All Nations Have Graft and Corruption

(Part 5 of the “In Defense of the Filipino” series)

GRAFT and corruption is the act of stealing or transacting illegally public or private funds for personal gains. This is a global practice and is as old as humanity.

Tanaka Kakuei was forced to resign as Japan’s prime minister after having been accused of accepting bribes from the American-owned Lockheed Aircraft Corporation when he was in office in 1972-74. It was said that he and other senior Japanese officials had received US$12.6 million in bribes to favor Lockheed’s contract sales worth US$700 million. Although he was arrested, he remained as the leader of Japan’s biggest political party until he was convicted in 1983. (more…)

All Races Have Thieves

(Part 4 of the “In Defense of the Filipino” series)

ALL races have thieves. There is no race or nation that doesn’t have them. Stealing tempts humans, and anyone can be tempted, but most overcome such temptation.

Thefts. In the United States in 2003, there were one larceny/theft every 4½ seconds, one burglary every 15 seconds, one motor vehicle theft every 25 seconds, and one robbery every 1¼ minutes, or more than ten million cases of stealing.

There were 413,402 robbery offenses estimated at US$514 million, or an average dollar loss of US$1,244 per offense; 2,153,464 burglaries estimated at US$3.5 billion, or an average dollar loss of US$1,626 per incident; 7 million cases of larceny-thefts worth US$4.9 billion, or an average value of US$698 per offense; and 1.3 million motor vehicle thefts estimated at US$8.6 billion, or an average dollar loss of US$6,797 per offense.

Of the robbery cases, 41.8 per cent were done with the use of firearms; 39.9 per cent with hands, fists, and feet; 8.9 per cent with knives or cutting instruments; and 9.4 per cent with other weapons.

Of the burglary incidents, 62.4 per cent were forcible entry, 31.2 per cent were unlawful entry, and 6.3 per cent were attempted forcible entry. 65.8 per cent took place at residences, and 62 per cent of residential burglaries happened at day.

Larceny-thefts accounted for 67.3 per cent of the estimated 10.4 million property crimes. The largest portion of these cases (26.4 per cent) involved motor vehicle thefts.

Law enforcement agencies made an estimated 13.6 million arrests in the entire country. These did not include traffic violations. Of those arrested, 70.6 per cent were white (Crime in the United States, 2003, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Reporting).

In 2004, 27 of the major U.S. retailers apprehended 689,340 shoplifters, up 4.86 per cent from the 657,414 apprehended shop-lifters in 2003 (Jack L. Hayes International’s 2004 17th Annual Retail Theft survey). Of those shoplifters, 64 per cent were white (Crime in the United States, 2003).

In Canada, there are about 150,000 incidents per day of shoplifting, which is now the country’s number one crime property. Losses are put at US$3 billion a year (Shoplifting Prevention, anti-shoplifting strategies.htm).

Italy has the world’s largest collection of cultural treasures.  Unsurpassed by any other country are its 100,000 churches; 3,500 museums; 9,100 archeological sites; 40,000 castles; and 30,000 archives. Italians are extremely worried because of bombers, thieves, and arsonists who plague those treasures. The Italian government spends US$100 million yearly for fire alarms, security systems, and training to protect at least 1,000 sites (AP, October 4, 1997).

White-collar crimes. White-collar crimes include bribery, extortion, black mail, embezzlements, counterfeiting, money laundering, forgery, and frauds in banking, bankruptcy, mail, insurance claims, tax payments, and credit card transactions.

In a survey in 2005, three-quarters of Swiss companies claimed that they had been victimized by white-collar crimes, costing them SFr8 billion (US$6.3 billion) annually. Deception offenses topped the crimes, followed by bribery and corruption, data theft, copyright violation, and sabotage or hacking and falsifying annual results or financial information. The Federal Police Office estimated that these crimes would amount to up to four percent of the country’s gross domestic product (“White collar crime widespread in Switzerland,” swissinfo, August 10, 2005).

In Japan, white-collar crimes such as fraud and embezzlement reached 89,879 from January to November 2004, a 37 per cent increase over the same period in 2003, reported the newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun (UPI, December 17, 2004).

In the United States, white-collar crimes amount to US$300 billion yearly (Crime in the United States, 2003).

In 2002, looting company funds, which caused losses of more than US$60 billion to investors, led to the arrest of the chief executives of Adelphia Communications, the sixth biggest cable company in the U.S. (AP, July 26, 2002).

Two former executives of WorldCom Inc. were also arrested for hiding US$3.8 billion in company expenses from investors and for helping push the telecommunications giant into bankruptcy (AP, August 3, 2002).

Throughout 2002, massive accounting fraud costing more than US$50 billion were discovered among U.S. corporate giants like Enron Corporation, Merck, Reliant Resources, Xerox, Rite Aid, Tyco International, Waste Management, Global Crossing, CMS Energy Corporation, Dynegy, Qwest Communications International, and ImClone Systems.

In December 2005, the U.S. Department of Justice ordered the South Korea-based Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., the world’s largest maker of memory chips for computers and other gadgets, and its U.S. subsidiary, Samsung Semiconductor Ltd., to pay a US$300 million fine to settle accusations that it secretly conspired with industry rivals to fix prices and cheat customers.

The justice department had earlier also ordered Samsung’s rivals, Hynix (another Korea-based company) and Infineon Technologies AG (of Germany), to pay US$185 million and US$160 million, respectively, for the same offenses (AP, December 16, 2005).

In 1999, the U.S. government imposed the biggest criminal anti-trust fine thus far—US$500 million—on Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., the giant Switzerland-based pharmaceuticals firm, because of a vitamins-related case (ibid.).

In Britain, fraud and forgery cost £14 billion, and burglary, £2.7 billion each year. In a survey in 2003, more than 60 per cent of the people in England and Wales confessed that they had cheated in insurance claims and tax payments, or did not return extra change.

Of those surveyed, 34 per cent paid cash to avoid tax, 32 per cent kept extra charge, 18 per cent took item from work, 11 per cent avoided paying TV license, and 11 per cent wrongly used identity cards. These are the leading white-collar crimes in England and Wales (“White collar crime sweeps Britain,” BBC News, bbc.co.uk, September 12, 2003).

Don’t Lose Trust. Anti-Filipinos claim that Filipinos cannot love and be proud of our country because there are thieves among ourselves. If that is so, then what race or country will Filipinos love when every race or country has thieves?

Then, some people say they no longer trust their fellow Filipinos because they have been robbed or victimized in one way or another. This is unfair.

Those people do not realize that the food they eat, the clothes they wear, the money they earn, the public works they use, the entertainment shows they watch, and many other things that they enjoy come from the sweats of their fellow Filipinos. They benefit more from their fellow Filipinos, than lose to some people.

If they go to other countries and are victimized there, would they also lose their trust in the citizens of those countries? They must bear in mind that there are thieves in every race and nation.

