Happy Independence Day to all Filipinos!

This occasion is known locally as Araw ng Kalayaan, which, of course, translates into “Day of Freedom/Independence”.

Today has been declared as a national non-working holiday in the Philippines, with various events taking place throughout the country and even abroad to honor the occasion.

Some of the Independence Day activities are parades, flag-raising ceremonies, and, in select historical sites, dramatization or re-enactment of significant moments in history that marked the first Philippine Independence Day.

June 12th was chosen as the date because it was on that same day way back in 1898 when the Philippine Declaration of Independence took place. This is the historical event in which the official Philippine flag was first unfurled and the Philippine national anthem (formerly called Marcha Filipina Magdalo but now known as Lupang Hinirang) was first played.

Below is a depiction of the first Philippine flag:

Even if it has undergone minor alterations, the Philippine flag continues to serve a fairly straightforward symbolic purpose in modern times.

Red stands for war while blue symbolizes peace. The flag is normally raised in such a way that the blue strip is above the red. Only when war is declared that this positioning is reversed. When a national figure joins the Creator, the flag is only raised halfway (or half-mast).

The three stars are the main island groups: Luzon, Visayas (where I am from) and Mindanao. The eight rays of the sun are the first eight provinces to revolt against Spanish rule.

Today, November the 18th, marks two very special celebrations.

First is my mother‘s birthday. She is in the Philippines right now.

Given my current situation here in Oman, I still could not afford to get her an obscenely expensive gift for the occasion. Hee hee. Even so:

HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MAMA!

Your posse here in Oman extends its love, hugs, kisses, good wishes, prayers and virtual gifts such as cards, roses, gourmet steak dinners and melt-in-your-mouth cheesecakes.

The second event is that it is Oman National Day, which is celebrated in congruence with the birthday of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said.

Today, His Majesty the Sultan turns 67. It is the 37th National Day of the Sultanate, marking the same number of years of His Majesty’s benevolent rule, which brought renaissance and great development to Oman.

Happy Birthday, Your Majesty. May you be blessed with good health and a prosperous reign this year and all the years to come.

And, of course, Happy National Day to the people of Oman!

Wow. There is something to be said about people born on November the 18th – rulers all!

The death toll on the current flood situation in the general Central Luzon and Metro Manila areas have reached 41, as of Thursday night.

Factor in several thousand families who have lost a good portion of their homes as well as those who were injured by thunderstorm and flood-related incidents. A big, ugly number.

Tonight’s episode of Debate on GMA-7 was quite interesting: A discussion on whether or not the rule “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” should be applied into Philippine law so as to properly punish kidnappers and other criminals who have committed atrocities with similar gravity.

The opening statement that caught my attention was the one made by the Chairman of the Commission of Human Rights: “Before we are even born, each of us have our human rights.”

My dear man, I have no argument with you on that, but consider this: Do those kidnappers even act remotely human, when caught in the frenzy of their self-righteous delusions of grandeur and Utopia? Are they human enough to consider the countless innocent lives that they sacrificed for their pointless causes, which are more to the personal gratification of their insane, power-hungry leaders?

They have no right to call themselves human. Orcs, more like.

By the by, “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” is NOT a quote from The Holy Bible.

It is from Hammurabi’s Code, with H-sama being a king of Ancient Babylon.

Today marks the 104th Anniversary of Philippine Independence, commemorating the event in Kawit, Cavite years ago when General Emilio Aguinaldo first raised the country’s true flag as a symbol of our freedom from around 333 years of Spanish rule.

Following the most recent developments as regards the Mindanao/Abu Sayyaf crisis, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo made history by raising the symbolic Independence Day colors not in significant historical landmarks, as what is traditionally done, but at the very center of the conflict, Lamitan, Basilan.

This place used to be an Abu Sayyaf stronghold, as they laid siege to its hospital and church June last year. Lamitan was recently reclaimed by the Philippine Armed Forces, with the President creating a mandate to name the district’s hospital after slain Abu Sayyaf hostage Ediborah Yap.

To all my fellow Filipinos all over the world, Maligayang Araw ng Kalayaan.