Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Studying/Rethinking Our Philippine History. The Problem with America's History Books (UPDATED 11/18/2012)


"The HISTORY of the past interests us only in so far as it illuminates the HISTORY of the present." Ernest Dimnet, 1866-1954, French Clergyman


"For we wish to understand the spirit of an age to see into its heart and mind, and to acquire a feel for how those who lived in it responded to their world and coped with its dilemmas." - A. C. Grayling



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 “Colonies do not cease to be colonies because they are independent” – Benjamin Disraeli, British Prime Minister (1804-1881)


Studying and Rethinking our homeland's history (updated)


Hi All,

History has been one of my favorite subjects in high school, and to this day it continues to be one of my great interests. In retrospect, I think the study of History, whether of the Philippines, of another country or that of the World, was badly taught since the stress has been mainly on memorizing names, dates, and events. This teaching method made History to become/remain unpopular among many students and most importantly, to losing its true value for future adult citizens and members of society.

It was only when battles during the Vietnam War became a daily news item did my outlook towards History, in general, take a different spin. From then on, even while attending a college of engineering, I would spend time and money reading about the Vietnam War (more aptly, American intervention, or American War, as the Vietnamese now describe it) and especially, about the causes or roots of this war.


My insatiable interest in history also led me into appreciating the social sciences or the humanities, i.e. philosophy, psychology, political economy, anthropology, etc, and even to start dabbling into cognitive science; thus all those subject matters that go deep into "what is man?" and comprise mainly the so-called "liberal education." (see History and Liberal Learning).

(To digress a bit: Many of those who attended the University of the Philippines have had a taste of liberal education and thus seem more attuned with societal issues. And in general, some or many who are for technical education may have found them boring too. It partly explains why we engineers --wherever we graduated from-- tend to be generally unqualified in or unprepared to engage well in human/organizational management unless we study and learn such.)

Two truisms: One where it is said "history repeats itself." Another where I would say "history does not have to repeat itself." Man makes history not the other way around. So I do not believe in absolute historical determinism. A rough analogy: in the project engineering practice of better-managed organizations, after project completion, we sit down and talk about "lessons learned," to identify the good and the bad in the project just closed out for the purpose of not repeating mistakes.

It should make us wonder why we do not use our scientific/technical approach or thinking in our social analysis and problem-solving. It may be due to the case when most of the time human problems are much more complex than most technical or inanimate issues. In human problems, wisdom in problem-solving is acquired only from a combo of education, time, intelligence, and experience. 


History, come to think about it, if seriously studied, provides one an understanding of a people, a place, a culture. A history to understand ourselves: why are we what we are? what brought us here - to our current predicament?

Thinking about what transpired in the past provides a history buff a way of linking isolated, if not apparently unrelated events or historical milestones and therefore gives meaning and direction to the “who, what, when, where, how and why” questions concerning such past events. 

Learning and understanding history help provide a fresh perspective, the identification of a common thread, on recent and current events. Such obtained knowledge when applied to society can help formulate some and fundamental, even radical but necessary, approaches to problem-solving of society’s current ills.


Though again, acquired knowledge also may oftentimes require the will, i.e. "political will," of the rulers --and of the active citizenry to press the rulers-- to implement it.

Who should rule then? If we have chosen the wrong rulers, we have to force/make them become good rulers --but this is another topic.)

Back to our study of our history. The reason I mention the above is the fact that we Filipinos grew up and were schooled in books, including those on Philippine history (and Philippine-American History) written primarily by American and Americanized Filipino authors


As to our Philippine history, I believe and think that the 50-year American intervention, occupation, and colonization of our homeland need a deeper rethinking if one wants to understand the seemingly confusing and incomprehensibly perennial predicament of Filipinos in the Philippines.

