Now that the Slam season is over, let's just reminisce the beauty that befell upon us at the last US Open. Her grunts are terrible but the beauty is irresistible.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Thank heavens for women's tennis
Now that the Slam season is over, let's just reminisce the beauty that befell upon us at the last US Open. Her grunts are terrible but the beauty is irresistible.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
A short history of the Philippines
This is an email I got last Independence Day. Are we really malas or can we make our own destiny?
WHAT'S the big deal when Lapu-Lapu killed Magellan in 1521? Nothing much really. During Lapu-Lapu's time, Mactan was strictly tribal. Think small, gid. There were no big ideas such as nationalism or geopolitics.
Lapu-Lapu was simply, the local siga-siga and Magellan was the culture-shocked Westerner, a native first-timer in the exotic east.
We lionize Lapu-Lapu as a hero and nationalist. Ang totoo, mayabang lang si Lapu-Lapu. But his defeat of a foreign invader, did not make a Filipino nation. The timing was wrong. And don't you believe that bull that Spanish explorers came to find spices of the East to improve the taste of their bland cuisine. Their hidden agenda was to spread their kingdom through colonization, the euphemism for land grabbing.
During the 333 years of Spanish rule (1565-1898), hundreds of rebellion were waged by native firebrands in many parts of the archipelago.
Not one succeeded. Our rebels were either caught, garotted, or simply ignored by the Commandante as nuisances. Puro malas!
The execution of Rizal in 1896 was a traumatic experience for Filipinos. Those who read Rizal's Fili and Noli were incensed by the abuses of the church and state regime of the Spaniards. Emotions ran high, from Aparri to Jolo. The critical mass needed for nationhood was formed. At last we could rebel as a people, as a nation.
The Katipunan did their battle heroics, originally led by the firebrand Bonifacio and later on by the crafty Aguinaldo. With more Katipunan charges (Sugod mga Kapatid), freedom seemed possible. Between 1897 and 1899, stealth, betrayal, and skullduggery bedeviled our prospect for independence. The Aguinaldo and Bonifacio factions engaged in an ugly infighting (the talangka mentality) resulting in the execution of Bonifacio.
Meantime, an American Admiral named Dewey (not Dewey Dee, the fast one) entered Manila Bay and defeated a lackluster Spanish navy. Aguinaldo reneged on the pact of Biak na bato.
He resumed the revolution by proclaiming the Philippine Independence in Kawit. June 12. From who? We are still under the Americans & Spaniards at that time.
Meanwhile, American and Spanish soldiers held a "moromoro" battle in Intramuros with the Spaniards surrendering. Aguinaldo's republic and his KKK patriots were left out and ignored. Naisahan tayo... Minalas na naman.
The Filipino-American War broke out. Tall American soldiers looking like Clark Gable chased and battled the outlawed Filipino revolutionaries, ending in the capture of Aguinaldo in Isabela. Thanks to the mercenaries from Macabebe. This is the second time those Macabebe turn in their own kind first the Spaniards. This was the mother of all kamalasan.
At that time, our population was 8 million. The gap between the rich and the poor was estimated at 30% middle-class and rich, 70% low-class and rural poor.
During the Commonwealth period (1901-1941), which followed, there were lots of learning on democratic principles, its structure and governance. Technology transfers were done on Constitutional Rights, Public Education, Transportation, Health, International Trade and Industrialization. The Americans turned out to be good tutors. Filipinos also went crazy over American brand products like Libby's corned beef and Portola sardines, Hershey's Kisses and Wrigley's chewing gum, Camel cigarettes and Model T Ford for the hacienderos of Pampanga and Iloilo .
Hollywood films made Pinoy males fantasize on Jean Harlow, Betty Grable, and Mae West. Thus, Filipino colonial mentality began. We fondly called this period Peace Time. By the way, American troops massacred innocent people in Balanguiga. Mga hayup din pala!
1941. Disaster! World War II! After attacking Pearl Harbor , the Japanese army invaded our country defeating the combined American and Filipino forces (USAFFE). General McArthur, the proud and handsome Army chief, fled to Australia at the height of the battle. Then the Filipinos march to Bataan as the prisoner in the Death March.
For four miserable years we suffered the sadism of the Japanese militarists rule. Torture, famine, and death were for us, the order of the day... Kawawa. Malas na malas!
The American forces returned in 1945 to liberate the country. McArthur, General superiority complex himself, sporting Ray Ban sunglasses and corncob pipe swaggered back to Manila . Piqued at his humiliation in 1941, McArthur ordered the bombing and shelling of Manila till kingdom come. So he can get back at Japs for wrecking his R&R place in Asia. Malas na naman.
The whole-wide expanse South of Pasig - from Post Office to Vito Cruz, including all of Intramuros - was pulverized. Manila was the most destroyed city of World War II next to Tokyo .
Our culture, our heritage, and historical assets (seven beautiful churches in Intramuros, hundreds of elegant Art Deco and neo-classical architecture in Paco) were sacrificed recklessly and completely erased from the face of the earth. Sayang na sayang!
In 1946, we gained our Independence from the Americans. We were a free nation at last. A true Independence day for us July 4th 1946 not the June 12th that Aguinaldo declared and Marcos celebrated. We had enough exposure and lessons on how to govern a democratic country, the first in Asia . Our population was 17 million. The dollar exchange was US$1 to P2.
But there was still no peace from 1947 to 1966. A widespread communist rebellion led by Taruc, the Lava brothers, and its armed guerillas called Hukbalahap (Supposed to be Hukbong Laban sa Hapon) waged bloody war with government troops and turn out to be nothing but bandits in disguised. Filipinos killed kapwa Filipinos. Malas na naman!
Our politicians and bureaucrats learned to engage in graft and corruption (What are we in power for?) - such as the war surplus bribery, the Tambobong wheeler-dealing and the Namarco scam. Talo!
Six presidents were elected to manage the country from 1947 to 1972, under the democratic system. They were Presidents Roxas, Quirino, Magsaysay, Garcia, Macapagal, and Marcos.
Economists looked back to the decades of the 50s and 60s as the best years of the Philippine economy, surpassing Asian countries. The nostalgia was naiveté, a useless ego-tripping. The gap between the rich and the poor remained big. 30% middle-class and rich, 70% low- class, rural and urban poor. We were 27 million people. US$1 was to P4.
During the late 60's, the Maoist communists led by Commander Dante intensified its drive to overthrow the government.. Marcos added fuel to the fire by creating a communist spook. Violence and mayhem rule the streets. The youth went up in arms! Martial Law was declared in 1972 and Marcos became dictator. Freedom of assembly and expression went out of the window..
