Proem

Happy FATHER'S DAY! Today is the celebration of Father's Day. The Germans and Russians call their country as the "Fatherland." The Americans and the Filipinos call their country as the "Motherland."

There is a song that says, "Women are changeable." Would it explain why the "mother" of our country, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has a convoluted sense of celebrating holidays?

Father's Day is held every third Sunday of June. The day is fixed but the date is changeable. Philippines Independence Day is fixed on June 12 every year. The date is fixed but the day is changeable.

This year President Arroyo made a convoluted decision. The Independence Day was still June 12 but the holiday was moved to June 9. Since Christmas this year falls on a Thursday, like our Independence Day, would the President transfer the holiday on Monday December 22? Let us wait and see.

Lackadaisical Celebration

The effect on transferring the holiday for our Independence Day was that there was no celebration at all. To be lackadaisical is to be half-hearted for lack of proper concern.

The celebrations held on June 12 were only perfunctory or done for the sake of getting through.

President Diosdado Macapagal, the father of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, transferred the celebration of our Independence Day from July 4 to June 12. The main reason was to commemorate the heroic struggle of the Filipinos against the Spaniards as compared to the July 4 Independence "granted" by the Americans.

As it turned out, the reasoning of the father did not have an effect on the reasoning of the daughter. Both of them hold a Ph.D. in Economics degree. The economics of the father was geared towards patriotism. The economics of the daughter is geared towards tourism. The reason why the holiday was transferred to Monday, June 9 is to have a long week end for tourism purposes. The holiday on June 12 is no longer viewed as a means of ennobling the souls of the Filipinos.

The Bohol Republic

On 11 June 1899, the Boholanos declared Bohol as an Independent Republic. The Bohol Republic had a constitution and set of officials. It functioned independently from June 11, 1899 to March 20, 1900. From March 20, 1900 to September 1, 1900 it had a precarious existence due to the presence of the occupying Americans. However, its mails, bearing the Republic of Bohol stamps, were still honored by the Americans and delivered regularly anywhere in the world.

The President of the Republic of Bohol was Don Bernabe Reyes. He was from Dauis, Bohol. He was a lawyer and former Alcalde de Ayuntamento (now Provincial Board Member) of the Provincial of Cebu just before the start of the Philippines Revolution.

The Vice President was Don Salustiano Borja from Tagbilaran. The Minister of Finance was Don Rafael Reyes, from Dauis, Bohol and had business concerns in Mambajao, Camiguin. The Minister for Justice was Don Eduardo Calceta, a native of San Francisco de Malabon, Cavite (now General Trias town). He came to Bohol as a young school teacher and got married and stayed in Tagbilaran. The one in charge for education and religion was Fr. Mariano Baluyot.

It should be noted that in the Republic of Bohol the religion was part of the function of the republic. Roman Catholicism was the "state religion." In this regard, the Eskayas of Bohol came to Tagbilaran to protest because they want "Aglipayan" to be the state religion. It was of no avail.

Do you remember the Republic of Bohol? Of course not; our provincial officials would not even recognize this facet of our provincial history. While the Republic of Negros, which immediately collaborated with the Americans, is found in history books studied in school, nobody is studying the Republic of Bohol in our schools. Why? It is because our minds are still colonized by the Americans. The Republic of Negros was deemed good by the Americans because they collaborated while the Republic of Bohol dared to fight the Americans and defeated the Americans in some major battles. Therefore the Republic of Bohol, according to American viewpoint, ought not to be remembered.