The restudy of Philippine-American History by us Filipinos should aptly begin with the unknown and underlying rationalization and/or justification by Social Darwinism; the ignored and glossed over the shift to expansionism by the formerly anti-imperialist and isolationist America; most especially its dominant racist mindset for both market- and military-driven expansions explained away by the so-called Manifest Destiny towards the Pacific Rim during the later decades of the 19th century. Note that decades before, America declared and warned the Europeans, through its Monroe Doctrine, that the western hemisphere -all the Americas- was its sole domain, its "backyard."

The gradual shift at the turn of the 20th century from American isolationism to American imperialism, joining the exclusive imperialist club of England, France, Spain, etc. as the new global bully in the block, was demonstrated with the arrival of American armed forces in the Philippine Islands, the latter's political trickery towards the Katipuneros. The native Filipinos who had (have to this day) naïve sentimentality thus faith in the American revolutionary heritage led to their failure to perceive the fading of so-called heritage and the rising new American reality.

The new American reality of imperialism, which the ordinary American does not recognize/realize it due to his ignorance, imposed its subsequent brutal war against the Filipino natives, and with the subtle Americanization (cultural imperialism) of the Filipino natives -through public education--a new, more efficient and effective method, i.e. cheaper and not requiring American occupation troops in foreign soil (with native military substitutes beholden to the American military) and long-lasting way of re-colonization, i.e. neocolonialism aka neoliberalism, that strongly persists up to the present.

As a footnote, George Bush in his brief visit and speech to the Philippine Congress in 2003 spoke of our homeland as a model for Iraq. Thus America today pursues Iraqi occupation by American troops, now trapped in a quagmire as in Vietnam, after its brief but amoral intervention and invasion, and trying to impose its self-righteous belief that it has the best way for all civilizations and societies.

Thus; an excuse for its ultimate goal of controlling Iraqi Oil, the second-largest proven oil reserve in the world (second to Saudi Arabia). During the 2003 invasion, it is worth remembering that one of the very first places that the US troops took over is the Iraqi Oli Ministry and of course, all its documents.


And the Bush administration can do so thanks to the dominance of a similar ignorance of the American mind.

- Bert

PLEASE see also: History from the Point of View of the Filipino People (by Mrs. Leticia R. Constantino)




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“If knowledge can create problems, it is not through ignorance that we can solve them”. – Isaac Asimov, 1920-1992


UPDATE 11/06/2012:  

THE PROBLEM WITH AMERICA'S HISTORY BOOKS
WHITEWASHING AND SANITIZING U.S. HISTORY


Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick are co-authors of The Untold History of the United States (Gallery Books, $30)

It has become commonplace to deplore U.S. students' dismal performance in math and science when their test results are compared to those of students in other advanced and not-so-advanced industrial countries.
But, it turns out, according to the Nation's Report Card, or National Assessment of Educational Progress, the federally administered test results released in June 2011, the area in which U.S. students perform most poorly is actually U.S. history. According to the results, only 12 percent of high school students were proficient in U.S. history. And only a scant 2 percent could identify the social problem addressed in Brown v. Board of Education, even though the answer should have been obvious from the wording of the question itself.
Historically-challenged students turn into historically-challenged adults who make for unqualified citizens. Our republican system requires a literate, educated, and knowledgeable public. No wonder Santayana's famous comment that "he who forgets the past is condemned to repeat it" has been borne out repeatedly over the past century and a quarter of U.S. history.
In terms of history education, we face two basic problems. First, as the Nation's Report Card indicates, students know very little history. Second, much of what they do learn is extremely partial or flat out wrong. Take, for example, the discussion of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in one popular high school text--The American Past by Joseph Conlin--which happens to be used in Oliver's daughter's highly rated Los Angeles private high school.

