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Ninoy and the Blindspots of History

by Kim Quilingquing

“The Filipino is worth dying for...”

Benigno !Ninoy! ". #quino$ %r.

& was wat'hing The ()ening News at T*+ last Friday when they made a story onNinoy #quino and the release of the ,- former soldiers who were supposedlyin)ol)ed with his assassination. nless the pre)ious items whi'h fo'used on Kris#quino/s sobbing after the release of the wea0ened e1 soldiers$ this time the newsitem fo'used on the present generation/s 0nowledge of who Ninoy was and what he

did. &t was disheartening. 2ost of the people on the street who were as0ed by thereporter re)ealed their ignoran'e of who Ninoy was or what he did. 3hat added toinsult to in4ury was that aside from their self imposed ignoran'e$ they apparentlyshowed disinterest in 0nowing who Ninoy really was. 2ore than that$ the people oftoday do not seem to 'are about 5nding some form of resolution to the #quino6alman 'ase. There were se)eral answers o7ered by the people who were as0ed bythe reporter to share what they 0now of Ninoy. 8ne of them said Ninoy was apresident. #nother said that he was the father of 'ontro)ersial 'elebrity Kris #quino.#nd then there was someone wearing one of those re'ently 'ommer'iali9ed Ninoy t

shirts who don/t e)en 0now what the person$ whose fa'e appears on her shirt$ didthat made his fa'e worth the spa'e on the shirt :this is what #gnes and & ha)ealways thought would happen if you as0 some of those people wearing those & #mNinoy shirts;.

#s0ed by the reporter on why su'h things are happening$ <hilippine =aily &nquirer'olumnist >onrado de Quiros said that we Filipinos do not ha)e a sense of historyand that our history is not ingrained in our so'io 'ultural 'ons'iousness andpra'ti'es. He also said that edu'ation has a lot to do with this and it would also bethe solution to this national amnesia. & fully agree with him. But while & lament thela'0 of a sense of history of most of our 'ountrymen$ & 'annot blame them for theirambi)alent attitude towards our 'ountry/s past.

The la'0 of regard of our people for our past stems from the la'0 of emphasis of ouredu'ational system on <hilippine History. 3hile & may not possess a <h. =. in<hilippine History$ & did try to ful5ll this duty to the 'ountry by learning enough torepresent my #lma 2ater in a'ademi' 'ompetitions$ and e)en tea'h the same and('onomi's to my high s'hool a 'ouple of years ba'0. &n my e1perien'e in tea'hing<hilippine History$ & noti'ed that mu'h of the emphasis of learning is still in the

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memori9ation of dates$ pla'es and persons. 2u'h li0e what it was during my time$and the time before mine. This is one of the things tea'hers of history :whether<hilippine$ #sian$ (uropean$ 3orld$ et'; must try to do away with due to itsindubitably interest eroding e7e't on students.

#nother thing & noti'ed$ and this is )ery important$ is that the ,- month period in aregular s'hool year is not enough for the 'urrent widely adopted 'urri'ulum intea'hing <hilippine History. 3hile it has a hea)y emphasis on the 'ustoms$traditions$ and 'ulture of pre "panish Filipinos$ it only rea'hes the " >olonialperiod$ at the end of the s'hool year. &n my e1perien'e though$ we did our best to atleast 5nish the "e'ond 3orld 3ar by the end of the s'hool year. But what aboutthose periods in our history from ,?@A up to the re'ent history of the 'ountry

&f the students only end the s'hool year with =ouglas 2a'arthur/s “& ha)ereturned”$ how will they 0now about >laro 2. Ce'to$ Duis Taru' and the Hu0s$ >arlos<. Comulo$ the First Quarter "torm$ the %abidah 2assa're$ the <la9a 2iranda

Bombing$ 2artial Daw$ %ose =io0no$ Caul 2anglapus$ =on >hino Co'es$ (dgar %opson$Ninoy$ (="#$ the C#2 boys and the Kudetas$ the dismantling of the " Bases$<hilippines E---$ %uetenggate$ (="# &&$ and 6ar'i They might 0now about thesethings$ but most probably from older relati)es$ friends$ 'ampus politi'al parties andideologies$ or from their own readings in boo0s and maga9ines. Their dis'o)ery ofthese supposedly re'ent e)ents by then would be too late for the student to reali9ethat it was these then unheard of e)ents whi'h a'tually in uen'e the 'ontemporaryso'io politi'al setting he or she 5nds himself in. This is the biggest blind spot intea'hing <hilippine History.

