Lessons from Gat Andres Bonifacio | True then and true until now

WHAT THE TAGALOGS  SHOULD KNOW

                In the early days, when the Spaniards had not yet set foot on our soil, this Katagalugan was governed by our compatriots, and enjoyed a life of great abundance, prosperity and peace.  She maintained good relations with her neighbors, especially with the Japanese, and traded with them in goods of all kinds. As a result, everyone had wealth and behaved with honor.  Young and old, including women, could read and write using our own Tagalog alphabet.  Then the Spaniards came and offered us friendship.  It seemed they would help us better ourselves and awaken our intellects, and our leaders were seduced by the sweetness of their enticing words.  The Spaniards, however, were required to follow the custom of the Tagalogs, and to bind their agreement by means of an oath, which consisted of taking blood from each other's veins, and then mixing and drinking it as a token of their sincere and wholehearted pledge not to betray the agreement.  This was called the "Blood Compact" of King Sikatuna and Legazpi, the representative of the King of Spain.

            Since then, for more than three hundred years, we have supported the race of Legaspi most bountifully; we have allowed them to live lavishly and grow fat, even if we ourselves suffered deprivation and hunger.  We have expended our wealth, blood and even our lives in defending them, even against our fellow countrymen who refused to submit to their rule; and we have fought the Chinese and the Dutch who tried to take Katagalugan from them.

            Now, after all this, after everything we have done, what benefits have we seen bestowed upon our Country?  Do we see them fulfilling their side of the contract which we ourselves fulfilled with sacrifices?  We see nothing but treachery as a reward for our favors.  Instead of keeping their promise to awaken us to a better life, they have only blinded us, contaminated us with their debased customs and forcibly destroyed the good customs of our land.  They have instilled in us a false faith, and have cast the honor of our Country into a mire of corruption.  And if we dare beg for scraps of compassion, they respond by banishing us, by sending us far away from our beloved children, spouses, and aged parents. Every sigh we utter is branded by them as a grave sin, and is instantly punished with brute force.

            Now nothing can be considered stable in our lives; our peace is now always disturbed by the moans and lamentations, by the sighs and plaints of countless orphans, widows and parents of compatriots wronged by the Spanish oppressors; now we are being deluged by the streaming tears of a mother whose son was put to death, by the wails of tender children orphaned by cruelty, and whose every falling tear is a like a drop of molten lead that sears the excruciating wound of our suffering hearts; now we are being bound ever tighter with the chains of slavery, chains that shame every man of honor.  What, then, is to be done?  The sun of reason that shines in the East clearly shows, to our eyes long blind, the way that must be taken; its light enables us to see the claws of those inhuman creatures who bring us death.  Reason shows that we cannot expect anything but more and more suffering, more and more treachery, more and more insults, more and more enslavement.  Reason tells us not to waste our time waiting for the promised prosperity that will never arrive.  Reason tells us that we must rely upon ourselves alone and never entrust our livelihood to anybody else.  Reason tells us to be one in sentiment, one in thought, and one in purpose so that we may have the strength in confronting the evil that reigns in our Country.  

            Now is the time that the light of truth must shine; now is the time for us to make it known that we have our own feelings, have honor, have self-respect and solidarity.  Now is the time to start spreading the noble and great teachings that will rend asunder the thick curtain that obfuscates our minds; now is the time for the Tagalogs to know the sources of their misfortunes.  This day we must realize that every step we take is taking us closer to the brink of the abyss of death that our enemies have dug to ensnare us.

            And so!  Oh compatriots!  Let us dispel the blindness from our intellects; let us resolutely dedicate our strength to the triumph of our true and mighty cause, the prosperity and peace of our native land.   

************