In the few brief paragraphs devoted to the atomic bombings, which the Newseum's 1999 panel of experts declared the most important news event of the 20th century, Conlin manages to twice repeat the falsehood that the bombs were used to avoid one million U.S. casualties in an invasion, that Japanese fanaticism was "impossible to overstate," and that the bombs ended the war.
Such complete ignorance or willful dismissal of contemporary scholarship on the topic is unconscionable. Not only does Conlin fail to mention the ongoing debate over the projected casualty estimates, he ignores State and War Department studies contending that the Japanese were not fanatics but would indeed fight fiercely to protect the emperor, that Japanese leaders recognized that victory was impossible and were trying to secure terms that would allow them to avoid surrendering unconditionally, that the United States had broken the Japanese codes and American leaders were fully aware of Japan's desperate plight -- Truman referred to the July 18 telegram as "the telegram from the Jap emperor asking for peace", that the U.S. knew that the imminent Soviet invasion would finish the Japanese off once and for all -- "Fini Japs" when Stalin comes in Truman wrote, that the impact of the atomic bombs was less than decisive because the U.S. had been wiping out entire cities for months with its firebomb raids, and that it was the dreaded Soviet invasion, which proved the bankruptcy of both Japan's diplomatic and military strategy, rather than the atomic bombs, that forced Japan's surrender.
Conlin neglects to mention that six of the seven five stars U.S. officers who earned their fifth star during the war are on record as saying the atomic bombings were either morally reprehensible -- as did Truman's Chief of Staff Admiral William Leahy -- or militarily unnecessary. General Douglas MacArthur told former president Herbert Hoover that the Japanese would have happily surrendered in May, almost three months earlier, if the U.S. had told them they could keep the emperor. While that might be an overstatement, wouldn't it be something of interest to high school students?
People ignorant of the real facts of history fill the vacuum with either a fancifully corrupt view or a mythic one. In the United States that usually takes the form of a comforting fairy tale of American exceptionalism -- the notion that unique among nations, the U.S. is motivated by altruistic benevolence, generosity, and the desire to spread freedom and democracy. Woodrow Wilson, a true believer in America's mission, declared after Versailles, "At last the world knows America as the savior of the world!"
Neither World War I, which Wilson lied the country into, or the Treaty of Versailles is looked back upon very favorably today. Other presidents, most notably Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, have voiced similar sentiments, which they no doubt also sincerely believed. We're still paying the price for the debacles they lied us into.
As the great independent journalist, I. F. Stone wisely pointed out: "All governments lie, but disaster lies in wait for countries whose officials smoke the same hashish they give out." And it becomes even more dangerous if an ignorant public, indoctrinated with the same cockamamie ideas as the nation's leaders, doesn't have the good sense to question what they are spewing. 

As we show in our recent book and forthcoming documentary film series called The Untold History of The United States, what students learn about the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is only one small part of a systematic effort to whitewash and sanitize U.S. history.
This is of great significance because people's view of the past not only informs their actions in the present, it limits their sense of what is possible in the future. It is time for a national conversation about what this country's history has really been -- good and bad, warts and all.
We are entering a period of history in which the American people will either carve out a very different role for their nation in a rapidly changing world -- a role that eschews the militarism and imperialism that has marked the past century -- or it will continue blindly down the present path of warmongering and decline with consequences only faintly augured by those cataclysmic events in August 1945 when the U.S., once and for all, finally achieved the "might" behind the "right," changing the course of history for the foreseeable future.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/oliver-stone/the-problem-with-america-history_b_2059593.html?utm_hp_ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false

"Upang maitindig natin ang bantayog ng ating lipunan, kailangang radikal nating baguhin hindi lamang ang ating mga institusyon kundi maging ang ating pag-iisip at pamumuhay. Kailangan ang rebolusyon, hindi lamang sa panlabas, kundi lalo na sa panloob!" - Apolinario Mabini La Revolucion Filipina (1898)


18 comments :

Anonymous said...