If some people of our race or from other races victimize us, we must not lose our trust in our fellow human beings. Let us accept the fact that there are good and bad things in this world. We must weigh both sides, not just the bad ones.

If we are victimized, we should apply measures to avoid or fight crimes and the criminals. No one should lose trust in others.

Note: Crime statistics of all countries can not be included here, and so readers interested in them should consult useful researches and Web sites such as: the United States Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics; the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute; PricewaterhouseCoopers’s Global Economic Crime Survey; the United Nations Survey of Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems; United Nations data published by Nation Master.com; and many more.

Filipinos are Industrious

(Part 3 of the “In Defense of the Filipino” series)

FILIPINOS are industrious—this fact is proven by the millions of them who work, sweat, and toil in their land of birth or in other countries.

Before the rooster crows, the Filipino farmer is already up to prepare for farming. In the fields, while under the heat of the sun or in the cold rain, he tills the land and plants the seedlings. Then he waters and protects those seedlings from pests. During the reaping, he is glad to measure his harvests, which are the fruits of his hard work.

The three main crops of the Philippines are rice, corn, and sugar cane. Annually, there are about 14 million metric tons (MT) of rice harvests, four million MT of corn harvests, and two million MT of sugar cane harvests, for a total of 20 million MT, which are worth P250 billion. Ten million hectares of lands for these three products are being tilled and planted by the Filipino farmers.

In the coconut industry, the Filipino farmer is already tested. Each year, the total harvests of coconut products like coconut oil, copra meals, desiccated coconuts, and oleo chemicals reach three million MT. The Philippines is the world’s biggest exporter of coconut products; its share in the world market is almost 65 per cent.

Coconut exports per year are worth US$750 million. In 1997, it reached US$920 million. In 1995, the country’s biggest coconut export revenue was generated—US$1.092 billion. Each year also, almost one million coconut seedlings are planted.

Products like beef, pork, poultry, vegetables, fruits, cultured fish, abaca, and coffee also depend on the Filipino farmers. The fish and seafood industry rely on the Filipino fishermen.

The nation’s total agricultural output is worth more than P400 billion each year. Because of the diligence, perseverance, and sweat of the Filipino farmers and fishermen, the country has food.

The Filipino miners dig the mountains and other sites for gold, nickel, silver, copper, gypsum, zinc, chromites, and other minerals. They also mine sulfur, silica, clay, limestone, marble, phosphate, precious stones, natural gas, and petroleum.

The Filipino industrial workers perform well in electronics, or the making of semiconductors and microcircuits, which are integral components of computers, television, radio, radar, medical and electrical equipment, and other devices. Yearly, they export more than US$30 billion worth of electronics products. This is the country’s biggest export.

The Filipino industrial workers also produce garments, textiles, shoes, leather, rubber, automotive parts, canned foods, furniture, handicrafts, and more. The country’s annual total exports are worth more than US$50 billion.

The Filipino teachers, physicians, nurses, dentists, lawyers, judges, and employees manage our schools, hospitals, clinics, courts, and offices. The policemen are tasked to protect the lives and properties of the citizens, and to maintain peace and order in the communities. The defense of the sovereignty and territory of our republic is vested on our soldiers.

The Filipino accountants, clerks, bookkeepers, and auditors run our banks, corporations, companies, stock markets, and foreign exchange markets. They analyze the capitals, credits, exchanges of goods and currencies, insurance, accounting, and auditing.

The Filipino computer scientists and programmers are the ones behind our electronic commerce, information technology, and computerized system in these modern times.

The Filipino journalists write or broadcast news, features, and editorial about the current events in our country and the world.

The Filipino engineers, architects, and technicians direct the designing, construction, and maintenance of our roads, bridges, canals, dams, irrigation systems, tunnels, buildings, airports, piers, and railroads; electricity; telecommunications; and factory machinery; and the manufacture of automotive and appliances like television, radio, refrigerator, electric fan, air conditioner, washing machine, flat iron, and cooking stove.

The Filipino chemists and chemical engineers supervise the making of food products like milk, chocolates, ice cream, candy, cheese, margarine, and mayonnaise; beverages; medicines; chemical products like toothpaste, soap, shampoo, deodorant, cosmetics, and detergents; and petroleum, fertilizers, powder, and explosives.

Working together with the professions, industries, and government are the carpenters, masons, electricians, pipe fitters, mechanics, postmen, bakers, cooks, sellers, drivers, tailors, carvers, gardeners, utility personnel, cleaners, agents, collectors, and hired-outs, and those in the factories, printing shops, laboratories, hospitals, pharmacies, malls, hotels, restaurants, taverns, music bars, parks, film outfits, theaters, carnivals, telecommunication stations, harbors, airports, gasoline outlets, worship houses, and many others.

If they cannot find livelihoods in their own land, many Filipinos go abroad. Almost ten million have already been to other countries. They leave their loved ones, go to places whose cultures and ways of living they do not know, and take whatever work to earn for the food, clothing, housing, education, medication, and future of those they leave behind. They endure all the hardships so that they and their loved ones would be able to live with dignity and hope. They remit more than US$15 billion each year.

It is not true that Filipinos are indolent. Those who say that we are indolent are people who despite having an education remain narrow-minded, and people who because of lack of education are indeed narrow-minded. Because of their narrow minds, they cannot think of the millions of Filipinos who work. Just because they see some people dozing the hours away or doing nothing for failing to find jobs, they immediately say that Filipinos are lazy. The fault of some is already hurled against the entire race.

We Filipinos are industrious. And we ourselves are the witnesses to our daily work, sweating, and toiling in our country or in other lands.

Statistics sources: National Statistics Office, Bureau of Agricultural Statistics, and Philippine Coconut Authority.

Anti-Filipino Remarks: Colonial Legacies

(Part 2 of the “In Defense of the Filipino” series)

The anti-Filipino remarks are living vestiges of the Spanish and American colonization of the Philippines. We have been made to believe that we are an awful race. We have been made to believe—because it is not natural for any person to degrade himself.

This world’s colonizers—Spanish, Portuguese, British, French, Dutch, Germans, and Americans—thought that they were the superior races, and thus they belittled and insulted their subjects, especially the Asians and Africans. They considered blacks as the mud race or lower species with diabolical color and features.

Books of the 19th and early 20th centuries, written by white scholars, described that blacks were beings of lower intelligence who would do nothing but steal and think of nothing but sex.

Until now, in the United States, Canada, Latin America, and Europe, where the whites are the majority, whites are still afraid of blacks because they think that blacks are people who will always steal, rape, and murder.

Germans are very racist. During World War II, they conquered neighboring countries, for they believed that they were the master race. They also slaughtered six million Jews, since for them those beings were demonic offspring whose deaths they only deserved.

