Pictured above is Janela Arcos Lelis, a 12-year-old schoolgirl from Albay province. That’s really her, on a very stormy day last July 26, risking life and limb to save the Philippine flag. The flag had been left behind in their already-submerged home. To keep her from getting swept away by the raging flood, Janela held on tightly to a rope hastily set up for evacuees. Her deed accorded her various honors — a plaque, a miniature flag pin, a full-sized flag, and Php 20,000 from the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), not to mention quite a bit of media coverage. According to NHCP Executive Director Ludovico Badoy, what Janelis did was
“a selfless act of courage, reflective of her love for country and a constant reverence to the national symbol.”
In the awarding ceremony, NHCP President Maria Teresa Diokno told Janela,
“…we hope that your classmates and all the other young people in the country will follow your wonderful example of giving tribute to our national flag.”
The NHCP’s heraldry chief Teodoro Atienza claims that in his 30 years of service, he had never come across anyone who dared to risk their life for the Philippine flag.
With all due respect, Mr. Atienza, no one had ever dared to risk their life for a piece of cloth before because it is a really, really, really bad idea. Just to refresh your memory, a young human being’s life is infinitely more valuable than a large piece of cloth, no matter what it represents. And Ms. Diokno, your wording is a bit distressing. Some young men and women might misconstrue that as encouragement to forsake shelter in the midst of calamity just to save other physical symbols of our nation, in the hopes of receiving praise, attention, and maybe a decent-sized check.
What Janela did was born out of naivete, and one can’t help but wonder why her deed generated such a response. It could be the culture of “Pinoy Pride” that permeates many aspects of the average Filipino child’s life, from her schooling to the mass media she consumes. It is a culture of being absolutely ecstatic at the thought that some random half-Filipino American citizen who has never stepped foot on the motherland, so to speak, passed the first round of auditions on American Idol. It is a culture of taking pride in taking pride, of looking at our poorly developed, horribly managed, amnesiac country through thick, rose-colored glasses. Saving a flag in the midst of a flood that could have been avoided had the town been better planned in the first place? That seems to fit into this kind of culture just fine.
It must be noted that Janela did not do her deed entirely of her own volition. Her elder brother, a Citizen’s Army Training officer in the local high school, was actually the one who told her to fetch the flag from their waterlogged home. Why didn’t he do it himself? Because he was busy helping his relatives evacuate from their homes. (He has priority issues, that one.)
Janela complied not only because of the notion that the flag deserved utmost care and respect, as drilled into her in the classroom, but because she was afraid her brother would be berated by the school and have to pay for it if it got lost. The latter, in fact, seems to be the more plausible — yet still quite faulty — excuse behind her daring-do. People do stupid things for money and good repute. In fact, it’s quite possible that the whole nationalist hullaballoo was purely manufactured by the government and media after the fact, and Janela only did the deed because she just happened to be the kind of blindly obedient girl from a poor family who’d feel that she had no other choice in the matter.
Whatever the case may be, NHCP’s trumpeting of Janela’s misguided act was a bad move. No, Janela should not be berated for what she did; she just didn’t know any better. But neither should she have been the subject of so much pomp and circumstance. She should have simply been told that her show of selflessness was admirable, but that next time, she should prioritize her own life in such dire circumstances. She needs to be made to understand the illogic behind her deed in as kind a manner as possible, and that’s it.
For the NHCP to make such a big fuss over this smacks of opportunism and nothing more. These people are adults; unlike Janela, they do know better. To praise her, and to tell the youth that they should follow her example, is sickeningly irresponsible. There are infinitely better ways to promote a love of country like, oh, say, encouraging people to do what they can to make the place actually worth fighting for, for starters. The men and women of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines should very well know that the country has remained in a poor state for the longest time, and that this has a lot to do with our tendency to make the same fatal mistakes over and over again, with one of these mistakes being our refusal to see the country for what it is and simply aggrandizing the most trivial things in the name of “pride.”