American imperialism sprouted from European Imperialism. Back from the humble however chaotic formative years of America, the founding fathers claimor for independence eventually post relationship made America a better economy back by its vast resources, brilliant immigrants and as a popular haven for new investment to the new world. Imperialist has nothing but just a self centered ideas and motives. This is a common knowledge and will never change in the near future or perhaps for long. We cannot live hating America forever. Japan was brought to ruins and shambles by the mighty Americans however they learn how to forged a relationship that eventually catapult their economy to be recognize and envied by the entire world. Instead of hating the imperialist nature of Ameica, we filipinos should learn how to make use of it for out benefits. We still depend on America wereever the direction of world politics and economy leads us. Like Japan and now China and India, we should know how to tame a master to upgrade our status. Hating America will never bring us to another step higher however making use of their imperialist clout came open to our own filipino self centered motives then eventually give out economy th edge over our neighbors. A sinking ship can do nothing than cling to a sponsor to save them. China, Japan, Russia and Europe will never help us... period. We cannot speak of Philippine history without mentioning the country United States. Rethinking on how to deal with America and make use of its successful economy can still save our country.

Cayetano Ramos

Bert M. Drona said...

Nonoy,

Thank you for your response.

I believe you misread my writings. I do not write to foster hatred of America (nor its people).

To write history is to examine the past and what I talk about is the past that many of us never knew, whether it was intentionally kept from us or not.

I have addressed this issue of "blaming America" that you alluded to in a previous blog. See http://thefilipinomind.blogspot.com/2005/12/do-filipino-nationalists-use-blame.html


As to the other Asian nations that you cited, they knew and understood their history. Blood was spilled in good numbers but in the end they came to unite and realize their nationhood and to rule for their respective homelands/peoples; which in our case, we never came to realize.

As long as we and the majority of the Filipinos in the Philippines are deeply ignorant of our own history, in particular of the circumstances of the colonization and occupation of our homeland by America (which has the most influence in our current society -for good and bad), the imposed conditionalities for independence that resulted into dependence on America, etc.; we will never realize being truly a nation, united and acting for our own betterment as a people, as human beings.

Such an honest inquiry or restudy of our history will generally lead to having mistrust of America, that's where historical truth in our case can lead.

Unless one wants to to be blind on truth, bitter truth. Shall one deny truth because it is uncomfortable and does not profit oneself (while others can learn and be more prudent and fight against untruth)?

You also talk of rethinking, that's what I suggest. But the rethinking I allude to does not suggest continuing our mendicancy.

A country dependent on another will never realize true nationhood.

MrG said...

One of the issues we have recently realized (2004) was the denial by America of the birthrights of the Filipinos born between Feb. 6, 1899 and July 4, 1946 (Territorial Filipinos). The circumstances of a person’s birth are indelible and unique as to time and place. But Americans have told us that we were 'born again' or 'de-naturalized' if there is such a term, after Philippine Independence was declared in 1946.

Our findings show that the naturalization of these Territorial Filipinos that have
applied for American citizenship is perhaps redundant or even illegal. How can a citizen at birth be naturalized? Nothing regarding this may be found anywhere in American laws. On the contrary, the 14th Amendment, properly read and with reference to the context in which it was approved in June 13, 1866, proclaims that "all persons born under the jurisdiction" of the United States are citizens.

We believe there has been an error in how Territorial Filipinos have been consigned to have been born "stateless people". And since America's own constitution declares otherwise, we are interested to have this historical anomaly corrected.

Just imagine the implication this would have on the Filipino Veterans who's pensions have been put on hold all these years. Perhaps completely settling them only when the last of these Veterans have passed away. The issue is not simply citizenship, it is about human rights.

Perhaps as a scholar, you can help us revise this historical untruth. ("Us" are all UP Alumni in our mid-sixties and you can find us at http://reklamo.ph/ampoy)

Anonymous said...

I was horrified when I read my daughter's history book in grade school here in NYC some years back, which described the Philippine-American War as an insurrection. Very few people realize that Social Darwinism has been the overarching culture that dominates the Filipino psyche. Just listen to Sec. Gonzalez blaming the rape survivor and Julia Campbell for her death. I was also stunned to read a Bacolod columnist criticize the farmer beneficiaries of the Velez-Malaga land reform for having a camera capturing the shooting and killing of their friends.

