27 - The Filipino Spirit

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Hey, all! I am currently on my term break, and I am using this time to learn how to code in C#, and also how to write "Universal Windows" apps so I can distribute them to the Windows Store some day. Despite that, I will never forget my promise to Miss Eliz (the head of the English Resource Center at Asia Pacific College) that I would publish my speech on my blog some day. This is the extremely revised version of my original piece, titled Am I a Filipino?

Like I said in a previous post, this is the final version of my speech, meaning that THERE WILL BE NO MORE REVISIONS. Sure, I can still revise this and whatnot, but the thing is that there will be no use to revising it any further. So, yeah, here's the final version of my speech that got me to the finals of the Inter-Class Public Speaking Competition.

One last thing: I am not yet done finalizing my blog, I still have not posted a lot of content for Memoir Mode and I have not yet posted my story about my trip to Tagaytay with my fellow members of APC Speaks. Rest assured, those posts will be published BEFORE the start of my second term :)



The Filipino Spirit
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Do I have what it takes to be a Filipino? The one question I wanted to ask myself whenever I played a Korean pop song on my phone, whenever I embraced the culture of another instead of my own. “I have what it takes to be a Filipino.” Nine words. Day and night, I practiced how to declare those nine words with passion. However, I found that the more I practiced, the more I doubted myself. At the end of the day, I wondered: do I really have what it takes to be a Filipino? Then, one day, my question answered itself.

“Do I have what it takes to be a Filipino?” I kept asking myself until my uncle overheard me, he then said with a smile on his face, “Dart, you need to embody the Filipino spirit to have what it takes to be a Filipino.” He left and soon, I was alone, wondering if I embodied this Filipino spirit.

Whoa, wait, “Filipino spirit?” This wasn’t taught in school, what is this Filipino spirit? I returned to my uncle, and he said that the Filipino spirit must have three things: 

Respect for your elders, love for your country, AND love for your family.

Well, I respect my elders, and whenever I meet someone way older than me; I say po and opo to them. I also enact pagmamano to show respect. How about love for your country? Honestly, I love the Philippines! I take pride in everything that reminds me of my motherland, and I value my glorious Filipino heritage.

Respect for your elders, CHECK. Love for your country, CHECK. Love for your family. Hmm, my love for my family? ONE QUESTION was left in order to have what it takes to be a Filipino: DO I HAVE LOVE FOR MY FAMILY? Suddenly, I remembered my experiences in my province—Leyte.

There I was, with the whistling wind, with the billowing waves, and with the sight of my family. There, I realized that I have a very large and loving family. And on the night of Christmas, I realized the answer to my final question: DO I HAVE LOVE FOR MY FAMILY? At night, once we got home from Misa De Gallo, all of my family members gathered around in a big salo-salo. At that moment, my family members were enjoying the company of each another. At that moment, I realized that I have love for my family.

But wait, Carlos Romulo—the one who wrote the poem “I am a Filipino”—he said that a Filipino must have courage with defiance. Yes! That’s the fourth one! Courage with defiance! Courage with defiance that sent our forefathers in battle! Yes, to have what it takes; you must have the courage to not let invaders trample your sacred shore.

Courage with defiance. Do I have that? Well, I have a simple, yet inspiring story to share with you. When I was in high school, I was bullied whenever I would speak in front, so I never really got to improve my speaking skills. I rumbled and whined, and soon, I had enough. I overcame my fear of my oppressors using courage with defiance. “How?” you ask. Well, I simply gathered the courage to befriend my bullies. Now that is a true example of courage with defiance in a peaceful way.

And that is why I have what it takes to be a Filipino. Going back, in order to have what it takes to be a Filipino, you must have these four things: 

Respect for your elders,
Love for your country,
Love for your family,
AND BY THE WORDS OF CARLOS ROMULO,
Courage with defiance!

As long as you have those four things, you can confidently say that you have what it takes to be a Filipino because you have the Filipino spirit.

So, before I end my speech, I want to ask everyone in this room: DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A FILIPINO?

I am Dartegnian Velarde and I have what it takes to be a Filipino, a Filipino born of freedom—freedom for myself, my children, and my children’s children—forever.

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