Our country was ruled by Spain (1565-1898), Great Britain (1762-1764), the United States (1898-1946), and Japan (1942-1945). The British and Japanese invasions cannot be considered colonization because each was only a brief military rule. Foreign colonization is not only the rule by one country of another country, but it is also the complete subjugation of the ruled people—physically and morally—for a long time.

Origin of Anti-Filipino Remarks. Ancient Filipinos were civilized. They had strong family ties, tribal communities, local governments, judiciary, social classes, traditions, marriage customs, writing systems, literature, festivals, rituals, religions, farming, livestock, fisheries, mining, and local and foreign trade. They were skilled in the production of pottery, textiles, garments, beverages, woodcarvings, furniture, jewelry, weapons, cannons, and ships.

The Spaniards destroyed their civilization so that they would become subjects of the Spanish kingdom, the Spanish colonial interests, and the Roman Catholic Church. Those who opposed by continuing their old ways were considered pagans and enemies, and therefore needed to be subdued militarily.

The Spaniards saw that when compared with the natives, they looked different. They had white complexion, different hair colors (blonde, red, brown, or black), and commanding stature, while the Filipinos had brown complexion, black hair, black eyes, and lesser height. The Spaniards developed a superiority complex because of their physical appearance. They sensed that since they looked like gods and goddesses, they should only be adored, served, and worshiped.

That superiority complex made them to habitually scorn the Filipinos, their physical features, and all things related to them, thereby instilling into the Filipino mind that being a Filipino was a ridiculous matter. That Spanish superiority complex is the origin of the anti-Filipino remarks.

The word indio means an Oriental person, but the Spaniards made it a derogatory term to describe the Filipino. For them, indios (Filipinos) meant savages, pigs, and undeserving of respect.

Our national hero, Jose Rizal, proved that as early as 1600, the Spanish colonizers were already practicing the anti-Filipino remarks. He wrote:

“You, the youth of today, especially the Christians, are being wisely educated to despise your past, your race, beliefs, and traditions so that seeing yourselves constantly being humbled and keeping before your eyes your own inferiority, you will obediently place your neck under the yoke and become slaves” (Rizal’s Prose, Centennial Edition, Manila: Jose Rizal Centennial Edition, 1962, p. 166).

“What was eaten is what will be belched,” said Filipino historian Teodoro Agoncillo.

Our ancestors belched what were fed to them: They raised their offspring in the Spanish-concocted negative remarks about them. Thus, new generations of Filipinos arose: generations that ridiculed and were ashamed of themselves.

In his novels Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not) and El Filibusterismo (Subversion), Rizal portrayed such generations in characters like Doña Victorina, who loved saying: “I hate indios! They are savages! I wish there were no indios in the world!”

Doña Victorina was an indio, but she passed herself off as a pureblooded Spaniard, pretending that she was perfect in Spanish and did not know Tagalog, her native tongue.

Indolent. That Filipinos are indolent is one of the anti-Filipino remarks that the Spaniards triumphantly created.

It was the Filipinos who plowed the lands, while the Spanish landlords came only during harvest time to collect unlawful taxes from them. It was Filipinos who built forts, government buildings, churches, roads, highways, bridges, schools, galleons, and other public works. The Spanish authorities, friars, and lay citizens were only watching and forcing them to work. They would:

“… employ the Indio in building houses and large vessels, grinding rice, cutting wood, and carrying it all to their houses to Manila and then pay them little or nothing for their labor” (Antonio A. Morga, “Reports of Conditions in the Philippine Islands,” Emma Blair and James Robertson, The Philippine Islands 1491-1898, Cleveland: Arthur H. Clark Company, 1903-1909, Vol. X, p. 96).

It was also the Filipinos who cooked for and fanned their Spanish masters, while the latter were having siesta (after-lunch nap), merienda (snack), or lamierda (promenade). It was they who slaved as muchachos y muchachas (servants), while their masters had all the luxurious life styles. It was they who worked for their masters, yet their masters still called them indolent.

Rizal argued that the indio would really be idle because of harsh climates, disasters, pests, lack of support and incentives from the government, and the unfair sharing of income—he tilled the land but most of his harvests went to his Spanish landlord (Political and Historical Writings, Centennial Edition, Manila: National Heroes Commission, 1964, pp. 227-265).

In the Noli, Rizal depicted how the Spaniards reviled Filipinos for being indolent. The domineering Spanish friar Father Damaso glorified the anti-Filipino Spanish bashing that “you can find no other indolent in the world like the indio” (offset printing of the first edition published in Berlin, Germany, in 1887, Centennial Edition, Manila: Comisión Nacional del Centenario de José Rizal, 1961, p. 6).

That the Filipino was indolent was a common verbal abuse during the Spanish colonial days. Because it was a daily expression, it became institutionalized in the Filipino consciousness. It became part of the Filipino in thinking and believing about himself.

From this verbal abuse arose the Juan Tamad (John the Indolent) myth, where the Filipino is likened to an indolent and useless person. The Spaniards were so successful in portraying Juan Tamad as the very character of the Filipino, for until now, many people still believe that the Filipino is really very lazy and useless, despite his industry and perseverance.

Thieves. That we Filipinos are thieves is another heartbreaking accusation that the Spanish colonizers created to degrade our race.

Two Chinese writers, Chao Ju-kua and Wang Ta-yuan, included in their accounts in 1225 and 1349, respectively, that ancient Filipinos were honest traders (Gregorio F. Zaide, ed., Documentary Sources of Philippine History, Metro Manila: National Bookstore, Inc., 1990, Vol. I, pp. 7-8, 10-11). Merchants from China, Borneo, Vietnam, Cambodia, Siam (Thailand), Java, Sumatra, Celebes, Japan, India, Arabia, and others profited significantly and kept returning to the country.

Ancient Filipinos exchanged their gold, fabric, cotton, wax, pottery, pearls, tortoise shells, betel nuts, and food for the porcelain, silks, glassware, and other goods of the foreigners. When they ran out of items with which to buy such products, they promised to pay for them when those foreign traders returned. When the foreign traders came back, they were surprised because the Filipinos still remembered them and paid their dues.

The taxes that the Spanish colonizers collected from Filipinos were heavy, but little was done for the people’s welfare and progress. Where those taxes went was no longer a wonder for many then. Spanish officials, friars, and ordinary citizens were poor when they arrived in the Philippines, but had gotten rich when they returned to Spain or when they retired here.

The Spaniards created the remark that Filipinos were thieves because they were looting the country’s wealth and grabbing the Filipinos’ lands and products of labor—in broad daylight. They had to accuse as thieves those whom they robbed.

It was also in their character to generalize the entire race for the mistakes of some. For example, in 1521, some natives of Guam stole a boat belonging to Ferdinand Magellan’s expedition. Magellan and his men were able to retrieve it after a fatal fight. Because of that stealing, Magellan called Guam and the other nearby islands Islas de Ladrones or Islands of Thieves (Antonio de Pigafetta, “First Voyage Around the World,” ibid., pp. 109-110).

