XXII    Beneath the azure skies you slumber deep,

          Above the azure seas subdued you lie,

          In subjugation hear your meek ones weep,

          In indignation bear your bold ones die,

          How much your unborns' remonstrance you fear,

          How much of fallen heroes' wrath sustain,

          If you to villains your birthright forswear,

          If to your woes you nonchalant remain?

          Traditions prejudice in vain invoke,

          Nor lessons falsify from history

          To justify the poignance of your yoke,

          Or improvise some reasons that you stay . . .

                   A wretched penitent of one man's whims

                   Oblivious of your children's noble dreams!!

   XXIII   Should lessons gleaned from History provide

          Due faith and courage for your future course,

          Be best prepared to emulate with pride

          The brave defenders of your sacred shores.

          Allow not blunt your own awakening

          By rhetoric that politicians use

          To thwart your conscience into weakening

          The selfsame vehemence of vengeance's cause,

          The which would break the fetters of your soul

          And tear the mask of shameless tyranny.

          Default's the cross of falsehood bearing all

          Unreason for your seeming destiny

                   To drown, in surfeit, bliss of ignorance,

                   To crown, in glory, sweet irrelevance!!

   XXIV

Of friends and foes you earned the poets' praise,

          Your legend beauty fared romantic fame,

          Your languor proves the vanquish of your race,

          Your wants and woes, their very sins proclaim.

          The insolence of your perdition made

          An otherwise noble inheritance

          A mockery of aspiration's need

          To cross the threshold vagaries of chance

          That though subdued, undaunted yet in quest

          To brave the tide, sans fears of the unknown.

          Conquered yet undefeated, unredressed,

          Let grievance architect your own renown:

                   Or tears, or sweat, or blood, such price defray

                   For priceless proves the prize of liberty!

   XXV     So often did you pay the price before,

          What cause have you to now so hesitate?

          With cross and sword Magellan [1] reached your shore,

          With spears and sword, his death, Magellan met --

          Who came to make you vow to Philip’s [2] fame,

          Your sons, unbowed, preferred Magellan slain,

          For which you got the mark of Philip's name,

          Imposed by legions of the realm of Spain.

          The name you took, you fought the insolence

          With del Pillar [3] and Rizal’s [4] arguments,

          And Bonifacio [5] with more forceful means

          Imposed on Spain defeat's predicaments:

             Retreat, did Spain, in came th'Americans

             With Monroe's Doctrine [6] and George Dewey’s [7] guns!

   XXVI    Weakened, outgunned, you fought George Dewey's force,

          With precious lives defended Tirad Pass, [8]

          Your weak ones did provide the dismal course

          Of your demise, and Aguinaldo [9] was

          To self-exile consigned to negotiate

          Your sole surrender to an enemy

          Who promise of reforms did elicit

          In lieu of much coveted liberty.

          Reforms enshrined your glory as Rizal,

          And martyrdom enthroned, you idolize

          Inaction's cause and lose the wherewithal

          To build a nation strong, and free, and wise:

                   Martyrs are but a nation's mournful loss,

                   The nation must survive a martyr's cause!

   XXVII   Reform and martyrdom are curious twins,

          The both are consummate with serious sins:

          'Twas for reforms Ninoy Aquino [10] spoke,

          By martyrdom, Aquino's life you took.

          'Twas for reforms Rizal did set his pen,

          Without reforms, Rizal, a martyr slain.

          And through reforms, Rizal you sanctified,

          While Bonifacio's deeds you saw defiled.

          The Lava [11] brothers fought, all martyrs died,

          Reformed, Luis Taruc [12] you glorified.

          And for reforms the selfsame Ferdinand, [13]

          Invoked the law of force at his command:

                   Such are reforms made worth of Martial Law --

                   Long years of martyrdom to suffer through!!!

   XXVIII

          Reforms, the IMF demands austere

          As creditor's conditionalities,

          Reforms, the World Bank made you swear

          To make your credit seems as limitless

          As your endurance for the martyrdom

          Of unemployment and wasted resource;

          Such ills are seemingly beyond reform,

          Austerity cannot but make them worse!

          Who is to blame for gross mismanagement?

          Or mortgage of your whole patrimony?

          Your credit-worthiness long overspent,

          You beg to negotiate for charity!

                   With credits not applied to harness wealth,

                   You wreck a million times the nation's health!!!

   XXIX    Beyond reform is your predicament,

          It's time you venture forth a better way!

          Nor tears of bitterness, nor mute lament

          Can free you from your own captivity!

          That captors are your very native sons

          Is but insult added to injury

          And no excuse for patient tolerance

          Nor cause to languish in your misery.

          With debtors' need false leaders agonize,

          For credits, they may make your people bleed;

          Bleeding, you may yet seek to galvanize

          To life true leaders of a bolder breed:

                   By visionary men are nations built

   XXX     Such leaders of the "Opposition" kind

          Who only ridicule the Parliament?

          For opposition every reason find,

          Except a plan for your development,{0}

                  Comments &Notes on Proper Names in the Text

[1]        Ferdinand Magellan was the commander of the Spanish Armada, which first landed on Filipino soil in 1521; was killed in the ensuing battle when the natives refused to pay homage to the king of Spain.

[2]        King Philip II of Spain's name is the origin of the name Philippines; the term Filipino originally meant Spaniards born in the Philippines, as opposed to ones born in Spain.

[3,4] Marcelo H. del Pilar and Jose Rizal were the main leaders of the Reformists, who argued for Philippine representation in the Spanish Royal Courts. Rizal was subsequently consecrated under American occupation as the National Hero.

[5]        Andres Bonifacio was the founder of the first organized revolution against Spain; later slain in an internal power struggle with factions supporting Emilio Aguinaldo.

[6]        By the principles of Monroe's Doctrine the United States declared war on Spain; the American colonization of the Philippines was a spin off of the Spanish-American War.

[7]        Admiral George Dewey was the commander of the Asiatic Fleet which sank the Spanish Armada in Manila Bay in 1898; most Filipino historians consider the encounter a "mock battle" since Spanish forces were already under siege by the revolutionary forces, and confined to a few blocks of Manila.

[8]        Tirad Pass was the only access to the Headquarters of the Philippine revolutionary forces in the Filipino-American war; the fall of Tirad Pass directly resulted in the surrender of the Filipino forces.

[9]        Emilio Aguinaldo, founder and only president of the First Philippine Republic, obtained exclusive command of the Filipino forces against Spain when Bonifacio was ambushed and killed by his men at a rendezvous where Aguinaldo and Bonifacio were supposed to meet to discuss strategy.

[10]      Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino was the leading political rival to president Marcos before and during Martial Law until he was murdered disembarking in Manila from self-exile in the U.S.

[11]      The Lava brothers were the brains of the uprising in the 1950’s, which sought to overthrow the then four-year-old Second Philippine Republic.

[12]      Luis Taruc was contemporary of the Lavas', commander in chief of the rebel forces; surrendered and subsequently toured the U.S. as spokesman for the virtues of Marcos's Martial Law.

[13]      Ferdinand Marcos, declared Martial Law on September 22, 1972; was finally deposed during the "People's Revolution" inspired by Corazon Aquino (wife of Benigno) who was defrauded by the Marcos Administration of her victory over Marcos in a general presidential election in which both sides claimed victory.