Keep up the good work !

Peace,

Hernan

Bert M. Drona said...

Hernan,

Thank you for your encouraging response.

What the youth learns in American schools is what they carry into adulthood.

Thus, the arrogance and repeated folly of American power/empire, i.e. Vietnam and now Iraq and maybe more in the future.

Bert

Anonymous said...

Hi Bert,

I am duly pleased that you are expressing opinions instead of just cuttings from other peoples' thoughts. Has the real Bert emerged or is he just paraphrasing. Is there some hidden OFW conviction or a gloating over the suckers left behind?

Your topic of repeating history is profound. I suspect history gets repeated because humans are so limited in their hormonal range of possibities. All our actions are directly controlled by the relevant mix of hormones and neuro-transmitters.

It is always the same jealousy, hate, love, pride, insecurity and etc which governs the whole species at all times and in all situations.

All species on the planet compete for resources unto death. The predators always kill the prey to survive. Humans merely do this in more sophisticated ways. The powerful make the rules so that their predatory actions are socially acceptable and religiously sanctioned.

Every Lion has a hundred dead prey to thank for its survival. Every rich man has a hundred poor "prey" who have contributed to his survival. The repeat of history is merely the repeat of the Lion's chase to catch its prey.

It never changes. Its always about the capturing of resources, be they food,sex, raw materials of fellow people. Slaves were and still are just a resource. The poor, under-priveledged are by any definition slaves and a resource for the rich and powerful.

Most Philippinos are trapped as a resource and enslaved to the Catholic Church and the Ruling Class.

All politics is based on the top 10% ruling the masses. This is so in all species on the planet. Humans just codify and make written rules about it. The reality never changes.

Marcos, Gloria or French Louis 16th are no different. The world decried Stalin as a despot yet he took Russia to a position of amazing power.

Mao is still reviled as a despotic maniac and his Cultural Revolution is damned as a terrible tragedy. Nobody understands that China is about to whip the US as the next world power directly as a result of this policy. It was only possible because all the old Imperialistic Cadre were wiped out and prevented from reverting to the old ways. Mao was truly the Father of modern China.

The US is sliding down the repeat of History as the old Roman Empire. They have made every historical mistake it is possible to make.

If George Bush could even understand history he would know that he is the mindless puppet, who is being used to capture the world's resources before any others can. History will not allow this.

I am old enough to have watched China outmaneauver the US over the last 20 years. I used to get quite a laugh as China practiced its inscrutability while the Honkeys thought they were winning at each step.

I see no historical future for the Philippines. I can find nothing in the History cycles which are a precursor for Philippine success. On the contrary, there are historical concepts which show the Phills cannot make it.

The cost of things is going up very fast here. OFW money is destroying the benign balance of poverty. The lucky are slowly trampling the less fortunate. The country is setting itself up for "Indian" style poverty with total deprivation of all those not on the OFW teats.

Plaridel, and Rizal are rolling in their graves. They knew what history held for the Phils..

Regards Graham

Bert M. Drona said...

Hi Graham,

Thanks for your interesting and entertaining feedback.

Actually for the last month, I was getting and feeling lazy and dreaming of traveling again (was in Italy for 3 weeks in February); history drives me into traveling.

There is so much truth in what you wrote about human reality. And if I were to concentrate on it, I would be so dislillusioned that I might just as well give the finger to the homeland, fellow Filipinos and the world. But somehow, my close Catholic nurturing and education (though not anymore practicing nor considering myself as Catholic) somehow pushes me --I recognize it -- to not abandon what I am convinced is a socailly moral stance in what I am doing in my small way (though I may be considered privately immoral, haha).

Stalin, Hitler and Mao, what a combination. I was just having dinner with a few colleagues, Indians and Chinese engineers with Ph.Ds last Saturday and we were talking about Hitler. We agree that he was objectively speaking, smart though of course, for lack of a better word " evil". You are correct about Stalin and Mao almost as bad and both of course commies are thus hated and unpopular in the capitalist world.

