Today is supposed to be Araw ng Kagitingan, the day the Death - TopicsExpress



          

Today is supposed to be Araw ng Kagitingan, the day the Death March begun after the defeat at the 3-month long Battle of Bataan. The day is supposed to mark the valiant struggle and sacrifice waged by our armed forces against the Japanese invaders. I believe we should never celebrate surrender no matter how valiant the fight. The Isarelis can do with their Masada ceremonies because they have other victories (and ignominies) in Middle Eastern wars against the Arabs and Palestinians. In other case, our record is empty. The defeat of Magellan is so far back it does not resonate so well with our people specially the young. I dont even remember us celebrating a Lapu-Lapu Victory Day. Our almost-clinched victory against the Spanish was snatched by the American imperialists led by Commodore Dewey. The yeoman-work of the Huks against the Japanese occupation forces is deleted by anti-communism. Since 1946, the armed forces of the post-colonial state spent much of its energies killing internal enemies. Yet, they cannot claim total victory over the MNLF, NPA, and MILF. After today, were going to mark the Fall of Corregidor next month. We seem to revel in masochism. In martrydom. Perhaps, thats why we lap telenovelas instead of epics for our afternoon or primetime shows. We always smile. Were always happy even while we suffer. We cant seem to put on our meanest game face.
Posted on: Wed, 09 Apr 2014 05:43:52 +0000

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