The Spaniards did the same here. They carved in the Filipino thinking that Filipinos were thieves, just because some individuals stole.

The Rise of the Filipino. 1872 was a crucial year in Philippine history. On the night of January 20 that year, there was a mutiny in Cavite, which the Spanish government decisively crushed.

Many famous Filipinos got implicated in this revolt, including the priests Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora, who were actively promoting religious reforms in the country. In a court martial, the priests were found guilty of inciting that uprising and were sentenced to die. They were garroted on the morning of February 17, 1872, in the Bagumbayan Field, Manila.

That execution developed in young Filipinos a sense of nationalism. In the 1880’s, youth like Rizal, Graciano Sanciangco, Antonio Paterno, Graciano Lopez Jaena, Marcelo Del Pilar, and Trinidad Pardo de Tavera went to Europe to study and campaign for reforms in the Philippines. In a letter to compatriot Mariano Ponce in 1889, Rizal said:

“Without 1872, there would not be now either a Plaridel, or Jaena, or Sanciangco, or would there exist brave and generous Filipino colonies in Europe; without 1872, Rizal would be a Jesuit and, instead of writing the Noli Me Tangere, would have written the opposite” (Rizal’s Correspondence with Fellow Reformists, Centennial Edition, Manila: National Heroes Commission, 1963, p. 321).

Those youth excelled in the fields of journalism, literature, oration, painting, sculpture, and scholastic studies to call the attention of the Spaniards in Spain and other Europeans about the faulty conditions in the Philippines.

In his essay La Verdad para Todos (The Truth for All), published in 1889, Rizal retold the repercussions of 1872:

“The educated Filipinos, the liberals, who increase everyday thanks to persecutions, and we the Filipino youth in Europe who have dedicated our strength to the benefit of the country, we guarantee it. They could stimulate another uprising, like that of Cavite, and cut off the throats of so many educated heads, but from the blood thus spilled will sprout more numerous and fresher shots. Before the catastrophe of 1872[,] there were fewer thinkers, fewer anti-friars. They sacrificed innocent victims[,] and now you have the youth, women, girls, embracing the same cause” (Political and Historical Writings, p. 91).

The effects of 1872 alarmed the Spanish authorities in the Philippines. They saw young, energetic, and patriotic Filipinos asking for a better colony. They deemed such moves dangerous, and thus they had to arrest them. They had to paralyze the emergence of the Filipino.

Character assassination. The assassination of the Filipino character was one sure way to do it. They hired Spanish journalists and writers like Pablo Feced, Vicente Barrantes, Patricio de la Escosura, and Wenceslao Retana to wage damaging campaigns against Filipinos in newspapers, books, and other writings.

These Spaniards made fun of the Filipinos by calling them beasts, monkeys, carabaos, and incapable of learning and virtues. They added more to the already-existing anti-Filipino remarks that Filipinos were savages, indolent, and thieves.

They wrote that the indio was “a creature something more than the monkey but less than a man, an anthropoid, dull-witted, imbecile, exceedingly homely, dirty, meek, smiling, ill-dressed, indolent, vicious, lazy, brainless, unmoral, etc.” (quoted by Rizal in his essay Sobre la indolencia de los Filipinos [On the Indolence of the Filipinos], ibid., p. 258).

Friars were also employed. Father Miguel Lucio Bustamante wrote in 1885 the narrative Tandang Basiong Macunat (Stingy Old Basio), which became a required reading for Filipino Catholics. In it, he theorized that since the indio did not deserve learning, he must only be tied to his carabao forever. Most of the Filipinos then were Catholic, and they read this book.

The friars also told that the indios “belong to an inferior race” and that they “haven’t any energy” (ibid., p. 260). Filipinos would only belch what were fed to them.

The Filipino-loving Rizal said that because the Filipinos were insulted, they:

“… declined, degrading themselves in their own eyes; they became ashamed of what was their own; they began to admire and praise whatever was foreign and incomprehensible; their spirit was dismayed and it surrendered. …

“Having reached this low ebb of moral degradation, this dismay, this disgust of themselves, the inhabitants of these Islands were ready for the coup de grace [deathblow] calculated to destroy totally their will-power and their dormant minds, to convert them into brutes and beasts of burden, a humankind without brains and without hearts. Then the race was openly insulted, denying it possessed any virtue, any human quality[;] and there were even writers and priests who went further in alleging that the people of this country had no capacity not only for virtue but also for vice” (ibid., p. 131).

Because of those insults fed to him, the Filipino had lost his dignity and self-esteem. He had become disgusted with himself and anything associated with him.

Divide and rule. During Spanish rule, local revolts were common because of the atrocities that the Spaniards committed. Heavy taxation, forced labor, land grabbing, murder, rape, loss of ancient religions, and severe punishments enticed Filipinos to rise in arms. There were dozens of local revolts throughout the archipelago from 1565 until 1896.

Because of those revolts, the Spaniards applied the divide-and-rule policy. They sowed discord among the Filipinos—regions against regions—to keep them from being united as a nation. If divided, the Filipinos would remain weak, and so the colonizers would not have difficulty in ruling them.

If there was a rebellion in Bohol, for example, the Spaniards would haul Ilocano and Tagalog warriors to suppress it. The Filipino was pitted against his fellow Filipino.

On the way to Bohol, the Spaniards, using psychological tactics, narrated stories to the Ilocanos and Tagalogs that they were going to suppress a haughty and murderous people. When they left Bohol after quelling the revolt there, the Ilocanos and Tagalogs were also told that God was with them because they suppressed those haughty and murderous demons.

For more than three hundred years, the Spaniards fabricated stories maligning regional tribes: that Ilocanos were arrogant, that Pampangueños were ingrates, that Caviteños were envious, that Cebuanos were boastful, that Warays were amok, that Ilonggos were showy, and so on. They carved into the Filipino mind those character assassinations of the regional Filipino.

This divide-and-rule policy that the Spaniards applied was also very successful, for until now, many regions still think that other regions cannot to be trusted because they are arrogant, ingrates, envious, boastful, amok, showy, and so on.

Andres Bonifacio, the father of the Philippine Revolution against Spanish rule, in his essay Ang Dapat Mabatid Nang Manga Tagalog (What the Filipinos Should Know), proved and lamented it all:

“… [F]or over 300 years, we have been supplying (the wants) of the race of Legaspi with largesse and have enriched them with abundance, despite the hunger and privations that we ourselves have suffered. We have wasted our wealth and blood and even given our lives in their defense; we have even fought our compatriots who would not willingly submit to their yoke” (Epifanio de los Santos, The Revolutionists, Manila: National Historical Institute, 1993, p. 100).

