Let us not forget our heroes’ sacrifices so we could live freely in our land

Mainly from oral history as recounted by our parents and grandparents, we learned that soon after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 (Dec. 8 in the Philippines), Japanese spies came out as members of the Japanese Imperial Army, most of them high ranking officials. According to my mother, the Japanese gardener of her first cousin who lived in San Juan, and was married to an American, was a Japanese colonel. A lot of other Japanese tradesmen, even those selling halo halo and maíz con hielo turned out to be spies.

And now, we are being bombarded with Chinese students coming to the Philippines and studying in the provinces. Historically, we’ve always had foreign students enrolled in Manila and bigger cities in prestigious universities like the University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University, University of Santo Tomas, and so on. The quality of education in most provinces has improved tremendously with the establishment of state colleges, but these are mainly for Filipinos and not for foreigners. Are we not afraid that these “students” are spying for the CCP (Chinese Communist Party)? We should not tolerate “Sinophobia” but as a sovereign state, we have all the right to control our borders.

I don’t know what would happen to the investigation on Mayor Alice “in Wonderland” Guo, but her case is an eye opener on the rampant corruption in government—from local and national officials, to offices like the Philippine Statistics Authority, Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Education, immigration, customs, etc. The CCP, with all its money, knows how to control and bribe poor Filipinos who are blinded by gifts and ayuda. Just listen to some comments of the residents of Bamban, Tarlac, who are “praising” their mayor.

In addition to putting more teeth to our immigration laws, we should instill love of country from an early age through education and example. If you love your country, you will not “sell” it to foreigners, and will remember the blood and sufferings of our heroes who died for us to live freely in our land. If you happen to be working in government, you will try to be honest especially when you are dealing with foreigners. Even if we are getting a lot of money from Philippine offshore gaming operator activities, if they corrupt our people, they have to go.

When we sing “Lupang Hinirang” and pledge allegiance to the Philippines, this would be the start of our campaign of “Filipino First.” No outside country, no matter how rich, should be allowed to control us. But this takes courage, and I do hope that as Filipinos, we have it.

Ida M. Tiongco,

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