Most of the people locally, at least knew that there was another country that colonized the Philippines way back for more than 300 years but in Spain “the knowledge about Philippines unlike Mexico and Cuba is very small, not to say none, between common people”, says a Spanish visitor who is doing his Masters in Intercultural Relationships and works part-time to an international organization that facilitates humanitarian concerns in the country. But then he assures that “the Spanish Government is making increasing efforts to approach Philippines” all to the glory of reviving ties of these two countries with a rich historical past.
“The Philippines is still colonized until now… under the Vatican authority.” He quips. “The Roman Catholic church’s strong opposition against the RH bill is getting impractical because of the country’s overpopulation issue.” He continues. Interestingly or incidentally, he happens to share the same advocate of someone into Manila’s history – Carlos Celdran as pro RH bill. “Are you a Catholic?” I ask. “Well, I was baptized that way.” He answers. “No offense but Spain, is always associated with how the colonial and crab mentality started in here.” My comment. “Let’s take a look at your history.” He answers.
“Jose Rizal, your country’s national hero on the brink of execution was helped by a Spanish governor-general to escape to Cuba. But a friar, Dominican I think, made all the efforts to stop him and be executed. His two novels, the Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, are all about criticism against friars and the Catholic church.” Then, he continues, “Juan Luna’s Spoliarium, if you look closely at the painting, it depicts the friars specifically, abusing the people.”
There you go, the battle continues as Filipinos face changes caused by the trends of today. The RH bill is not just a battle to pass another bill but to Filipinos it’s more than a test of their faith and spirituality. History in this country would be incomplete without Roman Catholic’s contribution. But it seems that most of the people pushing to get it passed are majority Roman Catholics… a historical twist on going.
No comments