By Izah Morales
INQUIRER.net

AS cliché as his declaration may sound, the words of our national hero Dr. Jose Rizal still resonate up to this day: “Ang kabataan ang pag-asa ng bayan.”

On the 110th celebration of Independence Day, the Department of Education-Special Event Unit held the 4th Pambansang Gawad Ulirang Kabataan, which recognized five young Filipino students.

Among 51 nominees, Paul Julian Hao (Chiang Kai Shek College), Ben Ralph Yu (Davao City National High School), Stephen Panol (Fort Bonifacio High School), Jamil Repors (Kidapawan City National High School), and Kate Marie F. Benitez-Colmenares (Samal National High School) stood out as the grand winners of this year’s Ulirang Kabataan.

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By Amando Doronila
Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines–Five months after his inauguration in January 1962 as fifth president of the Third Philippine Republic, Diosdado Macapagal stunned the nation, as well as the United States, with a proclamation declaring June 12 as Independence Day, replacing July 4, the day when the United States relinquished sovereignty to Filipinos in 1946.

As Filipinos celebrated yesterday the 45th anniversary of the historic change of date, the nation stood deeply divided, following the May 2007 election, in contrast to the euphoria that united the people when they celebrated the first June 12 behind a newly elected president.

More than a million people packed the Luneta [now Rizal Park] in a sea of humanity, compared with fewer than 300,000 that attended previous Fourth of July celebrations. The first June 12 celebration crowd was surpassed in size and nationalistic fervor only by the Independence Day parade at the Luneta during the 1998 centennial of Philippine Independence proclaimed by Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo in Kawit.

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By Vincent Cabreza
Inquirer

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines — The flag believed by heirs of Emilio Aguinaldo to be that unfurled by the general in Kawit, Cavite, in 1898 still received no respect at Tuesday’s rites marking the 109th Independence Day.

Marching bands accompanying the city government’s Freedom Day parade loudly made their way down Session Road, but only a handful of people paid quiet homage to the tattered relic encased in glass at the Aguinaldo Museum on Happy Glen Loop here.

Emilio Aguinaldo Suntay III, the general’s great grandson, said he was glad that some people still managed to show up. The bad news, he said, was that the flag had only “our lifetime” — or 30-50 more years — to last.

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By INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines–Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley has proclaimed June 12 as Philippine Independence Day in the American City “in appreciation of the contributions that Filipino-Americans have made,” Philippine Consul General Blesilda Cabrera said in a statement issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs Tuesday.

The statement said Daley presented the proclamation to Cabrera during the reception he hosted on June 7 to mark Philippine Independence Day and celebrate Chicago’s Philippine-American community.

Daley also encouraged all Chicagoans to appreciate the contributions the Filipino-American community has made to Chicago, the statement said.

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By Maila Ager
INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines–President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo reiterated her call for unity on Tuesday urging all leaders to set aside politics and prioritize the interest of the people as she led the country’s celebration of the 109th anniversary of Independence Day.

“Obligasyon nating lahat sa ating mga ninuno lalo na sa mga nagbuwis ng kanilang dugo at buhay para sa ating kalayaan na tayo’y magkaisa at magsikap upang mabigyan ng magandang buhay ang bawat Filipino (It is our duty to our forebears, especially to those who gave their lives for our freedom, that we unite and uplift the quality of life of every Filipino),” Arroyo said in her speech after flag-raising and wreath-laying ceremonies at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila.

“Kung nakipaglaban noon ang ating mga bayani upang matamo ang kalayaan, nararapat lamang na ipagpatuloy natin ang naunang layunin upang mapalaya ang sambayanan mula sa kahirapan (If our heroes fought to gain our independence, then it is but fitting that we continue their legacy to free our nation from poverty),” she said.

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By Vincent Cabreza
Northern Luzon Bureau

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines–You won’t find the Philippine flag laid out on the tombstones of Ibaloi revolutionary heroes Mateo “Kustacio” Carantes and Mateo Cariño on Tuesday, Independence Day.

This omission was not made out of spite.

Few in this generation recall the names of their former presidents, much less obscure members of the Katipunan in Igorot country, who helped General Emilio Aguinaldo escape from the Americans when the Philippine-American war broke out in 1899.

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By Jerome Aning
Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines–Honor the unsung heroes — the teachers and poll watchdog volunteers who served in the recent midterm elections, as well as the victims of extrajudicial killings and involuntary disappearances.

This was the Independence Day message of Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines president and Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo. Aside from honoring the heroes who helped the country attain nationhood 109 years ago, he urged Filipinos to remember the ordinary heroes.

“In the attempt to showcase some great, mighty and popular personalities as icons of the bayani (hero), let us not lose sight of the innumerable and unnamed bayani of our country’s history,” Lagdameo said Monday in a statement reflecting on the theme of Tuesday’s Independence Day celebration: “Kalayaan 2007: Bayan, Bayani, Bayanihan.”

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FILIPINOS in Saipan trooped to the Civic Center in Susupe for the annual Pistang Pinoy celebration of Philippine independence.

Here’s an excerpt from the Saipan Tribune article:

For thousands of Filipinos and their families in the CNMI, the Civic Center in Susupe was ground zero last Sunday, with the annual Pistang Pinoy in celebration of this year’s 109th Philippine Independence.

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HERE’S an excerpt from the Hernando Today article:

WEEKI WACHEE — Maria Busque was born in the Philippines, lived among other Filipinos for years in Canada and California, but she never felt the urge to join a club with others who shared her ethnicity until she moved to Florida.

“Everybody here is friendly,” Busque, who was still chewing the last bit of food she had eaten during Saturday’s cookout. “I love the activities. We are very active in the community. Here, you have to give back.

“In California, it was totally different,” she continued. “You felt like an outsider.”

The Hernando County Philippine-American Association celebrated the 109th Philippine Independence Day Saturday at Linda Pedersen Park.

PHILIPPINE President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo stressed the need for economic reforms to free Filipinos from poverty in her Independence Day speech.

She called on every Filipino to become productive and on every government agency to put the needs of the public first, so that the sacrifices of the heroes who fought and died for the country’s freedom would not be in vain.

Arroyo called for “pro-investment” policies that would help the Philippines continue its economic growth in the speech she delivered at the Quirino Grandstand at Rizal Park in Manila.

Arroyo ended her speech with a prayer.

The Independence Day parade has begun, with the Armed Forces of the Philippines performing the parade and review.