INDEPENDENCE DAY DRILL An Army sergeant aligns a giant Philippine flag during rehearsal for the celebration of the 118th anniversary of the proclamation of Philippine independence at the Rizal Monument in Manila. President Aquino leads the commemorative activities on Sunday for the last time. MARIANNE BERMUDEZ
President Benigno Aquino III will address the nation for the last time on Sunday (today) as the country celebrates the 118th anniversary of its independence, more than a month since 16.6 million Filipinos ignored his warning about a looming threat to democracy and voted to replace him in Malacañang with Rodrigo Duterte.
Malacañang gave no hints on Saturday as to what Mr. Aquino had to tell the people 19 days before the shift to Duterte’s administration.
Duterte, the tough-talking mayor of Davao City, promised during the campaign to impose a curfew on the nation, kill tens of thousands of suspected criminals outside the justice system, and restore the death penalty, among other aspects of what seemed to be his plan for a mailed-fist rule.
Campaigning for his preferred successor, Mar Roxas, Mr. Aquino, the son of democracy icon President Corazon Aquino and the assassinated leader of the opposition to the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos, Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr., warned Filipinos about the possible loss of the freedoms they regained with the restoration of democracy in 1986 if they voted for Duterte.
More than 27 million Filipinos listened to Mr. Aquino and rejected Duterte at the polls on May 9, but because of the absence of runoff elections in the Philippines, the Davao mayor captured the presidency by a plurality of the votes.
Global firestorm
Not yet in office, Duterte has already kicked up a global firestorm with his profanity-laced statements that tended to show his disregard for human rights, although his camp insists he has been misquoted by the press.
READ: Duterte on criminals: ‘Kill all of them’/‘Don’t fuck with me,’ he tells media
Although disappointed, Mr. Aquino has kept quiet, directing his officials to cooperate for a smooth transition of power from his administration to Duterte’s.
Today, Mr. Aquino leads the nation in celebrating Independence Day for the last time as President.
He will lead the flag-raising ceremony and wreath-laying at the Rizal National Monument at Rizal Park in Manila at 8 a.m. and play host to the diplomatic corps in Malacañang.
Instead of addressing the diplomats led by their dean, Archbishop Giuseppi Pinto, the papal nuncio to the Philippines, Mr. Aquino will speak to the nation.
The Palace said today’s celebration would be simple but meaningful.
READ: Being worthy of liberty
Contemplate freedoms
But Filipinos, Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said, should contemplate the freedoms they now enjoy.
Those freedoms, he said, are the fruits of the revolution waged by the nation’s heroes against colonizers, as well as the struggle against martial law that culminated in the Edsa People Power Revolution in 1986.
“Hopefully, we use this celebration as an opportunity to reflect on the true meaning of freedom and make this significant for our countrymen throughout the archipelago,” Coloma said on state-run Radyo ng Bayan.
“[A]nother important aspect of this is for us to be able to reflect that the freedom we enjoy today is the result of the sacrifices and the fight waged by our forefathers,” he said.
Coloma emphasized that along with the reflection on freedom comes the need for vigilance.
“We need to continually be perceptive and remain vigilant to fight whatever attempt to suppress our rights in a democracy that we highly value,” Coloma said.
This year’s Independence Day celebration carries the theme “Kalayaan 2016: Pagkakaisa, Pag-aambagan, Pagsulong.”
Commemorative rites will be held in Cavite, Malolos in Bulacan, Angeles in Pampanga, Davao City, Cebu City and several parts of Metro Manila.
President Aquino will also attend the launching of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines’ coffee table book, “A Sense of Nation: The Birthright of Rizal, Bonifacio and Mabini.”
Flag in Spratlys
The Philippine flag will also be raised at 7 a.m. on all nine Philippine-occupied islands in the Spratly archipelago in the South China Sea, simultaneously with other military camps in the mainland.
Collectively called Kalayaan Island Group, the Philippine-occupied islands in the Spratlys are Pag-asa (Thitu Island), Ayungin Shoal (Second Thomas Shoal), Likas (West York Island), Parola (Northeast Cay), Kota (Loita Island), Panata (Lankiam Cay), Lawak (Nanshan Island), Patag (Flat Island) and Rizal Reef (Commodore Reef).
The Philippines is locked in a territorial dispute with China, which claims almost the entire South China Sea, including waters within the Philippines’ 370-kilometer exclusive economic zone called West Philippine Sea.
The Philippines, and the rest of the world, are waiting for the United Nations Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague to hand down its ruling on a petition filed by the Philippines to invalidate China’s sweeping claim.
President Aquino will step down from office at noon on June 30.
Duterte, 71, will be sworn into office as the 16th President of the Philippines at noon on the same day. TVJ
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