General Emilio Aguinaldo, the country’s first president, also deplored the Spanish abuses of the Filipinos. In a proclamation issued on October 31, 1896, he said:

“The Spaniards, conquerors of this beloved land, accuse us of ingratitude and claim that, after they had civilized us, we would now express our gratitude to them by impairing their authority; this is a false and misleading argument. For the civilization brought to these Islands by Spain during the lapse of three centuries is superficial and, fundamentally, vicious, for she has tried to keep the masses in ignorance, to extinguish the fire that burns in the hearts of a group of Filipinos who, for no reason other than they are educated[,] are the victims of persecution by the government. As a result, many have been deported and other tyrannies have been practice[d]. Moreover, in compensation for the great benefits we have received during three centuries, has not Spain been rewarded by our very blood and sweat—Spain which, not satisfied with shamelessly exploiting us, to our face calls us carabaos, drones, monkeys, and other vile epithets?” (June 12, 1898 and Other Related Documents, Manila: National Historical Institute, 1998, pp. 9-10).

Racial pride. The Spaniards could not believe that despite their campaigns against them, the Filipinos still continued their pursuits of reforms, progress, and finally independence.

When already cornered in Manila at the peak of the revolution from June to August 1898, they would rather eat dogs, cats, and rats; go thirsty; and die of hunger than surrender to the Filipinos. Their pride kept them from bowing before the brown race. They preferred to surrender to the invading American forces, their fellow white and racial level, which they did on August 13, 1898. They could not bow their heads before Filipinos, whom for centuries they had branded as savages, indolent, thieves, idiots, monkeys, etc.

American inventions. Already wounded by the Spaniards, the Filipino would further be wounded when the American conquerors came.

On one night in November 1900, at the height of the Filipino-American War, United States President William McKinley sought the guidance of Almighty God as to what his country would do with the Philippines. While American soldiers in the Philippines were shooting men, women, and children; burning villages and towns; annihilating carabaos and poultry for their consumption, and destroying a totally hapless nation—based on his orders, McKinley prayed deeply inside his room in the White House.

After praying, he had made up his mind. The U.S. would colonize the Philippines because he believed that Filipinos were unfit for self-government and would have anarchy once left on their own. Americans would “educate the Filipinos, and uplift, and civilize, and Christianize them” (Homer C. Stuntz, The Philippines and the Far East, New York, 1904, pp. 143-144, and John Bancroft Devine, An Observer in the Philippines, Boston, 1905, pp. 69-71. Quoted in Gregorio F. Zaide, The Pageant of Philippine History, Manila: Philippine Education Company, 1979, p. 335). His decision became the basis of the American perception of the Filipinos.

Ancient Filipinos were civilized. Under Spain, they built roads, bridges, highways, railroads, cable lines, government buildings, schools, hospitals, and industries. They did not need to be uplifted, civilized, and Christianized by another foreign invaders.

But the Americans insisted that the Filipinos did. They exalted themselves by projecting them as the humanitarians who would do Filipinos good things. To carry that out, the American colonial government shipped teachers from the United States and established schools in the country to teach Filipinos that they Filipinos were brown and tailless monkeys who needed education, civilization, Christianity, and an intensive training for a democratic way of life.

The Americans succeeded in convincing Filipinos that they Filipinos were incapable of self-government, even though Filipinos had already won their revolution against Spanish rule in 1898, declared their independence on June 12, 1898, created a Congress, wrote a constitution, and established a republic on January 23, 1899. The Filipinos even mounted a terrible war against them, beginning on February 4, 1899, to defend their independence and republic.

The Filipinos, who had been totally black-eyed and demoralized for three centuries under Spain, could only allow themselves to be black-eyed and demoralized more. Bleeding and defeated in the war against the Americans, they had no other course but to bow to the victors.

For about half a century, the Filipino was taught that Americans were disciplined, always on time, clean, industrious, did not gossip, direct to the point, and upright, and that he, on the other hand, was undisciplined, always late, dirty, lazy, gossip-maker, not direct to the point, and clumsy.

As a result, it had become a Filipino belief that Americans were nice, correct, and perfect all the time. The Filipinos had come to revere the Americans passionately, continuing the Spanish-created belief that everything foreign was perfect and anything Filipino was flawed.

Manuel Quezon, the president of the Philippine Commonwealth from 1935 to 1944, admired the Americans so much that he was able to say this now-infamous statement: “I would rather prefer a government run like hell by the Filipinos than a government ran like heaven but by the Americans.”

He must have forgotten that during the Filipino-American War, in which he was a young soldier defending the infant Philippine Republic, the Americans converted the entire country into a hell—killing more than 20,000 Filipino soldiers and more than 200,000 Filipino civilians—to be able to set up and run a government (their colonial government) in the Philippines.

Filipinos had become much brainwashed in their belief about Americans. Yet there were instances when they could no longer stomach the insults against them.

On February 19, 1930, about 3,000 students of the Manila North High School (now Manila High School) left their classes to demand the resignation of Miss Mabel Brummitt, an American teacher who called the Filipino students “savages, imbeciles, idiots.” The protest ended only after Dr. Luther Bewly, the American Director of Education in the Philippines, dismissed Brummitt (Zaide, The Pageant of Philippine History, p. 396).

Post-Colonial Thinking. Even after American rule ended on July 4, 1946, with the founding of the Republic of the Philippines, Filipinos still adored Americans. They still had that thinking that anything Americans did would only be for the good.

They had just then emerged from the wreckage of the Japanese invasion during World War II in the Pacific. Their country was in total ruins—morally, physically, and financially, and they could only turn to the U.S. for help.

American policy makers, meanwhile, were very subtle. They would provide the Filipinos people with rehabilitation and other financial assistance, but with strings attached: U.S. citizens and corporations would be given rights similar to those of the Filipinos in “the disposition, exploitation, development, and utilization of all agricultural, timber, and mineral lands of the public domain, waters, minerals, coal, petroleum, and other natural resources of the Philippines, and the operation of public utilities.”

Americans helped the wealthy and industrialized Japanese recover fully from World War II, but they asked not a single cent in return. With the impoverished Filipinos, they demanded too much, particularly the latter’s very own natural resources. This was the biggest swindle that a nation committed against another nation in modern history.

Manuel Roxas, the country’s president then, and his cash-strapped government, had no choice but to bow to those demands. Besides, he also had that thinking that it was the Americans who could make Filipinos progressive.

Hungry and ruined, Filipinos then could only think that such foreign exploitation would pour capitalization and the needed development into the country. It was the Americans who would do it, and Americans always did good and great, right?

On March 11, 1947, they were persuaded to ratify the “parity (equality) amendment” to their Constitution allowing Americans to exploit their natural resources and operate public utility businesses in the country. Before that, it was only they whom the Constitution allowed to do so.

With that amendment, U.S. corporations came to feast on the country’s minerals, timber, and lands. Filipinos then thought that they would become progressive because Americans were mining their wealth.

Twenty-five years later, the country had not progressed. In 1973, the Filipinos adopted a new Constitution, where they abolished the “parity amendment.” They had learned a bitter lesson: Not every thing that Americans did was perfect.

