It’s Not Lack of Discipline
(Part 6 of the “In Defense of the Filipino” series)
URINATING on the street or against the wall, spitting in public, jaywalking, disposing of garbage anywhere, and other bad habits make anti-Filipinos conclude that we Filipinos are undisciplined and the worst citizens on earth.
For anti-Filipinos, other countries are progressive because their peoples are disciplined, neat, and courteous. When Filipinos are abroad or in Subic (the former site of a U.S. military installation), they notice that the people there are disciplined, and hence they also become disciplined. They do not urinate on the street or against the wall, spit in public, disobey traffic rules, dispose of garbage anywhere, and do other bad habits. But when they are here in the Philippines or not in Subic, they do all those bad habits.
These are very unfair accusations.
It is not because we Filipinos are undisciplined. It is because of the wrong systems imposed on us by the authorities.
Traffic education. Nobody is teaching the public about comprehensive traffic education. People of all sorts—professionals, workers, peasants, students, etc.—should be informed about traffic lights, pedestrian lanes, and walk and don’t walk signs.
The students, from the earliest grade until high school, should be brought to the streets so that they would know where, when, and how to properly cross the streets. If taught early, they would carry those rules with them all their lives.
The education department, local government units, and traffic enforcement agencies have never given the public a sufficient traffic education. It is no wonder why even professionals, corporate people, and other highly educated commit jaywalking.
Public toilets. Some men urinate on the street because there are no public toilets in many places with high concentration of people, like commercial districts. The poor man will be forced to urinate against the wall or on the street because his urinary bladder is in pains. If he does not urinate, his bladder will explode, and he will be hospitalized. Those who charge that Filipinos are undisciplined will not shoulder his medical expenses.
Everyone is aware that there are toilets in malls and movie houses, where all can go for their needs. Hence, men do not urinate on or against theater seats, theater walls, or walls of malls.
This is a very simple problem that needs a very simple solution: public toilets. But it seems that the authorities will not act on it.
Wrong systems. Residents do not dispose of their garbage properly because there are no efficient garbage collection systems. They are forced to throw their wastes anywhere, when their surroundings are already stinking.
Many individuals burn forests, butcher endangered animals, and do not know how to take care of their pets, because they do not have enough information about such things.
Other articles by Jon E. Royeca
- Why Is the Philippines A Poor Country? - January 19, 2010
- Defend the Filipino - 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
- All Nations Have Graft and Corruption - January 19, 2010
7 Responses to “It’s Not Lack of Discipline”
It’s not anti-Filipino-ism. Some of us are just frustrated at how atrociously some of our countrymen behave. We are frustrated because we want so much for this country to go to a better direction.
You’re right by saying it started with the bad system, bad governance, untrustworthy leaders and that most of our bad traits/habits are found in other cultures as well.
But I believe in equal accountability. Don’t you think each Filipino individual should be capable of deciding right from wrong? If a citizen disobeys the law, blatantly, is simply blaming the system an acceptable excuse?
Comment made on February 15th, 2010 at 3:55 pmAnti-Filipinos are people who always have something to say against Filipinos. What else should they be called?
In reaction to your other comments, here’s what I have said in the first part of this series:
Anti-Filipinos say they make those statements to awaken Filipinos to change for the better.
Is it the logical and appropriate way of correcting our mistakes? Should we Filipinos already be insulted and called names for us to change for the better?
If your aging mother becomes a little lazy in going to work because of an illness, you will not say on television or radio, “Ah, Filipinos don’t get progressive because they’re lazy! They better change for the better!” Will you?
If your son arrives late in school, you will not say on television, “Ah, Filipinos are always late!” Will you?
If your fiancée is weak in history, you will not say to others, “Filipinos have no sense of history!” Definitely not.
If your friend faces financial difficulties or is being beaten by her husband and therefore has no time to mind issues affecting the country, you will not say before her, “Filipinos don’t really care about national issues!” Will you?
If your wife steals, to correct her you will not say, “Filipinos are thieves!” Right?
And if you yourself are arrested for jaywalking (when nobody has thought you what jaywalking is), you won’t tell everyone in the police station, “Filipinos are really undisciplined!” Will you?
You will not, of course. If you say you will, there must be something wrong with you, because no one in his right senses will deride his own self, loved ones, or friends in public.
If anti-Filipinos themselves or their family, other relatives, and friends have done wrong, they will not say that Filipinos are such and such. But if they see others not related or relevant to them committing flaws, they immediately spit: “Filipinos, really!”
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It’s just not correct to make rude comments against us Filipinos to correct our mistakes and flaws. There are other ways.
