On second thought, we were all present in spirit with the first Asian Revolution of 1896. We were together in the "democratic revolution’’ of 1972, the people power(s) of 1986, 2000, and the aborted "revolt of the masses’’ a year after. All of these were struggles for liberation from foreign and local oppression. All promised a new dawn, a dawn that we are still waiting for.

Strictly speaking, we drove the Spaniards out to the sea, but also strictly speaking, the Americans rewarded them with $20 million for generously leaving us to the democratic tutelage that preceded authoritarian rule and people power.

A "complete and absolute independence’’ was achieved in 1945, although some people believed that it was not nearly as complete and absolute as we hoped it would be. But also strictly speaking, independence was ours to fashion to our heart’s desire.

Nevertheless, we had two other attempts. Martial Law used the 1935 Constitution for a hopeful start in national discipline. This failed and so we began again in 1986, when democracy was restored, realized at last as the best hope for the country, only to be seen later as "too much’’ for our own good.

It’s probably silly to ask whether democracy has failed us or whether we failed democracy. Our Latin American brothers seem to believe that democracy has failed them. In our case, however, the truth seems to be is that we have failed ourselves.

Rizal, Del Pilar, and the rest were damned by the Spaniards as "filibusters,’’ and yet we owe them our sense of freedom. Now "filibusteros’’ are also damned, told to write their sexual memoirs by people who are free with their words. "Filibustero’’ is obstructive at worst and irritating at best.

Our tortuous political history has made it evident that we have yet to liberate what’s best, if any, in ourselves.