The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much it is whether we provide enough for those who have little.
— United States president Franklin Delano Roosevelt
CRITICS are saying that under the watch of presumptive vice president ‘Inday’ Sara Duterte-Carpio the Department of Education (DepEd) might do some “historical revision(s),” but the running mate of president-elect Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos has allayed fears by stressing that the agency under her leadership would prioritize giving students quality education and improving the living conditions of teachers.
Still, we tend to ask—what do Inday Sara’s detractors mean when they say “historical revision”?
Does it mean revisions in our history or historical revision per se?
Either way, we then ask why would it be wrong to revise our history (that was actually written mostly by our Spanish conquerors and a bit by our American overlords)?
For our part, we believe it would be a credit to us—as a nation—that our own history be written in the our own words (and eyes).
What we truly mean is that the history we know today has been written by historians who tailor-fitted it to the cultural and personal beliefs of those peoples who had crashed us under their heel!
Take the case of our so-called first warrior-hero Lapu-Lapu, the narrative of the Battle of Mactan only told of his victory and slaying of the conquistador Ferdinand Magellan whereas his opponent’s story was written in a more detailed manner that depicted the Spaniard’s alleged sterling qualities as a conqueror.
(And there is a theory, too, of Lapu-Lapu being a made-up foe by the renowned Spanish scholart Antonio Pigafetta. We were told by one archaeologist at the National Archives that he believes Pigafetta made up the Mactan story in order to protect the name of Magellan, who actually died by drowning and not in some bloody battle with furious native warriors.)
Meanwhile, let us leave the issue about our history to the learned and go back to our incoming vice president’s appointment as the country’s education chief. In a revealing statement, the presumptive second-in-command and outgoing Davao City mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio has apparently accepted the post, declaring that she is “ready to rumble” and “excited” about her impending position as DepEd secretary.
Inday Sara visited San Isidro town in Northern Samar last Saturday, May 14, and she expressed elation over her president’s decision to entrust her with the education department.
She enthused: “I am just waiting for the proclamation of winners in Congress and the transition. By June 30, I am ready to rumble.”
“We were actually both excited because educating our young people is very important for the progress and development of our nation,” she added.
According to the Marcos camp, education is one of the priorities of the incoming administration.
Well and good because we fear that the following generation may not genuinely feel the patriotism that our country needs in order to move forward and achieve the progress we so desirously want to attain.
The fact is that we see our young ones—belonging to Generation X (those belonging to the 80s), Y (the millennials) and Z (the zoomers)—not having and knowing our historical roots to really cultivate that deep love for the Mother Land. To explain this thought, we pose a question: How can anyone love anything you have no knowledge of?
Truthfully, if we truly love the Philippines and bear the patriotism our foregone heroes had felt when they fought and died for our sovereignty and independence, then we have to be proud of it; to be proud of our country, it means having knowledge of our ‘true’ history and the greatness of our forebears.
We have an exceptionally rich culture and we should know about it so we can be proud to be Filipinos.
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