Is History Important In A Country Moving Towards The Future?

When you ask other Filipinos who they are voting for on this upcoming 2022 Elections, most will probably tell you that they will vote for a certain candidate because of what that candidate has done in the post. On the other hand, others will tell you that they will not vote for a certain candidate precisely because of what this candidate has done in the past, decades back, even when the political system was drastically different and when the Philippines was not yet operating under the 1987 Constitution.

When we hear stuff like this, the usual response by some Filipinos is that “Past is past, move on na!” But should the Philippines really forget its history when it wants to move forward?

Looking back, Philippine history has major defining moments that still affect our daily lives today. The 333-year rule of the Spaniards in the Philippines is the reason why we call the kitchen utensils kubyertos and why some of us count money in Spanish. The American occupation is the reason why we have universities today and why the country is patterned after a democratic system. The EDSA Revolution is the reason why we have regained that democracy and have freedom in our daily lives.

If we forget all of this, it is like forgetting the liberties and values that define our lives today. The past is in the past, but the reality is that forgetting the past won’t help us move forward to the present. The past should be a source of lessons so that we don’t repeat the same mistakes that we made yesterday.

If we’ve already learned our lesson of not falling for the lies of a politician during campaign season, then we should know to vote accordingly for the future of this country. If we’ve already learned our lesson that electing leaders with a dictator-style of leadership, then, we should use that to be wiser and more vigilant when it comes to electing new leaders of the country.

Moreover, if we do plan on moving on from the past because it already happened, why is it that we are selective of the things that we want to move on from? Why is it that we only want to forget things when it is convenient for us to do so?

It begs the question: How do we, as a nation, plan to learn from our history to attain a better future?