CITY OF MALOLOS—Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero led the Thursday’s 127th Philippine Independence Day anniversary celebration at the Barasoain Church in this capital city encouraging every Filipino to let go of the colors of poltics particularly from the recent election and rather yield to the colors of the Filipino people—yellow, blue, red and white as represented in the Philippine flag.
Fresh from the senate controversy for leading 17 other fellow senator-judges in the senate imprachment court who approved to remand to Congress the impeachment charges against Vice President Sara Duterte, the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) announced a no ambush media interview after the the ceremony.
In his speech as guest of honor and speaker, Escudero said the colors in the recent election, whether red, blue, yellow or green are not important. “We should not look and see our fellow Filipinos based on the color they supported in the recent election but the colors of being all Filipinos based on our Philippine flag, wherein yellow represents the sunrise, hope and change, blue for our distinct race and heritage, red for the readiness to die and kill for the freedom of our nation and white for equality among all Filipinos”.
The Senate President who also uttered in Spanish language the first two lines in Jose Rizal’s poem, Mi Ultimo Adios said that what was referred to for the country then, “Paradise Lost ” (Paraisong Pinabayaan), had remained to be true for the country today even it is already more than 100 years had passed after we achieved freedom for our country because there remains to be Filipino people living in poverty.
In the same lines of poem of Rizal where the youth are called the hope of the future, Escudero said that what he believed in is the exact opposite. He said the youth should be whom our country can defend right now in our present time. “Ang kabataan ay hindi dapat pag-asa lang ng bayan kundi dapat maaasahan na ng bayan. Hindi kailangan na sila ay tumanda, magtapos, magkapamilya,magkatrabaho yumaman bago sila dapat maasahan na ng bayan. Hindi kapansanan ang kabataan o dehado ang mga huling ipinanganak, (The youth should not be just the hope of the nation but already whom the nation can defend on. Waiting until they aged, have finished their studies, have their own families, works, get rich for them to be somebody so that the nation can defend on. It is not a weakness or a failure to be just recently been born), he said.
According to Escudero, Rizal wrote Noli Me Tanghere when he was 24, Andres Bonifacio was 28 when he estbalsihed the Katipunan and Emilio Aguinaldo was also 28 when he became the President of the Philippine Republic.
The senator gave emphasis on the needed unity of the Filipino people as the ultimate solution in achieveing the glorrious moment of the country for its lost paradise and glory.
He assailed the disunity of the Filipino people today and as they seem to even enjoying watching the disunities. Instead of looking and allowing the reasons for evryone to be united, what we now witness is the fights taking place by a Filipino against another.
“Instead of unity, looking for all the means to solve the problems and allow the untiy to grow to solve the problen, many tend to be looking for reasons to be disunited, to fight one another, a Filipino against a Filipino. What we need is unity. Many choose to fight against each other and we like to watch as other undergo their own problem. The key will always be unity. Unity for our country to find its lost paradise,” the senator ended.
He also hail the Barasoain Church in Malolos and the Province of Bulacan as the cradle of democracy as the place the Malolos Congress that gave way for the Malolos Constitution were held for the establishment of the First Philippine Republic which later became known as the First Republic in Asia.
Bulacan Gov. Daniel Fernando who led Bulacan leaders and residents in the celebration said nationalism unites all Filipinos today as we celebrate our independence in different key historical places accross the country.
But he said, freedom requires safrifice, integrity, courage and responsibility from among us who inherited it more than 100 years ago.
“Today, the new face of freedom and unity which are the basiis of democracy is the readiness, capabilities and strength to stand for the truth and not because of fear and or just camaraderie,” he said.
He thanked fellow Bulakenyos for standing and showing these integrity from the recent election.