Not blaming foreign colonizers. Anti-Filipinos claim that historians blame nothing but foreign  colonizers for the many faults of our society. Philippine history books are allegedly full of such blame-tossing and finger- pointing.

Wrong. It would be indecent to blame our foreign colonizers because they have long been dead already. Thus, historians don’t blame anyone but just perform their tasks, which are: To tell what actually happened in the past, and to trace the origins of and explain why things are the way they are.

Here’s an example: If someone asks who killed Jose Rizal, historians would naturally answer that it was the Spanish colonial authorities who ordered his execution.

By giving such answer, does that mean that historians already blame the Spanish colonial authorities? No. They just tell what really happened on the morning of Wednesday, December 30, 1896.

Another example: If someone asks why majority of Filipinos have Spanish names (Juan, Maria, Cruz, Reyes, Santos, etc.) instead of Filipino names (Makisig, Ligaya, Dimaano, Makapagal, Sipin, etc.), historians would answer this: Spanish missionaries converted most Filipinos to Christianity and usually baptized them with Spanish names. Then in November 1849, Gov. Gen. Narciso Claveria ordered the Filipino families to adopt new surnames. The Spanish colonial government put out a Dictionary where Filipino families would get their new surnames. That Dictionary contained mostly Spanish surnames, and so most Filipinos have Spanish surnames.

By making such answer, does that mean that historians already blame the Spaniards for the reason that Filipinos have Spanish names instead of Filipino names? No. They just trace the origins of and explain why things are the way they are.

If someone asks why many people have prejudices against their fellow Filipinos through such anti-Filipino remarks as Filipinos are “indolent, thieves, undisciplined, etc.,” the logical answers are: The Spanish and American colonizers created many of those negative remarks against the Filipinos; because the Filipinos had been brought up in the negative thinking about themselves, they would naturally think negative about themselves and make negative remarks against themselves; and the next generations of Filipinos had already been immersed in negative perceptions about themselves, and so many of them make such anti-Filipino remarks.

With such answers, the foreign colonizers are not being blamed. It is just explained why there are anti-Filipino remarks that many people spit against their fellow Filipinos.

Effects of the anti-Filipino remarks. One of the worst misfortunes of the Filipino is to be colonized by the Spaniards and Americans, because for almost 400 years of foreign rule, he was educated to scorn himself, to be ashamed of himself and anything related to him, to always praise other citizens and anything associated with them, to be always ashamed to other citizens, and to always bow to anything other citizens say or will. He has lost his dignity, self-esteem, and self-respect.

Filipinos are always told that they are a bad people, and thus many lose the heart to honor, respect, love, and be proud of their race and country. They cannot give an all-out service to it and rather focuses that service on others, thinking that doing good here is useless.

When they see some people doing wrong, like jaywalking, their tendency is to immigrate to other countries already. They no longer have the initiative and firmness to correct such mistakes. “It’s only here where people do wrong; in other countries, there’s no such thing, and so let’s get out of here fast!”

They are always ashamed to other citizens because they are misled by the belief that other citizens are perfect—they cannot commit mistakes, crimes, and other flaws, while Filipinos are the only ones bad—the only ones who make mistakes. This leads them to always believe and even defend what other citizens say against them. They no longer defend themselves against other citizens. They just swallow other citizens’ spit against them.

It also makes them see only the good and positive aspects of other citizens, and the negative side of the Filipinos. Thus, it is too common to hear them make statements such as:

“Other citizens are industrious. Filipinos are lazy!”

“Other citizens don’t steal. Filipinos are thieves!”

“Other citizens are honest. Filipinos are corrupt!”

“Other citizens are disciplined. Filipinos are not!”

“Other citizens don’t have crab mentality. Filipinos have!”

“Other citizens have good memories. Filipinos don’t!”

“Other citizens are on time. Filipinos are always late!”

“Other citizens don’t have colonial mentality. Filipinos have!”

“Other citizens are not copycats. Filipinos are copycats!”

“Other citizens hate gossips. Filipinos patronize them!”

“Other citizens don’t gamble. Filipinos are gamblers!”

“Other citizens are tough. Filipinos are not.”

“Other citizens are straightforward. Filipinos are not.”

“Other citizens are always ready to face challenges. Filipinos are not.”

“Other citizens don’t dare turn around when someone whistles; Filipinos do.”

“When there’s fire in other countries, people there don’t touch doorknobs; Filipinos touch them.”

“Other citizens always say, ‘Yes, I can!’ Filipinos do not; they always say, ‘No I can’t.”

“Other citizens are just so good. Filipinos are not.”

If they see other citizens committing mistakes, they argue that those citizens commit mistakes because they are human beings, and it is only natural for the human being to commit them. Thus, other citizens have nothing to be ashamed of to the rest of the world because humans are humans. They add that the flaws other citizens do are just few and isolated (even if there are ten million arrested American thieves each year).

But, if it is Filipinos who commit mistakes, Filipinos commit them not because they are human beings but because they are Filipinos, and Filipinos are unmatched, unbeatable, unique, and the worst people in the entire planet. Therefore, we should be ashamed of ourselves because other citizens already ridicule us.

The worst that anti-Filipinos say when they see other peoples committing mistakes: “They are Filipinos!” Even if those other peoples are pure Caucasian- or Negroid-descent peoples, they will still be Filipinos for them.

Because of their belief that other citizens are faultless and that Filipinos are always at fault, it has become a practice for anti-Filipinos to discriminate Filipinos.

This is evident in security personnel in shopping malls, stores, airports, and other areas. They search the body and belongings of Filipinos but allow other citizens to just pass them. For them, other citizens are divine, while Filipinos must be thoroughly searched because they must be hiding something dangerous, they must have stolen something, and because they are really suspicious.

These are the bad effects of being brought up in the negative remarks about themselves. The anti-Filipino remarks have produced anti-Filipino Filipinos. They make many Filipinos hate themselves, and thus wish that they were somebody else, not Filipinos.

Local concoctions. Many of our ancestors passed down to their offspring the negative remarks that had been fed to them. As “one belches what is fed to him,” it has become easy for the succeeding generations to themselves invent anti-Filipino remarks. This is another negative result of the anti-Filipino remarks. The locally made anti-Filipino remarks are those that have surfaced after the full Philippine independence in 1946. The following are some of them:

“That Filipinos have crab mentality, ningas-kugon mentality, short memories, and no sense of history;

“That Filipinos mind only their individual selves and do not care about national issues;

“That Filipinos are unbeatable as gossip-makers and gamblers;

“That Filipinos love puwede na iyan (that’s enough even if it’s not yet), laging palusot (always want to get away with it), mapagsamantala (advantage-taking), kulang sa pansin (dying-for-attention), and all other negative attitudes that can be imagined.”

