Defend the Filipino
(Part 17 — last part — of the “In Defense of the Filipino” series)
NATIONS become great because their peoples aspire to be so. Greatness makes them wealthy, powerful, respected, and feared. But seeking and winning greatness is difficult, for it requires the resolute character, outlook, and will of the people to triumph against all odds.
More than 5,000 years ago, the ancient Egyptians built one of the world’s greatest civilizations, which gave humanity important contributions like plain arithmetic, algebra, geometry, a 365-day calendar, the hieroglyphics (picture writing), the papyrus (a paper-like writing material), and the pyramids, their most spectacular achievements. They were able to build that kind of civilization because they were ruled by a strong national government and they possessed national liberty or freedom from foreign subjugation.
The ancient Chinese isolated themselves from foreign powers for centuries. That isolation enabled them to build their own great civilization. Proud of their land and culture, they never bowed to other peoples. They even called other peoples “barbarians.” Their civilization gave the world the compass, paper, porcelain, silk cloth, and civil service examination.
The ancient Greeks, with less than half-a-million population, laid down the foundations of Western civilization more than 2,500 years ago. They built city-states, governments ruled by the people, and elegant buildings. They had brilliant schools, artworks, and philosophy. Their will to magnificence become so fruitful that they gave the world the concepts of democracy, reason, and beauty.
The ancient Romans improved their own society by adopting that of the Greeks. It resulted in more progress and glories for their land. They excelled in government, architecture, fine arts, language, and law by having democratic ways of life, impressive public works, splendid churches and palaces, imposing monuments, and resilient statutes.
Not satisfied with all that, they expanded their empire by conquering vast territories. For almost 700 years (500 B.C.-200 A.D.), they ruled most of Europe and the Middle East and the entire Mediterranean coast of Africa. One of their strong characters was to conquer.
The United States was a huge wilderness until the 1700’s. But its people had formed a belief toward greatness, which they called “manifest destiny.” It meant expanding their territory to as far as they could, so that they would gain more mineral and other resources. At first, the purposes of their territorial expansion were economic and to control North America only. But the desire had changed in the succeeding years. They already wanted to control the affairs of this world, directly or indirectly. They made wars with Mexico (1846-48), Spain (1898), the Philippines (1899-1903), and Vietnam (1957-75), in which after each war, they gained more territories, natural resources, and glories.
Americans have a domineering attitude. They produce nuclear bombs, but force other nations to sign treaties against developing such weapons. They accuse other nations with nuclear weapons of possibly using those weapons, when they were the first to use them (in 1945). They aim nuclear-tipped missiles against countries they perceive to be their enemies, but denounce countries which do the same to them.
Other articles by Jon E. Royeca
- Why Is the Philippines A Poor Country? - January 19, 2010
- Wrong Perceptions of Americans - January 19, 2010
- Gossips are everywhere - January 19, 2010
- Copycats? - January 19, 2010
- Colonial Mentality - January 19, 2010
- The Real ‘Filipino Time’ - January 19, 2010
- On Our Sense of History - January 19, 2010
- Crab Mentality Is Universal - January 19, 2010
- It’s Not Lack of Discipline - January 19, 2010
- All Nations Have Graft and Corruption - January 19, 2010
19 Responses to “Defend the Filipino”
me as an individual still very proud to be filipino. i believe the best defense you can muster is talk about
Comment made on February 13th, 2010 at 8:37 pmpositive aspects of your country or don’t talk at all.
talking positive will harness your hidden energy to improve
yourself. don’t entertain people that talk about negative
things…there’s a saying ” don’t wrestle with pig, it’s
dirty and she likes it”
Of course, there’s no use siding with the negative. But, if you’re a Filipino and your race is vilified, just what should a good citizen do? Defend his race.
Comment made on February 14th, 2010 at 11:35 pmDon’t be like the anti-Filipinos who are only sagacious and intrepid when facing Filipinos, but totally spineless when ranged against a foreigner, even if that foreigner is a profligate or a criminal.
By the way, Mr. Eugene Codiamat, thank you for taking time reading and reacting to these essays.
Comment made on February 14th, 2010 at 11:37 pmlol … di ka nasanay na may sumasagot sa sinulat mo ha.
Comment made on February 15th, 2010 at 8:05 ammaupay na adlaw ng kasingkasing noy.kalma ka lang noy.
diri ako kalaban.
Hey, I’m just answering your comments. I always am calm, and I love arguments.
Comment made on February 15th, 2010 at 11:41 pmWhat I find odd with you is you’re sometimes careening towards the wrong direction. Like your comments “on our sense of history.” You talk of how Americans are always informed of what’s the latest in government, in foreign policy, in sports, in computer games, etc. — when the polemic in that article is about awareness of the past.
Hey, I’m just reacting to your comments. I always am calm, and I love arguments. I’ve been used to absorbing all kinds of comments — positive or harsh.
Comment made on February 16th, 2010 at 12:13 pmWhat I find odd with you is that you’re sometimes careening towards the wrong direction. Like your comments to “On Our Sense of History.”
You vouch there that Americans are progressive because they are always aware of what’s the latest in government, in foreign policy, in sports, in movies, in computing — when the polemic of that article was about consciousness of the past.
Mister, instead of defending the wrong things Filipinos (in general) do, maybe you can work to educate them instead. I have noticed these traits you mention as a large part of the whole. Add to it the strong inclination to point the finger of blame at everyone and everything else instead of accepting that changes are needed in the minds and attitudes of a people accomplishes nothing. And really, this whole way of thinking that all foreigners are rich and should give their earnings to Filipinos is ff the scale. The 500 peso note says “The Filipino is Worth Dying For”. Surely then they must be worth salvaging with a mind makeover for the general population. That comes with work, not with the mindset that “It’s not wrong, because we are Filipino.” Come on, use a little common sense…..
