Today is Rizal Day. It was often the joke of peopel who passed through the Rizal Course that the easiest date to remember was December 30, 1896 (which would get a big anniversary next year). This history blog may just be a hobby. However, I thought about the need to study history not just from one historian but from many historians. I thought about this quote by Rizal that says ignorance leads to slavery. Ignorance may feel like bliss, but like drug addiction or overspending addiction, the bliss is only short-lived. Such bliss can result in destruction of one's appearance faster than natural aging or decay in the grave ever will. An old woman can still look pretty but a drug addict can look unnaturally ugly or even much older than their current age!
Back in high school, somebody wrote a simplistic essay called "History: A Teacher". It's too bad that the person may not even have a copy anymore. I don't even have a soft copy of my high school essays as PCs require change every now and then. The PC was from 1998 and it's already 2025. However, when I thin of that old essay with its simple message, "Those who don't study history are doomed to repeat it." If anything, today's news becomes tomorrow's history. That's why when I complained that history teachers were making us go beyond the book (mind you, many of them barely get fact-checked), I was ignoring the basic fact when I was only in elementary at that time. But the problem is when the education cares more about the grades (outcome) than the learning (the process), school becomes unenjoyable.
As I looked into the quote by Rizal, there's one truth, "Ignorance is servitude." or better said, "Ignorance is enslavement." As it was Christmas, I thought about how the traditional Noche Buena which was eaten after the Misa De Gallo (Mass of the Rooster) often served as a distraction. Today, the Noche Buena is simply the Christmas dinner, instead of a midnight feast. Some people may have become so modernized with the Noche Buena, such as substituting lechon with ham, getting a grocery ham instead of ham with bone, or that the number of foods have decreased. After all, the Spanish Empire had long died. The Noche Buena evolved into simply a Christmas Meal. The feastings were meant to keep the Indios (natives in the Philippunes) distracted from the cold hard reality of the Spanish occupation. When people get distracted by the table full of food and the feastings, it's easy to keep people distracted. In fact, it was said that Tomas Mascardo left his post to attend a town fiesta in Ararat. If that account were true, then you know why Spain was able to keep the Philippines subjugated until June 12, 1898.
What happens is that because of the ignorance of history, they are easily misguided
The reality of the situation is that when people know nothing, they can be easily disuaded. All it takes is for someone to just talk about this and that, make the claims and poof, people can be convinced to join. People today can be easily dissuaded by what I dub as the the Merkado CTTO phenomenon. Merkado is simply another world for market. CTTO means Credit To The Owner. However, how far can CTTO go for citation? The answer is, sooner or later, you need to find CTTO. The problem is that merkado is that it becomes like how Atty. Harvey Keh was scolded by the late Atty. Miriam Defensor-Santiago. It was because Keh was working on anonymous sources. As Mrs. Santiago said during the impeachment of the late Renato Corona:
“You’re acting on anonymous source, every time there is something that requires identification of the source the prosecution says there is no source, it came anonymously. Who is Mr. Anonymous? I just want to ask the PNP (Philippine National Police) and AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) to issue an arrest order against him,”
It was the same problem that led to several criminal cases, in real life, to remain case unclosed. For example, until now two notorious cases in the 1990s, are still case unclosed because of ignorance of the facts. These cases are like the Vizconde Massacre and the Chiong Sisters' Case. If only people knew back then that it was 100% impossible for a man who was in the USA or for a man who was in Quezon City (on July 16, 1997), to do the crime, the public outcry wouldn't have resulted in several miscarriages of justice. It's sad but true that the victims of the Vizconde Massacre and the Chiong Sisters Case, are misguided into believing that justice was supposedy "achieved". In reality, those who did the crimes are probably still out there, enjoying their livs, while the wrong people rot in jail.