I believe all three used nationalism when their fascist (Hitler) and communist ideologies (Stalin/Mao)were failing them, especially during WW2. German, Soviet and Chinese nationalisms helped them survive and triumph and I think China's nationalism is propelling them in national development the last 20 years (since Deng Xiao Ping).

That is why, when I think about it, militant/strong Filipino nationalism among our rulers and majority is sine qua non to make our native people economically succeed whether we embrace capitalism, mixed capitalism (which we were for so many years before 1972), socialism or communism. Communism did not work as we have seen; but socialism as in the Scandinavian countries and/or capitalism as in others -- under an informed, enlightened majority-- can only lead to the common good.

Fostering Filipino nationalism is extremely difficult nowadays than at any previous time with the new generations. Internal and external factors work against it. But Filipino nationalism still has to be the goal. When attained, the native majority will make the rest fall in place and work for the common good, regardless of the economic system.

From the responses I get, Filipino nationalism is not completely dead as many foreigners, i.e. local Chinese and Americans, Japanese, Koreans, etc. desire/want, plan and work against it (these guys want Filipinos out of their own homeland --a heaven compared to their own-- so they can forever effectively take over).

Bert

Bert M. Drona said...

Tet,

Check this out website; however I do not know the latest developments:

http://inouye.senate.gov/97pr/97pr75.html

Bert

Anonymous said...

Hi Bert,

I enjoyed your letter. The last sentence frightened the hell out of me. This has always been a theme in your letters and has reared its head again.

You often state that foreigners are responsible for most of our woes and working against Philippine Nationalism.

The fact that an educated OFW National can believe that means that the destructive forces in the Philippines have managed to subvert the entire nation and have enbedded their hidden-agenda within the Filipino psyche.

My personal observation and my reading of history finds a much more sinister and obvious destructive force to Philippine Nationalism. One which can never be uncovered becasue it has been inserted at the sublime level in the culture and belief system.

Since the Roman version of Catholicism emerged in the Middle Ages, their total objective has been twofold. First of all to destroy all local culture's and allegiances and then to get said cultures to enrich their new Masters, the Church.

You may remember that at most juctures in European history the Church usurped the local powers, overpowered the cultures, removed borders and dominated from Rome (or France around John 23's time for a few Popes.)

Until quite recently The Holy Roman Empire, consisting of quite a few European countries and cultures was typical of their modus operandi.

IUt was only when real nationalism started to replace 'Medieval Catholicism" and Secularism was seen as an escape that modern Europe has been able to progress.

You may know that some of the modern European countries now pay the priests and Church out of the government coffers. This seems to be the only way to regain Nationalism from the powers of Rome.

The Philippines which is still engulfed by Medieval Catholicism has been totally brainwashed out of cultural or National unity and into a Roman religious unity.

No non-secular Catholic country has yet "made it" into the 21 century. The Church knows that any people "united" but not under direct Church control will be dangerous and destructive to Church profits.

Five hubdred years ago when the Spanish used the Cross as a sword the "foreigners" did indeed destroy forever any chance of Philippine Nationallism other than one whose primary allegiance would only be to Rome.

The Catholic Church, which is our country's largest employer, investor and land owner in cahoots with the Ruling class are protecting each other against any meaningful cohesion into Nationalism, because the very first thing an intelligent Nationalism will do is get rid of them both.

In our Philippine here and now, to think for even a second that Japan, Korea, Europe, or the US are against Philippine Nationalism would be untenable. Everybody, except the entrenche local powers stand to benefit by a strong cohesive Philippines.

The Church, smoothly pulled into the courtyard and diligently guarded by the Ruling Class is the Trojan Horse.

I would be very very interested to hear from your perspective how "Foreigners" are able to, or have the desire to, work against a strong and united Philippine Nationalism.

Regards Graham

Anonymous said...