#nother pra'ti'e whi'h perpetuates this error is the pra'ti'e by most edu'ators$espe'ially in the High "'hools$ to treat the pres'ribed te1tboo0 as the single be alland end all of all the information and analyses of histori'al e)ents. The te1tboo0:whi'h was sele'ted by either the 'hair of the department or by a panel of tea'hers;is treated as the ultimate authority in all dis'ussions of the 'lass. &t o''urred in my'lasses that we found out se)eral errors in the te1tboo0 whi'h was pres'ribed forour usage$ ne'essitating the use of other boo0s by other authors to determine themore a''urate a''ount of an e)ent$ or 'onte1t of a parti'ular in'ident whi'h &dis'ussed with my 'lasses. Knowing that the pres'ribed te1tboo0 was unreliable$ &had to as0 my 'lasses to read other boo0s by other authors. 8f 'ourse$ one had tobe 'areful in 'hoosing whi'h boo0s to re'ommend.

(1perien'e has taught my generation that the 6regorio Gaide boo0 we used duringour elementary and high s'hool days were found out to 'ontain se)eral erroneousfa'ts and that the Teodoro #gon'illo boo0 and the Cenato >onstantino essays weused in 'ollege were full of preferen'e for a supposed ideology of the proletariat.But these boo0s$ along with se)eral others from Deon 2aria 6uerrero$ #mbeth8'ampo$ and the Filipino Heritage en'y'lopedi' 'olle'tion ha)e gi)en me my ownmulti fa'eted perspe'ti)e of the history of the nation.

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Before & ended my tea'hing at a)ier High$ we were as0ed to re)iew se)eral boo0son <hilippine History from di7erent te1t boo0 'ompanies who parti'ipated in thebidding pro'ess for the new pres'ribed te1tboo0 for <hilippine History. #mong thosethat & re)iewed & re'ommended the boo0 from &bon Foundation against the 'on'ernof my department 'hair that it might 'ontain anti #meri'an and e)en 2ar1ist

'on'epts parti'ularly in dis'ussions of the <hilippine #meri'an 3ar$ agrarian reform$the " Bases$ 2artial Daw and 'ontemporary history. Being a student of history$ &thin0 it is important to ta0e into a''ount the widely held perspe'ti)e of so'ietyduring the time of an in'ident to portray a more appropriate pi'ture of a parti'ularperiod or issue rather than the interpretations of the subsequent generations. #ndin those periods and issues$ the a'tual national perspe'ti)e of the 'ountry had been)ery mu'h anti #meri'an. 8n 2ar1ist beliefs$ & belie)e they are a''eptable so longas they ad)o'ate so'ial 4usti'e and not armed insurgen'y. &f the %esuits 'an tolerateand espouse 2ar1ist 'on'epts of so'ial 4usti'e then why not us lay persons tea'hingin a %esuit high s'hool

<erspe'ti)e is important in history. 8n'e my students were )ery mu'h surprisedwhen & ga)e them a''ounts of 6en. 6regorio del <ilar/s “)aliant” defense at Tirad<ass by two of del <ilar/s aides who were both present during the 'elebrated battle.2y students nearly fell o7 their seats when they found out that del <ilar diedbe'ause he tried to ha)e a good loo0 at the #meri'an positions and not astride hiswhite horse bra)ely rallying his men as portrayed in the famous Fernando #morsolopainting. The aides had to threaten the “bra)e” defenders of the pass with theirri es to 0eep them from deserting after they saw 6oyo fall down. & read thea''ounts of aides *i'ente (nrique9 and Telesforo >aras'o in Ni'0 %oaquin/s boo0 #Question of Heroes. The “white horse” tale was nothing but the 'reation of

sensationalist #meri'an 4ournalists )ery mu'h fas'inated with the dashing boygeneral. #ll the while$ we all had this perspe'ti)e of a bra)e del <ilar in hisresplendent rayadillo uniform bra)ely defending Tirad with A- men a0in to Deonidasand his I--. But while I-- epitomi9ed 'ourage and sa'ri5'e$ Tirad was but anin)ention of pseudo 4ournalism. &magine how many more e)ents in our history weremade up by #meri'an$ "panish$ or Filipino pseudo historians. "o you see we reallyneed to do something with our history boo0s.