Likewise, the media’s eagerness to make NHCP’s fuss-making more public was a bad move. And as we have learned from the whole Poleteismo brouhaha, where their sensationalism took the country down an especially dangerous path, they don’t really seem to care that it was a bad move.
I can only hope that Janela eventually understands why what she did didn’t deserve all that praise and attention. The flood she braved was much murkier than she thought, and far harder to get out of alive.
Seven years ago when I was still in high school my friend and I did the same thing for the Philippine flag. We were at school then, there was no flood, just rain, and the rain was just starting then. I saw the Philippine flag being drenched in the rain. I ran across the school yard to take it from the flag pole. A friend of mine followed me.
While we were untying the flag one of our classmates were tell my friend "iwanan mo na 'yan!", he was referring to me. But my friend didn't. We finished what we've started.
If my memory is right, I remember my friend and I were laughing to ourselves when we were untying the flag like when we said "bilis, pare, lumalakas na 'yung ulan!"
No told us to do it, we did it in our own accord. No rewards were given, we asked for none. Back then we knew the risks of doing what we did.
You can blame what we did to patriotism or stupidity, but we did what we thought was right back then.
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In the case of Janela if she knew the risks and still went on, she deserves the rewards given to her. If she was just another girl obliging those older than her to fetch what was important to others without being aware of the risks involved, then she deserves our sympathy.
Patriotism, the love for country, being taught in schools is a good thing, it teaches a person about nation building. But perhaps schools should also teach their students the importance of individual safety during times of calamities.
The way Diokno expressed her "admiration" (“…we hope that your classmates and all the other young people in the country will follow your wonderful example of giving tribute to our national flag.”) was a bit off, but I get what she meant. She was, after all, not just referring to, say, the symbol of peace, but the national flag — that which represents the nation.
Sure, there are many ways to be "Filipino", many ways to profess our love for country. Many of you freethinkers perhaps consider your "freethinking" as one way of showing love for country, and I've nothing against that. But what could be more pure than protecting that which represents the nation?
Granted, the little girl may have just been following orders, and the media, well, it's agenda-setting all over again, but do not belittle the gesture of protecting the national symbol as simply overzealous devotion without thought or clarity. Are you saying then that the flag raising at Iwo Jima was overzealous devotion? What about the raising of flags on Mt Everest by those who have braved their way to the summit? Yeah, you can say that it's for the honor of their respective countries and all that — but really, how is raising the national symbol in honor of their country so different from protecting that national symbol?
I'm not saying that we should encourage Filipinos to rush headlong into a typhoon to save the national flag — that's a judgment call already. If one chooses NOT to save or protect the national flag, fine. It was a judgment call that one made. We shouldn't lambaste anyone for that. But if one chooses to risk his life for the national flag, even if it's just, as you called it, an "inanimate object", don't label it reckless devotion, just because it doesn't fit your freethinking rationalization.
One quoted the late (and great) George Carlin, so allow me to quote another American, John Thune. "I believe our flag is more than just cloth and ink. It is a universally recognized symbol that stands for liberty, and freedom. It is the history of our nation, and it's marked by the blood of those who died defending it."
Dear Melita, there is quite a difference between the symbol of the nation and a piece of cloth. Keeping the nation in honor is different from saving a piece of cloth, especially a simple piece which is replicable millions of times and not a single unique artifact (holy grail, the tabernacle).
This symbolism of nationalism is very similar like religious zealots symbols who are outraged when someone is sitting on the Quran (some Philippine maids lost their life for it in Saudi Arabia), for tearing a page out of the holy scripture, Taliban Afghanistan disallow any recycling of paper as a print of the Quran might be re-pulped, discharge of a wafer/cracker after a Catholic priest murmured some words over it (transubstantiating it into the body of Christ), sleeping on the floor so that a copy of the holy Sikh scripture (Guru Granth Sahib) can rest in the bed, and in the Philippines it’s deemed honorable to risk your life for a simple piece of mass- reproducible cloth.
