Filipino Voices

I have blown away my Christmas bonus on 1) the UP Centennial party hype (my family is a 3 generation UP alum family and I had to buy tickets for mom, aunty, and me) and 2) Books (which I plan to give away as presents too)

I can;t help it but to read the books before wrapping them in colored paper. I’m sending Benjamin Pimentel’s “Pareng Barack: Filipinos in Obama’s America” to my Puerto Rican colleague in LSU. My amigo sent me a book about a Puerto Rico’s identity problem. It was sent to me through the kindness of a Pinoy LSU student here for the holidays.

And speaking of Puerto Rico, there is a book that compares the initial colonial experience of Puerto Rico and Islas Filipinas with the USA. Entitled “American Empire, the Politics of Meaning”, this was written by Julian Go based in Boston University and published by Ateneo press. America’s attempts at empire is interesting. We can actually compare three cases as if it were a planned experiment. The 1898 Treaty of Paris gave the USA three major new possessions, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Filipinas. They gave Cuba its independence in 1902.Puerto Rico became a colony and remains now as a Commonwealth. The Philippines was given a 48 year “tutelage” in American government. (However this was rudely interrupted by the Japs in 1941).

The question is how come the Americans decided to spend that long a time here? I think all agree that America never intended to incorporate the Philippines and by 1916 had a “roadmap” to set the Philippines to independence. In 1935, the self government experiment began with war looming over the horizon, Manuel Quezon lurched towards authoritarianism.

In contrast by 1916 or thereabouts, Puerto Ricans were given US citizenship by statute (This means there is a possibility of admitting the island as a US State. The Philippines? Not in our dreams!) . Full commonwealth status came in 1952. This is the root of Puerto Rico’s identity problem.

Visiting San Juan in 2007 as an visiting lecturer, I noticed that Puerto Rico has indeed benefited from its commonwealth status. There is even a version of Manila’s LRT (tren urban), swanky malls and trendy gated communities. The island’s economy is also the most developed in the Caribbean and the country is classified as a high income one by the World Bank. However as mi amigos explained to me, the country is in a limbo. The joke is Puerto Rico is a separate and independent nation in 1) Miss Universe and 2) The Olympics.  It is obvious that Puerto Ricans consider themselves separate from the rest of the USA

The story of Puerto Rico parallels that of the Philippines. For example, the University of Puerto Rico was founded in 1903 and was made a state university in 1908 (in the same year that UP was created). Go’s book details this parallelism and takes note of the differences.  First of all Puerto Rico’s elite readily accepted US occupation. In the Philippines we had a sovereign republic waging war against the occupiers. It was only by 1901 and Aguinaldo’s capture when the Pinoy elite realized the futility of the war and accepted US sovereignty. In both cases, representative government was quickly established. While Puerto Ricans accepted US sovereignty and the status quo, Filipinos even by 1915 still resisted and this was even noted by the saintly Episcopal bishop Charles Henry Brent. Brent wisely said in an interview that Filipinos will never like Americans! Also there is a significant community of Puerto Ricans in the USA like there is a significant community of Filipinos there.

The nagging question I had in the back of my mind while in Puerto Rico was this. Would have my patria adorada, Filipinas be like this if we had remained a Commonwealth? We know that privately Quezon had doubts on independence and would have wished for an “associated state” status for his country. Our July 4, 1946 independence day  saw the nation in a prostrate condition. Massive amounts of American aid were needed and this was with strings. This has poisoned Philippine-American relationship ever since.

But the Puerto Ricans I have met in their patria seem to envy me a Filipino for one thing. This is that I carry a Philippine passport (which means I am a citizen of a fully independent nation). One political science student wanted to know more about Philippine-American relations and visit Manila. I hope she can visit Manila and see for herself! I began to think that Puerto Ricans may have the reverse of my question in my mind. What would become of Puerto Rico if we become completelty independent?

So the identity crisis continues. In 1998, the Puerto Ricans rejected 1) commonwealth status, 2) independence and 3) statehood in a referendum. They chose instead 4) none of the above.

They have their anti US bases movement too. They want to kick out the US Navy of Vieques island.

Conclusion: Our shared histories with America and Spain completely screwed us up! At least for me as a Pinoy, I could take consuelo de bobo in having my own Pinoy passport!

BTW, Benjamin Pimentel’s book is good. It is refreshing take on a subject that is taboo in polite FilAm circles, and this deals with racism and hostility against blacks. I have to commend Benj for writing the book. When I was in Louisiana and Obama’s presidential star was just a bit above the horizon, none of the FilAms I met considered him for president. Of course they didn’t tell me that because Obama was black but that he was too liberal. But some of the FilAms were considering Hillary. But Hillary is uberliberal. So I realized that this liberal thingy was a euphemism and the real reason is that  Obama was black! I have never been to any FilAm hosted social gathering in America in which an African American was invited. FilAm readers may not like what I write but this is my experience.

Then I was a neutral observer of US presidential politics. But that black issue spiked me and I immediatelty realized what America has having a hard time coming to terms with.  Having lived for many years in what many Pinoys think as more racist Australia, I became skin colour blind there especially in desert Queensland. True there was racism in Australia in the past but Aussies now try extremely hard to get over that a part of their history.

What Benj Pimentel wrote is so true and he does it with out much offense but with sadness. He exposes our flaws as immigrants.  What I found poignant is his chapter on our World War II veterans (America’s shameful treatment of them  is one more poison on the Philippine-American relationship) and the internment of Japanese-Americans in World War II (a very shameful episode in American history). Despite the injustices, the victims still found the resources to forgive the United States of America. So we find it shocking that the Michelle Malkin types in the US media would even consider internment once again.

And the last chapter detailing why Pimentel taught his kids Tagalog is an eye opener. I know of only one FilAm who taught his kids Tagalog. (Although all my Ilocano relatives in Honolulu made sure their kids can speak Ilocano and  have it as a language at home!). The usual reason is that FilAm kids won’t need Tagalog to live in American society. However I have met not a few FilAm students who lament that their parents did not teach them Tagalog or any Philippine language. They say some part of their identity is lost.

I agree and feel the same. I feel that my elders did me a disservice by not teaching me Ilocano. Thus I part of my identity is lost (and I feel like a foreigner in my cousin’s Honolulu home!). My elders imagined a Philippines where the regional languages are unimportant and only English and Filipino are. The same way that I lament I did not learn Spanish well enough since on a visit to Latin America, I felt strangely at home but still a stranger. Part of my Spanish heritage is lost and I am forever disconneted with my forebears that fought in the Revolution. Also I can’t fully connect with my Puerto Rican amigos.

Now all of us who deal with America now wait for Inauguration Day.