What followed were years of dictatorial abuse, crony capitalism, shackled free enterprise, near economic collapse and a demoralized middle class. The gap between the rich (30%) and poor (70%) remained in a quagmire. Pareho rin pala ang situation.
Our population was 40 million. Exchange rate was US$1 to P7.. Kawawang kawawa! Malas na malas! In 1983, Ninoy Aquino, Marcos' exiled arch rival, was assassinated upon his return. Push came to shove. Cardinal Sin egged on the people on to protest. Outrage, self- pity, shame and fury raged and rumbled like a tidal wave, culminating in the incredible People Power Revolution. The very sick and obstinate Marcos fled (hijacked by Americans from Clark) to Hawaii (sounds like Paoay) where he died. His alleged millions of stolen dollars intact and unresolved. Up to now... Peso to dollar exchange is now P20 to $1.
But People Power was our shining glory! The whole world applauded our saintly courage, our dignified defiance, our bloodless solution to expel a dictator. We were the toast of all freedom-loving countries, the envy of all oppressed people. In 1986, we placed Cory Aquino, Ninoy's widow, in Malacañang. She was virtuous, sincere and full of good intentions for the country. But what happens under Cory?
An endless brown out and living in a portable generators is a must and monopolize be Cory's relatives who threw out her Energy Dept down to Pasig river.
The land reform she professed and promised was going good at first but after she found out her Hacienda Luisa will be greatly affected that program went down the Pasig river too!. No wonder that river is so polluted.
Coup attempts by Honasan, power struggle, political squabbles, and the infighting for juicy deals harassed the amateur Cory presidency. So nothing happened. No progress took place. The economy was still bad. The poor suffered more and more. Sure we got democracy back on its feet. But the Filipino resolve didn't happen. People Power pala was ningas cogon power.
Sayang na sayang! Tha gap between the rich and the poor remained at 30% (middle-class and rich), 70% (lower-class and rural/urban poor). Exchange rate was US$1 to P25. We were 55 million people.
In 1992, Cory's choice, Fidel Ramos, West Pointer, soldier, and hero of the People Power won the presidency. He had the bearing, the single-mindedness and the vision to bring the country to a tiger economy status. Ramos was a terrific salesman of the Philippines to the world. He was able to hype a climate of an economic ground. He removed barriers to progress. He was an apostle of privatization. His mantra was, less government, more private sector! Fidel hit the right note and the economy went on a roll.
Fidel wanted to run for reelection but failed to swing the cha-cha (an idiotic acronym for Constitutional Change) so he could run again.
In 1997, the Asian economic crises struck, triggered by a balloons burst of the hyper speculative Bangkok economy. The financial debacle created a disastrous effects in the investment institutions of Manila , Jakarta , Kuala Lumpur , Hong Kong, Seoul , and Taiwan .
All the Ramos gains evaporated into thin air. Malas na naman! The poor, specially Mang Pandoy, were poorer than ever.
1998 was showbiz time! The Erap para sa mahirap show opened to the chagrin of Makati Business Club. Pasensya na po kayo, mga elitists. Democracy is also weird. The choice of the masa must be respected.
Catastrophe! Chavit Singson exploded jueteng bombs! For days on end, a nation sick in the stomach, sat through primetime TV aghast at watching the bizarre drama of alleged bribery, gambling, drunkenness, womanizing, deceit, and corruption. A lantern-jawed witness and a sexy intelligence "asset" hogged the witness stand.
Viewing the scandals on TV was like watching dogs mating in the public square. It's embarrassing but you can't take your eyes of them.
The impeachment trial serialized on TV was riveting.. The defense lawyers, some wearing a canine sneer (ngiting aso) insulted our intelligence often. (Lokohin n'yo ang lelang n'yo). The whole country was stinking to high heavens.. The prosecution produced its own witnesses - Clarissa Ocampo, Emma Lim, Carmencita Itchon and many others.
Idols with feet of clay fell crashing into the dust. Those who voted against opening the enveloped were legalese, procedural, and sounding intellectually brilliant. Also heartless and thick-skinned. They couldn't fathom the heartbeat of the nation. Cardinal Sin, aging and sickly, called the people again. It was People Power II!
Same humongous and collective umbrage, same brinkmanship, and same staccato prayers! Generals Reyes and Villanueva simply joined the mammoth EDSA crowd. No US jets from Clark this time. Erap was out!
Gloria was in!
Hope springs eternal. Malacañang regained its honor and dignity. Protocol was observed. Absurdity was gone.. Grammatical English was back. Now the first gentleman should have been named Mr. Pakyao, he has the monopoly of the graft behind Gloria's back.
2001. More catastrophies! The peso plummeted to a horrifying P51 to US$1. The Abu Sayyaf (extremist ideologues? Or mindless barbarians) were into kidnapping and terrorism, gaining worldwide notoriety. Businesses are still closing shop. Thousands of workers are being retrenched. Prices of food and gasoline are very high. (Galunggong is P80 per kilo!) Our streets became permanent garbage dumps. Maggots multiply to spread disease. Our communities stink.
Again, the whole nation was witnessing sickening crimes attributed to people in the government. Talo na naman! We are now 75 million people but the gap between the rich, 30% (middle-class and rich), 70% (lower-class and rural/urban poor) remains the same for one century.
When will this end? It's been more than 350 years since Lapu- Lapu's victory, 100 years since Rizal martyrdom and we're nowhere as a people, as a nation. Malas pa rin!
Some wise guy said the Filipino is a damaged culture. Bully! And what do you call other foreigners. They used slaves in their plantations, and landgrabbed from the natives! What should we call such culture? Predatory Culture? Bully Culture? What about another country? How many countries did it put under the barrel of its gunships, so they could gloat that the sun never sets on their empire?" What shall we call this culture?
Sahib culture? Gunga Din culture? C'mon, give us a break!
We Filipinos have strengths and endearing values. We are Christians, God-fearing, and peace-loving. We are patient and tolerant (matiisin to a fault). We are musical. We sing our blues away. We have a sense of humor. (We concoct and text Imelda hyperboles and Erap malapropism. ) We learn fast because we are bilingual and highly educated.
We've got thousands of MBA's and PhD's in economics and management from AIM, WHARTON, HARVARD, UCLA, etc (most of them now overseas).
We've got a surplus of technocrats for nation-building.
We want to work if there are vacancies.
We want to go into business if we have the capital.
We want to obey the law if the law is being enforced.
We want to live and die here, if there is peace and order.
But, but, and but. We have many shortcomings. We are immature in our politics. Given a choice on whom to elect: a handsome pabling movie star or an honest and brilliant political scientist, we'll vote for the movie star.
