A not so finest hour

As a student and researcher, I find it difficult to join the chorus of celebration in Edsa 40 without a heavy heart. While 1986 may have restored our right to speak, it failed to ignite the spirit of inquiry necessary to make that speech meaningful. To put it plainly: it was a triumph of sentiment, but a missed opportunity for the Philippine scientific mind.

We are fond of equating “vigilance” with street protests, yet we ignore the most potent form of vigilance: a scientifically literate populace. Physics, mathematics, and the hard sciences are not mere academic hurdles; they are the very tools of logic that prevent a citizenry from becoming “docile.”

As it stands, we find ourselves in a tragic, self-inflicted cycle. We continue to elect crooked leaders who find easy purchase in an electorate that is easily bought—a state of affairs that leaves us merely flogging and knocking ourselves out against the same walls of corruption for 40 years.

True national progress requires more than a “fiery spirit” to oppose injustice; If we do not cultivate a genuine love for education, we will never break this stagnation. We need a youth that pursues physics, biology, and the arts not as a path to a paycheck, but as a defense against the “doltish” manipulation of our current political order.

See Also

If other countries can do it, why can’t we?

Even as this day ends, our anger toward unfairness must be matched by our passion for innovation. Until we treat scientific progress and research and development funding as the backbone of our democracy rather than a footnote, we are merely repeating history rather than mastering it.