People get misguided by one gossip after the other. During the courtroom hearings of the Vizconde Massacre and the Chiong Cases, the judges assigned, namely Amelita G. Tolentino (who's around 80+ by now, off the radar) and the late Judge Martin Ocampo, these judges were operating on biases. The common errors of the judges were that they relied on an unreliable state witness of the respective case (and Jessica Alfaro probably wore shades tohide the fear in her eyes), and chose to stick to testimonial evidence over the forensic evidence. The defense teams for the Vizconde Case and the Chiong Case, already handed over forensic evidence like records, papers, etc. but hte judge dismissed them as "Could've been tampered." It's almost close to saying, "I'm sure it was tampered." without examining the evidence!
Sadly, so many Filipinos today continue in the ignorance is bliss and ignorance is life, lifestyle
The Spanish occupation may have left, buts the problem of "Ignorance is bliss." continues in a vicious cycle. Filipinos today tend to use feasting as a way to "forget theirproblems". There's the Filipino saying of, "If life is bitter, just add sugar." Right now, I'm just imagining the nuclear meltdown that will happen in January 2026 when all the debt addicts, will have to hope and pray that the creditors don't catch them. They would probably hide in the attic. 5-6 lenders may even have to do the dangerous game of searching the house, to find out where the debtor is hiding, perhaps under the bed or behind the closet! Sadly, such tradition continues out in the fallacy of Appeal to Tradition.
The modern day slavery that Filipinos suffer from isn't just the unsolicited advice of Democrats from America or the European Union. Speaking of EU, I always thought it was one thing for them to intervene for Juan Francisco "Paco" G. Larrañaga, as he was a Spanish citizen. However, for Hannah Neumann to intervene for two non-Europeans such as Maria Ressa and Rep. Leila De Lima, it becomes a laughing matter. The bigger slavery that Filipinos suffer today since independence, is the Filipino First Policy. It has kept Filipinos blind and ignorant to reality. Carlos P. Garcia created the weapon that eventually helped Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr., create a dictatorship that outran Pol Pot's deadlier but shorter Khmer Rouge regime. This time, the real ignorance is perpetuated by a substandard education system, all thanks to the Filipino First Policy!
Feeding new information can be a difficult task, especially towards stubborn Filipino boomers. It's that ignorance that had created my generation to be enslaved with ideas about Pinoy Pride, that Garcia's "Filipino First Policy" is beneficial, that the Marcos Years were a real parliamentary system, and believing that a longer reign is always tyrannical, when such isn't the case. If only such people knew that Pol Pot's reign was only four years, but he certainly had a human rights violation that's even more well-documented than the Martial Law Years under Marcos Sr.! There's always some comfort in ignorance, just like there's some comfort in drug addiction and overspending. However, all these comforts are but far more fleeting than recovering from a fever. These people are still clinging on to the old ideas, hoping that the next generation will cling to them.
However, such ignorance is no longer excusable. We already have the Internet. True, the Internet can be a source of misinformation. What we need to realize is that the Internet is a place to help us find information and compare results. You might land on an anti-vaxxer site in one moment and then compare the results to the Center for Disease Control in the next. The same goes for anything. I can land on a site that defends the Filipino First Policy then compare it a site that seeks to refute it. When I reject Filipino First Policy as bad, I'm making that informed choice. What amazes me is that how much ignorant people are now ironically using the Internet to spread their disinformation. Even today, one could look at how the Marcos Years was ran, find writings and statements of the late Lee Kuan Yew and realize why Cesar Virata couldn't have been a real prime minister. Come on, do people who stick to their echo chamber that's composed of the likes of Hilario Davide Jr. (who turned 90 last December 20 this year), the Monsods, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, do they really think that the Internet wouldn't be a place to debate ideas? Do Facebook pages like La Verite think they can continue to promote their obsolete ideas unchallenged inthe digital age? Do they think modern-day Filipinos will not find the ideas of another old person, such as the centennarian Mahathir bin Mohamad, to fire back at Davide's comfort zone of believing the 1987 Constitution is the best in the world?
That's why I'm writing. Sure, I'm not going to Bagumbayan to be executed today. Some people already wished I were executed by firing squad at Bagumbayan. But as said, when it comes to history, I seek to think about a meaningful blogging. This blogging may just be sideline but I'm told, "When it comes to ideas, the pen is mightier than the sword."