Everyone in the compound seemed awakened by the loud voice from the entrance. Even a nocturnal guy like me, who spends the wee hours of the morning watching tacky movies like Bruno and Borat, was moved out of bed by a man’s jovial yet familiar voice.
I was not mistaken. It was ‘Kuyang Rey” (elder brother Rey), the buddy of my father-in-law, whose loquacious nature had made the people in the “barangay”think that he was good for nothing except for gossiping.
At first, what he was saying was confusing, but everything became clear when I heard the whole conversation between him and two of my uncles.
“We already have a ‘poso‘ (manual water pump), and it was courtesy of ‘Kumpareng Andong’ (“kumpare” is loosely translated as “peer”).”
“Also, just to inform you, since my ‘kumpare‘ is running for the seat of barangay captain, everything that we request from him will be granted.”
“Mind you, people, this is our opportunity.”
Once called ‘barrio’, a barangay is the smallest administrative unit in the Philippines, headed by a ‘kapitan‘ (captain or chairman) and several ‘kagawads‘ (assistants).
All this news elicited excitement from the faces of my aunts and uncles. Some of them inquired if the candidate would be willing to donate a truckload of gravel and sand, hollow blocks, or even an entire roof for the house!
One even asked if, on the day before the election, Andong would seal his victory by giving every voter of Barangay Burgos five hundred pesos (about US$10).
Amidst the bewilderment, my cousin boasted that the other candidate could provide what this aspiring ‘barangay captain‘ could give.
‘Manong Tolome’ (the elder Tolome)can double what you’ve been receiving from your Andong,” Untoy (my cousin’s nickname) said with pride and a look that seemed to challenge Kuyang Rey.
“I heard that Manong Tolome shouldered the electric bill of the Tolentinos, provided all the bottles of beer during the birthday of Sidro, and this is the real kicker–he’s been giving a thousand pesos (US$20) to every single voter of Purok 2 (district #2) in our barangay.”
The statement caused quite a stir as well as excitement among my relatives. As for me, I was half happy to hear that Kuyang Rey’s family does not have to go to the neighbor to fetch pails of water to flush out their shit since they already have their ‘poso‘.
Although it was a big deal for them, I was sadder than happy. Ah, I almost forgot that barangay elections would again take place in a couple of weeks.
Campaign materials for the Barangay and SK elections along Roces Avenue in Quezon City on May 10, 2018. Photo by Maria Tan/Rappler
The pomp and all too sudden generosity we only witnessed from the mayoral and congressional wannabes had already seeped into the barangay level. It is just amazing, fucking amazing to witness how some kagawadand barangay chairmancandidates could provide a poso or visit a birthday celebrant’s party and shower them with a variety of gifts. They attend the funeral rites of a friend of a friend, meet and greet the elders, have pictures of them taken carrying a child or kissing a filthy old man, and whatever.
They visit you, shake your hands, and beg for your vote. Together with their so-called supporters, they roam the streets riding an ‘owner jeepney‘ equipped with loudspeakers playing a song by Inigo Pascual with modified lyrics to promote their advocacies—same old stupid scene.
What are their advocacies? It varies from very personal to general, but regardless of their advocacies, what they would do remains blurry and puzzling.
And let us not forget the one-liners of these “prominent” candidates. Their print ads read “Maaasahan mo” (Someone you can lean on), “Ipaglalaban ka” (I would fight for you), “Ang Tatay ng Barangay” (The patriarch of the barangay), “Kay Dodong, Panalo Tayo” (With Dodong, we are the winners), “Una Ka Kay Manang Tasya” (You are the priority ofElder Tasya), and other fascinating promises.
No matter how sweet and promising their one-liners are, they do not seem to meet or even exceed the standards of good governance.
The country is notorious for its corruption—down to the ‘barangay’ level
A perfect example would be the one who campaigned on the slogan that he is “someone you can lean on”. Leaning on, in the context of public service, is neither the ‘kagawad‘ who would provide the cases of beer during the birthday party of a barangay member nor the barangay chairman himself who would shoulder the sacks of cement for house construction.
“Someone to lean on” is a leader who organizes scholarship funds and livelihood programs. To ensure that the jobless are encouraged to join a business cooperative. Every barangay member is taught garbage segregation and proper disposal. That no one is seen consuming alcohol or smoking in public places, or even simply to espouse cleanliness and discipline, is to say that thebarangaychairman is genuinely someone you can lean on.
