The Anatomy of a Filipino By: Prof. Felix Bautista All: I like to think that I am a Filipino, that I am as Good, a Filipino as Anyone. Girls: My heart thrills, when, I ear, the !ational anthem, "ein# played. Boys: And my Blood $ises, when, I see our fla#, Flutterin# in the "ree%e. All: And &et, &et, I find myself askin#, ow Filipino Am I, $eally' Boys: My First !ame is Ameri(an. Girls: My )ast !ame Is *hinese. Boys: +hen I am with Girlfriends or more (orre(tly, when, I am with my Friends, who happen to "e #irls - I talk to them in n#lish. Girls: If they are thirsty, I "uy them, a Bottle of Ameri(an (oke. Boys: If they are hun#ry, hun# ry, I treat them, to an Italian Pi%%a pie. All: And when, I ha/e the money, mone y, I #i/e them a real *hinese )auriat. Boy 0solo1: *onsiderin# all these, (onsiderin# my taste, for many thin#s forei#n, what ri#ht do I ha/e, to (all myself, a Filipino' Girls 0solo1: 2hould I not (all myself, a (ulture orphan' The ille#itimate (hild of many ra(es' All: $i#htly or wron#ly, whether we like it or not, we are the end produ(ts, of our history, fortunately or unfortunately, our history is a (o-min#lin#, of po ly#lot influen(es. Boys: Malayan and *hinese. Girls: 2panish and British. Boys: Ameri(an and 3apanese. All: This is histori( fa(t, we (an not i#nore, a (ultural reality we (an not es(ape, form to "elie/e otherwise is to indul#e in fantasy. Boy 0solo1: I must (onfess, I am an extremely (onfused, and Bewildered youn# man. +here/er I am, whate/er I may "e doin#, I am Bom"arded, on all sides, "y people who want, me to sear(h for my national identity. All: Tell me the )an#ua#e I speak should "e repla(ed, "y Filipino4 they ur#e me to do away with thin#s forei#n to a(t and think, and "uy Filipino. Girl 0solo1: /en in art, I am #ettin# "othered and Be wildered. All: The +riter +riter should use Filipino, as his medium, the nationalists (ry. Boys: The Painter should use his #enius, in portrayin# themes purely Filipino, they demand. Girls: The *omposer should exploit, endless Possi"ilities, of the hauntin# kundiman, they insist. All: All these sound wonderful. But $i%al used 2panish, when he wrote, !oli and Fili. Boys: +as +as he less of a nationalist, na tionalist, "e(ause of it' Must the artist, to "e truly Filipino, paint with the 5ui(e of the duhat' Girls: And And must he draw pi(ture of topless Muslim women or o r I#orot warriors in G2trin#' All: And if the (omposer, desert, the kundiman, and he writes son# faithful to the spirit of the &ouths &ouths of today, does he "e(ome 6nfilipino' +e are what we are today, "e(ause of our istory. Boys: In our /eins, pulses "lood with tra(es of *hinese and 2panish and Ameri(an, "ut It does not stop, "ein# a Filipino, "e(ause of these. Girls: 7ut (ulture, is tin#es with forei#n, influen( es, "ut it has "e(ome "e(o me ri(h therely. All: This min#lin#, in fa(t (ould speed us on the road, to national #reatness, look at Ameri(a, it is a #reat (ountry, (o untry, and yet it is the meltin# pot of Italian, and German, British, and Fren(h, or Irish and 2wedish. Boy 0solo1: Filipinism, after all, is in the heart. All: If that heart "eats faster, "e(ause the Ph ilippines is makin# pro#ress, if it Fills, with (ompassion "e(ause its people are sufferin#, then it "elon#s to a true Filipino, and it thro"s, with pride, in our past, if it pulses with awareness, of the present , if it "eats with a faith in the future, then we (ould ask, for nothin#, more all other thin#s are 6nimportant. Boys: I ha/e, an Ameri(an First !ame. Girls: And And I ha/e, a *hinese )ast !ame. All: And I am proud, /ery, /ery proud, - "e(ause 6nderneath these names "eats " eats A Filipino eart8