Many people invent them because they are already immersed in the negative perceptions about themselves. They believe deep in their hearts that they are really a worthless people.

They have taken it as a habit to concoct and spread negative remarks against their very selves. They already hate the Filipino, and because of that hatred, they relish inventing stories that will knock down the Filipino, and they force their fellow Filipinos to believe those stories as if they really were true.

Free the Filipino. Anti-Filipino remarks are fruits of narrow minds, ingratitude, senseless and illogical thinking, irresponsible attitude, and foreign colonization.

To regain the liberties our ancestors enjoyed before foreign rule, our founding fathers fought with their honor, blood, and anguish during the Philippine Revolution against Spain (1896-1898) and the Filipino-American War (1899-1903).

Our colonizers have long been gone. We are now a free nation, yet the minds of many of us are still soaked in those colonial- inspired anti-Filipino remarks. Those who are until now belching them are the still-colonized Filipinos. Let us now free ourselves from those remarks. We must now free our minds and emotions from them.

In doing so, we must first prove that mistakes, crimes, and other flaws happen not only in the Philippines but everywhere and are committed not only by some of us but by all races.

We must prove that those anti-Filipino remarks are not true. We are not lazy. We work to become breadwinners and achievers on farms, in factories, professions, occupations, vocations, commerce, industries, and other fields. We are not thieves. Most of us lead honest lives with dignity and good names. The food we eat, the clothes we wear, the house we live in, and the money we gain are from our hard work.

Anti-Filipino Remarks

(Part 1 of the “In Defense of the Filipino” series)

“Filipinos are lazy!”

“Filipinos are thieves!”

“Filipinos are corrupt!”

“Filipinos are undisciplined!”

“Filipinos have crab mentality!”

“Filipinos have short memories!”

“Filipinos are always late!”

“Filipinos have colonial mentality!”

“Filipinos are copycats!”

“Filipinos are gossip-makers!”

“Filipinos are gamblers!”

“Filipinos are cheaters!”

These are the remarks many people say against Filipinos when some of us commit mistakes, crimes, scandals, wrongdoing, embarrassments, and other flaws. These remarks are on television, radio, in newspapers, magazines, literature, advertising, show business, and on the Internet, as well as in government, politics, commerce, and even in the educational and religious sectors.

Since these remarks are anti-Filipino, they shall henceforth be called anti-Filipino remarks; and the people saying them: anti-Filipinos, be they Filipinos themselves or not.

Anti-Filipinos believe with all their thoughts and hearts that Filipinos are really such, and because of those negative traits, they claim that Filipinos have become:

“The jokes of foreigners!”

“The laughingstock of the world!”

“The worst people on earth!”

“The most unique species in the planet!”

They also heartily believe that because of those mistakes, crimes, and other flaws, the Philippines is already:

“Asia’s/world’s capital of laziness!”

“Asia’s/world’s capital of thefts!”

“Asia’s/world’s capital of corruption!”

“Asia’s/world’s capital of the undisciplined!”

“Asia’s/world’s capital of crab mentality!”

“Asia’s/world’s capital of short memories!”

“Asia’s/world’s capital of always late!”

“Asia’s/world’s capital of colonial mentality!”

“Asia’s/world’s capital of copycats!”

“Asia’s/world’s capital of gossips!”

“Asia’s/world’s capital of gambling!”

“Asia’s/world’s capital of cheatings!”

Or, the Philippines is already:

“A nation of lazy people!”

“A nation of thieves!”

“A nation of corrupt citizens!”

“A nation of undisciplined!”

“A nation of crab mentality!”

“A nation of short memories!”

“A nation of always late!”

“A nation of colonial mentality!”

“A nation of copycats!”

“A nation of gossips!”

“A nation of gamblers!”

“A nation of cheats!”

For them, the definition of Filipino is a person who will always laze, steal, spit anywhere, urinate on the street, disobey traffic rules, gossip, knock down others, gamble, and do other horrible things. They already hate the Filipino so much that they will always ridicule him.

These remarks have long been imbedded in the consciousness of many people; hence, they are already very common verbal expressions. They are present in all forms of media, teaching generations of Filipinos how bad we Filipinos are. The following are the reasons why.

Generalization. When some people do wrong, anti-Filipinos blame the entire Filipino race because for them, the mistake of one person is the mistake of the Filipinos. If someone commits mistakes, they will right away say:

“The Filipino, really!”

“The Filipino is indeed like that.”

“That’s the problem with the Filipino.”

“That’s an illness of the Filipino.”

“That’s the character of the Filipino.”

“Filipinos, really!”

“Filipinos are indeed like that.”

“That’s the problem with the Filipinos.”

“That’s an illness of the Filipinos.”

“That’s the character of the Filipinos.”

Whether it is a singular or plural use of the Filipino, anti-Filipinos mean the entire Filipino race, people, and nation.

Then they say that they are not generalizing that all Filipinos are like that (after saying that Filipinos are like that). They add that their comments are only the truth and that the truth really hurts.

But if confronted with this reasoning: You say Filipinos are thieves; you are a Filipino; therefore, you are a thief—they will not agree. They will wash their hands very fast.

The problem with these people is that after scratching their hands on a dirty kettle and mashing them on the face of the Filipino, they immediately claim that their hands are clean.

They also don’t agree with this reasoning: Because there are homosexuals, it is already correct to say that Filipino men are homosexuals; or because there are prostitutes, it is already correct to say that Filipino women are prostitutes.

If somebody will say that yes, he is terrible because he is a Filipino and because the Filipino is really like that, all right, he is like that, but he should not drag the others and the entire race into the mud with him.

Narrow-mindedness. There are more than 200 small and great nations in the world, and each has mistakes, crimes, and other flaws. But anti-Filipinos don’t understand this very elementary knowledge, even if they are educated.

Their narrow minds make them think that only Filipinos do wrong, and keep them from having the broad thinking that mistakes are part of the human nature and that there is no perfect person, race, or country on earth.

Their narrow minds make them ignorant of the historical, artistic, literary, musical, agricultural, scientific, technological, medical, and other riches of the Filipino race. Their narrow minds prevent them from discovering, appreciating, and valuing those treasures.

Ingratitude. Filipinos till the fields; Filipinos plant, protect, and harvest rice, corn, sugarcane, coconut, fruits, and vegetables; Filipinos sail the rivers, seas, and oceans for fish and sea foods; and hence, Filipinos work for the food they eat—under the heat of the sun, in the cold rain, or in the deep of the night—yet anti-Filipinos say that Filipinos are lazy when they see some people just dozing the hours away.

Filipinos buy their products and services; Filipinos patronize their books, newspapers, magazines, music, movies, and radio and television programs; and so Filipinos put food on their table, yet anti-Filipinos say that Filipinos are terrible when they see some people committing crimes.

Filipinos educate them in school, cure them when they are ill, and help them in disasters (some even risk their own lives to save them), yet anti-Filipinos say that Filipinos are crab-minded when they see some people pulling down others.

