What Is The True Essence of Freedom???

Last June 12 we celebrated Independence Day in the Philippines. Not as grandiose as the Fourth of July, though, but still an important part of Philippine culture and history as this marks the day we declared independence against the Spaniards (though in actuality, we only gained independence on July 4, 1946).

Last week there was a buzz in the entertainment and social media world as world-renowned singer Lea Salonga tweeted the following words:

Though some people agree with what she said, more Filipinos criticized it.

In my own perspective, though it may look like inappropriate, I think she got a point, somehow. As she said, the Philippines still has debts in the World Bank… we still have poor families living in shacks in the outskirts of Manila… Crime rates skyrocketed (with the exception of Davao, of course), and there are still corrupt people in the government (I won’t state names, though). Yes, the Philippines is a free country, because we are a democratic country. Unfortunately, according to my comment regarding a certain Facebook post about the EDSA People Power Revolution three years ago, "Democracy killed the Philippines."

As a democratic country we have freedom of expressing ourselves, even in social media, freedom of doing whatever we want, based on what we feel. And for others, freedom of doing things they feel it is appropriate, even though it may look like it is not for others.

Democracy is associated with free will. We can do whatever we want. But the downside of it is that we are lacking discipline. We do not want anybody to have ourselves tied in a leash. We do not want some powers-that-be to control the society in order to attain peace. And some people think we can attain peace through democracy? I think not.

The following statement does neither necessarily mean I am pro-Marcos nor believe that he is the greatest Philippine president of all time. But I admit, despite all the atrocities he made as stated in our history books, we cannot deny the contributions of the Marcos regime. Imagine the Philippines being the second strongest country in Asia next to Japan... Consider all of the infrastructures made during his time... CCP... Folk Arts Theater... PICC... Philippine Heart Center... Lung Center... San Juanico Bridge... even the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, which, up to this day, never used due to fear of radioactive explosion. 

But after the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution, our economy had been down after 20 years... our status relegated from a regional power to a middle power. Why? Because in our mindsets, we want to be free from bondage… free from control from the powers-that-be. But the question is, once we are set free from the claws of dictatorship, do you think the country is better than before?

So what do you think is the essence of freedom, if we do not have the discipline to maintain order? We already attained democracy after almost 30 years, yet why do not we attain the peace we so desired? Why there is still chaos?

It’s because of free will. The ability to choose between different possible courses of action.

How can we attain peace? There is only one solution to that… DISCIPLINE.

But it does not necessarily mean control from some powers-that-be (dictatorship). Democracy is important for a nation because it provides us freedom to express ourselves. The reason why it became bad for our country because we had done too much. We became libertines... we think it is okay to do whatever we want to do as long as we think it is right, though sometimes we are unaware that what we do becomes inappropriate. We need a balance between democracy and discipline. Like what I have said when I was an admin of Stunning Facts, "too much liberal is bad, but too much conservative is worse."

How can we change this country for the better? It all starts with me, it all starts with you, it all starts with each and every single one of us. If you believe that you control your own life, and you think that you are capable of making a difference to the society, the power to control yourself from doing anything and everything that violates the law of society and the law of God is only in your hands. As long as we are God–fearing citizens of the Republic, hand-in-hand we can still do something about it. If we are united as one, we can move mountains, divide the seas apart, and we can have the whole country rise from the ashes again like a resurrected phoenix.

As a wise businessman once said, “Within each of us there is a mysterious innate force that drives us onward.” He is absolutely right. With the use of this innate force for the sake of the common good, we can move the Philippines onward to progress. Once we reached that goal… once we have no more debts… once there are no more poor people… and once crime and corruption is finally eliminated, then we can say we have achieved FREEDOM.

I, the Pooch, have spoken.