Who would not want a new car or an SUV? In a poverty-stricken country like the Philippines, it is sardonic to see that while most people still complain about having inconsiderable money to make ends meet, the majority still quench their insatiable thirst for imported cars, be it through installment or cash.
Go to the nearest highway, and you will see a fleet of Fortuner, Montero, Impreza, Accent, and many more Japanese, American, or European cars passing by the ramshackle jeepney—pure mockery at its very best.
For the coffee lovers and those pretending to be such, who can resist a posh place like Gloria Jean’s or Seattle’s Best to get a tall and expensive frap, frape, prafe?? Well, whatever the spelling is, and a small and costly blueberry cheesecake.
After all, nobody wants to miss the complicated bar counter behind which all the blenders and grinders are displayed as if to remind you they are processing your cappuccino. Have you noticed how foreign coffee shops have sprouted all over the archipelago and slowly but surely replaced malls, parks, fast food chains, and cockpit arenas?
Well, that is just coffee. Let us switch to technology. When it comes to cellular phones or other gadgets, Filipinos will never be the last human race to use the latest Apple-manufactured communication device, despite the fact that it is really expensive.
A phone is a necessity these days, but it makes me wonder why an average Pinoy worker, despite the daily earning of the minimum wage, which just suits his payment for house rental, electricity, water bill, and food, opts to purchase this product of the late Steve Jobs over the cheaper phone. A forty-five thousand iPhone over a three thousand locally made phones? Come on, it’s no longer a matter of freedom or choice —it’s already wanton frolic.
Apart from purchasing imported cars, brewed coffee, and sophisticated phones, other things violate our sense of nationalism. A perfect example is those Filipinos who spend their life savings just to set their feet in foreign countries for vacation. Filipino travelers often blurt out, “There is a promo for a one-week stay at the Venetian in Macau; let’s grab it,” or “I will never get to visit Singapore again, so why don’t we grab the Cebu Pacific promo?”.
Visiting foreign countries and cities more than touring local places like Dingalan, Pagudpud, Puerto Princesa, or even the overly abused Boracay gives everyone the impression that there is no decent place to visit in the Philippines at all. It’s no wonder why travel agencies promote scenic areas in other countries like The Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, Sao Paulo Beach, and others. They know how to flatter Filipinos because they can see through us.
There is no accurate rationale for why we are into anything external or foreign. The closest thing to support the notion of colonial mentality among Filipinos is that a handful of colonizers have conquered us. In Teodoro Agoncillo’s book History of the Filipino People (1960), the author stated that long before the arrival of the Spaniards in 1521, we had been in constant trade with the Chinese people. The trade, which was then called the “Porcelain Trade,” probably started centuries before the advent of the Sung Dynasty. The Chinese exchanged silk, porcelain, colored glass, beads, and ironware for the Filipinos’ hemp cloth, tortoise shells, pearls, and yellow wax. The exchange of goods started as early as 960 AD before the accidental arrival of the Spaniards in 1521. And so it happened.
The arrival of the European conquistadores brought a new phase and meaning to the lives and mindset of the Filipinos. We learned to integrate the Spanish language into our own, even naming the Philippines in honor of the Spanish king. Provinces in the Philippines were renamed with Spanish names such as Nueva Ecija and Vizcaya, Laguna, Isabela, La Union, Antique, Marinduque, Negros Occidental, and Oriental and Valle de Compostela. More than this naming of places, the greatest influence the Spaniards have left us is faith in Roman Catholicism. Filipinos at home set up an altar in the Hispanic tradition, adorned with Catholic images, flowers, and candles as they have internalized observation of fiestas, devotion, rosary, baptism, and many more.
Along came the Americans. After the Spaniards were defeated by the Americans led by General George Dewey in the war dubbed the “Battle of Manila” in 1899, the Americans took the liberty of controlling and influencing the Filipinos. During the first years, there were some conflicts between the US and the Philippines, but during World War I, they came together, and the Filipinos fought alongside the Americans, and their relationship became much friendlier.
As we solidified our pact with the land of the free and the home of the brave, we became more attached to their customs and traditions. Nobody can deny that the greatest contributions of Americans are democracy and education. It is impossible to cite all the things we inherited from Uncle Joe because they are innumerable. American influence on Filipino clothing is apparent these days.
We often see wearing belts, suspenders, tennis shoes, bonnets, high heels, and cosmetics. For food, Filipinos are accustomed to U.S.-based staples like hamburgers, sandwiches, oatmeal, ketchup, apple pie, mayonnaise, hotdogs, steak, ice cream, cornflakes, and many more.
Seventy-one years have passed since the Philippines tasted true freedom and democracy, yet its beloved citizens are still, or should I say, intentionally glued to anything international in concept.
Our colonial mentality should no longer be attributed to the colonizers because, for a long period of time, they are gone. After the Second World War ended in 1945, the US declared that we were an independent nation and that we would, from that moment, stand on our own, build our nation, govern our people, and make ourselves proud of what we could make of our country.
