my panatang makabayan

i was searching the net to get the full text of panatang makabayan (my country, the philippines' pledge of allegiance), and what i found surprised me: there is a new version! whoa...

i have been away from the philippines for a number of years now and i guess i just didn't watch the news the day the pledge was updated. or, probably, there was a sex scandal, or an election fraud to cover that day and it was never mentioned at all.

i am getting old. at 33, i feel old. and one thing i noticed, which, surely, is shared by not too few filipinos living away from their motherland is that every year i add a number to my age it seems like i feel more detached and more critical of the philippines - and i feel so bad for it... no one should ever turn their backs against their birthplace...

i don't want to populate this post with blames. that's too old and i don't think the blaming game will ever work - it will never.

i will not try to compile a list of remedies either that i think will help the philippines get over the decades-long slump that it's been sadly stuck to. no, i will not.

i love my philippines. it is not the most perfect place to live in. it is not the safest, not the cleanest, not the easiest place to live in but i lived there and survived it. what i am today is because of exactly those very things that make the philippines pale in comparison to other more "advanced" countries. i am still chasing my dreams but i don't think i did bad, so far. i don't think i have harmed anyone nor caused anyone pain. those unfortunate circumstances that surround my country now are the very same things that colored and influenced our culture since the beginning of my country's misery.

i will not preach, as promised. but in a country where morality is relative (which is actually good) and hypocrisy is likewise relative (which is the core of all evil) the philippines, my beloved, will just be the country of my birth. the country with a promise. and hopefully there's more...

june 12 is my philippines's independence day. independence from what, i don't know anymore...

from the net, here are the two versions of panatang makabayan...

Current version
Iniibig ko ang Pilipinas, aking Lupang Sinilangan.
Tahanan ng aking lahi, kinukupkop ako at tinutulungan
Upang maging malakas, masipag, at marangal.
Dahil mahal ko ang Pilipinas,
Diringgin ko ang payo ng aking mga magulang.
Susundin ko ang tuntunin ng paaralan,
Tutuparin ko ang tungkulin ng mamamayang makabayan;
Naglilingkod, nag-aaral,
at nagdarasal ng buong katapatan.
Iaalay ko ang aking buhay,
pangarap at pagsisikap sa bansang Pilipinas

Original version
Iniibig ko ang Pilipinas
Ito ang aking lupang sinilangan
Ito ang tahanan ng aking lahi
Ako'y kanyang kinukupkop at tinutulungan
Upang maging malakas, maligaya at kapakipakinabang
Bilang ganti, diringgin ko ang payo ng aking mga magulang
Susundin ko ang mga tuntunin ng aking paaralan
Tutuparin ko ang mga tungkulin ng isang mamamayang makabayan at masunurin sa batas
Paglilingkuran ko ang aking bayan nang walang pag-iimbot at ng buong katapatan
Sisikapin kong maging isang tunay na Pilipino sa isip, sa salita, at sa gawa