No brainer tayo dito. Talo! We have many stupidities. Like dogs, we pee (Bawal umihi dito) on walls and tires. Our driving is suicidal. Our service quality is inferior.
Clerks at City Hall act arrogant. Sales ladies at department stores don't know their product features. No exchange No return even it is defective you have to argue for it. Tourists get mugged by thugs in uniform.
Police lay traps so they can catch you and ask for bribe. What's wrong with us? We don't have a great leader. And good governance. (In Singapore , Lee Kwan Yu did it. The constituency profile is similar to Filipinos.) Admittedly, this country is impossible, tiresome, and frustrating.
But it's the only country we've got.
We live and die here.
Will we ever see the dawn?
Dios na mahabagin, Kailan pa kaya? Ubos na ang aming luha. Katog na ang aming mga tuhod. Tuyot na ang aming utak. Hingal na ang aming puso.
Dios na mahabagin, isalba Mo po kami. Hindi po kami talunan. At lalo pong hindi kami tanga. Sunod-sunod lang po ang malas.
Lapu-Lapu was simply, the local siga-siga and Magellan was the culture-shocked Westerner, a native first-timer in the exotic east.
We lionize Lapu-Lapu as a hero and nationalist. Ang totoo, mayabang lang si Lapu-Lapu. But his defeat of a foreign invader, did not make a Filipino nation. The timing was wrong. And don't you believe that bull that Spanish explorers came to find spices of the East to improve the taste of their bland cuisine. Their hidden agenda was to spread their kingdom through colonization, the euphemism for land grabbing.
During the 333 years of Spanish rule (1565-1898), hundreds of rebellion were waged by native firebrands in many parts of the archipelago.
Not one succeeded. Our rebels were either caught, garotted, or simply ignored by the Commandante as nuisances. Puro malas!
The execution of Rizal in 1896 was a traumatic experience for Filipinos. Those who read Rizal's Fili and Noli were incensed by the abuses of the church and state regime of the Spaniards. Emotions ran high, from Aparri to Jolo. The critical mass needed for nationhood was formed. At last we could rebel as a people, as a nation.
The Katipunan did their battle heroics, originally led by the firebrand Bonifacio and later on by the crafty Aguinaldo. With more Katipunan charges (Sugod mga Kapatid), freedom seemed possible. Between 1897 and 1899, stealth, betrayal, and skullduggery bedeviled our prospect for independence. The Aguinaldo and Bonifacio factions engaged in an ugly infighting (the talangka mentality) resulting in the execution of Bonifacio.
Meantime, an American Admiral named Dewey (not Dewey Dee, the fast one) entered Manila Bay and defeated a lackluster Spanish navy. Aguinaldo reneged on the pact of Biak na bato.
He resumed the revolution by proclaiming the Philippine Independence in Kawit. June 12. From who? We are still under the Americans & Spaniards at that time.
Meanwhile, American and Spanish soldiers held a "moromoro" battle in Intramuros with the Spaniards surrendering. Aguinaldo's republic and his KKK patriots were left out and ignored. Naisahan tayo... Minalas na naman.
The Filipino-American War broke out. Tall American soldiers looking like Clark Gable chased and battled the outlawed Filipino revolutionaries, ending in the capture of Aguinaldo in Isabela. Thanks to the mercenaries from Macabebe. This is the second time those Macabebe turn in their own kind first the Spaniards. This was the mother of all kamalasan.
At that time, our population was 8 million. The gap between the rich and the poor was estimated at 30% middle-class and rich, 70% low-class and rural poor.
During the Commonwealth period (1901-1941), which followed, there were lots of learning on democratic principles, its structure and governance. Technology transfers were done on Constitutional Rights, Public Education, Transportation, Health, International Trade and Industrialization. The Americans turned out to be good tutors. Filipinos also went crazy over American brand products like Libby's corned beef and Portola sardines, Hershey's Kisses and Wrigley's chewing gum, Camel cigarettes and Model T Ford for the hacienderos of Pampanga and Iloilo .
Hollywood films made Pinoy males fantasize on Jean Harlow, Betty Grable, and Mae West. Thus, Filipino colonial mentality began. We fondly called this period Peace Time. By the way, American troops massacred innocent people in Balanguiga. Mga hayup din pala!
1941. Disaster! World War II! After attacking Pearl Harbor , the Japanese army invaded our country defeating the combined American and Filipino forces (USAFFE). General McArthur, the proud and handsome Army chief, fled to Australia at the height of the battle. Then the Filipinos march to Bataan as the prisoner in the Death March.
For four miserable years we suffered the sadism of the Japanese militarists rule. Torture, famine, and death were for us, the order of the day... Kawawa. Malas na malas!
The American forces returned in 1945 to liberate the country. McArthur, General superiority complex himself, sporting Ray Ban sunglasses and corncob pipe swaggered back to Manila . Piqued at his humiliation in 1941, McArthur ordered the bombing and shelling of Manila till kingdom come. So he can get back at Japs for wrecking his R&R place in Asia. Malas na naman.
The whole-wide expanse South of Pasig - from Post Office to Vito Cruz, including all of Intramuros - was pulverized. Manila was the most destroyed city of World War II next to Tokyo .
Our culture, our heritage, and historical assets (seven beautiful churches in Intramuros, hundreds of elegant Art Deco and neo-classical architecture in Paco) were sacrificed recklessly and completely erased from the face of the earth. Sayang na sayang!
In 1946, we gained our Independence from the Americans. We were a free nation at last. A true Independence day for us July 4th 1946 not the June 12th that Aguinaldo declared and Marcos celebrated. We had enough exposure and lessons on how to govern a democratic country, the first in Asia . Our population was 17 million. The dollar exchange was US$1 to P2.
But there was still no peace from 1947 to 1966. A widespread communist rebellion led by Taruc, the Lava brothers, and its armed guerillas called Hukbalahap (Supposed to be Hukbong Laban sa Hapon) waged bloody war with government troops and turn out to be nothing but bandits in disguised. Filipinos killed kapwa Filipinos. Malas na naman!
Our politicians and bureaucrats learned to engage in graft and corruption (What are we in power for?) - such as the war surplus bribery, the Tambobong wheeler-dealing and the Namarco scam. Talo!
Six presidents were elected to manage the country from 1947 to 1972, under the democratic system. They were Presidents Roxas, Quirino, Magsaysay, Garcia, Macapagal, and Marcos.
