You know I was doing some thinking.
What is this Philippine – American friendship day really?
It never meant much when I was a kid.
Why should it matter to me now?
I thank each and every Veteran who fought during the war,
so I can have my freedom, and be able to rant,
bitch and complain, whenever I want,
wherever I want, and however I need to do it.
But what is this friendship thing?
Are we Filipinos really in friends with Americans?
Okay, Tracy does not count, coz’ she makes me feel funny in my secret zones.
But, What does this friendship signify?
I know these won’t be interesting to most of you, but it is to me.
So I did some research.
You don’t have to go on.
Just click somewhere else if you please.
I may be right or wrong on this one, and if you don’t like it,
you have been asked not to continue.
What the hell am I saying?
Nobody reads this crap.
The day symbolizes our friendship with the United States,
when both Filipinos and Americans fought side by side to fight the invasion
of the Japanese in the Philippine Islands.
Led by General Douglas MaCarthur,
The Filipino and American Soldiers fought to their death against the Japanese Army,
with shortage of food, lack of supplies and inexperience.
Then current U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt’s priority was the European war,
and the Pacific war was unfortunately moved to the back burner.
He financed the war in Europe and discarded the East.
Even with these hindrances, Filipinos and Americans fought together,
and fought they did.
Bataan was the Philipines’ frontal defense against the Japanese,
and it was the very last to fall.
Gen. Macarthur was forced to leave the Philippines when it fell and go to Australia,
With a heavy heart, he left, with a promise of “I shall return”.
The “Battling Bastards of Bataan.”
(That’s what they called themselves
because they were all alone, abandoned, fighting with almost no hope.)
When Gen. Macarthur returned, with more reinforcements, hope and determination.
The Japanese army fell, and victory was achieved in Philippine soil.
More than 60,000 American soldiers died,
and more than 1 million Filipino Soldiers perished.
What a history, and I am proud of it.
Philippine Independence day is June 12,
and July 4 is Philippine-American Friendship day.
Because, we will never forget how our friends fought and died with us,
in time of need.
So, I did more reading.
Today, Why is it that a Filipino has to go through painstaking paperwork and scrutiny,
when they attempt to enter the United States? (With a lot of them, denied.)
And Japan has an agreement with the U.S, that any of it’s citizen
can enter for 90 days without question?
Why does a Filipino War Veteran gets US$440 government grant, and
an American War Veteran gets US$1200 ?
And it even took more than 50 years for this to be approved.
Maybe this has changed but nevertheless, my question still remains.
Or should the Philippine government give something back to the American Veterans?
I don’t know,
Maybe a couple of thousand pesos for their inconvenience,
and a free subscription to the Phillipine Daily Newspaper?
And is it true, most Americans can not even point the Philippines on the World Map?
Okay maybe that’s an unfair statement.
Most of them can’t even point other States on the Map.
Wait, me neither.
But what do I know?
I was born way after the war.
I got it easy.
Everything has been given to me “free.”
I did not have to fight for anything,
I was born free.
And I mean, free that I can choose wherever I want to live,
choose how am I going to live,
and not to fear these choices.
One thing I do know.
And I know this is true, because I read it in a Fortune Cookie once,
Men are equal; it is not birth but virtue that makes the difference.
Voltaire (1694 – 1778)
Oh.. and I read to much.