Comment made on March 8th, 2010 at 2:40 pmLike what I said in one article, I am not defending the flaws that we commit.
What my articles are trying to accomplish is to challenge those anti-Filipino remarks that degrade our race, like this one: “Crimes happen only in the Philippines! And are committed only by Filipinos!”
Such comments are completely racist and untrue. We need to defend ourselves.
It is like saying that “black peoples are evil because of the diabolical color of their skin.” If blacks defend themselves, that is only the right thing to do.
I have repeated many times in my articles and in some of my comments that we should correct our mistakes and punish the violators. But to degrade our race, because of those flaws, is very wrong.
What would an American feel if someone says that the U.S. is “the world’s capital of thefts” because it has one of the biggest numbers of thieves in the world (more than 2 million arrested thieves each year — according to FBI)? He would just swallow it?
Some Americans react fiercely when they and their nation are criticized. And they charge the critics as envious, terrorists, communists, etc.
Comment made on March 9th, 2010 at 11:31 pmMaking an observation about a tendency is not “degrading our race”. We all belong to the human race, but in groups we have certain aspects as a whole, some not very pleasant. You yourself named a few things I have observed about Filipino people as a group, i.e. urinating in public, a propensity to be dishonest, to view any non-Filipino as a “free money machine” etc, etc, etc. My only thought on it is why do you defend these types of actions? Do you
Comment made on March 16th, 2010 at 8:33 pmDo you not think there is room for improvement? As for how an American reacts to these type of observations… I am an American, and will be one of the first to step up and say, “Yeah, we don’t have it right either.” As for your quote on theft in the USA, I couldn’t find it on the FBI site, but you could be right. I know there are bigger faults with my country than that, though. But the rate of crime has been dropping in the past few years, so someone is admitting it’s not right and acting to change it. If you want to bash the USA, go ahead, but start with the BIGGER problem of foreign policy, LOL.
Comment made on March 16th, 2010 at 8:41 pmFrom the FBI’s “Crime in the United States”:
1. Almost ten million American thieves each year are arrested, 70% of whom are white;
2. More than US$300 billion are lost to white-collar crimes each year.
Web site: http://www.fbi.gov/ucr
I am not bashing the U.S. or any other country. I just want to counter the lies that anti-Filipinos have been telling us — that in the U.S., there are no thieves, gossips, people who urinate or defecate on the streets, etc.
The Philippines is dependent on foreign crops, foreign dairy products, foreign medicines, foreign material goods, foreign technology, foreign technical skills, foreign investments, and foreign aid.
Given all these trappings of a Third World foreign-dependent economy, how could I ever hate other nations?
Comment made on March 20th, 2010 at 10:19 pmWHY do people think all these bad things about Filipinos
Comment made on May 18th, 2010 at 12:19 am[Brock]
As answers, the reader is advised to read the first and second parts of this series:
http://emanila.com/philippines/2010/01/19/anti-filipino-remarks/
http://emanila.com/philippines/2010/01/19/anti-filipino-remarks-colonial-legacies/
Thank you.
Comment made on May 19th, 2010 at 12:12 pmI love being a Filipino, I do believe that there is a brighter tomorrow if every Filipino desire to grow and become great in a unique way as a Filipino should manifest.It will take a greater amount of energy,but will eventually pay off.I takes commitment to analyze our own well being on what is wrong with our society and courage to change it. We should first look deeper in ourselves, on how we execute our life. Our attitudes,whether good or bad can affect the country as a whole.Everything is a process and I think, Mr. Jon E. Royeca is making his contribution.Mr Khan only complains..damn so childish and narrow mindedness. You fix yourself dude.
Comment made on May 19th, 2010 at 3:49 pmJuan:
I am really glad that there are so many people like you who still have faith in the Filipino.
We should never lose hope. Of the more than 182 countries surveyed by the IMF and WB in 2009, the Philippines is the 47th largest economy, which means that there are many countries poorer than us.
We must work hard for our one and only country. Today may not be the good times, but there will always be a good tomorrow. If all of us make our contributions, in whatever way, that tomorrow can still be achieved in our lifetime.
Thanks for reading and for the comment.
Comment made on May 22nd, 2010 at 2:23 pmAuthor, here you go again.. Who are you defending the Filipino from? Is there some great big anti-Filipino movement that I may missed? As in my previous comment, it would be more progressive if you can flip the coin and write something with a more positive flavor. For example this article could be re-written to talk about “Be Great, Filipino!” If you were tasked to teach Filipino kids who will be the future of the country, and you need to talk to them about what it means to be a Filipino, do you tell them about all the negative traits we must change, or do you tell them about the qualities that make Filipinos great?
Comment made on August 6th, 2010 at 1:12 pmFilCanadian:
Have you been to the Philippines? Perhaps you are totally unaware of those anti-Filipino remarks, which since Spanish colonial times, have thought generations of Filipinos how to scorn their own selves. That’s why I have this series. I hope you would really get the entire message.
Thank you for reading and for the comments.
Comment made on August 10th, 2010 at 12:41 pmBro. Jon,
You a are a great and amazing person, a true Filipino. I have work overseas for a long time and Filipinos are known for their ingenuity and hard work. The old Filipinos is gone, lets defend the new one.
Mabuhay ang Filipino!
Willie Sancho
Comment made on August 13th, 2010 at 12:33 pmWillie,
Mabuhay ka!
Comment made on August 17th, 2010 at 12:14 pmLeave a Comment