“Ipaglalaban ka” does not mean that when a person is the cause of a brawl, all he has to do is to ask for the help of kagawad, and his wrongdoings would be tolerated and that he would be defended no matter how wrong he is.
When a candidate pledges that “he would fight for you,” he will defend what is morally right even if the deed is deemed unpopular. Fighting for someone is fighting for the rights of the oppressed, whether he is your associate or not.
When someone claims that “he is the patriarch of the barangay,” he should see that his words and actions are acceptable. He should take concrete steps to maintain the health and well-being of every barangay member by integrating medical missions –just like a father who wants all his children to be healthy.
He should not take sides during barangay hearings; instead, he should punish the wrongdoer. The punishment should be like this: it comes from a concerned father who does not want his son to become the bane of the barangay. The world has too many assholes already.
While the candidates enjoy the perception that the people appreciate them for their advocacies and promises, they appear to be ignorant of the long-term needs of their constituents. They usually offer short-term and patchwork solutions to the same old problems that have been haunting and destroying Filipino values for centuries.
This is where I pity Kuyang Rey and most Filipino people. While the concept of self-reliance and the value of hard work.
A lack of money is no excuse for working-class Filipinos to rely on others, especially politicians. By giving Kuyang Rey’s family the poso, the candidate did not help him. It only made Kuyang Rey even worse.
Money for your vote.
After all, it is not the barangay chairman’s task to provide a family with a deep-well pumping machine; it is the job of the “padre de familia” (head of the family) to invest in all the essential things his family needs. It’s not the church, DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development), PCSO (Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office), or other charitable organization responsible for one’s needs, but the person himself.
Instead of the poso, a well-meaning politician would rather coordinate with the water company so that everyone in the barangay would benefit, not only a few families.
Instead of construction materials, why not gradually help the person find a decent job to build his house from sweat?
Instead of movie passes to get the teen votes, a resource speaker can be invited to the barangay hall to give English proficiency classes.
‘Poso’ is suitable for only one family, but an efficient water distribution system benefits the entire community.
A hundred-fifty hollow block is good only for Aling Bebang’s comfort room, but a job opportunity would enable every father in the barangay to build a house of his dreams.
A movie pass or two would be a temporary escape from the harsh realities of life, but an English proficiency class could equip them with confidence in finding a job.
Ah, to hell with the shallow minds of these politicians. Politics is as dirty as a charcoaled rug.
As I wrote this, my drinking buddy texted me that Andong would come to our compound tomorrow to shower us with paper bills. Lots of one depicts the face of a brilliant senator assassinated at Manila’s main airport in the early ’80s — the five-hundred peso bill.
Maybe the money is enough to buy me a pair of jeans, a cellphone ‘load‘ good for a month, or even wax and tire black for my dying jeep. After all, the entire barangay won’t even know if I sold my soul.
Nah, I’ll sleep all day tomorrow, and Kuyang Rey will never be able to wake me up, even with a megaphone.
In Manila, it is not uncommon to see mothers spending countless hours playing bingo, ‘tong-its‘ (local version of poker), or “mahjong” (an addictive Chinese tile game) while neglecting household chores.
Mothers are often oblivious to their children’s crying and unaware that they are burning the hard-earned money their husbands had brought home from scavenging or construction work. Look around; there will always be dirty kids running and playing and not giving a damn if they have taken a bath. There would also be children who, instead of attending school, must work daily to help their parents make ends meet.
Their jobs vary, ranging from digging the muddy and heavily-polluted seabed of Manila Bay to collecting pieces of metal, known as “kalakal” (merchandise), to sell at opportunistic junk shops, and carrying heavy loads of fruits and vegetables in the early hours of the day.
In the streets, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see jobless but non-disabled men on drinking sprees in front of “sari-sari” stores (a small family-operated convenience store typically attached to the house). They laugh heartily at their senseless conversations, oblivious to the fact that they might not have enough to feed their family the next day. They flaunt their big bellies, their tattooed arms, and worst of all, they brazenly display unproductiveness.
On the next block, it is also hard not to notice a group of teenagers, most thin as bamboo and nutritionally deficient like dying carnations. A few of them are playing “cara y cruz“(heads or tails), some would be smoking weed, others are snorting ‘shabu‘ (crystal meth), and some would be sniffing ‘rugby‘-filled (contact cement) plastic bags to get their highs to mask out their miseries temporarily. These youngsters are not few. Like a vicious cycle, they spawn like rabbits and would join similar ill-fated, innocent souls in sordid existence. But is it all about fate?
