If you can be born anywhere in the world, where would you like to be? If God had given me a chance to choose the country where I would be, I would choose the United States (US). Yeah, I know that sounds quite unfashionable. But really, if I can choose my ethnicity, I’d like to be an American! What I admire about the US is that for a long time, the people there could carve out more unique paths to success than in any other country provided that they didn’t infringe on the individual rights of others. More importantly, it has always amazed me that the US could give the best opportunities to people of different cultural backgrounds while letting them exercise as much freedom as possible. Naysayers can cry, “Colonialism!” all they want, and to a great extent the US did gain many advantages by being imperialistic. But I think it’s more appropriate to say that the liberties that its citizens exercise and the country’s mostly meritocratic system unleashed the world’s greatest innovations, which enabled the US to exert a lot of power over other nation-states.
Despite its major failures, the US is a far cry from the Philippines. Why aren't we Filipinos innovative? How come we don't dream as big as Americans do? The award-winning film GomBurZa came close to a good answer.
The Mysterious Priests
“GomBurZa” is the amalgamation of the surnames of Filipino mestizo secular priests Mariano Gomez (Dante Rivero), Jose Burgos (Cedrick Juan), and Jacinto Zamora (Enchong Dee). The three were executed over the false accusation that they instigated the Cavite mutiny against the Spanish colonial government.
The film definitely deserves the awards that it won. I wasn’t surprised though that it didn’t win Best Screenplay, which might be one of the reasons why it didn’t win Best Picture. The way the script was written didn’t make the three priests relatable. I understand that such a task would be difficult because the priests’ personal backgrounds and the proceedings of the trial that found them guilty of treason are shrouded in mystery. This is quite sad because these three priests were pivotal in uniting Filipinos across ethnic groups and socio-economic classes into becoming one nation that yearned for independence. Their martyrdom inspired Jose Rizal to write his novels, which then ignited the Philippine Revolution against Spain.
The portrayal of Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora in this film is seriously lacking. In the first two acts of the movie, it was as if the three priests were only motivated by their personal need for recognition in their efforts to oppose the Spanish friars’ takeover of the local parishes from the secular priests. But their cause was far more than that. In his manifesto, To the Nation, Burgos wrote that he was not against the friars just because they were Spaniards. Rather, he didn’t want them to lead the parishes because they couldn’t communicate God’s Word in the local languages. Burgos also found the friars to be morally unqualified for leadership because of their greed. He even described them as “the constant obstacle to all the moral and material progress of the (Philippines) and its inhabitants” because they opposed the secular priests’ philanthropic works.
Too bad the film didn’t show that! In fact, there was even a scene wherein the friars were worried that they would be accused of framing Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora for treason even if they supposedly had no hand in it. Well, maybe the friars really had nothing to do with it. But in Nick Joaquin’s A Question of Heroes, there were corroborating testimonies from credible witnesses that the friars did frame the secular priests as the instigators of the Cavite mutiny.
The Leaven of the Pharisees
How then is the historical spiritual abuse relevant to the Philippines’ current situation? While I’m no historian, I can argue from the Bible that false religion damaged us culturally. Filipino Roman Catholics during the Spanish colonial period swore loyalty to the Pope as the Vicar of Christ, while remaining ignorant of the Scriptures. The Bible forbids such allegiance because only the Lord Jesus is the Head of the Church and every true Christian is part of the royal priesthood. When you blindly follow a religious leader, you comply with his demands to gain spiritual favors instead of standing up for what’s right, which incentivizes the abuser to continue exploiting you. The community will then either emulate the leader’s abusive actions or live in fear or both.
In the Philippines, this dynamic has been passed on from generation to generation. That’s why what often gets rewarded in Filipino communities is conformity instead of innovation and integrity. It’s difficult to introduce new ways of doing things because the people profiting from the obsolete immoral system will do everything that they can to stop much-needed reforms, even if it means destroying your life. The ordinary folks around you will also refuse to rock the boat, not just because they fear losing their personal security but also because they think you’re arrogant for challenging the status quo.
This doesn’t happen among Roman Catholics only. In fact, some of the most spiritually abusive Filipinos I’ve met claim to be my fellow Evangelicals! I was even TWICE kicked out of their age-segregated church ministries for being open about my Biblical convictions. Yes, you read that right, they hate it when you obey God’s Word! When spiritual abusers do quote the Bible, they often twist the Scriptures to manipulate you into putting the religious leader or the ministry first before your well-being. Hence, many people in cultic churches lack the independent living skills to survive outside of their religious bubble.
I believe that Filipinos’ lack of originality primarily stems from the spiritual abuses that we’re tolerating to this very day. It’s a far cry from the culture in the US wherein people have been historically rewarded for following their individual paths to success despite opposition from
the higher-powers-that-be. To a great extent, that bravery has its foundation in the pilgrims’ belief that as Americans they are “one nation under God” instead of being mere subjects of an abusive ruler. Unfortunately, Americans are straying from their country’s Biblical heritage. And as destructive as the woke agenda might be, it will most likely be a perverted form of Christianity that will lead the US to ruin. But that’s for the next topic.
(Photo by Mara Rivera)