June 12 is Philippine Independence Day. Just how free are we?

The goal of a democracy is to provide food on the table, clothing on the back and shelter for its citizens. Without food - the first layer in Maslov's Law of Hierarchial Needs of Man - the idea of freedom is just an abstract concept.

Dictatorships have long asked men to give up freedom so that it can have its bread. Oftentimes men find out, too late, that having given up freedom to the State, he could neither have bread or freedom.

As the experience of Marcos Martial Law of 16 years had proven - it transformed the then vibrant Philippine economy, once upon a time, second only to Japan in Asia - into a financial laggard and an international pariah due to violation of human rights.

The exile of the Dictator in 1986 was meant to restore freedom and then repair the damaged economic ramparts of the nation. That would have made every June 12th an Independence Day worth celebrating.

The year 2006 is about 20 years from Marcos' exile. Is the nation now truly free, truly independent, truly democratic?

The Philippines is still in an inverted pyramid with 20% of the population controlling 80% of the nation's wealth - suggesting a large pool of people on the border or below the poverty line and the absence of a large pool of middle class - often the back bone of a real democracy. The Land Program has barely scratched surface and the housing backlog runs to hundreds of thousands to this day.

Education, the goose that lays the golden eggs, suffers from poor quality - producing uncompetitive graduates that has diminished our Philippine labor value as one major factor of production. Most Filipinos yearn to seek employment in greener pastures abroad due to the absence of domestic opportunities - in fact some ten million Filipinos are out there hacking a living in foreign shores, creating absentee parents or spouses.

The Philippines is a nation slowly being eclipsed by war-ravaged Vietnam and is moving closer down to the ranking of Bangladesh, no matter how the spin masters create a rosy scene of the country.

It is true that we now have an Executive, Legislative and Judiciary, ideally created to foist positive check and balance to governance. Today, there is a crisis of confidence in the Executive due to the issue of legitimacy that continues to hound the presidency. The fact that GMA is still in Malacañang does not erase the fact that 65% of Filipinos think she should leave the Palace. The Lower House is a puppet on a string hoisted by Malacañang while the Senate can sometimes be too petty and politicking for comfort. Somehow, the Supreme Court had shown some that it is a tiger with teeth in standing up to the Palace - but with the impending exit of independent-minded chief Justice Artemio Panganiban, how long will its independence hold?

Despite our independent posturing, there is a wire still connected to the wishes of Washington and the global war versus terrorism only makes the country a potential future base again for the Americans - in substance, if not in form. In globo-politics, can one really act independently? The Cha-Cha proponents want foreigners to wholly own mining firms, educational and media institutions - is the surrender of patrimony justified by the entry of gold?

The Catholic Bishops had warned last week about "disguised authoritarianism" often seen in violent rally dispersals, extra-judicial killings of 600 militant persons, disappearance of 43 journalists, news of warrantless arrests and torture in GMA's wake as president. Media is being threatened with closure and harassed by libel suits by the powers-that-be, making the country the second most dangerous place for journalists next to troubled Iraq. Independence?

The American Chamber of Commerce tried to sound comforting in saying corruption has diminished a bit in the country but we doubt if that will significantly alter our shameful reputation as the second most corrupt in Asia.

Despite the entry of Party-list representatives, Philippine governance is still dominated by Trapos, political dynasties, business honchos, showbiz, sports and media non-descripts. In the meantime, everything electoral appears suspects as the Comelec is perceived to be run by vested interests with dubious history of lack of integrity. What democracy?

Unemployment rate at 8.4% is still high and 16 million of the 32 million so-called employed Pinoys are really under-employed. Inflation is at a high 7.5% and population growth at 2.3% is still one of the highest in the world.

June 12 is Independence Day - but today we are still in chains - to patronage politics, poverty, human rights violations and corruption. We are running on a treadmill - expending so much energy but basically staying but the way we started. How sad indeed.