No day like the present

Decades into my life, I have learned that a country like ours can be as unmoving as a pile of cliches.

And there is no “moving on” as the new generation likes to call it.

The years have passed; time has waited for no one. We have remained stuck with ideals that never saw fruition, stuck with leaderships with intentions bigger than their capabilities, and stuck with leaders whose actions were weaker than their culpabilities. We are not free of our historical blunders.

And today is Independence Day. Far be it that any humble Pinoy should decry the pointlessness of celebrating a day when we triumphed over colonizers.

We will uphold the day’s meaning and the ideals it highlights, of course, but we will feel — as we may do on any day we commemorate a historic milestone in our country — a little flat, maybe even deflated, because it seems, even now, that nothing much has changed.

Now would be the time to reflect on why flag ceremonies in schools have to sing that “Bagong Pilipinas” hymn required by the Marcos Jr. administration.

Memorandum Circular 52 issued on 4 June says “all national government agencies and instrumentalities, including GOCCs (government-owned and -controlled corporations) and educational institutions, such as SUCs (state universities and colleges),” as well as local government units, should “integrate the recital of the Bagong Pilipinas Hymn and Pledge in the conduct of the weekly flag ceremonies, subject to existing laws, rules and regulations.”

Like a mantra we must learn, the hymn adds to what flag ceremonies already required people to sing and recite: the “Lupang Hinirang” and the “Panatang Makabayan” of the Marcos Sr. administration. These are supposed to strengthen our sense of nationalism as Filipinos. And these are required in schools and government offices. People say the words by rote, but not many seem to take the words to heart when they go about their daily lives.

“Iniibig ko ang Pilipinas. Ito ang aking lupang sinilangan…” We love the Philippines, but do we love our comforts more? How easily do we let go when times are hard? Or do we love with conditions?

At times we have no compunction about belittling our own culture. Or we complain of what is ours like it is not really ours — because if we did love our nation, and we knew there were troubles and challenges that tested this love to the hilt — then we would act to solve these problems or be a positive force in our realm to achieve the goals we share as a nation.

“Bagong Pilipinas” goes:

Panahon na ng pagbabago

Dahil sa ito ay kinakailangan

Tayo na magtulong-tulong

Na paunlarin ang mahal nating bayan

Panahon na ng pagbabago

Dahil sa ito ay kinakailangan

Tayo na magtulong-tulong

Na paularin ang mahal nating bayan

Panahon na ng pagbabago

At iayos ang mga dapat ayusin

Dapat lang maging tungkulin

Ng bawat mamamayan dito sa atin

Gawin ang pagbabago

Patungo sa pag-asenso

Magsikap ng mabuti

At nang guminhawa tayo

Ipagmalaki natin sa mundo at ipamalas

Ang Bagong Pilipino at Bagong Pilipinas

Panahon na ng pagbabago…

There’s more to the hymn, all reminding us with fresh words that we need to learn by heart, that we should unite, we should be one, to fix what must be fixed.

There is no time like the present, as they say.