The Road Not Taken
Mexico is not the only country
that celebrates its independence day in mid-September. So do five Central
American republics -- Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa
Rica, which once comprised an administrative region of the Viceroyalty
of New Spain (Mexico).
On Sept. 15, 1821, the region
declared its independence from Spain. Presumably, the Sept. 15 date was
chosen to coincide with 11th anniversary of the Cry of Dolores -- the call
of Father Hidalgo for Mexican independence. For about 15 months, these
five countries were legally part of Mexico, but in 1823, they broke away
to form the United Provinces of Central America. Despite the efforts of
President Francisco Marazan, the federation began to collapse under various
pressures. In the late 1830s, it broke up and the individual states became
independent republics. They remain separate although there have been at
least 25 attempts to achieve some kind of political unification.
The history of these five
countries has been turbulent. Part of the turbulence is due to the heavy-handed
attempts of the United States to interfere in the politics of these countries.
Also, the leaders of these countries are not the most competent politicians
in the world (we recall, for instance, that El Salvador and Honduras went
to war over a soccer game).
The Philippines and Central
America are more similar than most of us believe. The two areas lie in
roughly the same latitudes (San Jose, Costa Rica and Puerto Princesa, Palawan
are roughly ten degrees north of the equator). And so, the climates are
quite similar, except in the high mountains of Guatemala. The Philippines,
with 115,831 square miles, has about the same land area as four of the
five republics -- Costa Rica (19,575), El Salvador (8,260), Honduras (43,277)
and Nicaragua (50,193).
We Filipinos know almost
nothing about these countries; on the other hand, the Guatemaltecos, Salvadorenos,
Hondurenos, Costaricenses and Nicaraguenses do not know us either. And
yet, Filipinos and Central Americans should know each other because each
represents for the other the proverbial ``road not taken.''
During the Spanish period,
these five countries were ruled by a captain-general based in Guatemala
City who reported to the viceroy in Mexico -- in much the same way that
the captain general in Manila reported to the viceroy in Mexico. In the
eyes of both Spain and Mexico, the Philippines and Central America enjoyed
exactly the same status.
But while the officials,
landowners, priests and other leaders of Central America decided to go
along with Mexico when it de clared its independence from Spain, our leaders
here in the Philippines decided to remain loyal to Spain.
One wonders what might have
happened if the Philippines had decided to declare its independence at
that time. Could the Philippines have maintained its independence, preserving
it against the various European powers that were seeking colonies in this
part of the world?
And even the Philippines
could repel such invasions, would our archipelagic country remain one political
unit -- or would it, like Central America, break up into several countries,
including one as small as El Salvador?
Most of us would probably
be happy that the Philippines did not opt for independence at the time
that Mexico and Central America did -- but this attitude could very well
stem from the very human trait that makes us ``rather bear the ills we
have than fly to others that we know not of.''
And so, we would not be
surprised if Central Americans who look at the Philippines' turbulent history
arrive at the conclusion that Central America made the right decision when
it opted for independence in 1821.