Wrong name, wrong independence declaration, misguided direction | The Manila Times

First of two parts

First word
BE-CAUSE of strict space limitations, key paragraphs in my column of Jan. 2 ("Make 2025 a year of reform and renewal") had to be taken out, and this left the major argument of the essay hanging.
I want to restore some passages with today's column, which addresses the problem of misdirection by our historical commission and the lack of vision that would have been possible were there a working department of culture.
Absurdly, the nation is poised this year to commemorate two mistaken readings of our history and historical records.
First, we will mark on Jan. 23 a glaring mistake in the determination of the name of our first republic.
Second, we will mark on June 12 the questionable dating and wrong text of our declaration of national independence.
In both instances, Congress passed an enabling act to seal the deed. From the lack of a working department of culture, this meant there was no review or study of the policy.
These errors are as egregious as the national decision under President Rodrigo Duterte to bail out of the global commemoration of the quincentennial of the circumnavigation of the globe by Ferdinand Magellan's voyage on March 16, 2021.