FILIPINO
YOU say that our government is inefficient.
YOU say that our laws are too old.
YOU say that the our local government does not
pick up the garbage and does not manage well
the cleanliness of the land.
YOU say that the phones don’t work, the traffic
is a joke, mail never reach its destination.
YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs
and is the absolute pits.
YOU say, say and say, What do YOU do about it?
Take a person on his way to Singapore. Give him a
name - YOURS.
Give him a face - YOURS. YOU walk out of the
airport and you are at your International best.
In Singapore YOU don’t throw cigarette butts on
the roads or eat in the stores. YOU are as proud
of their Underground Links as they are.
YOU pay $5 (approx Pesos 60) to drive through Orchard
Road (Equiv. to EDSA) between 5 PM and 8 PM.
YOU comeback to the parking lot to punch your parking ticket
if you have overstayed in a restaurant or a shopping mall
irrespective of your status/identity. In Singapore
you don’t say anything, DO YOU?
YOU wouldn’t dare to eat in public during
Ramadan, in Dubai.
YOU would not dare to go out without your head
covered in Jeddah.
YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the
telephone exchange in London at 10 pounds (Pesos 650)
a month to, “see to it that my STD and ISD calls are
billed to someone else.”
YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph in
Washington and then tell the traffic cop,
“Alam mo kung sino ako? (Do you know who I am?).
I am so and so’s son. Take your two bucks and get lost.”
Why don’t YOU spit and throw your cigarette butts
on the streets of Tokyo? Why don’t YOU use fake certificates
in Boston like you do in Recto?
We are still talking of the same YOU.
YOU who can respect and conform to a foreign
system in other countries but cannot in your own.
YOU, who will throw papers and cigarettes on the
road the moment you touch Philippine ground.
If YOU can be an involved and appreciative
citizen in an alien country why cannot you be
the same in the Philippines.
Once in an interview, the famous Subic
Administrator, Gordon had a point to make.
“Rich people’s dogs are walked on the streets
to leave their affluent droppings all over the place,”
he said. “And then the same people turn around
to criticize and blame the authorities for
inefficiency and dirty pavements.
What do they expect the officer to do!? Go down
with a broom everytime heir dog feels the
pressure in his bowels? In America every dog
owner has to clean up after his pet has done the
job. Same in Japan. Will the Filipino citizen do
that here?”
He’s right.
We go to the polls to choose a government and
after that forfeit all responsibility.
We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect
the government to do everything for us whilst our
contribution is totally negative. We expect the
government to clean up but we are not going
to stop chucking garbage all over the place nor
are we going to stoop to pick up a stray piece of
paper and throw it in the bin. When it comes
to burning social issues like those related to
extra marital relationship, unwed mothers,
pre-marital sex and others, we make loud drawing room protestations and
continue to do the reverse at home.
The moment we feel lonely outside the
Philippines we seek the company
of other fellow Filipinos WITH OUT minding the
commitment we made back home to our true family.
Then we blame the government for juvenile
VIOLENCE, drug addiction, etc. but we started it
ourselves by neglecting the need of our sons and
daughters of real paternal guidance and
responsibility. Our excuse? “It’s the whole
system which has to change, how will it matter if
I alone forego my sons’ rights to a dowry.”
So who’s going to change the system? What does a
system consist of?
Very conveniently for us it consists of our
neighbors, other households, other cities,
other communities and the government.
But definitely not me and YOU. When it comes to us
actually making a positive contribution to the system
we lock ourselves along with our families into a
safe cocoon and look into the distance at
countries far away and wait for a Mr.Clean to come
along work miracles for us with a majestic sweep
of his hand. Or we leave the country and run
away. Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears
we run to America to bask in their glory and
praise their system. When New York becomes
insecure we run to Japan or HONGKONG.
When HongKong experiences unemployment, we take
the next flight out to the Middle East. When the
Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued and
brought home by the Philippine government.
Everybody is out to abuse and rape the country.
Nobody thinks of feeding the system.
Our conscience is mortgaged to money.
Dear fellow Filipinos,
The article is highly thought-inductive, calls
for a Great deal of introspection
and bothers one’s conscience…. I am echoing
J.F.Kennedy’s words to his
fellow Americans to relate to us Filipinos.. “ASK
WHAT WE CAN DO FOR THE
PHILIPPINES AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE
THE PHILIPPINES
WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE
TODAY” I say to myself,
that my forthcoming vacation ….at least, for
the time being, I can be A SINGAPOREAN , AN
EMIRATI, A SAUDIAN, an AMERICAN citizen in the P
H I L L P P I N E S.
Lets do what our country needs from us.