Yes, we have been standing on our own. For quite some time, we have been electing our leaders, drafting our constitution dedicated to democracy, being blessed with job opportunities, and seeing the ingenuity of many of our fellow countrymen in business, arts, academia, and even sports. These things, when accumulated, would entail national pride and patriotism. But the “accumulation” never happened in the Philippines.
Nationalism and patriotism are things that are not difficult to conceive. It is just a matter of self-worth, confidence in the citizens’ competence, and pride. Just take a look at Japan, its people may be ridiculed for being awful English speakers but nobody can take away the fact that it is a land with citizens deeply attached to their flag, to their country, and to their identity. For despising imported goods, Japan could produce products of their own in the fields of automotive, heavy industries, and gadgets.
Everyone is familiar with brands such as Toyota, Mitsubishi, Honda, Nissan, Subaru, Yamaha, Kawasaki, Sony, Sanyo, and so on. The same principle of nationalism applies to countries like Germany, Italy, France, and even China.
While more and more countries are gradually realizing the essence and beauty of selfhood, the story is different here in the Philippines. Here, the culture of the bandwagon is a cliche: We have been deeply in love with anything Western in concept. We always want to exclude ourselves from the bondage of traditionalism, and although it does not manifest verbally, we always deny our being Filipinos because we love imported goods.
Just how badly have we opposed our being Filipinos? Instead of settling for a more affordable and locally made brand of leather shoes, a typical Filipino would hand his ever-hidden credit card to the ethical staff at the counter in exchange for the expensive and imported Kickers, Hush Puppies, Timberland, or Oleg Cassini. I’m sure the reason is unrelated to durability and longevity issues.
What about the means of transportation, particularly cars? Try going to EDSA and anyone would notice that many billboards post inviting marketing strategies like Vios, 20K Downpayment, No Hidden Charges.
Car manufacturers know that the Philippines is and will forever be a third-world country, yet they still thrive on selling cars to us. The business is so good that everywhere you turn, there will always be car casas regularly visited by an average businessman, a call center agent, a teacher, and even a college student whose dad is a seafarer.
The funny thing is that people purchase cars for reasons beyond practicality – that they work near their residence and don’t need cars at all, that they know that the streets of Manila are just like a huge parking space during rush hours, that they know that sooner or later they would have their car pulled out by the bank because they could no longer afford to pay for it. Pathetic as it may seem, Filipinos buy imported cars, not for a reasonable cause but to delight their ego.
Gadgets are undeniably a necessity nowadays. Living in a fast-paced world, people need smartphones for easy access to emails, messages, and important and unimportant calls.
We are not Amish people whose contentment is based on how they shrug off what is contemporary. But while it is clear to Filipinos the vitality of possessing gadgets, particularly cell phones, it is still an enigma as to why we settle for expensive and imported brands. Is it the speed?
I bet locally made phones are equally fast to process. Is the phone user-friendly? Writing text messages on My Phone, Torque, and Cherry Mobile is also easy. Is it the design? The size? The weight? The color? Or is it the brand?
To realize just how strong our attachment is to Apple, Samsung, Asus, and other foreign brands, just look at the students, people in the BPO industry, people in the corporate world, service crew in a fast-food chain, construction workers, and even the jobless and the bystanders. They all have this phone with an apple with a bite at the back. Parents would give their kikay daughters an imported phone on the latter’s birthday, saying, “You deserve nothing less, anak.”
A service crew could afford an iPhone 7 even if it meant paying a staggering thirty percent interest for twelve months. It’s truly amazing. What is funnier is that the same things provided by these imported phones can also be bought from locally made ones…for a cheaper and reasonable price.
Then we have our fellow kababayans who love to travel, as discussed earlier. They go to France to see the tall, metal structure of Paris. They travel to Hong Kong to get a seat at the Disneyland roller coaster and take a picture with Mickey and Donald.
They travel to Cambodia to see the largest religious monument in the world, to see the lovely bones of the victims of Pol Pot, and to see where the film “The Killing Fields” was taken.
They travel to London to ride The Eye, take a selfie with Big Ben in the background, walk-in Trafalgar Square, watch Ed Sheeran’s concert at Hyde Park, and experience the bloody English weather.
They travel to Kenya to pose with African children, ride a Land Rover, see the animals at the Serengeti Plain, and hunt and shoot poor antelopes for their antlers.
The farther they travel, the happier they become. As the number of countries they visit increases, they become more satisfied and proud.
The author sees no problem with these explorations and escapades for travel, which equates to education. When one travels, he has first-hand experience and account of what is happening worldwide. After all, it is the money they are spending.
What is bothering me is that while these Filipinos crave the elegance of international tourist spots, they fail to notice the grandeur of the Philippines. What about visiting Camarines Norte for surfing, Baguio for the cold weather and upland fruits and vegetables, Puerto Princesa for an underground river tour, Ilocos Norte for sand surfing, Quezon province for a series of pilgrimage, and even Intramuros for a look back at how our beloved Rizal spent his last few hours.
It is painful to see Filipinos flock to distant lands for a leisurely visit and neglect the scenic places of our realm. It is as atrocious as not wanting mom’s homemade adobo and preferring to eat at a swanky restaurant.
