Heritage and our roots  

Wendel Phillips once said, “The heritage of the past is the seed that brings forth the harvest of the future.” In school we have been taught that we Filipinos fought hard to instill our own unique identity and our history books have shown how our heroes sacrificed their own lives in order to make it perfectly clear, even to the rest of the world, more so their own colonizers, that the Philippines, together with its people, would never again be subjected to oppression and cruelty. In my mind, the battles that have been lost and won by our forefathers were clearly impressed upon us as schoolchildren and knowing this was all that mattered. Beyond our revolutionary past, our history, in my opinion, had only one narrative and that was all we needed to carry with us throughout our lives.

Having Spanish roots, I grew up watching movies that often connected the Filipino as oppressed by Spaniards, even in comedies, which then led me to think that such scenes were enough to imprint in our minds the cruelty our people experienced in the past. When I became a Spanish teacher, it was clear to me that I was perhaps one of the last of the people in this country who could communicate in a language that was once our Lingua Franca. Furthermore, when I pursued higher study for professors in the field, I became utterly surprised and, I admit, slightly embarrassed by the fact that my co-professors, whose countries were once colonized, showed me how almost all of the people in their own nation still spoke the “language of their colonizers.”

As the Filipina counterpart for Spain, much of my work led me to heritage and I was determined to support learners in understanding the “why” behind the language they were so eager to learn. Our heritage helps us to not only survive the times we are in but rather, it helps us make the connections to a past that is necessary to keep us centered and equipped as we participate in the global process.

I still remember my quiet experience in 2017, when the Mexican Navy ship docked in the Philippines commemorating the Manila-Acapulco galleon voyage. I still smile remembering the day when I, being one of the few on “our side,” was still capable of engaging as well as exerting our participation in history, including the expectations required to pursue future connections. To be in such a position was not the first for me and this strengthened my resolve to enlist in the Philippine Army Reserve Command.

In those days, I also couldn’t help but look back at my students who pursued their language studies as, in my mind, I was certain that “tomorrow” we would need them more than ever. Going back to our roots is necessary as it mirrors to us our irrefutable connections, giving us the leverage we need to expand our shared heritage for as long as we learn to embrace all of it – the good and the bad.

We are required as a people to transfer history correctly to the next generation and by doing so, we keep our integrity as well as evolve in society. We ought to treat heritage as an inheritance of language, beliefs, traditions and values that will empower us to act in today’s world. There is much to harvest from embracing one’s heritage and, as always I say, education is key.