In time for the 125th anniversary of June 12, 1898, public intellectual Manuel L. Quezon III, grandson of the country's second president Manuel L. Quezon, questions whether that is even the right date to mark the nation's independence.
Howie and Manolo discuss Filipino victories over Spanish forces in many provinces that led to a short-lived independence, before the US arrived to occupy and colonize the country. Manolo reminds listeners that even after defeat in the Philippine-American War, Apolinario Mabini wrote that the struggle for independence would continue through other means, which did happen through lobbying and advocacy when the United States granted the country its independence on July 4, 1946.
Manolo connects the dots from 1946 to the fall of dictatorship in 1986 to, finally, what he asserts was the rise of a new national consensus in the 2022 elections.
In saying that Filipino patriotism is strong, he distinguishes it from nationalism, which is less so. In this view, "patriotism" or the state of being "makabayan" is a love for one's native land, community, and culture, as opposed to the "nation" that includes its form of government and how it is being run.
Families can appreciate history better, Manolo advises, by doing pilgrimages together to historical sites, and searching out and eating our heroes' favorite food.
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