It is a portrayal of an anti-imperialism attacking the new colonizer that time, the Americans, while not forgiving the old ones which is Mother Spain and Old China, who wants to feast on Philippines’ wealth.

its focus is the achievement of Inang Bayan (Motherland) over her tormentors, Haring Bata (Child King) who is the symbol of the Old China; Halimaw (Monster), the symbol of the Spanish friars who continued dominating the church and influencing local politics despite the mock battle in Manila Bay; Dilat-na-Bulag (Eyes Open, yet Blind), the ever ‘royal’ Spain; and Bagong Sibol (The Budding One), which is the new superpower of the capitalist world, the United States of America.

Its main scene is the liberation of Taga-Ilog or Juan de la Cruz who is, at the play’s beginning, shackled and in prison.

In that particular scene, he throws the American flag to the ground and tramples upon it until it is torn, then he breaks the shackles and forces the jail open. At this point the rest of the characters shout: “Long live Freedom! Long live the Motherland!”

According to Pampango blogger Alex R. Castro, who dabbles in history, when the actor was about to do the act, “he froze for he saw a number of Americans in the audience.” Because of this, Castro wrote in his blog (viewsfromthepampang.blogspot.com), “Tolentino ascended the stage and did the act himself, to the horror of the Americans who saw it as an act of sacrilege against their Stars and Stripes.”

Castro wrote that because of this, he was arrested. When the authorities turned to arrest the other actors as well as those in the audience, Tolentino saved them by declaring sole responsibility for the play as its writer and director.

Upon his admission of the crimes he was accused of, he was convicted of sedition, rebellion, insurrection and conspiracy and was imprisoned. In 1912 he was pardoned by then Governor-General W. Cameron Forbes and a US$7,000 fine was meted.

This was his second time in prison. The first was when Spanish authorities launched a witch-hunt against suspected Katipuneros in 1898 and Tolentino failed to elude authorities. He was imprisoned for nine months.

Still relevant todayThough the play was written and shown 106 years ago, Tolentino’s Kahapon, Ngayon at Bukasis still relevant to Philippine conditions.Our politics are still under the influence of Washington, D.C. The Philippine economy still suffers from backwardness. The poor are getting poorer while the rich are getting richer because of the anti-poor policies being crafted by politicians, many of whom are educated in foreign schools, particularly, in the US. The basic freedoms of the people are still being suppressed.

In other words, the Philippines is still under colonization, albeit in its new form.

But these realities are being veiled by anti-nationalist propaganda channeled through the mass media and the educational system by the foreign dominating power and its collaborators in the executive, legislative and judicial departments.

Because of all these, the voice of Juan de la Cruz retains its urgency.