I Am A Filipino
By Carlos P. Romulo
I am a Filipino - inheritor of a glorious past,hostage to the uncertain future. As such I must prove equal to a two-fold task- the task of meeting my responsibility to the past, and the task of performing my obligation to the future. I sprung from a hardy race - child of many generations removed of ancient Malayan pioneers. Across the centuries, the memory comes rushing back to me: of brown-skinned men putting out to sea in ships that were as frail as their hearts were stout. Over the sea I see them come, borne upon the billowing wave and the whistling wind, carried upon the mighty swell of hope- hope in the free abundance of new land that was to be their home and their children’s forever.
This is the land they sought and found. Every inch of shore that their eyes first set upon, every hill and mountain that beckoned to them with a green and purple invitation, every mile of rolling plain that their view encompassed, every river and lake that promise a plentiful living and the fruitfulness of commerce, is a hollowed spot to me.
By the strength of their hearts and hands, by every right of law, human and divine, this land and all the appurtenances thereof - the black and fertile soil, the seas and lakes and rivers teeming with fish, the forests with their inexhaustible wealth in wild life and timber, the mountains with their bowels swollen with minerals - the whole of this rich and happy land has been, for centuries without number, the land of my fathers. This land I received in trust from them and in trust will pass it to my children, and so on until the world no more.
I am a Filipino. In my blood runs the immortal seed of heroes - seed that flowered down the centuries in deeds of courage and defiance. In my veins yet pulses the same hot blood that sent Lapulapu to battle against the alien foe that drove Diego Silang and Dagohoy into rebellion against the foreign oppressor.
That seed is immortal. It is the self-same seed that flowered in the heart of Jose Rizal that morning in Bagumbayan when a volley of shots put an end to all that was mortal of him and made his spirit deathless forever; the same that flowered in the hearts of Bonifacio in Balintawak, of Gergorio del Pilar at Tirad Pass, of Antonio Luna at Calumpit; that bloomed in flowers of frustration in the sad heart of Emilio Aguinaldo at Palanan, and yet burst fourth royally again in the proud heart of Manuel L. Quezon when he stood at last on the threshold of ancient Malacañang Palace, in the symbolic act of possession and racial vindication.
The seed I bear within me is an immortal seed. It is the mark of my manhood, the symbol of dignity as a human being. Like the seeds that were once buried in the tomb of Tutankhamen many thousand years ago, it shall grow and flower and bear fruit again. It is the insigne of my race, and my generation is but a stage in the unending search of my people for freedom and happiness.
I am a Filipino, child of the marriage of the East and the West. The East, with its languor and mysticism, its passivity and endurance, was my mother, and my sire was the West that came thundering across the seas with the Cross and Sword and the Machine. I am of the East, an eager participant in its struggles for liberation from the imperialist yoke. But I also know that the East must awake from its centuried sleep, shape of the lethargy that has bound his limbs, and start moving where destiny awaits.
For, I, too, am of the West, and the vigorous peoples of the West have destroyed forever the peace and quiet that once were ours. I can no longer live, being apart from those world now trembles to the roar of bomb and cannon shot. For no man and no nation is an island, but a part of the main, there is no longer any East and West - only individuals and nations making those momentous choices that are hinges upon which history resolves.
At the vanguard of progress in this part of the world I stand - a forlorn figure in the eyes of some, but not one defeated and lost. For through the thick, interlacing branches of habit and custom above me I have seen the light of the sun, and I know that it is good. I have seen the light of justice and equality and freedom and my heart has been lifted by the vision of democracy, and I shall not rest until my land and my people shall have been blessed by these, beyond the power of any man or nation to subvert or destroy.
I am a Filipino, and this is my inheritance. What pledge shall I give that I may prove worthy of my inheritance? I shall give the pledge that has come ringing down the corridors of the centuries, and it shall be compounded of the joyous cries of my Malayan forebears when they first saw the contours of this land loom before their eyes, of the battle cries that have resounded in every field of combat from Mactan to Tirad pass, of the voices of my people when they sing:
Land of the Morning, Child of the sun returning… Ne’er shall invaders Trample thy sacred shore.
Out of the lush green of these seven thousand isles, out of the heartstrings of sixteen million people all vibrating to one song, I shall weave the mighty fabric of my pledge. Out of the songs of the farmers at sunrise when they go to labor in the fields; out of the sweat of the hard-bitten pioneers in Mal-ig and Koronadal; out of the silent endurance of stevedores at the piers and the ominous grumbling of peasants Pampanga; out of the first cries of babies newly born and the lullabies that mothers sing; out of the crashing of gears and the whine of turbines in the factories; out of the crunch of ploughs upturning the earth; out of the limitless patience of teachers in the classrooms and doctors in the clinics; out of the tramp of soldiers marching, I shall make the pattern of my pledge:
“I am a Filipino born of freedom and I shall not rest until freedom shall have been added unto my inheritance - for myself and my children’s children - forever.
