The Story of Juan De La Cruz
The Story of Juan De La Cruz is a fascinating tale of a once enslaved people still waiting to attain true independence. A few hundred years ago, around 1521, a navigator named Ferdinand Magellan stumbled on a group of islands in the Far East.
It was the Pearl of the Orient Seas, for the beauty of its Islands, its people, their culture, and their natural habitat and resources were unrivalled in the Far East.
This group of islands he called the Philippine Islands, in honor of the king of Spain, King Philip, who funded his expedition to the Far East. Along with his re-discovery of the islands, he brought Christianity to Philippine shores. (I refer to it as re-discovery because it was the early inhabitants of the island that discovered the Philippines and way before any other group of men who later on stumbled upon the islands like the Arabs, Chinese and Indian merchants.)
Magellan failed though to conquer the islands in the name of Spain. A local tribe chieftain (Lapu-Lapu) of Mactan Island, Cebu defeated his forces. It would take a conquistador in the person of Miguel Lopez de Legaspi to eventually conquer the archipelago in the name of Spain. (Remember Spain and Portugal were the two major superpowers in the world at that time.)
And so the Story of Juan De La Cruz starts. He is called Juan De La Cruz or John of the Cross because the Pilipino is a firm believer in Jesus Christ. He is faithful to God and resides in the country which has the largest Catholic population in Asia today.
When the Spaniards colonized the Philippines, the Spaniards started to call Pilipinos as “Juan Tamad;” Juan Tamad because they wanted Pilipinos then to believe that we are a lazy and ignorant people. The Spaniards at that time wanted to make us feel inferior to their race, they wanted to enslave us so they tried their best to destroy our dignity as a people, as a nation. So the myth of Juan Tamad was born.
In order to force Pilipinos to work for them, the Spaniards made early Pilipinos feel that they were not doing enough. They forced Pilipinos to do farming without or with very little pay, they forced Pilipinos to go to Church despite little understanding of the Story of Jesus Christ, they forced Pilipinos to not pursue education and instead toil the land, they forced Pilipinos to do all kinds of work at the expense of our mental and physical abilities.
But the Pilipino, being a peace-loving race, took all the blows, took all the insults. In the face of a stronger enemy and more “learned” foreigner, the “indio” endured.
This situation continued until early in the 18th century when a group of three Pilipino priests led a revolt against Spain. That revolution failed and the three priests we now refer to as GOMBURZA were hanged to their deatha.
The Pilipino endured more years of hardship and enslavement until a bright and sunny morning on the 19th day of June 1861, when a young Pilipino baby was born. His name was Jose P. Rizal. He wrote two of the greatest books any Pilipino has ever produced: Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, which inspired Juan Tamad to finally take action against enslavement by his Spanish colonizers.
By 1892, the Philippine Revolution against Spain was gaining momentum. Slowly, the ranks of the Katipunan, the leading rebel Pilipino movement at that time, swelled. The Katipunan was founded by a Juan of modest origins. His name was Andres Bonifacio. He was unlike Rizal in many ways. Rizal was educated. Bonifacio did not have a formal education. Rizal belonged to the upper middle class. Bonifacio was a poor man.
And yet, their great desire for independence led them to fight for our nation’s freedom. The common desire, the common goal that they shared was Philippine Independence.
And it was to be attained at all cost. On the 30th of December, 1896, the Spanish government carried out the execution of Jose P. Rizal for treason, which ignited the Pilipino spirit for justice and freedom - for independence. And so the battle became the war for national freedom.
Two years after his death, on the 12th day of June 1898, the Philippine flag was hoisted in Kawit, Cavite with Emilio Aguinaldo, Bonifacio’s successor as acting president, declaring Philippine independence from Spain.
We are commemorating that day, today, June 12.
Happy Independence Day to all Filipinos out there!
Thank God I’m Filipino! The best is yet to come…
