The Declaration of Independence: A view from a US citizen

No where in the history of mankind has a nation stood so tall as our United States of America.

On this day, as all Americans prepare to recognize The Declaration of Independence, it has come to the attention of Jose Rizal Online that there ought to be an Amendment to, moving forward, remove:

• , the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
  

... as the last of the "... Facts be submitted to a candid world" when our Founding Fathers severed ties with the tyranny of the King of Great Britain.

The spirit, timelessness and integrity of history's most sacred document remains unaffected when the above clauses are removed.

We all understand what our forefathers are conveying with, "He [the king]* has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers."

*- insertion by author of this original blog.

Deliverance For The Filipino Citizen

When the meaning of existence is pounded and held hostage by death repeatedly, your soul turns inside out. The intricate complexities of a man's life suddenly pulses with the grandest simplicity in the imperfect spirit's quest for survival.

So it is that a sense of being part of mankind's natural order begins to emerge in one's consciousness. It becomes apparent that one must either accept the emergent shift in one's worldly capacity or crumble in its grip.

Borne from this self-examination is the Jose Rizal Online endeavor to bring peace to the impoverished nation of my birth.

My spiritual journey is now aligned with my physical journey. What must be achieved is considerable but so would be its bounty.

Today, life in the islands remains steeped in the suffocating corruption inherent in society since the devastation inflicted by Catholic friars and their thugs. Local customs were destroyed, history, traditions burned in the name of a fearsome God.

The Filipino people were stripped of their human rights, their dignity, their culture.

Really, not much has changed for the Filipino people since the mid-1500's.

Each generation in the past 500 years has died while fervently praying for an unattainable salvation. When one generation dies, it is followed by another that repeats the mistaken belief that the Filipino people are somehow unworthy of life's blessings in the eyes of an angry God.

This punishing, low self-esteem has endured for five centuries.

To the present day, the Filipino citizen prays for redemption to the angry God of brutal conquistadores, of the Spanish Inquisition; church prayers still recited as if spoken by the unworthy (a label from conquerors who misused their own faith to subjugate our people).

What if the Filipino citizen, as Catholic mass is celebrated, instead prayed to a magnanimous, merciful and loving God for its deliverance?

Let's Reach Out To Our Veterans Everyday

Our democracy towers in the history of all mankind.

Our country embraces and embodies the spirit of equality, freedom of religion and divine individual human rights. Every day, I appreciate the sacrifices of our men and women. Our military protects our Constitution.

We, as a people and a nation, enjoy our freedom because of the selfless deeds of men and women tasked with protecting the human rights bestowed by An Almighty upon all citizens of our United States.

Every day should be Memorial Day.

Imelda's Inferno and The Filipino's Hope

It was a descent into the madness of an abusive household. The one who starved millions of Filipinos. Yes, the one who gorged herself with the Filipino's food, shelter, clothing. The one who took every last penny-- and the promise-- of a nation.

The Filipino nation's most significant contribution to world history since its independence-- and, indeed in the recorded history of civilization, what people say without a pause? Imelda's shoes. And, now, the horrific Ampatuan Massacre.

When the surviving half of the anti-Christ of our republic was elected to office recently, one could hardly be surprised. In order to save themselves, the abused often return to the source of the annihilation. Approval from the abuser is, becomes paramount in the eyes of the victim.

We cannot change who we are. We can only make choices.

Like Judas, Imelda and her husband exuded a beauty and grace unseen in the gutters of monstrosity as they enriched themselves and shattered the hope of future Filipino generations. This darkest of duos is no different from the Spanish friars and conquerors who brutalized our people.

Now, hope has returned.

One of my greatest influences is President Corazon Aquino. Heroic for her humility, Cory-- Santa Corazon-- inspired the Filipino nation-- and the world. I watched her unbelievable miracle unfold from across the Pacific. She saved our nation and returned our hope.

And now comes a most human member of the Aquino family, elected to lead our nation out of five centuries of neglect and abuse. It is a critical juncture in our history.

From Jose Rizal Online to Noynoy, May The Almighty bless you with His Grace And Guidance as The People's President. We invite you to share our vision.

The sun will yet shine its magnificence on the Filipino citizen, the Pearl Of The Orient. Our republic.

VISION

1. Change the official name of the country to a Tagalog name and remove English names from geography and replace with Tagalog names by 2020.
2. Remove the word "palace" from the name of the President's residence; permanently remove all similar names from civic and public buildings that imply a leadership above the people. Our country is a republic formed by the people, of the people and for the people.
3. Identify key social and educational obstacles faced by the common Filipino citizen.
4. Enact a plan-of-action to resolve each identified social and educational obstacle by 2020.
5. Establish a permanent peace between all Filipinos within all existing islands and borders.
6. Government to acknowledge and accept responsibility for all past and present Human Rights violations.
7. Abolish and disarm all militias. All participants who disarm and sign a legally binding agreement not to rearm will be granted a full amnesty. Amnesty does not protect individuals or organizations against current or future civil lawsuits.
8. Research, record and revive the history and traditions of our home land before Spanish colonial rule.
9. Reinvigorate, using the reach of technology, the nation's rich history and the names of all Filipinos who sacrificed for love of country during Spanish colonial rule.
10. Establish in the national consciousness the names and contributions of leaders who served the cause of justice, equality and human rights of and for all Filipinos after 1898.

