"I have decided to speak to you, oh my beloved country, even though this bold attempt may cost me much; but at this critical time, it is necessary to stake all in this gamble, because we should not abandon to other hands the task of determining our future."

"To the most numerous sector of our society, I have nothing to say, because their feelings do not need any kind of agitation, since they already possess an enthusiasm bordering on delirium; but I can do no less than to advise them to be circumspect and prudent."

"To those who have been educated and who are landowners, I have to tell them that Providence has given them the skill and the wealth necessary to provide the means you require for your aggrandizement; for which reason, if they have forgotten their honor and they withhold the cooperation which you have a right to expect from them, the popular masses will not turn back because of this, because there is no power that can hold them back."

Thus wrote Apolinario Mabini, April 1898, in his introduction to "La Revolucion Filipina."

Mabini, who served as First Minister of the First Constitutional Cabinet of the Republic of the Philippines based in Malolos, was justly branded as the "Brains of the Revolution" for emphasizing the velocity, character and vision of the Filipino movement for self-determination. He was both external advocate and internal critic of the Filipino crusade for nationhood.

Mabini's writings reflect the Philippine situation in 1898 and offer valuable counsel for Filipinos of 2008. So with Graciano Lopez y Jaena who was the great orator of the Propaganda Movement.

What were the "causes of the distress of the Philippines" in the 1880s?

"The most notable cause of the backwardness of the Philippines is the anomalous education given to the youth in the schools...they do not learn useful things because they are not taught any. They are taught how to pray but never to work."

"The continuous change of personnel in the government is another cause of the havoc and disasters in the Philippines and in the colonies in general. Such a swift change is only comparable to the locusts, which, after devastating the fields, are replaced in swift and vertiginous succession. If to this is added the incompetence of the majority of the government personnel, it becomes evident that from progression to progression, the country in a short time reaches the apogee of her ruin."

"Another cause of the ruinous condition of the Archipelago is the Mint in Manila, which turns out gold and silver coins that enrich China and the British colonies rather than the Philippines."

The article of Lopez y Jaena that came out in 1887 in the periodical "España en Filipinas" pertained to the shortfall in three kinds of capital: social, human, and financial. Social capital, that is, trust, was lacking. The colonialist Spaniards had no confidence in the abilities of the natives. Human capital development was hampered by the shortcomings of the feudal educational system. Public funds were depleted and the negative balance of trade stunted the growth of the Philippine economy.

Lopez y Jaena's prescriptions: "Freedom of commerce, freedom of association, freedom of the press through which the Filipinos may study or learn about the progress of all the branches of industry, commerce and agriculture for their own benefit and for that of their country."

These "supreme remedies" for the reactivation of the "already comatose Philippine commerce" resonate with the Filipinos of 2008 as they grapple with the fatal imperfections of the un-ratified Japan-Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement, the mysteries of GMA's super-regions and the potentialities of the OTOP (One Town One Product) program.

Lopez y Jaena's prognosis and Mabini's message ought to be constant reminders for Filipinos engaged in the grand project of nation-building, but are easily submerged in the backdrop of daily living. How can these freedoms ring on a day marked by new social unrest (both rumored and actual), rural tornadoes and urban fires, wranglings among legislators and executives as well as central and local governments, and foreign wars? The "Tribune" issue for August 11, 1938 reported the following:

1. Constabulary and police forces went on the alert for a purported Sakdalista uprising in Central Luzon, with the town of General Trias in Cavite Province as the linchpin.

2. Lt. Col. Luis Ramos, commander of the Fifth Military District, was investigating the walk-out of 215 trainees of the Second Military Cadre in Pili, Camarines Sur.
3. Five houses and one granary were smashed by a tornado that cut a 20-meter swath of destruction in Barrio 21 of Laoag, Ilocos Norte.
4. Some 3,000 Tondo fire victims were moved from temporary shelters and promised relocation to a planned model "Barrio Obrero" in Manila.

5. Albay Assemblyman Pedro Vera blocked approval of the Labor Census Bill, declaring that the enactment of many labor laws has spoiled and pampered Philippine workers.

6. Governor Eulogio Rodriguez Jr. and Assemblymen Emilio De La Paz and Pedro Magsalin of Rizal Province conferred with Commonwealth President Manuel L. Quezon to register their opposition to Bill No. 3951, which would authorize the Chief Executive to extend the territorial limit of Manila to nearby areas.

7. Japan's war with China intensified with the first big battle for the control of Hankow in the Yangtze amphitheater of combat, while Soviet Red Army units counter-attacked Japanese positions in Manchukuo, a Japanese-occupied region in North China, in the Siberian Front. Japan was at war with two regional rivals, China and the Soviet Union.

This sort of daily challenges all the more highlighted Lopez y Jaena's optimism. As he wrote from Barcelona, Spain: "The day of victory is approaching. These disasters that we see occurring everywhere, immorality enthroned in central and municipal spheres proclaim the downfall of the present state of things." ["The Republic is Coming," El Pueblo Soberano, 1889]