum of our human traits and characteristics ~ and culminating in severe damages ruthlessly inflicted upon our collective consciousness, effectively keeping us from even realizing an authentic or cohesive national identity as Filipinos (our titular common name, actually based on the Spanish sovereign's name, when we were still being colonized in the 1500s).
Or maybe I'm just imagining it all . . . 🤪😂😜
#PagMayTime
