What does it mean to be a post-colonial Filipino?
Ang Tigbuhat wondered if he would qualify. He would have to. He is after all a Filipino living in the contemporary. He would have said “contemporary times,” but that would have been like saying, “pizza pie.” Its up to us to decide what it means, he finally decided. After all “post-colonial” is only a phrase, which is a term, which, taken together, is only a sign like all text. And the links between text and meaning are only social constructs. They are not essential, not inevitable. People just agree over a period of time what terms or text to use, and what these terms are supposed to mean. Text and their meanings change over time. They change with people’s changing awareness of their world.
It is a beautiful process. People are not necessarily aware of these changes. They would have to look carefully at the changes if they want to come to a closer understanding of them. Otherwise, they just simply live the life without caring too much about things like definitions. That too, is enough. People change mostly without knowing it. But definitely, Filipinos have changed much over the generations. And if one looked carefully, they have changed drastically.
For those who were young in the time of the first Edsa, these changes are palpable even in introspection. Ang Tigbuhat considered himself and decided: he was now truly and without doubt a post-colonial Filipino. And his markers for it are significant. For instance: When he was not yet a post-colonial Filipino, he would have referred to Western literature to discern what “post-colonial Filipino” might mean. Instead, he decided that the best way to define it would simply be to refer to what he has become, how he looks at the world, how he positions himself inside it, and finally, how he has changed over the years. He assessed these in comparison to others all about him. He included especially those people who have become icons of current times including Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and the rest of the senators, now also judges, in an impeachment court. Yes, he decided. We are all post-colonial Filipinos.
This is not to say, that we have fallen away from the reach of colonial forces. We are still very much subject to Western influences. But we are more aware of it. One clear sign is how American jurisprudence is referred to but placed always in proper context whenever they are applied in the course of the impeachment trial. But the main indicator, as far as Tigbuhat was concerned, was that it would not be solely jurisprudence that will eventually be used to decide this case. The post-colonial Filipinos will not allow that.
It is all about how the post-colonial Filipino sees himself or herself in the light of what transpires. We have too much at stake. And everything that happens from hereon will be entirely up to us. We will have to face the consequences ourselves and by ourselves. We are not Syria whose fate awaits international intervention. And quite surprisingly, we are not Greece, who must be rescued from complete disaster by our neighbors. That surely is worth thinking about.
And the post-colonial Filipino ought to take pride in that. Not everything is perfect here. Indeed, they are quite difficult and not always fun. And we still do depend on foreign aid, our fates, much affected by the cycles of foreign economies. But we are holding our own on most counts, culturally, economically and politically.
And so Ang Tigbuhat asked himself: If any other President previous to Noy Aquino had gone this frontally against a previous administration, against corruption, against the Supreme Court, how far could he have gone?
Not very far. Ang Tigbuhat decided. There would have been a coup. Either that, or an assasination, or there would have been chaos in the streets as well as in the countryside. Instead, we find us, viewing the ongoing trials live on TV, or reading about it in newspapers, or perusing each other’s comments on the Internet. Could this be part of the nature of the post-colonial Filipino?
And then he remembered that the worst thing the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos ever did to seal his doom was to muzzle media and keep the truth away from it. This act only validated the usefulness of mimeographed alternative media churning both rumor and truth in an unstoppable mish-mash whose ultimate result was to fertilize further the desire and need for change. Would any other leader now and in the future ever dream of muzzling media the way Marcos did? It would not only be stupid. It would simply be impossible.
We have too many computers and phones. And we read the papers. But the quantum result of all these is not always to ease the act of bringing people into the streets. For the post-colonial Filipino, it seems the end result of all these is to facilitate the continuing exchange of views. We have a better awareness of each other, what we are thinking, and what we might want to do at what proper time. Our leaders must realize this as well. They know the post-colonial Filipinos are watching very closely and carefully.