Marvin Isidore "Sid" Macatol Weblog

I cannot help but realize that we're a very young independent nation, this Philippines that we claim our own. June 12, 1898. Was this really the day we became a nation? All you have to do is go to the Ayala Museum (see my earlier post) and see the beautiful dioramas there, and somehow you just get the feel of the continuous stream of events that transpired since 1898. You will realize that we have never really been an independent nation then. No, we have not been. Even Emilio Aguinaldo has admitted that it was "snatched" from us. The year 1898 was a terrible year for us. It was the year we declared Independence from Spain, it was the year Spain sold us to the Americans, and it was the year the Americans took over us as colonizers. The independence movement was practically nipped in the bud.

Philippine history from 750,000 BC until 1946 in 60 beautiful dioramas, what a bargain! Anyone who goes to Makati has no excuse for not visiting the Ayala Museum . (Take note of my earlier post on how to be a better Filipino!) Philippine history is interesting. It tells us who we are and who we are not. It tells us of our struggles and explains to us that all that we see around us now did not come from the clouds, but from the blood, sweat and tears of our ancestors. Anyone who asks, "Who am I?" should go see the Ayala Museum. It won't cost you much to go there and it's absolutely easy to go there. It's between Greenbelt 4 and Greenbelt 5. You wouldn't miss it.