Take a casual walk on the streets, and you will notice how informal settlers – “squatters” – have mushroomed throughout the country, whether in urban or rural areas. The streets are where we would realize that we have not seen and experienced the worst.
Scrap materials were made into shanties occupied by as many as fifteen (15) people. They try to fit themselves in a ramshackle abode as small as a bathroom of a typical middle-class family. Here, “houses” are contraptions of recycled wood, flattened biscuit containers, plastic rice sacks, damaged tires, tarpaulins of stupid politicians or B-movie ads, and an assortment of junk.
No architectural plans, no concrete, no hollow blocks, no metal trusses, no hope.
A common sight in the urban areas of the Philippines due to overpopulation.
There will be mixed emotions on seeing the appalling living conditions of the increasing number of Filipinos. Some people would feel sorry for the plight of the children. Their parents could barely provide them with toys. There’s just one meal a day. Education is good only until the 8th grade. The house is comparable to those made for pigeons, and the breadwinner earns a whopping PHP 150 (about US$3) a day. What a fucking way to live a short life.
To observant eyes, how some parents managed to have too many children, without any means of providing them a good foundation in childhood, like regular meals, decent shelter, education, clothing, toys, playtime, etc., clearly borders on ignorance. But, regardless of how we come up with why these people are wallowing in poverty, there is only one thing clear to everyone: the Philippines has swiftly become an overpopulated hell.
The problems that stem from overpopulation are beyond count. A constant frustration is that locally produced agricultural products are consistently insufficient to feed the entire population, primarily due to a mismatch between producers and consumers. The people, as well as consumption, overpower production. Surely and steadily, more and more Filipinos are filling their pie holes with imported products, which is a bane to the economy.
Another challenge posed by population sprawl is the availability of job opportunities. Millions would compete against each other for a few job openings, creating a “dog-eat-dog” situation. Small companies tend to hire only seasoned workers and don’t prioritize new graduates.
College degrees would be useless; diplomas would be senseless. Only a handful with the skills (and the right connections and recommendations) would be lucky enough to secure employment, and the rest would be jobless, unable to support their families.
Overpopulation is a bane for any government. Three or more patients would share a filthy bed, one with tuberculosis and others with dengue fever. In the ER, individuals requiring urgent attention will have to wait. Victims of vehicular accidents would have a very slim chance of survival because only three (3) exhausted doctors are attending to twenty (20) emergency cases.
Inside the maternity ward of an overcrowded hospital in the Philippines.
The educational system is another government service that would suffer greatly due to overpopulation. How can we have quality education if one classroom holds one hundred-plus pupils? How can students focus on learning when classrooms feel like a can of sardines?
Can senior high school students comprehend solid measurement or even the basics of Algebra if their classroom is as hot as an oven toaster? How can grade ten students appreciate the epics of Homer and Ovidor the novels of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky? They do not even have a decent chair to sit in or a hygienic restroom to relieve themselves. Or perhaps a cozy library where they could immerse themselves in books and write poems?
What about the teachers? Can we expect them to be effective? By holding a class in a jam-packed room, the precious time allotted to teaching would be wasted calling attention and reprimanding the foolish ones. With a ballooning population, schools would turn into a chaotic mecca.
An elementary classroom crowded with students is typical in the Philippines.
As stated earlier, overpopulation will bring infinite aggravation. Currently, this issue troubles us, as most Filipinos are unaware of the inconvenience it brings to our economy and our future.
It is also worth noting that overextended families come from the poorest sector of the population. A friend of mine shared with me the story of a friend who has nine (9) children, with the eldest being twenty-two and unable to finish high school. The youngest is in first grade, barely bringing a meal to school because of abject poverty.
The bold, or should I say, the stupid father has no other source of income but through driving a tricycle, which he does not even own. The head of the family brings home PHP 150 (US$3) a day, and it is up to the readers to imagine how the family manages its daily expenses.
How can a financially-strapped couple summon the courage (or have the common sense) to have such a big family? Could this be attributed to the Filipinos’ penchant for the “bahala-na-ang-Diyos“(God will provide)mentality?
What could be the culprit in this vicious cycle of boundless reproduction? Is it the administration? I’m sure the government is doing all it can to educate people about family planning. For today’s youth, is it the ease of access to pornographic and lustful websites? Perhaps it could be a factor, but it is controllable. Working or not, some countries censor the Internet to filter the materials their people can see. Is it the people themselves? The root causes of overpopulation depend on many factors.