Shaking my head in disbelieve over your comment, I prefer to continue in my “freethinking rationalization” as you like to call it 🙂
Dear Roland_F, By all means, continue with your freethinking rationalization while I shake my head in disbelief over the way you twisted my words. Kindly read an excerpt from my comment, pasted below:
"I'm not saying that we should encourage Filipinos to rush headlong into a typhoon to save the national flag — that's a judgment call already. If one chooses NOT to save or protect the national flag, fine. It was a judgment call that one made. We shouldn't lambaste anyone for that. But if one chooses to risk his life for the national flag, even if it's just, as you called it, an "inanimate object", don't label it reckless devotion, just because it doesn't fit your freethinking rationalization."
Did I not say (write) that to choose to save or not to save the national flag is a judgment call one should make? That if one chooses to do either, we must not lambaste him for it? If one chooses to risk his life to save the national flag, then let him. Good for him. If one chooses NOT to, then good for him, too. I'm sure everyone has their reasons. I didn't say that we should shower with praises and gold anyone who risks their life for the flag. Did I say that? I said that if ever we run across something like this again, we should not belittle that gesture.
Additionally, I think it is wrong that we should treat the flag in all its mass-reproducible glory as simply a piece of cloth. Every flag should be accorded respect, but that's just me, of course. I'm sure you're shaking your head in disbelief as you read this, but go ahead. I won't judge you for it. I may not be as freethinking as you, but I do tolerate and respect the views of others.
Again the emphasis is onthe difference of ‘symbol’ versus material (cheap and mass-reproducible) piece of cloth.
The Republic of the Philippines earned the questionable “honor” of being the most corrupt country in Asia. Around 12% of the population (> 20% of the workforce) is leaving the country desperate to earn their living abroad, often as abused semi slave-like laborers and are considered the heroes of the nation. Millions of Pinoys go starving to bed, have no health insurance, no future, no education …. and so on and on ….. .
The UN forecast of population growth is under current continuation reaching 277 million by the year 2100, under a more moderate scenario still 177 million — the RH-Bill is challenged from an all powerful Catholic clergy.
All this while around 60-70 family clans owning the country and running it, shielded behind a democratic façade of ‘the best congress and senate money can buy” staffed form political dynasties who fill their own pockets.
Well and the heroic act to save the Philippines ? A child risking her life to get a piece of cloth- fabric down from a pole.
Nalilimutan niyo ata na ito na nga ang buong punto ng ritwal at simbolo. Kese hoda pang praktikal o hindi ang ginawa ng bata, simboliko ito. Minsan, mas malaki pa ang kapangyarihan ng mga simbolo kesa sa aktwal na gawain. Yun ang ninanais na hanguin ng NHCP at ng iba pang politiko. Wag natin maliitin ang kapangyarihan ng mga simbolo. Malaya man tayo mag isip, hindi tayo makakawala sa pagpapalibot sa atin ng mga simbolo sa ating lipunan.
when it comes to things that involve real risk to life and limb, i for one prefer clarity to symbolism. to quote the late george carlin, "A flag is a symbol, and I'll leave symbols to the symbol-minded."
Hindi ito usapin na kung ang simbolo ay makapangyarihan o hindi. Ako na mismo ang umaayon na mas makapangyarihan nga minsan sa mga aktwal na gawain ang mga simbolikong paglalahad ng konsepto o ideya. Pero ang tanong dito – ang magpakamatay ba para sa isang pirasong tela, isa ba itong tamang simbolo para sa isang tamang konsepto?
Nakalimutan mo yata na bagama't may mga simbolo, ito ay nakapaloob sa isang lipunang dumaraan sa ebolusyon ng mga pamantayan ayon na rin sa ebolusyon ng mga sosyo-ekonikong kondisyon. Lumipas na ang panahon na ang konsepto ng mga Pilipino sa pagiging makabayan ay ang magbuwis ng buhay para sa mga di-buhay na mga simbolo, kagaya ng bandila. Kung dekada sitenta ang pinaguusapan, ito ay kahanga-hanga. Pero kung ngayon, isa na itong kahangalan. Ilan nga bang Pilipino ang naging mas makabayan dahil dito?
