The Republic of North Luzon
A short dystopian story, "The Republic of North Luzon" tries to imagine a society that is very different than ours in the most unorthodox way.There are many accounts of southerners ever reaching the north part of Luzon. Ever since the civil war, tensions between the two nations have had countless cases of missile strikes, arson, and bombings. Multiple men from the south were caught during the first decade after the war, and were tried for treason- there was no trust between the two states despite signing a treaty that did not mention or contain the words ‘peace’,’stand-of-arms’ or ‘unity’. The south was regarded by the neighboring countries, or what was left of it, as the superpower of the whole Eurasian continent because of its location containing no less than forty sea ports and four airports that serve as the atrium for economic growth in Eurasia. That’s what the post-war Eurasians would say, but as a northerner, I knew it was all propaganda to brainwash us to think that the south was far more superior than the north.
Despite using
‘democratic’ in its name of ‘the southern democratic republic of the
Philippines’, it uses no body of representatives nor has any political parties.
The only representative, or whatever you wish to call them is the political
party, ‘conform’ , they were called ‘conform’ because their objective is to get
the population to conform to their rules and ideas. They only have two laws in
their constitution,
1. Obey to conform.
2. Conform to obey
If you would ask any
northerner, they would call the government of the south as a ‘group of fat
men’.
That was what our
teachers in elementary taught us.
But first, I am
going to explain the nature of how the republic of the Philippines had split.
Before the civil, several world wars
had culminated in the modern world. The third and fourth being the most
disastrous, as it destroyed most of the superpowers then like the republic
states of America, People’s kingdom of great Britain and northern Ireland, the
democratic people’s republic of china, imperial Japan, the Russian federation,
and imperial Germany. From a simple war of resources sprang the cruel and
gruesome battles of mutual destruction. Most of the countries like the RSA and
the RF have invaded their neighbouring countries for more power. The RSA
invaded Canada to the north and annexed Mexico to the south, renaming it ‘New
RSA’; while RF invaded some provinces of northern China, the Czechoslovakian
region, and the Scandinavian regions. Japan became a solid superpower, its
technology far more superior than the RSA and the RF combined, the imperial
army of Japan had invaded Hawaii and new Zealand, forming a triangular
territory, calling the water in between, ‘Sino-Pacific sea’. The UK had maintained
it monarchy but the form of government is switched to communism.
The combined nations
of the RSA, Canada, and New RSA became the West Atlantic Alliance or WAA for
short. WAA is divided into three districts with nineteen regions each.
The continent of
south America remained the same but was devastated by the aftershock of the
war, bringing in extreme poverty and political unrest, Brazil was the
superpower there. On the European continent however, Finland, Norway, Sweden,
and Holland became one, called as Scandinavia (Scandinavia was also a province
of the RF).
Moving on to the
East; the middle east became ground zero for various nuclear attacks that
plummeted the then struggling Iraqis to a near extinction. Years of civil
turmoil and tension resulted Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan to be erased from the
map; their surviving citizens left in hiding.
On to the far east,
China and Mongolia united into one, forming an alliance against the RF. Due to
China’s capability on producing nuclear energy and weaponry, China has been one
of the most radical nations in modern history, waging war on the WAA, imperial Japan,
and the RF. On the small peninsula attached to China is Korea, its capital
Seoul is at each other’s neck with imperial Japan.
That leads us to the
island nation of the Republic of the Philippines.
All over the world
rose political instability, a freeze on economic progress, and civil unrest,
most of the superpower’s authority fell to the few hands of its military leaders
and thus, most of the nations in modern history is governed by one man, if not,
by a selected few of one man’s choosing. But the Philippines, the ever so
humble archipelago of the orient, with its alliance with the WAA before the
modern world wars had gained her a reputation for controversy, treachery, and
bias. With the North being governed by the free-thinking radical minds of the
Filipino people, they established Manila as the North’s capital, while the
south, controlled by the WAA, makes Subic as their state capital. The central
part of the archipelago is the buffer zone they renamed, ‘The Island States of
Visayas’, its capital Cebu. The southernmost tip of the Philippines, the island
of Mindanao was invaded by the Islamic state and seceded from the Philippine
republic, their capital, General Santos city renamed to ‘New Sulatan Kudarat
city’
Enough
with history, I will now tell you a brief and concise narration of my experience.
I do believe
everything the department of education teaches us, but as I grew older I
started to question everything they have taught us. Thus, I studied hard to
find out the truth. Keeping all the topics and ideas my professors, I graduated
at the best university in post-world war Luzon, the university of great Luzon
with a degree in History preservation. I immediately got a job in the greater
historical commission of North Luzon. From then on, I have travelled around the
northern luzon plains asking people who witnessed the decline of world order
and the separation of the Philippine republic, planning to ask what was life
like before the war or is it true what the department of education teaches the
country’s young. All of my efforts were wasted.