Why Filipinos are suckers of anything Western in the concept remains a riddle. Youngsters who play basketball in the streets of Manila are often seen wearing Nike. Yes, Nike is a company that employs minors in China. Ask them why such brand is chosen and not MSE or Natasha and you will be bombarded with answers like “It’s light, it’s durable, it’s classy, it unleashes the athleticism in me, blah, blah, blah”.
True enough, the aspect of toughness is unquestionable. The catch is that why do some kiddos and teenagers wear imitation Jordans and Kobes? I’m sure it is not a matter of the reliability of the shoes because class A’s are made with substandard materials.
The painful truth is that we are only after the brand—to be noticed, seen as prosperous, to join the bandwagon, to wear what the wealthy people wear, and, worst of all, to be accepted.
For automotive enthusiasts, purchasing a Cavite-manufactured owner-type jeep is almost taboo. A typical dad could never force his teenage daughter to be taken to school riding in a filthy owner-type jeep because, for the poor girl, it is baduy. A typical white-collar guy would not want to go to Starbucks, parking his stainless owner jeep next to Foresters and Ecosports. For sure, it will be photographed by the Conyos and it will be ridiculed for being a “fly in a glass of milk”.
Nowadays, what is cool should be the possession of pickup trucks ridden by the tough guys in Texas (even though pickup trucks are built for farms or ranches and not for urban areas like Manila), possession of a muscle car that is a prototype of what Vin Diesel used in his famous movies about racing, possession of Maserati, Ferrari, and Lamborghini even if these cars were designed only for wide freeways, something which we do not have.
Can you imagine what it is like driving a Lambo in Manila’s chaotic and narrow streets? The Philippine-made owner-type jeep is the perfect toy to roam our dilapidated streets. Again, when it comes to cars, the concept of colonial mentality overpowers our sanity.
Readers might question the author’s dislike for buying imported stuff. Critics would say, “It is our hard-earned money after all, and we have all the liberty this world has to offer when it comes to purchasing whatever we want to buy”. True enough, we are entitled to our decisions, and nobody has a right to tell us to buy this and not that, to do this and not that.
But, the underlying dangers and drawbacks of colonial mentality are as bad as self-destruction. Naïve are people who love to sport their Jordans, Ford Everest, Fire Floss from Le Couer de France, and Sperry Top-Sider without directly realizing its effect on our economy and our morality as Filipinos. By buying Jordans, we strip our local shoemakers of their chance to show their creativity, their brilliance, and their chance to earn. By buying iPhones, not Cherries and Torques, we backhandedly tell our homegrown electronics engineers, technicians, and IT experts that their toil does not merit our applause and support.
We always degrade locally made gadgets and often complain about them being difficult to use. But we should also realize that the very reason local companies could not manufacture better versions is that they lack the support of Filipinos. Should we buy their Cherries, the company would generate enough funds to upgrade their phones and tablets. Moreover, by buying Fortuners and Monteros, we are closing the doors to possibly producing our automotive brand.
If you visit the Sarao Jeep Company factory in Las Pinas, you will see how grubby and sordid the place is. Workers are without sophisticated machinery, without definite buyers, and worst, without hope. But just as dirty and blackened the hands of these patriotic workers are, Filipinos’ hands are also dirty. We can never wash our hands off the dirt of our distrust in the capability and competence of our local car makers. I wish that in my lifetime, I can drive a vehicle made in the Philippines and manufactured by Filipinos.
The damage of colonial mentality does not only extend to the economic aspect. More than currency, colonialism deeply cuts through our sense of national pride, leaving us bleeding until the death of our morality. By buying goods from other countries, the notion that the Philippines cannot produce anything good will boomerang to us, and it will haunt even our posterity.
Colonial mentality is a vulgar display of our dislike for anything Filipino, which reflects our self-hatred. But worse than patronizing anything internationally, we long to be what we are not. We Filipinos, for a long period of time, have done idiotic things to escape our beautiful identity.
We blonde our hair, we apply skin whitening lotion, we imitate the accent of the stupid newscaster from the BBC news, and we indirectly deny our being Filipinos. This reality crushes me in pieces.
We may not possess the wealth of superior countries or have those Ferrari, Aprilia, and Ducati factories regularly featured on the National Geographic Channel.
We may not have the tallest building on earth, the fastest train, or a cable ride overlooking snow-capped mountains like those in the Rockies of Denver, Colorado. We may not have a pointed nose, superior white skin, or the “bloody” British accent.
But Filipinos are superior in a different sense. We are beautiful people whose resiliency has defied and overthrown oppressors in the past.
Our soil is fertile enough to grow delicious fruits and vegetables. Despite the hardships of life, we are beautiful people who flaunt contagious and genuine smiles to encourage others.
And since we are beautiful, we can produce beautiful things in science, arts, economics, technology, and the like.
There is no need for colonial mentality, self-hatred, or distrust of our potential.
We are beautiful.
(Ronald B. Polong is a frustrated writer who removes his dentures before he sleeps and places them in an empty Cheez-Whiz bottle with water. He lives in Nueva Ecija with his wife, twin boys, a brood of roosters and hens, ducks, and an old dog.)