Nagbago na ang karakter ng makabayang sentimentalismo ng mga Pilipino, kaibigan. Kung titignan mo, hindi ito isang bagay na papalakpakan ng mga masa. Kahit pa ipagtanong natin kung sinong magulang ang aayon kung ginawa ito ng kaniyang anak. Tanging iilang mga elitistang intelektwal sa NHCP ang hahanga dito. Siguro may pansalamantalang "limelight" si Janela, lalo na siguro kung ilalabas ito sa media (pwedeng Channel 2 dahil sila ang mahilig dito) dahil sa maganda itong scoop at kakaiba – pero sa huli, hindi ito magiging katanggap-tanggap sa masa na nagbago na ang konsepto ng nasyonalismo.
Mayroong ng ibang sukatan ng nasyonalismo, kaya nga halimbawa, itinuturing na bagong bayani ang mga nagsilikas sa kahirapan ng Pilipinas para sagipin ang mga pamilya rito. Kung ito ay sa 1920s, marahil kondenahin ang mga OFW dahil ipinagpalit nila ang Pilipinas sa Tate o Singapore halimbawa. Pero ngayon, ang iahon mo ang iyong pamilya sa hirap ay tinitignan ng kontribusyon sa pagbawas sa kahirapan – at ang mga dolyar na dinadala ng OFW dito ang syang pangunahing sandigan ng ating ekonomiya. Maaaring mali ito, pero ito ang pagtingin ng tao ngayon.
Sa isang banda, makabayan ding itinuturing halimabawa ang mga social worker at doctor-to-the-barrios na nanatili sa mga komunidad. Kung gayon, pwede nating sabihin na ang konsepto ng Pilipino ng nasyonalismo ay naging mas praktikal at nakatuon sa "Pilipino" at hindi sa "Pilipinas" na mas abstrakto at hindi naman tumatagos sa kamalayan ng masa.
Pwede nating sabihing mali o tama ang ebolusyong ito, pero ito ay naganap na. Ang hamon sa atin ay kung paano gamitin ang kasalukyang kultura at pagiisip ng Pilipino para isulong ang isang magandang bukas para sa lahat ng Pinoy. Huwag na tayong pabulid sa makalumang mga konsepto ng nasyonalismo. Huwag nating ibalik ang kamay ng orasan.
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Pahabol: Halimbawa, sa pagsagot ng kung paaano tayo uunlad, hindi na sapat ang "buy pinoy" na panawagan kundi dapat nating sagutin kung paaano natin tatapatan ang kalidad ng produkto ng ibang bansa. Kung ako ang tatanungin, nangangailangan pa rin dito ng karampatang proteksyon sa ating mga industriya. Pero ang ganitong polisiya ay nakasandig sa layuning bigyan ng pagkakataon ang mga Pilipinong negosyante para paunlarin ang kanilang produkto – hindi dahil sa Pilipino sila. Protektahan sila, dahil sila ay lilikha ng hanap-buhay sa mga Pilipino, hindi dahil sa kayumanggi ang kulay nila. Ganito ang nasyonalismong mas katanggap-tanggap na sa kasalukuyang konteksto.
Brings to mind Nick Joaquin's A Question of Heroes…. and Rizal's last wish that his death anniversary not celebrated…. our officials and history and spiritual "experts" will do what they want despite the commandments from those they honor…. had they heeded God's commandment re: idols, Mideo wouldn't have a picture to play around with in the first place.
What the. Isn't this the same type of blind adoration to gods of sticks and stones that we are trying to free minds of? Freethinking is not just discarding people's faith in religious constructions, but also in nationalist fetishism – itself a worship of symbols. Real nationalism is different from this one.