Sadly, my search
came to a grinding halt when I found out that everyone who were alive at the
start of world war four and the Philippine civil war were either war criminals
or prisoners of war; nonetheless, they were seated on the electric chair for
high treason. I was shocked at this discovery of mine, but thanks to my
position at the historical commission, I was granted clearance to question a
man (who I was not given a name to call) about the lifestyle of southerners for
posterity.
I was driven by a
government chauffer inside a mountain where they befriend the southerner and
ask him politely why he came to the north. I wish I could tell you were the
mountain is but due to the clearance the commission gave me, I was asked to
pull over a sack to cover my whole head, as not to see where we were going (the
security personnel only told me we were in a mountain just after I got off the
car).
Once inside the holding cell, as was
named by the security personnel, I sat before the southerner, who had a
prominent bushy beard and a well-sunk eye bag. I remembered his physical
description as I was not allowed to bring any writing instruments.
I was excited to ask him all the
questions that posed inside my head, each one more complex than the last. So,
remembering all what my professors had taught us, the first question I asked
was the simplest, (because according to my teachers, southerners have a lower
IQ percentage than northerners) .
“ What’s your name?” I asked him slowly
to be clear.
“ My name is not important.” Was his
reply, said with a slight drawl or something like an accent not familiar to me.
“ So,” I asked in reply “ Where in the
Southern Luzon are you from, not important?”
He grinned but I saw that he was
stifling a laugh. I didn’t mind it so I repeated the question, this time he
answered me briefly.
“ The Mudlands.”
“ Isn’t the mudlands dangerous?” I
paused, “that’s the old taal that erupted then collapsed on itself, forming the
southern mudlands.”
“ My nation had it cemented and built
on.” Was his reply.
“ So, sir Not important, what is life
like in the south?”
The man paused, as if deep and thought.
He looked at me for a brief moment then with an arduous sigh, said,
“ In the south, we do not own anything,
the government does. We work hard for the benefit of all. In our society we
have only one leader who makes all the decisions and proposes and approves the
laws. The education is such that values degradation than progress. In the south
we are not allowed to have businesses of any sort, all the work we do is at
some point, the same. We live there in a monotonous fashion, living each day
like the day before and like that the day after. My family has live there since
the wars and we like it there.
“ My neighbours and I are friends, like
everyone else, we find each other’s company amusing and happy. I would gladly
die for my southern nation.”
With that he ended his statement.
I was bewildered by his reply because I
realized that almost all of what he said is the same as my northern nation,
from the neighbors to the government, except for the degradation, our
education is established on ignorance (if you looked the word in our nation’s
dictionary, it is defined as ‘the absolute truth in knowledge’)
Our meeting was cut
short by the interruption of the security personnel who came inside the room
and carried the man away. As I looked down the hall, I heard screaming, but as
I listened intently, it was only laughter.
After a week, I
scheduled another meeting with the man, but due to his citizenship, the
security personnel said that he was ‘taken care of’. I did not get his
statement but instead I thought that he was going to be returned to his home
nation.
Days have passed
when I received box wrapped in brown paper tied with string, on the back was
the words ‘not important’. I was confused at first because I was not sure if we
were even allowed to get mail. But I opened it instead, knowing that it was
directly given to me by the man whom I questioned.
Inside the box was a journal bound with
a rough type of black paper. I opened it and noticed that it had pages with
dates on them, it was a diary.
I have read the
entire thing for the past month and was perplexed. Everything the journal said
was opposite to what my professors have taught us. I was starting to get
anxious by the notebook as merely possessing that kind of propaganda was an act
of treason and is punishable by death. So, I burned it at the very same day.
During the past few
weeks, police cars have been driving past my neighborhood , maybe it was a new
law.
I have no time to
explain everything I have read as a policeman is banging rather harshly on my
front door.
______
I know that the story has a lot of plot holes and probably the scenario I wrote about won't happen, but hear me out. I had the idea of writing "The Republic of North Luzon" when I finished reading Sir Thomas More's "Utopia" and George Orwell's "1984" simultaneously. By simply thinking about a world where there is chaos and disorder made me appreciate our
world today even though we still have flaws as a race, with war, racism, political unrest, all of that kind of stuff. But if there is one thing that I learned by reading More and Orwell is that we must try to appreciate our world today and let their works be like a warning to know if we are heading to a society where the basic forms of security is taken (*Big Brother*) ; and More's Utopia as a guideline for a perfect society.
 |
| "The Future is Now" by Josan Gonzalez |
My peers had suggested I read "The Man in the High Castle" by Philip K. Dick, so later this week, I will go to Fullybooked (Philippines' top bookstore, our Barnes and Nobles equivalent) to buy a copy.
______
Quote of the day:
"If society fits you comfortably enough, you call it freedom."
- Robert Frost