Economists looked back to the decades of the 50s and 60s as the best years of the Philippine economy, surpassing Asian countries. The nostalgia was naiveté, a useless ego-tripping. The gap between the rich and the poor remained big. 30% middle-class and rich, 70% low- class, rural and urban poor. We were 27 million people. US$1 was to P4.
During the late 60's, the Maoist communists led by Commander Dante intensified its drive to overthrow the government.. Marcos added fuel to the fire by creating a communist spook. Violence and mayhem rule the streets. The youth went up in arms! Martial Law was declared in 1972 and Marcos became dictator. Freedom of assembly and expression went out of the window..
What followed were years of dictatorial abuse, crony capitalism, shackled free enterprise, near economic collapse and a demoralized middle class. The gap between the rich (30%) and poor (70%) remained in a quagmire. Pareho rin pala ang situation.
Our population was 40 million. Exchange rate was US$1 to P7.. Kawawang kawawa! Malas na malas! In 1983, Ninoy Aquino, Marcos' exiled arch rival, was assassinated upon his return. Push came to shove. Cardinal Sin egged on the people on to protest. Outrage, self- pity, shame and fury raged and rumbled like a tidal wave, culminating in the incredible People Power Revolution. The very sick and obstinate Marcos fled (hijacked by Americans from Clark) to Hawaii (sounds like Paoay) where he died. His alleged millions of stolen dollars intact and unresolved. Up to now... Peso to dollar exchange is now P20 to $1.
But People Power was our shining glory! The whole world applauded our saintly courage, our dignified defiance, our bloodless solution to expel a dictator. We were the toast of all freedom-loving countries, the envy of all oppressed people. In 1986, we placed Cory Aquino, Ninoy's widow, in Malacañang. She was virtuous, sincere and full of good intentions for the country. But what happens under Cory?
An endless brown out and living in a portable generators is a must and monopolize be Cory's relatives who threw out her Energy Dept down to Pasig river.
The land reform she professed and promised was going good at first but after she found out her Hacienda Luisa will be greatly affected that program went down the Pasig river too!. No wonder that river is so polluted.
Coup attempts by Honasan, power struggle, political squabbles, and the infighting for juicy deals harassed the amateur Cory presidency. So nothing happened. No progress took place. The economy was still bad. The poor suffered more and more. Sure we got democracy back on its feet. But the Filipino resolve didn't happen. People Power pala was ningas cogon power.
Sayang na sayang! Tha gap between the rich and the poor remained at 30% (middle-class and rich), 70% (lower-class and rural/urban poor). Exchange rate was US$1 to P25. We were 55 million people.
In 1992, Cory's choice, Fidel Ramos, West Pointer, soldier, and hero of the People Power won the presidency. He had the bearing, the single-mindedness and the vision to bring the country to a tiger economy status. Ramos was a terrific salesman of the Philippines to the world. He was able to hype a climate of an economic ground. He removed barriers to progress. He was an apostle of privatization. His mantra was, less government, more private sector! Fidel hit the right note and the economy went on a roll.
Fidel wanted to run for reelection but failed to swing the cha-cha (an idiotic acronym for Constitutional Change) so he could run again.
In 1997, the Asian economic crises struck, triggered by a balloons burst of the hyper speculative Bangkok economy. The financial debacle created a disastrous effects in the investment institutions of Manila , Jakarta , Kuala Lumpur , Hong Kong, Seoul , and Taiwan .
All the Ramos gains evaporated into thin air. Malas na naman! The poor, specially Mang Pandoy, were poorer than ever.
1998 was showbiz time! The Erap para sa mahirap show opened to the chagrin of Makati Business Club. Pasensya na po kayo, mga elitists. Democracy is also weird. The choice of the masa must be respected.
Catastrophe! Chavit Singson exploded jueteng bombs! For days on end, a nation sick in the stomach, sat through primetime TV aghast at watching the bizarre drama of alleged bribery, gambling, drunkenness, womanizing, deceit, and corruption. A lantern-jawed witness and a sexy intelligence "asset" hogged the witness stand.
Viewing the scandals on TV was like watching dogs mating in the public square. It's embarrassing but you can't take your eyes of them.
The impeachment trial serialized on TV was riveting.. The defense lawyers, some wearing a canine sneer (ngiting aso) insulted our intelligence often. (Lokohin n'yo ang lelang n'yo). The whole country was stinking to high heavens.. The prosecution produced its own witnesses - Clarissa Ocampo, Emma Lim, Carmencita Itchon and many others.
Idols with feet of clay fell crashing into the dust. Those who voted against opening the enveloped were legalese, procedural, and sounding intellectually brilliant. Also heartless and thick-skinned. They couldn't fathom the heartbeat of the nation. Cardinal Sin, aging and sickly, called the people again. It was People Power II!
Same humongous and collective umbrage, same brinkmanship, and same staccato prayers! Generals Reyes and Villanueva simply joined the mammoth EDSA crowd. No US jets from Clark this time. Erap was out!
Gloria was in!
Hope springs eternal. Malacañang regained its honor and dignity. Protocol was observed. Absurdity was gone.. Grammatical English was back. Now the first gentleman should have been named Mr. Pakyao, he has the monopoly of the graft behind Gloria's back.
2001. More catastrophies! The peso plummeted to a horrifying P51 to US$1. The Abu Sayyaf (extremist ideologues? Or mindless barbarians) were into kidnapping and terrorism, gaining worldwide notoriety. Businesses are still closing shop. Thousands of workers are being retrenched. Prices of food and gasoline are very high. (Galunggong is P80 per kilo!) Our streets became permanent garbage dumps. Maggots multiply to spread disease. Our communities stink.
Again, the whole nation was witnessing sickening crimes attributed to people in the government. Talo na naman! We are now 75 million people but the gap between the rich, 30% (middle-class and rich), 70% (lower-class and rural/urban poor) remains the same for one century.
When will this end? It's been more than 350 years since Lapu- Lapu's victory, 100 years since Rizal martyrdom and we're nowhere as a people, as a nation. Malas pa rin!
Some wise guy said the Filipino is a damaged culture. Bully! And what do you call other foreigners. They used slaves in their plantations, and landgrabbed from the natives! What should we call such culture? Predatory Culture? Bully Culture? What about another country? How many countries did it put under the barrel of its gunships, so they could gloat that the sun never sets on their empire?" What shall we call this culture?
Sahib culture? Gunga Din culture? C'mon, give us a break!
We Filipinos have strengths and endearing values. We are Christians, God-fearing, and peace-loving. We are patient and tolerant (matiisin to a fault). We are musical. We sing our blues away. We have a sense of humor. (We concoct and text Imelda hyperboles and Erap malapropism. ) We learn fast because we are bilingual and highly educated.