But, in the Philippines, the Catholic Church is both a powerful and unstoppable force regarding the pyramiding population.
The church is opposed to artificial contraception, and this belief dates back to the first centuries of Christianity. Such acts are intrinsically disordered because of the view that all sexual acts must be open to procreation. There was even a point when the church allowed birth control – but only through abstinence. The Vatican even released a document entitled “Vademecum for Confessors,” which stated, “the Church has always taught the intrinsic evil of contraception.”
Furthermore, the church had always pointed to the Holy Bible as it lies in Genesis 1:28, which states, “God blessed them and said, ‘Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and the animals that scurry along the ground.”
The fanatics and the “Bible warriors” do have a point, though. Who else is to govern all the blessings this world has to give but the people? Who else is to harvest the products of the fruit-bearing trees and cut the wood afterward, not minding landslides and pollution, but the people? Who else is responsible for overfishing the sea with dynamite and toxic chemicals, but the people? Who else would carve the beautiful and natural shapes of mountains and hills to get precious stones but the people? Who else hunts rare and exotic animals for money but the people?
We, the people, are commissioned by the Creator to be the stewards of nature. And, as the logic goes, we should multiply even if reproducing is limitless. Even if multiplying equates to self-destruction, isn’t it more sinful to bear when future generations have to suffer?
Who can contest the church’s uptake and exposition of inscriptions when, for a thousand years, they have been used to punish those who dare to question, to subject them to inquisitions, to tell everyone that the Creator’s grace and mercy are exclusive to those who kneel before man-made images purchased in the streets of Tayuman (a district in Manila ), and to baptize an innocent infant before he even gets a chance to choose the faith he prefers.
The Manila Cathedral in Intramuros serves as the Episcopal See of the Archbishop of Manila.
It has become our habit to follow and believe whatever the man in the white suit, whose car displays the “VERITAS” sticker, tells us. “We follow without question.” “We follow with the highest reverence.” “We follow with the fear of hell if we do not follow.”
It is amusing that after the priest chants a Latin phrase, whose significance or meaning is unknown to many of us, we instinctively respond with “amen.” And it’s ludicrous that the Filipinos, the majority of whom are Catholics, abstain from eating pork during Lent to shun extravagance, only to fill their dining tables with more expensive seafood fares like lobsters, grilled blue marlin, and giant prawns. These hypocricies make me want to fry hot dogs using floor wax.
Church crusaders should adopt a more realistic approach to addressing the growing population and the role of traditional faith. While priests are busy preaching ‘multiplication’ and procreation, overpopulation is markedly taking its toll on the Filipinos – hospitals becoming smaller, schools becoming canned sardines, job opportunities becoming elusive, and farmlands turning into subdivisions virtually overnight. While the gross domestic product (GDP) grows, our per capita income becomes smaller. And, as always, the rich become richer and the poor become poorer. Whatever!
Is this what the Creator planned our country to be? I doubt He wants most of us to live in dire poverty and disorder. I also suspect that the church accurately amplifies the Creator’s orders based on how He wants things to be. A little coherence and correction would not destroy the credibility of the church. The church should also review its stand on “procreation” in light of the changing world.
The price of enlightenment is prohibitively expensive for the country and its people, who have long been under the grip of a compelling and untouchable force.
Who would not want a new car or a new SUV? I mean, in a poverty-stricken country like the Philippines, it is very sardonic to see that while most people still complain about not having enough money to make both ends meet, the majority still quench their insatiable thirst for imported cars, be it through installment plans or cash.
Go to the nearest highway, and one would see a fleet of Fortuners, Monteros, Imprezas, Accents, and many more Japanese, American, or European cars passing by the ramshackle jeepney — pure mockery at its very best.
For coffee lovers and those who are pretending to be such, who can resist a posh place like Gloria Jean’s or Seattle’s Best for a tall, 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 really do process your cappuccino. Have you noticed how foreign coffee shops have sprouted all over the archipelago and have slowly but surely taken the place of malls, parks, fast-food chains, and even cockpit arenas?
Well, that is just coffee, let us switch to technology. When it comes to cellular phones or other gadgets, Filipinos would never ever be the last human race to use the latest Apple-manufactured piece of communication device, despite the fact that it really is expensive.
A phone is a necessity these days, but it makes me wonder why an average Pinoy (Filipino) worker, despite the daily earnings of the minimum wage, which just suits his payment for house rental, electricity, water bills, and food, opts to purchase this product of the late Steve Jobs over the cheaper phone. A 45,000-peso phone, or over 3,000 worth of a locally made phone? Come on, it’s no longer a matter of freedom or choice –it’s already wanton frolic.
