With non-functioning democracy, weak institutions, dreadful poverty, widespread corruption and fragmented society, ours is difficult to fit as a cohesive, singular nation. Having said this, affirms the fact that being a disunited nation resulted to what Abueva calls a weak state.

The current disarray in our country without a common identity as a people, clear government direction and leaders’ vision that will guide its people are the result of our failure to completely build and sustain this nation instead we have a weak state that undermines the rule of law with an unresponsive and irrelevant political system.

A nation is a state of being part of a particular community, a particular race and sentient feeling of belongingness that motivates one to a higher ground of struggle to organize, protect and preserve that nation. It is inherent of man as a social being that while he interacts with others, he also belongs to one and duty bound to protect it as this is the source of his own identity and the identity of those generations who will succeed him. The right of self-determination is also an inherent right of man. Technically, nation refers to the word nasci which means a particular race.

Initially, states are organized because of men’s collective struggle to be identified with in a larger group in order to have a distinct and separate identity from among the family of nations in the world. It may be one nation or several nations or of similar nation with another state within but the rationale of all of this is to be identified particularly and proudly as separate and distinct.

The passion to love the nation that you belong with is the first step towards the development of a State.

In the case of our country, it is still a big question whether we know who we are.

To other Asians, they think that we are too Iberian or European because of our Spanish sounding names and the cultures we derived and adopted from them. From among the Europeans, they wonder why we are an English speaking country and idolize so much the American fashion and politics. In America, they treated us not different from the Asians.

Who am I? Like a child’s questioning, maybe I’ll say you were born with a Spanish father and when you were at this age you have an American father and at this age Japanese, and now with a Filipino father. What kind of family are we then?

This is the particular identity crises every Filipino is having with today as in the past and it remains unanswered.

If only our society will understand that without the Americans, Spaniards, Chinese, Japanese, Christianity or Islam decorating our being as a person, we are simply belonging to the brown race, the Malayan race.

Our being called a Filipino is the result of the various waves of colonizers that came into our shores with their oppressive policies, repressing our true identity and in plundering and vandalizing this land.

In truth and in fact, we belong to the Malayan race, being inclusive and part of that greater Southeast Asian identity. The exclusivity of our being a Filipino is the result of our own experiences in history and in creating an independent Philippine state.

But we cannot separate ourselves from Malayan race and there’s a need for us to be strongly identified and connected with them for our geographical location, political landscape and economic opportunities commence, to include our history and the story of our future, are forever link here in Southeast Asia.

Southeast Asia is our root and we have to nurture our root and be connected with our brothers within this region.

Are we Southeast Asian’s prodigal son, lost in its long search of its identity? It’s high time to close that particular chapter in our history where we were looking for a greener pasture in the lands of our previous colonizers believing that we’re part of them. As a result, we left unattended our roots within this region. Our connection with other States of Malayan race is slowly decaying.

We have to accept the fact that we can never become a Spaniard or American but a Filipino with Malayan race.

I think I am not wrong in saying this that in recognizing their true identity, Malaysia and Singapore succeeded politically and economically in their current endeavors and improve the lives of their people and boosted their spirit of nationalism. They know their roots and they know who they are.

Now I will say that I am a Filipino of Malayan lineage proudly part of Southeast Asia.