Happy ____________ Day!

Everyone in this country, be it a normal person, working person, broadcasters, TV and radio personalities say that this day is our "Independence Day." Yes, according to history, this day is when our first president, Emilio Aguinaldo, proclaimed that we are free from American rule.

Yes. We are free back then, but are we really free now?

We have been slaves of several things. Things that we are not even aware of. We can say, feel, and know that we are free, but in reality, we are not.

We are not ruled by the Americans anymore, but most, if not all Filipinos already succumbed to the United States of America and other countries. We all want to go abroad, we all want to work and earn several dollars, some do want to marry foreigners just to become one. And some even choose to do illegal things just to stay in a foreign country.

I am one of those.

I always wanted to go abroad, I don't know. I think I'm quite tired of this country's system. You work, you pay  taxes, but cannot really feel where they go. Some study by spending a lot of money, and end up working as volunteers or underpaid workers. I once heard that dishwashers in Australia have far higher salary than Filipino nurses. These hardworking nurses who are prone to illnesses, needle-pricks, and several dangers are underpaid, as compared to dishwashers who don't have that much responsibility. You drop a plate, pay for it. You make a wrong move as a nurse, you kill, you go to jail. That's just how it is.

We can say that we are free, but we are actually not. This country is full of corrupt officials. They don't declare their savings in their SALNs, because their "easy money" is either named after other people, or hidden in some secret places. We just don't know. People who are underpaid are paying taxes which directly goes to these people's pockets.

Non-improving healthcare, non-improving education, incomplete roads and infrastructures. Is this the sum of every people's hardwork? I don't think so. Speaking in a "nurse" standpoint, be reminded that the annual budget for health is not that sufficient with our healthcare needs. Did you know that the annual budget for every person in this country is PhP 317.31 on the year 2010? This is equal to three bottles of IV fluids in a government hospital, and is just the admission fee in a private hospital. If you're an indigent citizen with no health insurance, what will you do? Ask for help from our politicians? Yes, you get the money to pay your hospital bills. It's not really help, for it really is meant for you.

I told you before, I'm never losing hope on our country. I hope that there will be a time wherein we live freely, where we don't become 'punching bags' of very offending words from other countries. A country where foreigners respect fully, and is not hated. There will be a time like this, I think, but not now.

I remember a friend saying this statement before.

"Kung gusto nating matanggal ang mga corrupt na politiko, para gumanda ang Pilipinas at bumuti ang mga mamamayan, kailangang mawala muna ang mga tao na nandito sa bansa ngayon. Kailangang palakihin ng mabuting mabuti ang kabataan, para mawala ang mga masasamang bagay na nandito na." 

("If we want to remove our corrupt politicians, for the Philippines to be better, and for the citizenry to be good, the people existing here today must vanish first. We need to raise our youth in a very good way, to remove the bad things that already exists here.")

He has a point, right? But I think that we don't need to vanish in order to make our country better. 

I love the Philippines, and I'm a Filipino. We are. And I will always be a Filipino.  

There is still hope for the Philippines. The end of the race to "real" freedom is on, and we can end very well. We just need to have a change, especially in ourselves. Do small things that might help the country. Exercise your right to vote. Know your politicians very well. Do everything you can to be better. In that way, someday, we can truly be free.