English: La Loma Cemetery in Manila (1900) was used as a fort by the Filipinos, shelled by Dewey. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Apart from the purchase of imported cars, brewed coffee, and sophisticated phones, there are other things that really violate our sense of nationalism. A perfect example is Filipinos who spend their life-savings just to set foot in foreign countries for vacation.
Filipino travelers would 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 ever get to visit Singapore again, so why don’t we grab the Cebu Pacific promo?”
Visiting foreign countries and cities, rather 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 that travel agencies promote scenic areas in other countries, such as the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, and Sao Paulo Beach. They know how to flatter Filipinos because they can see through us.
There really is no accurate rationale as to why we are into anything external or foreign. The closest thing to support the notion of colonial mentality among Filipinos is that we have been conquered by a handful of colonizers. 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 hemp cloth, tortoise shells, pearls, and yellow wax of the Filipinos. The exchange of goods started as early as 960 AD, before the accidental arrival of the Spaniards in 1521.
And so it happened.
Original caption (cropped out): Native boats and outriggers. Description: (cropped out): Boats of the upper type were used to land the U.S. troops at Manila. One of those in which the Astor Battery landed sank in the surf just before reaching shore. The natives carried the men ashore on their shoulders. The lower boat is a fisherman’s craft used by the Negritos, who shoot fish in the clear water with bows and arrows. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The arrival of the European conquistadores brought a new phase and meaning to the lives and mindset of the Filipinos. We learned to integrate Spanish into our own language, even naming the Philippines after the Spanish crown prince who ultimately became king (King Philip II). Provinces in the Philippines were renamed with Spanish names, such as Nueva Ecija, Nueva Vizcaya, Laguna, Isabela, La Union,Antique, Marinduque, Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, and Valle de Compostela. Beyond this naming of places, the greatest influence the Spaniards have left us is the 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 the observance of fiestas (religious festivals), devotion, the rosary, baptism, and many more.
Along came the Americans. After the defeat of the Spaniards 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. In the early years, there were 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 solidify our pact with the “land of the free and the home of the brave“, we become more attached to their customs and traditions. Nobody can deny that the greatest contributions Americans have made are democracy and education. To cite all the things that we inherited from Uncle Joe is impossible, for they are innumerable. American influence on Filipino clothing is apparent to this day. We often see people 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, hot dogs, 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 that is 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 own 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, we have drafted our constitution dedicated to democracy, we have been blessed with job opportunities, and we have seen the ingenuity of many of our fellow countrymen in the fields of business, the arts, academe, and even sports. When accumulated, these things would foster national pride and patriotism. But the “accumulation” never happened in the Philippines.
English: Depiction of the flag of the Philippines, as conceived by Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo. Created with Inkscape. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Nationalism and patriotism are things 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.
By despising imported goods, Japan was able to produce its own products in the fields of automobiles, heavy industries, and gadgets. Everyone is definitely familiar with brands such as Toyota, Mitsubishi, Honda, Nissan, Subaru, Yamaha, Kawasaki, Sony, Sanyo, and the list goes on and 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 bandwagon culture is a cliché: 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, for 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 isn’t about durability or longevity.
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 in selling cars to us. And the business is so good that everywhere you turn, there will always be car casas (dealerships) 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 the reason beyond practicality – that they work near their residence and they 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. In a fast-paced world, people need smartphones for easy access to email, messages, and important and unimportant calls. We are not Amish people whose contentment rests on their shrugging at what is contemporary. But while it is clear to us Filipinos the value of gadgets, particularly cellphones, it remains an enigma why we settle for expensive, imported brands. Is it the speed? I bet locally made phones are just as fast at processing. Is it the phone’s user-friendliness? I’m certain it is also easy to write text messages on My Phone, Torque, and Cherry Mobile. 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 students, people in the BPO industry, people in the corporate world, service crew at a fast-food chain, construction workers, and even the jobless and bystanders. They all have this phone with an apple with a bite taken out of it on the back. Parents would give their kikay daughters an imported phone on the latter’s birthday, saying, “You deserve nothing less, anak (my daughter)”. A service crew would avail of an iPhone 7 even if it meant paying for it over the full 12 months at a staggering 30% interest rate. Truly amazing. What is funnier is that the same features found in these imported phones can also be found in locally made ones… at a reasonable, lower price.