We've got thousands of MBA's and PhD's in economics and management from AIM, WHARTON, HARVARD, UCLA, etc (most of them now overseas).
We've got a surplus of technocrats for nation-building.
We want to work if there are vacancies.
We want to go into business if we have the capital.
We want to obey the law if the law is being enforced.
We want to live and die here, if there is peace and order.
But, but, and but. We have many shortcomings. We are immature in our politics. Given a choice on whom to elect: a handsome pabling movie star or an honest and brilliant political scientist, we'll vote for the movie star.
No brainer tayo dito. Talo! We have many stupidities. Like dogs, we pee (Bawal umihi dito) on walls and tires. Our driving is suicidal. Our service quality is inferior.
Clerks at City Hall act arrogant. Sales ladies at department stores don't know their product features. No exchange No return even it is defective you have to argue for it. Tourists get mugged by thugs in uniform.
Police lay traps so they can catch you and ask for bribe. What's wrong with us? We don't have a great leader. And good governance. (In Singapore , Lee Kwan Yu did it. The constituency profile is similar to Filipinos.) Admittedly, this country is impossible, tiresome, and frustrating.
But it's the only country we've got.
We live and die here.
Will we ever see the dawn?
Dios na mahabagin, Kailan pa kaya? Ubos na ang aming luha. Katog na ang aming mga tuhod. Tuyot na ang aming utak. Hingal na ang aming puso.
Dios na mahabagin, isalba Mo po kami. Hindi po kami talunan. At lalo pong hindi kami tanga. Sunod-sunod lang po ang malas.
Monday, July 20, 2009
The heat is on / The revenge of the fugly
The latest news is the release of an audio CD of the meeting between Lolit Solis, Belo, Hayden, and Reli German on how to counter the negative publicity. The meeting is not or what it's all about is not exactly new knowledge. PEP had its in its site since last month. For what it's worth, it shows that Lolit Solis stage managed Hayden and company's reaction to the aftermath. They tried to soften Hayden's image, make him look contrite, and make Katrina look like a slut. More importantly, it shows Hayden and Vicky made immediate defensive moves to negate the bad publicity even before Katrina sued them. Proactive? Or plain guilty?
It also shows the two-faced nature of the business in more than ways than one. Showbiz people are said to be often laughing on the outside, crying on the inside. The audio CD shows that some persons may have advised Katrina AND at the same time advised the other camp AND even the senator who led the investigation. One irony here is that show business is supposed to be about the beautiful people. But look at the people behind the beautiful people. The good looking ones are mere puppets manipulated by fugly ones who control the industry. These people are well loved - by their mothers, who might have aptly described them as - special.
Is there a fugly one in the photo below?
Sunday, July 19, 2009
San Miguel wins - at last, in the San Miguel league
Congrats SMB! The San Miguel Beermen ended four years of frustration by smashing a depleted Barangay Ginebra Kings in the 2009 PBA Fiesta Conference. San Miguel came from behind after being down 3-2 in the best-of-seven series.San Miguel was much too deep the injury-riddled Ginebra who was simply too tired in the final game. San Miguel coach Siot Tanquincen finally won a crown for SMB.
The San Miguel team was actually a very deep team in all positions for several years now. But the potential never came to fruition under Tanquincen. I was so frustrated with his inability to win a champinship that I initiated a 'fire Siot' movement in a basketbal forum thread/poll. There were many others who were equally dismayed and the thread ran for a long time. The poll showed 70% wanted Siot out as coach since last year.
But with the win, Siot made a lot of SMB fans happy at the moment. His tenure is safe for another conference at least.
The best of seven series still produced a lot of thrills notwithstanding the corporate relations between the two teams. The PBA is truly a San Miguel league with three of the 10 teams (can be actually four) from the San Miguel conglomerate. That makes SMB, Ginebra, and Purefoods (and maybe Coca-Cola) sister teams. In this situation, accusations of a 'scripted' series abound. With its vast corporate resources, SMB teams manage to corner the top players money can buy and go circuitous routes to go around league rules on player transfers. So with the supposed 'script', Purefoods is poised to win the next championship.
Is this situation healthy? The other team owners do not seem to mind, after all PBA continues to provide good exposure for their products. But the rigodon of the players around the league leaves sports fans lost. In the Toyota-Crispa days, PBA fans are fans of the teams. Either you're a Toyota fan or a Crispa fan. When these teams disbanded and the players dispersed to other teams, the players took along their fan base to their new teams. So San Miguel acquired a lot of new fans with the arrival of Mon Fernandez. It was the same with Ginebra when Sonny Jaworski came on board.
What happens when players move around a lot? Team fans lose their identities too. Fans don't root for a team anymore, they root for the players. As a fan, I think rooting for a team is much better than rooting for a particular player, after all basketball is a team game. When fans start to root for a player and not for the team, and if the players move around teams a lot, that defeats the purpose of maintaining a team for product marketing purposes. With the grand exception of the San Miguel teams. The PBA has to do something about the San Miguel stronghold over the league.
Friday, July 17, 2009
“Our Culture is our Destiny”
From an email now circulating the rounds:
In 1994, Lee Kuan Yew, the father and the builder of modern Singapore, was interviewed by Time Magazine. In one portion of the interview, Lee Kuan Yew was asked about the importance of culture.
Lee Kuan Yew said “culture is destiny”. Your culture is your destiny. Your culture will determine your destiny. Your set of beliefs will determine how far you will go in life. If you believe you are a failure, you will be a failure. If you believe you are great, you will be great. If you want to excel, you must build a culture of excellence. If you want to become great, you must build a culture of greatness.
Lee Kuan Yew said that this applies not only to an individual person. It also applies to a people. A people’s culture will determine the destiny of that people.
It is in this context that I wish to talk to you briefly about our story as a people.
We were a colony of Spain for 333 years, which ended only in December 1898. For 333 years, the Spaniards in our country did not treat our people kindly. In fact, they treated our people harshly, violently. At the height of its power in our country, there were just around 40,000 Spanish soldiers in our country, controlling and subjugating more than 1 million Filipinos. The Spaniards conquered and subjugated our people physically, thru superior weapons. But more importantly, they conquered and subjugated the spirit of our people.
The Spaniards called our people many bad and demeaning names. They called us Juan Tamad, or lazy Joe, and made us believe that we are a lazy people. Even inside the churches, in the pulpits, the Spanish Friars or priests called us – tanga, bobo, at tamad. They ridiculed the Filipino as dumb, dull and stupid. This they did continuously, often with violence, on our people, for 333 years. Until it killed the spirit of many of our people – the spirit to fight, the spirit to aspire, the spirit to excel, the spirit to aim high and dream big.