Comment made on February 17th, 2010 at 12:55 pmThen we should not also expect every one of us to be prim, proper, and perfect all the time. There will always be mistakes and violations, since it is nature in the human being to commit flaws and crimes.
The best that we can do is to strive for the better, and penalize the violators of the laws directing the decency of our society.
“It is not because we Filipinos are undisciplined. It is because of the wrong systems imposed on us by the authorities.”
I have to disagree very strongly against this assumption. If Filipinos are disciplined, wrong systems or not, in Subic or outside, they will practice what a disciplined people.
You miss entirely what other nationals are saying.
Comment made on May 7th, 2010 at 8:42 pm“I have to disagree very strongly against this assumption. If Filipinos are disciplined, wrong systems or not, in Subic or outside, they will practice what a disciplined people.”
What will you do if there are no garbage trucks collecting your wastes? What will you do if you are already on the brink of urinating and there are no public toilets available?
In other countries, like China, Britain, the U.S., and Malaysia, many citizens there still violate the laws of the land (anti-spitting, anti-urinating, anti-defecating in public) because it is nature for the human being to disobey.
Russia used to have the biggest number of prisoners in the world; but since it has released many of its prisoners because of budget deficits, the U.S. has now overtaken it as having the most number of prisoners.
These countries belong to the developed world, but their citizens still violate laws.
We cannot make a perfect world. If some of us commit mistakes, it’s humanity.
Comment made on May 19th, 2010 at 12:27 pmSome filipinos are not afraid of law because law-makers itself are violators. Even if there are strict implementation against public indecency, some would still violate them because its natural for human to commit mistakes. But I observe that some filipinos have done so many bad habits that even imposing capital punishment would not change their blatant way of life. You can observe it even in a small barrios or town. They would rather urinate on the wall or grass than entering their house. Even with small occasion where toilets are at hand, some still choose to urinate outside. Some others throw a small wrapper of candies on the street though they know the effect of this to the environment. Some rather cross the road than ascend on a high overpass even if there are big sign of no jaywalking. They were’nt taught to do that. They were actually aware that its wrong. DISCIPLINE is what they’re lacking.
Comment made on May 29th, 2010 at 6:47 pmYou are right on some perspective that authorities are accountable for this wrong system imposed. But humans are human. They aren’t robot that a click on computer would automatically run. Some filipinos are really undiscipline. And, not only filipinos, other nationality also have this problem.
Not everybody thinks that filipinos are undiscipline. This anti filipinos would not change the minds of people who love the philippines. There are also more foreigners who laud filipino for their greatness and bravery. Observations of these anti filipino are actually correct on some point. They have also basis for their notion. Changing their views aren’t solve by meticulously enumerating their beliefs on writing and criticizing them but rather giving them an insights that filipinos as a whole are good person. Likewise, citing that there are really undiscipline and unscrupolous filipinos but just a few compare to the good one.
I am an American and have lived in the U.S. for the majority of my 47 years but have owned a home here in the Philippines for the last 15 years. A flaw in your story is the occurrence of these activities such as spitting and urinating in public. Does it happen in the U.S. and other western countries? Yes, of course it does! But where you error is the frequency of these type of activities. I can count on one hand how many times I have seen a grown man urinate in public in the U.S. or how many times I have seen a woman spit on a public sidewalk (I have never saw my Mother spit lol). Here I do not have enough fingers to keep track of the people I see doing these things every day. I am not trying to put anybody down because I think that this is a cultural difference and is more accepted here and in different parts of the world. In America I would never urinate in front of a crowd of people and if I did and the Police saw me doing it I would be going to jail and paying a hefty fine too. In America the people who do these thing’s are uneducated, drunkards, drug addicts, are mentally ill or are homeless. Here it is your neighbor, your teacher, your father, your business owner and on and on. In America if you urinate or spit in public you are considered ignorant and uncivilized because it is not accepted in our culture and is considered rude, vulgar and unsanitary. Here if you do those things people just giggle and say “he’s just being a Filipino” because it IS accepted. Last week I was at a very nice resort for the day swimming with my wife’s family and enjoying this beautiful country when a young boy from a very wealthy Filipino family walked over to the pool and urinated in it. They all laughed and saw nothing wrong with what the young boy did, there was a public toilet 10 meters away at the restaurant facility. So what I am saying is that until the Philippine Government does what China and Malaysia did and start a campaign to educated people and stop these things nothing will change here.
Comment made on June 4th, 2010 at 11:34 pmAnti-Filipino article writers are not filipinos themselves or better yet have serious inferiority complex.
Comment made on June 25th, 2010 at 1:14 pmLeave a Comment