Then we have our fellow kababayans (countrymen) who love to travel, as discussed earlier. They go to France to see that tall, metal structure in Paris. They travel to Hong Kong to ride the roller coaster at Disneyland 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 filmed.
They travel to London to ride The Eye, to have a selfie with Big Ben in the background, to walk at Trafalgar Square, to watch the concert of Ed Sheeran at Hyde Park, and to feel the bloody English weather. They travel to Kenya to pose with African children, ride a Land Rover, see animals on the Serengeti Plain, and hunt and shoot poor antelopes to get their antlers. The farther they travel, the happier they become. As the number of countries they have visited increases, they become more satisfied and proud.
Ancient Filipinos utilized terrace farming to grow crops in the steep mountainous regions of the northern Philippines. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The author sees no problem with these explorations and escapades, for travel equates to education. When one travels, they gain firsthand experience and accounts of what is really going on around the world. After all, it is their money they are spending. What is bothering 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 for upland fruits and vegetables, Puerto Princesa for an underground river tour, Ilocos Norte for sand surfing, Quezon province for a series of pilgrimages, and even Intramuros for a look back at how our beloved Jose Rizal (the country’s national hero) spent his last few hours.It is painful to see Filipinos flock to distant lands for leisurely visits and neglect the scenic places in our own realm. It is as atrocious as not wanting mom’s home-made adobo and preferring to eat at a swanky restaurant.
Why Filipinos are suckers for anything that is Western in concept remains a riddle. Youngsters who play basketball in the streets of Manila are often seen wearing Nike. Yes, Nike, the company that employs minors in China. Ask them why such a 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: why do some kiddos and teenagers wear imitation Jordans and Kobes? I’m sure it is not a matter of the shoes’ reliability, because class A’s are made with substandard materials. The painful truth is that we are only after the brand – to be noticed, to be seen as prosperous, to be on the bandwagon, to wear what the wealthy people wear, and worst of all, to be accepted.
For automotive enthusiasts, it is almost taboo to purchase a Cavite-manufactured owner-type jeep. A typical dad could never force his teenage daughter to be taken to school in a filthy owner’s jeep because for the poor girl, it is baduy. A typical white-collar guy would not want to go to Starbucks, parking his stainless steel owner jeep next to Foresters and Ecosports. For sure, it will be photographed by the Conyos and ridiculed as a “fly in a glass of milk”.
Nowadays, what is cool should be the possession of pick up trucks ridden by the tough guys in Texas (even though pick up trucks are built for farm or ranch 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 the chaotic and narrow streets of Manila? The Philippine-made owner-type jeep is really 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 of 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 people who love to sport their Jordans, Ford Everest, Fire Floss from Le Couer de France, and Sperry Top-Sider without directly realizing their effect on our economy and our morality as Filipinos. By buying Jordans, we strip our local shoemakers of the chance to show their creativity, brilliance, and earn a living. By buying iPhones rather than Cherries and Torques, we are, backhandedly, telling 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 we often complain that they are difficult to use. But we should also recognize 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 door to producing our own automotive brand.
If you visit the Sarao Jeep Company factory in Las Pinas, you would see how grubby and sordid the place is. Workers are without sophisticated machinery, without definite buyers, and, worst of all, 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 of the dirt of our distrust in the capability and competence of our local car makers. How I wish that in my lifetime, I would be able to drive a vehicle made in the Philippines and manufactured by the Filipinos.
The damage of the colonial mentality does not only extend to the economic aspect. More than currency, colonialism deeply cuts through our sense of national pride, which will leave 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 international, we are already longing 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 into pieces.
We may not possess the wealth of superior countries, we may not have those Ferrari, Aprilia, and Ducati factories that are regularly featured on the National Geographic Channel. We may not have the tallest building on earth, the fastest train, or the cable ride overlooking the snow-capped mountains like those in the Rockies near Denver, Colorado. We may not have the pointed nose, the so-called superior white skin, or the “bloody” British accent.
But Filipinos are superior in a different sense. We are a beautiful people whose resiliency has defied and thrown oppressors in the past. We are a beautiful people whose soil is fertile, enabling us to grow delicious fruits and vegetables. We are beautiful people who, despite the hardships of life, flaunt a contagious and genuine smile to encourage others. And since we are beautiful, it is not impossible for us to produce beautiful things in the field of science, arts, economics, technology, and the like.
There is no need for a 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, of course. He currently lives in Nueva Ecija with his wife, three boys (two are twins), a brood of roosters and hens, ducks, and an old dog.)