I am a Filipino
By Alexander L. Lacson
One of the most important things we need today as a people is a beautiful way of looking at ourselves as Filipinos, a positive and healthy image of ourselves, a wonderful definition of ourselves as a people. Our children especially need to believe that there is greatness and beauty in us as a people and as a race.
So much beauty and greatness can spring from a beautiful mind and a faithful heart.
But loving ourselves as Filipinos is not only patriotism or nationalism. There is a reason higher than that. It is primarily about stewardship. It is loving what God has given us. God gave to each one of us the Filipino and the Philippines, for us to love and care for. But how is the Filipino in our hands today? How is the Philippines, the land God gave to us as a people, in our hands today?
It is for this reason that I wrote the poem below. I give this poem as my humble gift to all of you, my fellow Filipinos. You are the brothers and sisters, the family of people, God gave to me.
It is my hope that this poem will help develop in us and in our children a healthy sense of faith and love in the Filipino, in ourselves as a people. For truly, our Creator wants us to have faith in and love for the Filipino.
Here it is:
I am Filipino. I am a child of the One God who is the Creator of all that is in our world and the universe. I am as perfect and as beautiful as my Creator planned me to be, for God created me in His image, out of His perfect love.
I am a beloved child of God, like everyone else in our world, no less than the stars above or anyone else below. As such, I have equal right and claim to all the beauty and bounty that God provided in my country and in the world.
I am an equal part of the family of humanity. I am therefore a sibling to all the men and women of our world, brethren to all Christians, to all Muslims, to all Jews, to all Buddhists, and all other peoples whose faiths lie somewhere else.
I am Filipino. My Creator planted me on a specific spot on earth, where the sun always shines, in an archipelago of 7,107 wonderful islands, which the whole world calls the “Pearl of the Orient.” Pilipinas is the country God gave to me and my people. It is the birthplace of my race. It is the home of the Filipino.
The beauty and richness of my country lured many mighty powers of the world to invade our shores. So today, my blood is a mixture of the best and the finest of the West and the East. My mind is an heir to all the great thoughts of the West, and the great virtues of the East. My heart beats with the romanticism of the West and the passion of the East.
I am Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, Juan Luna, Ninoy Aquino and all those who fought for our land to become a nation of free people. I am the grandeur of Banaue, the enchantment of Boracay, the serenity of Manila Bay, and the depth and breadth of Tubbataha Reef.
I am Filipino. My Creator’s plan is for me to live my life as a Filipino and therefore, in my heart and in my mind, I shall always be a Filipino wherever I may be in the world. God wants me to belong to the Filipino family and as such, I am a “kapatid” [brother] to anyone and everyone who is Filipino, wherever he or she may be on earth.
You will know me by the word “po” in my sentences. You will know my children by their “mano po.” You will know me by the smile on my face and the warmth of my hospitality. Most important of all, you will know me by my loving and caring heart when you are in need of help, even if you are a stranger.
As a child of God, my Creator has a beautiful story for me and my people. And the story we see today is but a fleeting portion of that beautiful story that has yet to fully unfold before the eyes of the world.
I am Filipino. I am who I am today because of the role God wants me to play..
I am born to succeed. God has equipped me, within me and around me, with all the essentials I need to succeed in this world. God truly wants the highest, the best, and the most beautiful for me, because I am His child.
I am destined to be great. God planted seeds of beauty and greatness in me. He truly wants me to be great and beautiful, for God truly wants me to add more beauty and greatest to our world.
I am Filipino. I am born of freedom, in a free country. As such, I dedicate my freedom to ensuring that my people and country shall always remain free. I shall use my freedom to help other peoples, in my country or in other parts of the world, gain their own freedom.
I am born of love, out of God’s immeasurable love, in a country and in a world that can only be made beautiful by love. Love is the reason why God made me. It is what He wants me to bring into this world, so love shall be who I am.
I am born as part of the whole, as part of the answer to the question, as part of the solution to the problem, as part of the hope to our people. I am born to help the Filipino become great not only in the eyes of the world but, more so, in the eyes of our Lord.
I am Filipino. I am a faithful child of God. I shall live my life to do God’s work on earth, to help build a beautiful country for my Filipino family, and a better world for all humanity. And soon the world shall see the full measure of the greatness of Filipino, for truly the world has yet to see what God can do to and through a child, like the Filipino, who is faithful to the Lord.
I am Filipino.