“Colonies do not cease to be colonies because they are independent” – Benjamin Disraeli, British Prime Minister (1804-1881)

Hi this is one catholic view that you may find interesting to add to the discussion in your blog.....

We have to re-examine the Rizal propaganda to see through the mirage called independence from the americans. Rizal taught us to relegate the kernel of our nationhood into a period that should be forgotten rather than being remembered. I am referring to the pre-spanish and the spanish era which largely contributed to our unique christian culture. The american colonization and its colonial education system extended this Masonic propaganda to make the spanish colonization and the missionary actions of the catholic church as pure works of the devil. Thus after a generation of american colonization, the spanish tongue was gone, respect to the catholic tenets became something of a token and paganistic practice.

Our nation began when spain united the islands, suppressed the tribes and put the islands into the world map. Our nation began when our ancestors came to know of a God named Jesus Christ. The sad part is when we began to preach the Noli and Fili in our schools using the american education system we still use today in or schools, we are told to be fundamentally alienated to the core beliefs that made us into a nation. Our identitiy lies in the fact that we are a nation born and bred by spanish colonization. It is not something bad, but it is how the Rizal propaganda pictured it to be. As to why a catholic nation the most corrupt in asia? It is because we already forgotten our being a catholic nation after one century of american education.

History is largely written by the victors, in this case spain was the loser, the american were the victors but the victims are until now the Filipino people.
A country ran like hell by Filipinos under the auspices of the american colonizers and their masonic tentacles (Trivia: Our so called revolutionaries were mere masonic agents bent on destroying the catholic country. Names like Rizal,Aguinaldo and Quezonand Marcos all left destructive marks that would define our nation's shitty future. The glaring evidence of the masonic bureaucracy started under quezon when he appointed his masonic brothers to run the government.) with WW1,WW2,Cold War, and new world order interests in mind definitely has rammed our heads to a wall. It definitely caused 8 million of us to leave the county and continued our moral decay and the continued death of our nationalism.


It is time to re-examine our plight. It is now time to rediscover who we are and begin to erase the colonial present and began breathing life to a long lost nationalism.

I am just sad that voices like mine are never heard in the mainstream media. The sad reality in our country today is that we are in the midst of a religious war that has been going on for centuries. The masonic war against the catholic church. This the core of our decadence. A country ran like hell by Masons in its war against the catholic church.

Sun tzu said that to know thyself and the enemy is the first step to win the war. In the case of the Philippines, to know that in the catholic country, the root cause of the systemic political and moral corruption is freemasonry is akin to knowing the enemy. And to know that our nationalism has to be based in our innate catholic roots is to know ourselves.

Anonymous said...

The separation of Church and State in the Philippine Context has been a total joke for those who knows the real score behind the suffering of the Filipino race. Behind all the mask of masonic rhetoric, one thing is clear, the catholic church and masonry are constantly at war and the Philippines is just one great battlefield and this war is religious in nature, fought between a true religion and a pseudo religion. In a country with an overwhelming catholic majority, we have a constitution that prohibits our church to engineer society according to its morals by making it unlawfull for the church to participate actively in governance. In the other hand, we suffer in the presence of masonic lodge in the midst of our bureaucracy, politics, and military. Freemasonry is a religion, it is not a lions club or a kiwanis club. It should be defined as such and its members prohibited from meddling into
governmental affairs. But as it stands today, it is not only meddling, it is actively ruling over the Philippine government and is actively controlling all aspect of the lives of the Filipinos. Masonry is running the nation like hell and we should all know the tree by its fruit.

Systemic corruption, this is the word that best describe the rampant corruption in the Philippines. A systemic corruption needs an engine to make billions to disappear, thousands to die, and the few to get filthy rich. I will bet my bottom peso that the masons are responsible for all the corruption that plague our country. Marcos is one shining example, a mason and a practitioner of the kabal. I wont even bother talk about the damage he did because while I am writing this and even while I breath, I still am paying IMF and other creditors for his sins. To make money in government today, all you need to do is become a mason, set-up a dummy company, sell a lousy product, over price it and sell it under the table called the masonic league of corrupt government official, then presto, your business will have a tubong lugaw profit margin. In this way billions worth of government contract are won, from military modernization, fertilizer fund, lahar dikes, comelec scam, and etc.. In the same manner, we saw our election rigged by perfect manipulators, hello garci anyone? Garci is also a mason by the way.

