Today, I’ll try to go on air via radio and will attempt to reach other sectors of media to issue an urgent appeal to Philippine authorities led by PGMA,MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando and Caloocan City Mayor Enrico “RECOM” Echiverri for them to cause an immediate suspension of the construction related to the “closing the LRT-MRT3 loop” project being conducted near the Monumento area. The Bonifacio Monument is the greatest monument to valor and to love of freedom on earth. We are not against modernization but progress should not come at the price of desecrating our country’s soul. We have an online petition to have the Bonifacio Monument included among the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites.

We hope that Filipinos whom we look up to for leadership, moral courage and ardent nationalism will speak out in support of this call. Our leaders have to consult us closely on every vital issue and this has not happened in the issue of the Monumento.

We call on people like Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez of the Diocese of Kalookan, Bishop Antonio Tobias of Novaliches, Bro. Eddie Villanueva of the Jesus Is Lord Church, Bro. Mike Velarde of El Shaddai, Executive Minister Eraño Manalo of the Iglesia Ni Cristo, Engr. Jun Lozada and Mr. Joey De Venecia (who exposed the ZTE broadband scandal) to mobilize our fellow Filipinos in heeding the call to defend the Monumento.

We call on the Honorable Chief Justice of the Philippines Reynato S. Puno, perhaps our country’s greatest living jurist (who normally gives the keynote address at the Monumento during Independence Day) to rally our people in defense of the integrity of the Bonifacio Monument.

We call on war hero and senior statesman, Sen. Jovito Salonga, the best President the Philippines never had, to relive the heady days when he led the Philippine Senate in rejecting the RP-US Bases treaty thereby ending the last vestiges of centuries-long foreign military presence in Philippine soil. This time, we need his unswerving commitment to freedom and his unfailing vision in preventing the loss of the monument that he can rightfully call his own.

We call on our Senators and Congressmen, especially those who in 2010 will seek higher positions of public office to make known their stand. Will they stand for the dignity and honor of our country or will they turn a blind eye to what is going on?

We call on all people’s organizations and NGOs and our party-list representatives to set aside their differences and unite all Filipinos under the banner of the Monumento.

Monumento in January 2009 — at this critical time in our history — is a true acid test of Filipino nationalism. Are we going to pass this acid test or are we going to flunk the call for the defense of the dignity and honor of our country? This is a golden opportunity to renew national pride and greatness. It will show to the world that even in a time of severe economic crisis, Filipinos everywhere still have the capacity to respond to the call for cultural nationalism founded on our spirituality and faith as a people.

Dito po sa Heroes del 96 at sa ibang lugar sa Caloocan City, alam namin na mahirap ang laban na ito. Ngunit sa tulong po ng ating Panginoon, bigyan Niya sana kami ng sapat na lakas upang manatiling nakatindig nang may dangal.

Before I end this post, I’ll take the opportunity to publish here a short excerpt from the poem Monumento, Kaluluwa ng Bayan Ko by Jose David Ricardo:

Mabuhay ang sambayanang Pilipino! Mabuhay si Gat Andres Bonifacio at ang magigiting nating mga bayani! Mabuhay ka Pinoy nasaang sulok ka man ng mundo!

Please support the Monumento World Heritage Global Campaign. To sign the online petition, click this link: www.gopetition.com/online/23996. I also hope you can visit and follow my blog at http://tagamonumento.blogspot.com/,

To God be the glory!

and to all Filipino