Love and Hate
/When we were in elementary school in the '50s, Philippine Independence Day was celebrated on July 4th, the same day as the US. We also sang the American national anthem after we sang "Land of the Morning," the Philippine national anthem in English. It was just a little over a decade after WWII ended and the Americans were still hailed as our saviors.
When the Macapagal administration (1961-1965) changed the date of Independence Day to June 12, the date in 1898 when our ancestors declared our independence from Spain, it triggered an examination of US-Philippine relations, quietly and sporadically at the onset, then evolving into strident anti-Americanism during the Vietnam War and the student protest movement in the early '70s. Martial law suppressed the stridency and the alliance between the US government and the Filipino people continued. Just like any relationship, it went through the peaks and valleys of love and hate.
In a nutshell:
Love: when the US opened its doors to large-scale immigration of Filipino professionals and their families, leading to the emergence of a 5-million-strong Fil-Am community;
Love: when the US supported and enabled the exile of Marcos in 1986;
Hate: the US bases in Clark and Subic were closed down by Philippine Senate fiat in the early '90s;
Hate: President Rodrigo Duterte's very public anti-American pronouncements that accompanied his pivot to China;
Love: President Bongbong Marcos' current embrace of the Mutual Defense Treaty with the US against Chinese aggression in the West Philippine Sea.
Tomorrow, July 4, is another Filipino-American Friendship Day. Perhaps it's time for a reexamination to hold the historic relationship of the two countries on an even keel -- an alliance of equals now, not as colonized and colonizer or master and subject.
Stories This Week
Unsung Heroes Of A Secret Mission by John L. Silva
Play Plunges Actor Alexandra Hellquist In Unresolved Debate by Anthony Maddela
She’s A Farmer And She’s Okay by Ian Layugan
Carlos ‘Totong’ Francisco II: Art On His Own Terms by Primo Pacis
Bologna And Milan: Random Encounters by Criselda Yabes
Read Again:
When Hilario Met Sally: The Fight Against Anti-Miscegenation Laws
Historical Memories Are Made of These
[Partner] Attorney General Bonta Releases 2023 Hate Crime Report, Highlights Continued Efforts To Combat Hate
[Video of the Week] How Did Philippine Art Connect Us Globally?
In The Know
‘It’s not all about the medals’: Olympian Margielyn Didal and her skateboarding journey
https://www.tatlerasia.com/lifestyle/sports/olympian-margielyn-didal-skateboarding-journey?
Philippine villagers smear mud on their bodies to show devotion to St. John the Baptist
https://apnews.com/article/philippines-bibiclat-mud-people-festival-john
Bini’s Charm and The Road To P-Pop Stardom
https://coverstory.ph/bini/
Years Later, Philippines Reckons With Duterte’s Brutal Drug War
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/29/world/asia/philippines-drug-war-duterte-justice.html?
Anti-American Hate Watch
Family members of woman pushed into S.F. BART train say death is shocking culmination of their worst fears
https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/woman-shoved-bart-train-homeless-arrest-
Healing Anti-Asian Racism – The HOPE Framework
https://siliconeer.com/current/healing-anti-asian-racism-hope-framework/
Asian American History is US History, So Why Don’t Schools Teach It?
https://ethnicmediaservices.org/stop-the-hate/asian-american-history-is-us-history-so-why-dont-schools-teach-it/
Bachelorette Jenn Tran speaks out against racist comments
https://asamnews.com/2024/07/01/jenn-tran-bachelorette-racism/
Cops hunt creep who hurled racist insult at Asian man before bashing him with thermos
https://www.nydailynews.com/2024/06/29/cops-hunt-creep-who-hurled-racist-insult-at-asian-man-before-bashing-him-with-thermos/
Funding provided by the State of California.
