WE are independent and so we are free. Wrong!
While the nation celebrates its independence on June 12 this year, freedom in various forms remains elusive for many Filipinos.
Freedom from poverty is the most desired freedom that still escapes us. The country’s poverty rate was projected to average between 15.5% and 17.5% in 2021, likely near the 16.6% posted in 2018, officials of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said last February. Around 3.44 million Filipinos were still out of work in March as the country reopened further the economy, the Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA) said. Unemployment has remained high in the Philippines, at almost twice the level of neighboring countries, despite relatively fast employment growth in the past decade.
We brag about the freedom that was restored after the EDSA revolt. We call freedom the change from dictatorship to manipulated election results, not to mention the non-stop vote-buying and vote-selling during the elections? Add to that the paying of protection money by election candidates to an armed group marked terrorists by government.
Deep within us it is freedom from fear that we seek in our day-to-day life. We like and support those who can give us that freedom that criminals and lawless elements take away from us. But this freedom from fear should not only be enjoyed by people in and outside their homes but should be enjoyed by a nation as a whole in its relationship with other nations no matter how powerful they are.
