Babe's Eye View article

Card companies, clothing stores, restaurants and all kinds of commercial establishments (even spas and salons) are expected to have brisk business today as people celebrate Father’s Day. But telcos most particularly will make a windfall with text messages going on high gear just like Christmas or New Year. (Perhaps Globe should make sure Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile receives a father’s day greeting for free.) Thanks to American Sonora Smart Dodd who wanted to honor her widowed father’s sacrifices—raising six children virtually by himself—every third Sunday of June has been designated as a day honoring fathers.

Although dads don’t usually get a lot of credit compared to moms when it comes to raising the family, fathers are looked upon as pillars of strength and stability. They are traditionally regarded as figures of authority, the one whose presence evokes well-being and the person to whom everyone runs for help and protection during critical and difficult times.

In a small dinner with several friends a couple of days ago, the conversation drifted to fathers. I asked about the father of the Filipino nation, and who that person could be. After all, we have fathers for a lot of “categories” like Jose Corazon de Jesus (Huseng Batute) who is considered as the father of the balagtasan. Manuel Quezon is known as the father of the national language, Marcelo del Pilar has been dubbed the father of Philippine journalism; there is a father of Philippine movies and even a father of Tagalog short stories. But to everyone’s surprise, nobody seemed to know just who is considered as the “father” of this nation.

Filipinos refer to the Philippines as “Inang Bayan,” our motherland, but try asking any ordinary person on the street about the father of this nation and chances are, you get that puzzled and incredulous look on their faces as if your question is preposterous.

In any case, the standard answer was our national hero Jose Rizal, whose 148th birthday we celebrated the other day. In fact, a lot of people look upon Rizal as the man who was responsible for awakening a heightened sense of identity among Filipinos through his writings, which got him in trouble with the Spanish authorities and most particularly the priests. Even in other countries, Rizal is also revered and in fact, some towns in Germany even have statues of this great Filipino hero.

One of my friends pointed out that in the United States, they have the “founding fathers”—the men who signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 on behalf of the 13 states that revolted against Great Britain. There are some groups though which insist the term “founding fathers” should include the “framers” or those who took part in drafting the proposed US Constitution. There is also some debate on just when America was really founded, with arguments that the nation was formed on March 1, 1781 when the Articles of Confederation was ratified, with John Hanson elected as the first president of the US.

In the Philippines, a lot of people look up to Katipunan founder Andres Bonifacio as the father of the revolution and the true father of Philippine democracy. His rival Emilio Aguinaldo declared Philippine independence on June 12, 1898 and is recognized as the first president of the Philippines. A lot of people, however, believe that the rift between these two factions must have strengthened the deep divisions that Filipinos continue to feel to this day.

During the Tejeros Convention on March 22, 1897, an assembly presided by Andres Bonifacio decided to establish a revolutionary government and subsequently elected Emilio Aguinaldo (who curiously was not present) as president. As some accounts go, Bonifacio was “snubbed,” with allegations that cheating took place because some of the ballots were already filled even before the election took place. Doesn’t this sound familiar?

Bonifacio was relegated as director of the interior but even this was denied him because one of Aguinaldo’s men questioned his credentials, saying he was not qualified for the position since he was not a lawyer. Insulted, the Supremo staged a walk out and declared the proceedings null and void due to cheating.

As some people would remark, “nadiskaril tayo” because of this division among the people described by some historians as this nation’s “founding fathers.” Rizal had it down pat because he saw that a great impediment to our unity was the propensity of Filipinos to promote their own interests first even as they seek the good of the nation. Doesn’t this also sound all too familiar?

Unfortunately today, people perceive many of our legislators as men and women more concerned with their own political survival rather than the survival of this nation. Many of the older people that I know reminisce about the days of Claro M. Recto and Gerry Roxas (Mar’s father) when politicians were revered as “statesmen,” always conscious of their stature, conducted themselves with dignity and always observed decorum.

Perhaps it’s time for us to look back to our past and remind the youth of the bravery and the sacrifices of our heroes to fight for freedom and give this country a strong foundation that would shape the destiny of our nation.

The Philippines as a family needs a father figure—one who would evoke respect and credibility, with a strong moral foundation, inspiring Filipinos to be united as one family working together for a better future, putting the interest of Filipino children before his own. The greatest tragedy of our Filipino youth, in examining the so-called leaders of today—is when they ask themselves, “Where have all the fathers gone?”