Napoleon Bonaparte said – the best conquest is the conquest of the mind and the heart.
To ensure that the almost 1 million Filipinos will not be united in a revolution against the 40,000 Spanish soldiers, the Spaniards sowed disunity and division among our people. This they did as a policy. They made Filipino families and clans fight among each other, by sowing intrigues among them. This the Spaniards did also for more than 300 years. As a result, many Filipinos did no trust one another, did not help one another, did not work with one another.
When the Spaniards left our country in 1898, after it sold our country to the United States, the 2 most serious problems they left the Filipino people were these – first, the Filipino lost his faith in himself, his self-respect and self-confidence. The Filipino had a very low and negative self-image of himself. Second, the Filipino people did not trust one another and could not work with each other.
The American rule of our country for the next 42 years aggravated these problems. The Japanese occupation of our country from 1941 to 1945 worsened the problems. The Japanese soldiers raped our daughters and sisters and enslaved our men.
We became a free people only in 1946 – that is 63 years ago. If you deduct 14 years of Martial Law from there, we are just 49 years old as a free people.
As you can see, we are still a young nation, a people that is still in search for itself, a nation that is still trying to find its own place under the sun.
But today, our Philippines is perceived as the most corrupt country in the whole of Asia and the 11th most corrupt in the whole world.
Today, our country is considered one of the poorest countries in Asia despite the fact that it is the 5th richest in mineral deposits out of 239 countries in the world, notwithstanding the fact that it has one of the richest natural resources in the world, despite the fact that it is the richest in marine life biodiversity in all the world.
Today, according to a Time Magazine article dated 24 November 2008, almost 10 million of our youth are growing up without a father or a mother by their side because the father or the mother has to find work abroad because our country could not provide the jobs to their fathers and mothers.
Today, almost 11 million of our youth are classified as out-of-school youth. They are school aged and should be at school, but they are not at school. They are out there in the streets or in the squatters or in the mountains of poverty.
Today, out of 20 million families in our country, 5 million families are homeless, living in the slums of poverty as squatters.
Today, the problems created and caused by foreign invaders and rulers of our country still exist in the hearts and minds of many of our people. Today, many of our people still have no faith in the Filipino and consider our Philippines a hopeless country. Many among us still bash the Filipino in front of foreigners and speak negatively about our country. Today, many of our people just think and live only for themselves and their families, but never for the whole Filipino people. A number of our political and government leaders, while in public office, just serve themselves and their families, and not the public interest. Many business people only think much of themselves and their families, but not much of their employees and their employees’ families.
Kanya-kanya at pamilya-pamilya pa rin lang ang marami sa atin. As a people, we still have difficulty attaining national unity in our acts for our country.
Our culture is our destiny. Our culture as a people will determine our destiny as a nation.
In 1987, American writer James Fallows called us a people with a damaged culture because, according to him, we do not have a sense of community as a people. We do not care for one another.
Today, one of the major challenges we face today as a people is this – How do we heal ourselves as a people? How do we repair the damage in our culture that was deeply inflicted in us as a people for almost 400 years? How do we build the greatness of Filipino? How do we make the Filipino truly great and respectable in the eyes of the world?
Truly, we need to rebuild the greatness of ourselves as a people, and this we can do and we must do piece by piece, block by block, group by group, town by town, city by city – until such time that our archipelago of 7,107 islands truly believe in one fundamental thing – that we Filipinos are one people. And that as one people, we are also just one family.
At this juncture, allow me to tell you a portion of my story.
I am a father of four (4) young children, the oldest of whom is 13 years old, while the youngest is just 3. As a parent, I dream of a beautiful country for all my children, one where their dreams are possible to attain, however high they may seem. A society that offers them boundless opportunities and limitless possibilities. One that can and is willing to pay the full value of their talent and hard work, in the same way that America and Canada are able to pay the full value of the talent and hard work of their own people. A nation that respects all their rights and liberties, and one that can provide them justice when an act of injustice is committed against anyone of them. A country that will make them truly proud of themselves as Filipino, one that will make the rest of the world respect the name Filipino.
As a Filipino, like Tito Tony Meloto and Gawad Kalinga, and perhaps like many of you, I also dream of a beautiful Philippines for the Filipino people. I dream of a Philippines that is beautiful in its march to progress, because it seeks prosperity for all and not only for a few, because there is enough for every Filipino and his family, because no Filipino family is left behind in the streets or in slums to suffer in poverty and misery. I dream of a country that is founded on love for one another, one where there is a culture of familihood among our people, because we as a people commit to the noble idea that we are our sister’s and our brother’s keeper. A society where the weakest of our people can also be strong, where the poorest among us can also be wealthy. A nation where law and justice is the rule, where the mighty are just, where the lowly are secure. A society that can meet the lowest needs and the highest expectations of our people. A country where every child is able to study, where every graduate is able to find work. A country where every Filipino can attain the fullness of life as he or she conceives it to be, one that can bring out the best, the highest, and the most beautiful of our people, so the Filipino may become a model and a light to many parts of the world.
On January 20, 1961, President John F Kennedy, in whose name and honor this school of government of Harvard is dedicated, called on the American people in his Inaugural Address – “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country”.
That is the most famous line the world remembers today of John F Kennedy. His call for patriotism, for good citizenship. His call for the American people to step up on their love for their country.
That is also what we are trying to do in our country today. That is also call I make in my book “12 Little Things Filipinos Can Do To Help Our Country”.
But the biggest call in our country today is the one that Tito Tony Meloto and Gawad Kalinga are making to all Filipinos all over the world. A call to care for the poorest of our poor, a call to build homes for our 5 million homeless families, a call to provide the poorest of our people the opportunity to live among us in society, with dignity and hope.
Today, GK brings home millions of our people abroad, to help rebuild our country, to help build the greatness of the Filipino. Today, GK stands as the best vehicle that can unite all Filipinos from all over the world. It is the best hope for our 5 million families who are homeless in the very land where God planted them. GK is the best tool that can build the greatness of the Filipino. It is the best vehicle that can bring us to our dream of a beautiful Philippines.
I believe that there are six (6) core values we should all believe in as a people. These core values could serve as the foundations of the culture of greatness we wish to build for the Filipino.
First, as a people, we should believe that the Philippines is our Motherland. It is the birthplace of our race. It is the home of the Filipino. The Jewish Americans tell their children that while America is their country, Israel is their motherland. Israel is the home of the Jew. Japanese Americans do the same to their children. The Chinese and the Korean Americans too. We as a people, wherever we maybe in the world, should do the same. We should believe that, for it is the truth. Wherever we maybe in the world, we should tell our children that, so our young may grow up with deep love and affection for our motherland. For truly, Philippines is the country our Creator chose and gave to us as a people.