If asked why a catholic country is so corrupt, poor and immoral the answer lies in the fact that we are a catholic country under the rule of the corrupt freemasonry. To be able to live free, praying to our Lord Jesus and venerating our saints in a moral and prosperous country, we catholics have to stand our ground and begin to fight the war. This not religious extremism, this is about the survival of our way of life, our culture, and our right to make our faith come alive in a country that we so dearly love.

To people who thinks that the war between the catholic church and freemasonry is but a pigment of my mad imagination, it might help them if they can review the Mexican History of the last century. It was a period where the war was fought in the open and many saints and martyrs died for the faith and many a mason became popular butchers of their fellowmen which they claim they love above all. It was a moment in time that the catholic majority slept and allowed the freemasons to rule Mexico in the name of the nationalistic and revolutionary ideals that masked their hatred to the catholic church.

Fellow Filipino Catholics of the world, let us not let freemasonry rule our land (though the status quo is indicative of that rule already ) rather, let us wake up and join this religious war that they fought so secretly and bring it out in the open and let our children be free of corruption, greed and decadence.

Unknown said...

Freemasonry as an evil plot to destroy the Holy Mother Church? What Century are we living in?

Anonymous said...

What century are we living in? Well, to tickle your fancy, we are in a century where information flows freely like the blood of catholic martyrs through the ages. If you should know, this is the age of information.

We live in a century where a good conspiracy theory will earn billions in multimedia revenue. When Dan Brown wrote about the "great con of mankind"in the Da Vinci Code portraying the catholic church as the mother of all lies in its profession of the divinity of christ, the catholic world was not rocked as planned by his masonic sponsors. It was because his lies and historical revisions were easily crushed by the sheer amount of information available in this century. If this were a century that you have in mind(or where you are still), the damage to the church could have been greater.

Yes this is a great century to be alive. This is a great century to explore the past and re-examine the history of the Filipino race in the light of the religious struggles between the catholic church and freemasonry.

This is a century and an age to review Rizal's propaganda against the catholic church and how that same propaganda fitted well to the colonial plans of the americans. And how that propaganda destroyed our national identity and the collective will ti be truly free.

This is a century of information, a chance for each freedom loving Filipino Catholics to uncover the plot of freemasonry for the ultimate destruction of the catholic church at the cost of the Filipino People.

This is the century that Filipino Catholics will fight back.

Anonymous said...

I am writing perhaps the first comprehensive political-economic history of the Philippines.

I am further encouraged by your comments.

-Joe Romero

Bert M. Drona said...

Joe,

Thanks for your feedback. Goodluck with your writing. Hope to hear more about it.

Bert

Anonymous said...

Hi Bert,

Thank you for all the enlightening articles you've been exposing here in your blog. One important thing that caught my attention was your assertion that Marcos was a mason, and even Garci! I am aware of this group's influence in the world, heck, even our heroes are freemasons (Rizal Bonifacio, Aguinaldo)!I like to ask where did you get the evidence that Marcos was indeed a mason, and maybe you have books or other stuff that you can share with us that details who among the personalities in the Philippines today are members of this group.
Mabuhay !

-Doubting Winston

Anonymous said...

IS PHILIPPNES BETTER OFF WHEN AMERICANS COLONIZED US OR BETTER IF THEY DIDN'T COLONIZE US? WHY?

Bert M. Drona said...

Doubting WINSTON,

I don't remember writing about the masonry of some of our heroes you mentioned nor about Marcos's.

You might have read from someone else.

Thanks!

Bert