Today is Andres Bonifacio Day which is also the 152nd birth anniversary of the revolutionary leader and national hero. We know he founded the Katipunan whose members, on August 23, 1896, tore up their cedulas as an act of willful defiance against the Spanish colonial rulers. We celebrate this form of collective audacity as the “Cry of Pugadlawin”, hailed as the birth of the Philippines revolution which ended up with the conquistadores leaving our shores.
Little is known of the life of Bonifacio. We are thankful that historians like Ambeth Ocampo have done much to let us know him better and learn the values that he stood for apart from his nationalism, bravery and foresight which made him our hero.
We did not know that he and his siblings were orphaned early in life. And this taught him to attain self-reliance by finding work to feed them.
We also did not know that Andres Bonifacio, unlike Rizal, finished the equivalent of fourth grade.
Yet this did not prevent him from being a self-learner and a voracious reader.
His life is a lesson for many to focus on service, self-improvement and avoidance of self-pity, or worse, blaming others or fate as perennial scapegoats, for one’s situation. Bonifacio chose concrete actions as essential steps towards justice and reforms. With them went the lingering hope that the dream of a liberated Philippines will one day become a reality.
Although he was executed before he could see the fruition of his passion for our country’s independence, his selfless service to the nation, like the past and present heroes, paved the way for us to benefit from the ultimate sacrifice.
How he was able to convert more to join the cause for freedom and independence is a story by itself. Our people crave for more such personal accounts, seeing how enthusiastic our movie-going public were to the heroism and fearlessness of General Antonio Luna, captured in the box-office hit “Heneral Luna”. The movie is, by the way, the official Philippine entry for best foreign language film in Oscars for next year.
There are many such gifted innovators and trailblazers from various islands of our country and the rest of the globe.
Some are famous, some are known only by the people in their circle and in their community. These leaders inspire, courageously lead the pack, uncaring if they are the lone voices in the wilderness, yet infused with hope. But all share the same single-minded vision — that of providing a better world than what it is now through bold, resolute and well-planned steps.
We are happily seeing more of such leading lights everywhere, especially those who are now pounding loudly on the grave threats we all face from environmental degradation and climate change, amid strong resistance from those preferring the “business-as-usual” mindset. For some, to change the current ecosystem-destructive way-of-life is grossly disadvantageous to their sense of entitlement that their bottom line, profits matter first, before people and our environment.
Last weekend, thousands from communities, labor and religious sectors, academe, non-government organizations, people’s organizations and enlightened citizens joined citizens from all over the world for the historic Global Climate March to press for a global climate treaty.
On November 28, people walked for climate justice and for others who could not join in Cebu and Metro Manila, as they did in the cities around the world the day after. There are confirmed reports of more than 2300 marches happening all over the world. (https://globalclimatemarch.org/en/press).
These mark the beginning of activities for climate action and instill huge hope that the November 30 to December 11 United Nations Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)) will, for the first time in 20 years, agree to a legally binding and universal agreement on our climate.
The Ecowaste Coalition spoke for many of us in asking “the Paris Climate Conference to aim for an ambitious and fair agreement that will radically and rapidly reduce global warming pollution, protect human health and the environment, and ensure food security, sustainable livelihood and climate justice, particularly in climate disaster-prone nations and communities. We specifically ask governments to include zero-waste programs among their priority mitigation plans and shun deceptive solutions such as waste-to-energy incineration.” (https://ecowastecoalition.blogspot.com)
Yesterday, Pres. Benigno Aquino III left for Paris to join other heads of state in participating in the COP21. We hope that there are more political leaders in our midst who understand the urgent need to let go of the carbon-emitting lifestyle that we have been addicted to.
Just like Bonifacio, we dare to hope for a better future — this time it is for a world liberated from the fossil-fuel dependent philosophy that has to be discarded, if we are to give a sustainable tomorrow that each child deserves to have.
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