Doo0ing ba'0 into our past may require a lot of reading$ but if one is in'lined to ta0ean a'ti)e interest in so'io politi'al a7airs$ and bra)e enough to spea0 on and bein)ol)ed in issues$ 'on'erns and publi' a7airs$ & thin0 it is important that one must

e1ert the utmost in tra)elling to the past for without whi'h the )iews you may ta0eand share on issues may only be out of your limited so'io e'onomi'$ politi'al$ ande)en ethno religious ba'0grounds and as su'h it would amount to nothing butunedu'ated ranting.

3e should read about our past from Gaide$ #gon'illo$ >onstantino$ "'huma'her$2aria 6uerrero$ >raig$ >oates$ >orpu9$ #buyen$ %oaquin$ #nderson$ 8'ampo$ Tan$e)en Ci9al$ and if possible Blair and Cobertson$ and Cetana and 2orga. & must

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'onfess though that among these$ & ha)e only been pri)ileged to read a few$ but mydesire to 5nd 'opies of the boo0s they ha)e on our past 'ontinues. #nd it should notstop$ we must not stop loo0ing ba'0 to the past instead we should try to learn asmu'h as we 'an from all those who ha)e ta0en an interest and e1erted e7orts to'ommit to posterity the lega'y of our forefathers. 3e should learn from the di7erent

perspe'ti)es$ ideologies$ and )alues then e1isting in the 'ountry. 2aybe then we'ould lessen the number of blind spots in our history. 2aybe then we would be ableto understand Ci9al better$ or see what Bonifa'io belie)ed in$ better appre'iate whatBurgos did$ what #guinaldo represented$ 0now Que9on/s politi'al anti's$ see what2ar'os had in store to ma0e this nation great again$ and why Ninoy did what he didwhen he 0new he would die.

History is not merely the memori9ation of dates$ names of person$ pla'es$ orthings$ and e)ents$ it is understanding why these dates matter$ what this person orthat person did$ why a pla'e or thing is sa'red to the nation$ and why these e)entsha)e to be remembered and 'ommemorated. History is 0nowing$ understanding$and ha)ing a sense of who we were$ where we are$ and where we will be. History isa nation/s sour'e of identity$ pride$ and purpose. &t is a nation/s soul. &t is only by0nowing our history that we would learn to )alue our past$ our heroes$ our 'ountry$and oursel)es as a nation.

#nd while a lot of us seem to go on with our mundane li)es stri)ing from day to dayearning money for our families$ studying to e1'el in our studies$ and indulging in ourown little ways of ful5lling our purposes for e1isten'e$ maybe$ 4ust maybe with alittle interest in the past$ and a some e7ort in reading about it from the net$ or fromboo0s and old maga9ines$ we 'an ta0e Ninoy away from that blind spot in history$and at least gi)e 4usti'e to his belief that the Filipino is worth dying for.

“Jou the youth of today$ espe'ially the >hristians$ are being wisely edu'ated todespise your past$ your ra'e$ your beliefs$ and traditions$ so that seeing yoursel)es'onstantly being humbled and 0eeping before your eyes your own inferiority$ youwill obediently pla'e your ne'0 under the yo0e and be'ome sla)es.”

Kamandagan in %ose Ci9al/s "inagtala and 2aria 2aligaya

3hile we 'ontinue to forget our past$ we do not see that it a'tually rea'hes outfrom the gra)e for us$ demanding the respe't it deser)es$ and perpetually hauntingus until we are for'ed to fa'e it and 5nd answers to the questions that ha)e alwaysbeen as0ed by the generations past what really happened 2aybe when our people5nd enough 'ourage in themsel)es to fa'e the past$ we 'an redu'e the number ofblind spots in the tea'hing of history in our a'ademi' institutions.