MISSION

1. Ensure equal and full Human Rights for all Filipinos.
2. Empower the Filipino citizen to build self-esteem, seek and re-instill national pride through commitment and service to others.
3. Provide a safe and public forum for all Filipinos to share insight, experiences and perspective in our common quest for equal and full Human Rights for all Filipino people.

Individual And Religious Freedom In Our Society

FROM ACROSS THE PACIFIC, An American Citizen:

We've seen it before. We've documented it and we recognize it.

It is the hijacking of a religion in the name of an Almighty.

America is under constant attack in the physical world and in cyberspace.

Horrific events like Oklahoma City, Columbine, Virginia Tech, 9/11 shook our consciousness, killing and maiming us. Only one twists religion as its primary principle.

We now live in fear, sorrow, pain, suffering as each catastrophic event has permanently altered our way of life.

When we travel (whether domestic or abroad), billions of us must be careful what clothes to wear, what's in the pockets or essentials we travel with like water, shoes, underwear.

We have understandably become a more discerning people as we pursue terrorists seeking to destroy us. We have zero tolerance.

Terrorists now know that, with support from our many allies, we-- and our democracy-- will lead the defense of our way of life, our divine individual freedoms.

Democratic societies value the individual, which is free to choose his or her religion. We are not killed because we express disagreement with principles of a certain religion (or our government). Not surprisingly, societies that protect its people's religious freedom have flourished throughout mankind's history.

So it is important that, as we march forward in our new world, we do not isolate certain faiths or its followers. We must not trample on any people's ability to worship or build places of worship.

The responsibility rests on all individuals who practice a peaceful religion to accord the very same freedom it enjoys for all other faiths and its peaceful followers. The United States Constitution mandates religious freedom as a foundation of our great nation.

We can only advance as a society and a civilization when religious freedom is celebrated and encouraged.

We all must recognize that when any peaceful religion is attacked-- whether we believe its principles or not, the terrorist has prevailed.

We must value the individual, not the ideology. We must then fear the individual, not the peaceful religion.

This era of terrorism and the resulting climate of fear, xenophobia would be no different than the Spanish Inquisition. It would be absurd to conclude that all members of the Catholic faith were evil, cold-hearted sociopaths and murderers who must be prevented from building places of worship.

We cannot ever allow a [relatively] few psychopaths to foster the second-guessing of our Constitution, for which many lives have been sacrificed.

The Barangay and The Filipino Citizen

What led to my latest pursuit?

After a weeks-long search online, I realized in early April 2010 that the Filipino citizen has lost its identity. First came the Spaniards, then the American influence. When I left the country in 1970, hope was in the air-- likely due to the American influence. But in the years since,living conditions and opportunity deteriorated.

When I scan the past 5 centuries, it's no surprise that the Filipino identity has been lost. I am its most glaring example: it's very challenging to find a Filipino restaurant in almost all cities. How can we have Filipino eateries when we don't even know who we are? I have started with myself,my quest for my own lost identity. I love the American influence but I also love the islands.

I love America yet it's this Filipino thing, utang na loob, a sense of solemn obligation, that compels,inspires me to reach out to my birth country. I believe the Filipino people face a critical juncture during this, the 5th republic.

We can still turn things around but we need to act fast.

The effortmust be united and relentless, with support from top to bottom. We needto connect to the era before the first Spaniards set foot on ourbeloved islands. We need to weave the fabric of our suffering underSpanish rule through those centuries and tie-in the American influences,both positive and otherwise, to the present.

The Filipino leadership is detached from the life of hardship faced by over 90million beautiful Filipinos. We start at the barangay level, where we reassert the value of individual human beings.

The Facebook group, Jose Rizal Online, is dedicated to the Filipino citizen, seeks stories of courage and resilience to inspire and guide our course. Our work is urgent.

The Filipino people alone-- the Filipino citizen, not the leadership-- is the country's best hope for establishing lasting peace and a more promising existence in the islands. It will be the magnanimous Filipino citizen who will carry the torch so we are again the Pearl Of The Orient.

Please help save our country.

What Our Country's Name Represents

The existing name for the nation honors a monarch who escalated the Spanish Inquisition.

During Philip II's reign, unique languages, art, books, traditions of divine magnificence were barbarically destroyed in his name. Torture, murder reigned. Our country was part of his dark empire.

Much has been written about this cruel bigot who brutally annihilated the individual human being's divine religious freedom. Our own heritage, our identity:obliterated. The crew of conquistador ships sent to the New World were criminals, murderers, rapists who opted for the unknown. They were the lowest of the low.

How could we be surprised that these criminals then subjected our forefathers to inhumane suffering? These were not heroic explorers who improved our living conditions or brought peace, prosperity to our islands. Instead, our own people were lashed and killed into submission, forced to accept a way of life, a nightmare that continues to exist today-- one of pain, struggle, suffering,hopelessness.

These criminals became ruthless, self-absorbed rulers of our beautiful islands. All of them sent by Philip II.

Our country's name honors this ruler who demolished our dignity. The destruction was so complete that our people's identity shattered; our many cultures, our traditions erased.

If our people desire to improve, to make change for a brighter future, the first step is to uncover who we are.

And it is important to correct the misnomer that is our country's name.