Second, as a people, we should believe that the Filipino is great for he is a child of a great God who truly wants him to be great. The Filipino is a child of God no less than the American, no less than the French or the Italian, no less than the stars above or any person on earth. God has equipped the Filipino, within him and around him, with all the essentials he needs to succeed in this world. God wants the best, the highest, and the most beautiful for the Filipino because he is God’s child.
Third, we should believe that as a people we are but one family. That while we have our spouses and children as our small family, the Filipino people is our big family. Therefore, as a people, we should have a culture of familihood, which is higher and greater than brotherhood. As one family of people, we should truly love and respect one another. Dapat wala tayong iwanan. Dapat wala tayong gulangan. Dapat wala tayong dayaan, lokohan, o nakawan.
Fourth, as people, we should believe that unity is higher and more important than individuality, but without choking anyone’s creativity. If we want the best for the Filipino, unity is essential. For a people achieve great things only if they are united. As JFK said “United, there is little we cannot do; Divided, there is little we can do”.
Fifth, as people, we should believe that the Filipino was born as part of the whole, as part of the answer to the question, as part of the solution to the problem, as part of the hope to our people. As a people, we are born to help build a better world for all humanity, and to help the Filipino become great not only in the eyes of the world but moreso in the eyes of our Lord.
Sixth, as a people, we should aim high and dream big for ourselves. For truly, we will only go as far as our dreams. If we dream small, our achievements will also be small. If we dream big, our achievements will also be big. For truly, we are the architects of our own success. We are the builders of our own greatness. We are the writers of our own story. We are the creators of our own future.
If the Americans were able to build for themselves a great and a prosperous country, why can’t we Filipinos build for ourselves a beautiful Philippines? If the Japanese and the Singaporeans were able to build for themselves an orderly and a prosperous country, why can’t we Filipinos build for our children and people a beautiful country?
We – the present generations of Filipinos – we are today the carriers of the flag of our Philippines. We are today the bearers of the name Filipino, the vanguards of the identity Filipino. It is therefore our task to build the Filipino great. It is therefore our duty to build our Motherland, our beloved Philippines, great!
We Filipinos are a beautiful people!
We and our children deserve a beautiful country!
Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! Mabuhay ang Pilipino!
God bless all of you!
This is a short version of the speech of Alexander Lacson at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government during the GK Global Summit in Boston on June 12-14, 2009. Alex Lacson is the author of the book “12 Little Things Filipinos Can Do To Help Our Country”.
In 1994, Lee Kuan Yew, the father and the builder of modern Singapore, was interviewed by Time Magazine. In one portion of the interview, Lee Kuan Yew was asked about the importance of culture.
Lee Kuan Yew said “culture is destiny”. Your culture is your destiny. Your culture will determine your destiny. Your set of beliefs will determine how far you will go in life. If you believe you are a failure, you will be a failure. If you believe you are great, you will be great. If you want to excel, you must build a culture of excellence. If you want to become great, you must build a culture of greatness.
Lee Kuan Yew said that this applies not only to an individual person. It also applies to a people. A people’s culture will determine the destiny of that people.
It is in this context that I wish to talk to you briefly about our story as a people.
We were a colony of Spain for 333 years, which ended only in December 1898. For 333 years, the Spaniards in our country did not treat our people kindly. In fact, they treated our people harshly, violently. At the height of its power in our country, there were just around 40,000 Spanish soldiers in our country, controlling and subjugating more than 1 million Filipinos. The Spaniards conquered and subjugated our people physically, thru superior weapons. But more importantly, they conquered and subjugated the spirit of our people.
The Spaniards called our people many bad and demeaning names. They called us Juan Tamad, or lazy Joe, and made us believe that we are a lazy people. Even inside the churches, in the pulpits, the Spanish Friars or priests called us – tanga, bobo, at tamad. They ridiculed the Filipino as dumb, dull and stupid. This they did continuously, often with violence, on our people, for 333 years. Until it killed the spirit of many of our people – the spirit to fight, the spirit to aspire, the spirit to excel, the spirit to aim high and dream big.
Napoleon Bonaparte said – the best conquest is the conquest of the mind and the heart.
To ensure that the almost 1 million Filipinos will not be united in a revolution against the 40,000 Spanish soldiers, the Spaniards sowed disunity and division among our people. This they did as a policy. They made Filipino families and clans fight among each other, by sowing intrigues among them. This the Spaniards did also for more than 300 years. As a result, many Filipinos did no trust one another, did not help one another, did not work with one another.
When the Spaniards left our country in 1898, after it sold our country to the United States, the 2 most serious problems they left the Filipino people were these – first, the Filipino lost his faith in himself, his self-respect and self-confidence. The Filipino had a very low and negative self-image of himself. Second, the Filipino people did not trust one another and could not work with each other.
The American rule of our country for the next 42 years aggravated these problems. The Japanese occupation of our country from 1941 to 1945 worsened the problems. The Japanese soldiers raped our daughters and sisters and enslaved our men.
We became a free people only in 1946 – that is 63 years ago. If you deduct 14 years of Martial Law from there, we are just 49 years old as a free people.
As you can see, we are still a young nation, a people that is still in search for itself, a nation that is still trying to find its own place under the sun.
But today, our Philippines is perceived as the most corrupt country in the whole of Asia and the 11th most corrupt in the whole world.
Today, our country is considered one of the poorest countries in Asia despite the fact that it is the 5th richest in mineral deposits out of 239 countries in the world, notwithstanding the fact that it has one of the richest natural resources in the world, despite the fact that it is the richest in marine life biodiversity in all the world.
Today, according to a Time Magazine article dated 24 November 2008, almost 10 million of our youth are growing up without a father or a mother by their side because the father or the mother has to find work abroad because our country could not provide the jobs to their fathers and mothers.
Today, almost 11 million of our youth are classified as out-of-school youth. They are school aged and should be at school, but they are not at school. They are out there in the streets or in the squatters or in the mountains of poverty.
Today, out of 20 million families in our country, 5 million families are homeless, living in the slums of poverty as squatters.
Today, the problems created and caused by foreign invaders and rulers of our country still exist in the hearts and minds of many of our people. Today, many of our people still have no faith in the Filipino and consider our Philippines a hopeless country. Many among us still bash the Filipino in front of foreigners and speak negatively about our country. Today, many of our people just think and live only for themselves and their families, but never for the whole Filipino people. A number of our political and government leaders, while in public office, just serve themselves and their families, and not the public interest. Many business people only think much of themselves and their families, but not much of their employees and their employees’ families.
