Coincidence or destiny?

A year before Duterte was elected as President of the Philippines, a movie on the story of Gen. Antonio Luna broke box office record in theaters all over the Philippines. It was unexpected. For the first time we had a movie produced by, ironically, two mestizos (half breed) E.V. Rocha and Fernando Ortigas) about Philippine history that drew such crowds. I saw the movie myself.

It was an inspiring film on the life of Antonio Luna who was described by the American General James F. Bell himself “he was the only general the Filipino army had.”

But he and his brothers were against violent revolution. Like Rizal, he and his brothers, Juan and Jose believed it was possible to achieve a gradual reform of the Spanish colonizers. But they were caught in the maelstrom of those troubled times even if they had turned down Bonifacio’s approached to join the Katipunan. 

All three brothers were arrested and imprisoned when the Spanish authorities discovered the Katipunan. His brothers were interrogated and released, but not Antonio. The experience radicalized him. Back from exile and imprisonment he became an active part of the revolution.

This short introduction of  is important to understand  how things came into place that led to Duterte being  elected President of the Philippines.

As the Spanish/American War came to a close, and the defeated Spanish prepared to withdraw from the Philippines, Filipino revolutionary troops surrounded the capital city of Manila. 

The newly-arrived officer Antonio Luna urged the other commanders to send troops into the city to ensure a joint occupation when the Americans arrived, but Emilio Aguinaldo refused, believing US naval officers stationed in Manila Bay would hand over power to the Filipinos in due course.

This was a strategic blunder. We could have been independent without relying on America’s word.

 Luna developed and implemented a plan to contain the Americans long enough to construct a guerrilla base in the mountains. The plan consisted of a network of bamboo trenches, complete with spiked man-traps and pits full of poisonous snakes, that spanned the jungle from village to village. Filipino troops could fire on the Americans from this Luna Defense Line, and then melt away into the jungle without exposing themselves to American fire. There was enough time for  Filipinos to implement the Luna plan while the Americans were waiting for reinforcement. Unfortunately the internecine struggle between Luna and Aguinaldo with the elite Filipino oligarchs behind him destroyed the  Luna plan by killing him. In time this memory of a turning point of what might have been was forgotten. But not so. It remained deep in the subconscious of Filipinos. It would remain there until a propitious time.

It is my opinion that the propitious time came with the emergence of Duterte, a man who was willing to confront our problems of nation-building the most vicious being America’s dictum of divide and rule.

Was it coincidence or destiny that this film on Heneral Luna would be made at a time Filipino patriotism is being challenged. Duterte himself, sitting with his prosecutor friends in a bar in Davao often talked about change and all fingers pointed to the mayor of Davao himself. It is you who should run they said. But the Davao mayor hesitated and a for a while it seemed he would turn it down.

The lesson I wish to bring out here is that many things happen to us in life that are fraught with meaning and difficult to connect. There are amazing coincidences that become turning points in the road. Coincidences suddenly become pieces of the puzzle of our lives. Put them together, and you may find an answer to why things are the way they are.

I thought of this theme for my column today because of a post which explained why Duterte was not invited to the G20 summit. The reply tried to justify the G20 snub saying that other Asean chairmen in the past were also not invited. This reasoning ignores the context in which the snub is taking place.

I won’t mention names but would emphasize that it remains true that Duterte was singled out. There is a context for that and we must be ever vigilant of that context. He brings us nearer the end of colonialism.

– “It is the G20 host country’s prerogative to invite whoever it wants to invite to the G20 summit. Duterte was not invited as the representative of our country but the ASEAN as whole. But why would Germany not extend its invitation to the ASEAN head? Precisely of the reason that the G20 summit is a summit to discuss pressing issues that affect their interests. Germany did not invite PRRD since they have no massive economic interest to protect here and add to that that contentious issue regarding Fraport which Benigno Aquino cancelled.”

– ”Was the 2017 ASEAN chair “snub” the first one? NO, there were several instances that the ASEAN chair head was not invited. or on some instances, invited not just the ASEAN head but other selected ASEAN country leaders as well.

– G20 2011 for which France has the chair, France did not invite Indonesia being the 2011 host nation.

– G20 2016 which China hosted, invited the 2016 Laos chair PLUS Singapore and Thailand. 

– G20 2014 which Australia hosted, invited the 2014 chair Myanmar and Singapore.

– Notice why the G20 invites more than the current ASEAN head? Because of the G20’s business interests in the guest’s country! and if you note closely, Aquino wasn’t invited either in the 2014 Brisbane G20 summit.”

These are misleading in the context of the role Duterte is making statements for independence not just for the Philippines but for the entire region. It needs to be answered because it is misleading. There will be those who will not recognize the significance of the context. It does matter.

Happily Duterte’s image has a long history to reckon with. We should not defend the West when it is working against us.

Once again, we ask the question – was it coincidence or destiny that Luna was killed. Why should Duterte become president at this time to get us out of our history of colonial subservience and the mistakes we made in our wars of independence that brought it upon us.