Do We Filipinos Really love Our freedom So Much?

"Some ppl saying life ws better during the Marcos dictatorship. Sige, lumipat kayo sa North Korea*. Dont like freedom? Get the f*** out of RP". This was a tweet from Pepe Diokno this morning. He is the grandson of the nationalist senator and lawyer Jose W. Diokno.

I responded on his tweeter but I feel that the 180 characters, or even the 360 supposed limit on this blog, is not enough to communicate how I feel and what I want to say. Hence, i wrote this blog entry.

I was born post-martial law hence I wasn't able to experience first hand how it was like during the hey days of the Marcos dictatorship. I was also too young, fortunately or unfortunately, to experience the 1986 People Power.

I was indeed to young to experience the yellow fever. I am, however, old enough to appreciate what it was like to traverse NLEX without paying such a high toll fee. I was also old enough to still see the Marcos bust in the Marcos highway, one which Marcos built when Kennon road was becoming unreliable. I was also old enough (at preschool) to see unbranded condoms being distributed to families in accordance with Marcos' population control program. I was also old enough to remember that as a kid I use to throw tantrums almost everyday because I can't watch TV and it's soo hot because yet again we have a 9-5 power outage. I was also old enough to remember the dashing Gringo Honasan attempting several coups. I was old enough...maybe a little too old.

The comment of Pepe Diokno that those who lament that life was better during the Marcos dictatorship better move to North Korea is uncalled for and without any basis whatsoever. What is wrong with wanting a better life? Should being free be equated to being poor? The sad state of people power, and the fact that we have to clarify which people power sequel it is, shows that as freedom fighters we haven't really changed nor achieved much.

We say, we as the Filipino people would rather be poor rather than live under a dictatorship. Do we really? Isn't it already telling that the sheer number of people who migrate, work, and aspire to work in middle east - with Saudi Arabia still being the top destination - countries and destinations who are as restrictive as Singapore already answers that question. It is no longer theoretical, Filipinos would rather give up a little (if not a lot!) of their freedom in order to have a better life. We hail them as the new breed of heroes, but has it not occurred to us that in the process of buoying up the economy with their remittances they too have sacrificed their freedom!

My professor in Private International Law Dean Merlin Magallona, former Dean of the UP College of Law and USec.of the DFA, once said to us in class, we say we don't want to give up our freedom but we only have to look at the number of our OFWs to say that we already have.

Close to a hundred thousand people marched to the streets during Edsa 1 whereas in 2008 1.2 million Filipinos, based on POEA statistics, left the country. Yes, we already have and we even sought - aspire to, hope, dream - of giving it up...over and over again.

*Go on and move to South Korea.