Kanya-kanya at pamilya-pamilya pa rin lang ang marami sa atin. As a people, we still have difficulty attaining national unity in our acts for our country.
Our culture is our destiny. Our culture as a people will determine our destiny as a nation.
In 1987, American writer James Fallows called us a people with a damaged culture because, according to him, we do not have a sense of community as a people. We do not care for one another.
Today, one of the major challenges we face today as a people is this – How do we heal ourselves as a people? How do we repair the damage in our culture that was deeply inflicted in us as a people for almost 400 years? How do we build the greatness of Filipino? How do we make the Filipino truly great and respectable in the eyes of the world?
Truly, we need to rebuild the greatness of ourselves as a people, and this we can do and we must do piece by piece, block by block, group by group, town by town, city by city – until such time that our archipelago of 7,107 islands truly believe in one fundamental thing – that we Filipinos are one people. And that as one people, we are also just one family.
At this juncture, allow me to tell you a portion of my story.
I am a father of four (4) young children, the oldest of whom is 13 years old, while the youngest is just 3. As a parent, I dream of a beautiful country for all my children, one where their dreams are possible to attain, however high they may seem. A society that offers them boundless opportunities and limitless possibilities. One that can and is willing to pay the full value of their talent and hard work, in the same way that America and Canada are able to pay the full value of the talent and hard work of their own people. A nation that respects all their rights and liberties, and one that can provide them justice when an act of injustice is committed against anyone of them. A country that will make them truly proud of themselves as Filipino, one that will make the rest of the world respect the name Filipino.
As a Filipino, like Tito Tony Meloto and Gawad Kalinga, and perhaps like many of you, I also dream of a beautiful Philippines for the Filipino people. I dream of a Philippines that is beautiful in its march to progress, because it seeks prosperity for all and not only for a few, because there is enough for every Filipino and his family, because no Filipino family is left behind in the streets or in slums to suffer in poverty and misery. I dream of a country that is founded on love for one another, one where there is a culture of familihood among our people, because we as a people commit to the noble idea that we are our sister’s and our brother’s keeper. A society where the weakest of our people can also be strong, where the poorest among us can also be wealthy. A nation where law and justice is the rule, where the mighty are just, where the lowly are secure. A society that can meet the lowest needs and the highest expectations of our people. A country where every child is able to study, where every graduate is able to find work. A country where every Filipino can attain the fullness of life as he or she conceives it to be, one that can bring out the best, the highest, and the most beautiful of our people, so the Filipino may become a model and a light to many parts of the world.
On January 20, 1961, President John F Kennedy, in whose name and honor this school of government of Harvard is dedicated, called on the American people in his Inaugural Address – “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country”.
That is the most famous line the world remembers today of John F Kennedy. His call for patriotism, for good citizenship. His call for the American people to step up on their love for their country.
That is also what we are trying to do in our country today. That is also call I make in my book “12 Little Things Filipinos Can Do To Help Our Country”.
But the biggest call in our country today is the one that Tito Tony Meloto and Gawad Kalinga are making to all Filipinos all over the world. A call to care for the poorest of our poor, a call to build homes for our 5 million homeless families, a call to provide the poorest of our people the opportunity to live among us in society, with dignity and hope.
Today, GK brings home millions of our people abroad, to help rebuild our country, to help build the greatness of the Filipino. Today, GK stands as the best vehicle that can unite all Filipinos from all over the world. It is the best hope for our 5 million families who are homeless in the very land where God planted them. GK is the best tool that can build the greatness of the Filipino. It is the best vehicle that can bring us to our dream of a beautiful Philippines.
I believe that there are six (6) core values we should all believe in as a people. These core values could serve as the foundations of the culture of greatness we wish to build for the Filipino.
First, as a people, we should believe that the Philippines is our Motherland. It is the birthplace of our race. It is the home of the Filipino. The Jewish Americans tell their children that while America is their country, Israel is their motherland. Israel is the home of the Jew. Japanese Americans do the same to their children. The Chinese and the Korean Americans too. We as a people, wherever we maybe in the world, should do the same. We should believe that, for it is the truth. Wherever we maybe in the world, we should tell our children that, so our young may grow up with deep love and affection for our motherland. For truly, Philippines is the country our Creator chose and gave to us as a people.
Second, as a people, we should believe that the Filipino is great for he is a child of a great God who truly wants him to be great. The Filipino is a child of God no less than the American, no less than the French or the Italian, no less than the stars above or any person on earth. God has equipped the Filipino, within him and around him, with all the essentials he needs to succeed in this world. God wants the best, the highest, and the most beautiful for the Filipino because he is God’s child.
Third, we should believe that as a people we are but one family. That while we have our spouses and children as our small family, the Filipino people is our big family. Therefore, as a people, we should have a culture of familihood, which is higher and greater than brotherhood. As one family of people, we should truly love and respect one another. Dapat wala tayong iwanan. Dapat wala tayong gulangan. Dapat wala tayong dayaan, lokohan, o nakawan.
Fourth, as people, we should believe that unity is higher and more important than individuality, but without choking anyone’s creativity. If we want the best for the Filipino, unity is essential. For a people achieve great things only if they are united. As JFK said “United, there is little we cannot do; Divided, there is little we can do”.
Fifth, as people, we should believe that the Filipino was born as part of the whole, as part of the answer to the question, as part of the solution to the problem, as part of the hope to our people. As a people, we are born to help build a better world for all humanity, and to help the Filipino become great not only in the eyes of the world but moreso in the eyes of our Lord.
Sixth, as a people, we should aim high and dream big for ourselves. For truly, we will only go as far as our dreams. If we dream small, our achievements will also be small. If we dream big, our achievements will also be big. For truly, we are the architects of our own success. We are the builders of our own greatness. We are the writers of our own story. We are the creators of our own future.
If the Americans were able to build for themselves a great and a prosperous country, why can’t we Filipinos build for ourselves a beautiful Philippines? If the Japanese and the Singaporeans were able to build for themselves an orderly and a prosperous country, why can’t we Filipinos build for our children and people a beautiful country?
We – the present generations of Filipinos – we are today the carriers of the flag of our Philippines. We are today the bearers of the name Filipino, the vanguards of the identity Filipino. It is therefore our task to build the Filipino great. It is therefore our duty to build our Motherland, our beloved Philippines, great!
We Filipinos are a beautiful people!
We and our children deserve a beautiful country!
Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! Mabuhay ang Pilipino!
God bless all of you!
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