UP Centennial Celebrations 1998

"Let's have a people's parade" -- Regent Oscar A. Alfonso

On June 12, 1998 the Filipino people will be celebrating the Centennial of the Act of Proclamation of Independence of the Filipino nation, promulgated by General Emilio Aguinaldo at Kawit, Cavite, 100 years ago. The proclamation of Independence on June 12, 1898 was the apotheosis of the Philippine Revolution of 1896. That Revolution was the first people's war of independence fought by Asians against western colonialism and it gave birth to Asia's first democratic republic.

It is therefore entirely appropriate that the national government, through the National Centennial Commission (NCC), should celeborate this glorious day in our history in a big way.

According to the NCC, the focal point of the centennial celebrations in Manila on June 12 will be the Philippine Centennial Parade. But the civic component of this parade will feature exclusively some 40 floats commissioned by the NCC. These floats will be funded by corporate sponsors who paid between 1.5 to 2.5 million pesos each. Other organizations wishing to join the parade but which could not afford the cost of sponsorship were turned down by the NCC. Instead they were told to join the "people's parade" to be held on the morrow, June 13, which has no historical significance.

We find the NCC-DOT two-day, two-parade plan unacceptable. It is exclusive rather than inclusive. It is not only ahistorical but also out of touch with contemporary Philippine history and culture. Finally, it subverts the meaning of the occasion it is supposed to commemorate: freedom and self-determination.

We propose that there be only one centennial parade to be held on Independence Day itself. By all means, let the NCC-DOT floats take the van of the parade. But let us not exclude other patriotic Filipino organizations from joining the parade. No matter that their interpretation of Philippine history and independence may differ from the orthodoxy favored by the NCC.

Let them march in the morning before the parade of floats in the afternoon. Better still, let them follow on the heels of the last float and tableau, close to evening, Never mind that the foot parade takes the whole night into the wee hours of morning. The longer the foot parade, the lustier demonstration it will be of the popular fervor for the Centennial and all that it celebrates.

The first phrase of the Philippine Revolution against Spain succeeded because of the solidarity of the ilustrado and the common tao. The second phase of the Revolution ended in failure, defeated by the superior arms of the Americans and because of the abandonment by many ilustrados of the cause of independence even as ordinary Filipinos continued to fight a guerrilla war long after the Americans declared victory. But neither the short-lived independence of the first Philippine Republic nor the recurrent rhetoric calling for the continuance of the unfinished revolution diminishes the historical significance of the Philippine Revolution.

History admits of many readings. But the NCC seems to foist a canonical interpretation of Philippine history informed by the values of the corporate establishment: ostentation, decorum ("order") and closure. The NCC plan will only stroke the divisiveness which characterized the sad chapters of our history, rather than promote the enduring lessons of the Philippine Revolution: solidarity.

In 1896 the masses asserted their right to a place in the sun. They sent a telling message in the elections of May 11, 1998. Is not a misconstruction of history, intended or not, oblivious of and contrary to that message, consigning the masses anew to the shadows.

Regent Oscar M. Alfonso, UP Professor of History (Ret.), chairs the Advisory Committee on the UP Celebrations of the Philippine Centennial.

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