Filipinos build the country’s roads, highways, bridges, water and irrigation systems, communication lines, and electric power plants, yet anti-Filipinos say that Filipinos are useless when they see some people committing flaws.

Filipinos manufacture microchips, semiconductors, appliances, textiles, clothes, shoes, jewelry, furniture, woodcarvings, handicrafts, food, beverages, medicines, automotive, and ships; create computer software and hardware; write books; and gain advances in agriculture, science, medicine, engineering, and technology; yet when some people do wrong, anti-Filipinos say: “Filipinos don’t use their talents for good!”

Dogs are fed by their masters, but these animals still have the tendency to bite their masters. This is the level where anti-Filipinos are: They are beings having the blood of dogs. They already benefit from the Filipino, but they still love degrading him and his entire race just because of the mistakes committed by some persons.

Wrong assumptions. Anti-Filipinos claim that we Filipinos are notorious all over the world as thieves, undisciplined, cheaters, etc.; that other nations do not have flaws; and therefore other nations already have the right to ridicule us.

This is completely wrong. There are famines in Africa, poverty in India, corruption in Korea, software piracy in Taiwan, electoral fraud in Thailand, suicide bombings in Israel, and hooliganisms in Britain. There are Chinese drug traffickers, Italian mafia, Japanese yakuza, and Australian pedophiles. There are more than ten million cases of stealing in the United States yearly.

By whom are we known as thieves, undisciplined, etc.? By the other peoples who also have thieves, undisciplined, etc.? We Filipinos are already considered as thieves by the race (Americans) that has one of the biggest numbers of thieves in the world?

Since many of our crimes, scandals, and other flaws are reported around the world, anti-Filipinos insist that other countries already take notice of us.

Bad news in the Philippines are reported in other countries because that is the natural course. The scandals, embarrassments, and wrongdoing of other peoples are reported not only in their respective territories but also here in the Philippines and other countries.

It is only a wrong assumption that we are already notorious worldwide. This is only a very wrong belief about the Filipino. For how can other countries mind and laugh at us when they also have (and worse) mistakes, crimes, and other flaws?

If other citizens laugh at our faults and embarrassments, they should be reminded that they better stare at themselves first before insulting others.

Illogical. 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!”

Irresponsible. When they see potholes, garbage in the middle of the street, a stolen ambulance, and the likes, anti-Filipinos right away say, “Only in the Philippines!” And because it is allegedly so, they add: “Filipinos are the most unique species on earth!”

They make such remarks without conducting the necessary research. Each country has thousands of streets; hence, it is impossible that it’s only us who have garbage dumped in the middle of the street. Potholes are found after a typhoon, and there are many typhoon-stricken countries. Thefts—only Filipinos do them? What about the more than ten million arrested American thieves each year?

Those making this “only in the Philippines” statement are people in the media, who claim truthful journalism as a public service. They don’t realize that this statement is irresponsible and is in direct contrast to their claim of truthful journalism.

Even if they see that stealing, corruption, gambling, prostitution, cruelty to animals, child labor, gossips, and other bad things happen also in other countries, anti-Filipinos still say that such things happen only in the Philippines.

One local journalist was chided for saying that only in the Philippines were whales butchered. After that reprimand, he stated in his follow-up report that “it is probably only in the Philippines.” He said so after he was shown that whaling was a multi-billion dollar industry in China, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and other countries and that it had been practiced there for thousands of years already.

There was also that comical television personality who ignorantly claimed that herbal medicine was used only in the Philippines—after a physician said right on his program that it had been a practice in many countries since time immemorial. It is a very common knowledge that herbs are part of medical science, yet that personality had the nerve to say that they were used “only in the Philippines.”

In the 1980’s, the political rivals of President Ferdinand Marcos disseminated the false propaganda that because of his 20-year regime (1965-1986), the Philippines had lagged behind, from being next only to Japan in terms of economic development in the 1950’s and 1960’s to becoming the “sick man of Asia” and “better only than Bangladesh.”

But according to actual statistics and the United Nations Human Development Index reports, the Philippines was ahead not only of Bangladesh but of such other Asian countries as Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Indonesia, and even India in terms of life expectancy rate, literacy rate, college enrolment, number of teachers and doctors per thousand population, export revenues, housing programs, and other economic indicators.

Greed for power led many politicians to tell lies against their very own country. Until now, this lie is still believed in, especially by people who love believing in the worst of people (even if that worst thing is a complete lie).

Bad advertisements. Advertisements are meant to lure people into patronizing what is being sold or offered. People buy products and services because advertisements convince them.

Anti-Filipino remarks are like advertisements. They are very effective in making Filipinos think negative about themselves. Once ingrained in the Filipino mind, it would be very difficult to remove those derogatory comments.

Anti-Filipinos should realize that, with their anti-Filipino remarks, they are doing an awful harm: They help in making Filipinos degrade and hate their being Filipinos.

Degrading and hating oneself is one of the worst things that a person can do, for how can others trust him and how can he help or love others if he degrades and hates himself?

All of these anti-Filipino remarks have one root: the Spanish and American colonization of the Filipinos. For almost four centuries, those foreign colonizers made Filipinos believe that Filipinos were a terrible people.

Tejeros: The First Philippine Republic

There have been proposals to declare January 23 of every year as “Republic Day” to commemorate the founding of the Philippine Republic on this day in 1899 in Malolos, Bulacan. This republic lasted until March 1, 1901, when the American forces captured its only president, General Emilio Aguinaldo. That capture led to the end of the Filipino-American War (1899-1903), and the fall of that republic, which is now known in history as the Malolos Republic or the First Philippine Republic. However, there were two republics prior to it.

In late 1896, the Katipunan factions in Cavite invited the Katipunan supreme leader, Andres Bonifacio, from Manila to act on their differences and the issues affecting their struggle for freedom from Spanish rule. (more…)

Spanish American War, the Philippines and Filipino Genocide

We picked up some articles from a related site, Only in the Philippines, which may be controversial but should give our readers an additional background on this chapter of Philippine history, the Spanish American War where the Philippines was made part of the bargain.

When you view the documentary, let us always keep an open mind as the materials presented in the documentary may lend to further understanding on the true relationship of the Philippines, the people behind the Philippine revolution, the United States and Spain.

The video clips are currently hosted by YouTube and are in five parts. Credits to YT member tierraboricua for sharing the video clips.

After viewing the videos, you may want to share your thoughts using the Comments box below.

Part 1: Spanish American War the Philippines and Filipino Genocide

Part 2: Spanish American War the Philippines and Filipino Genocide

Part 3: Spanish American War the Philippines and Filipino Genocide

Part 4: Spanish American War the Philippines and Filipino Genocide

Part 5: Spanish American War the Philippines and Filipino Genocide

After viewing these videos, what do you think?

A Surprise Letter for Mabini, 1898

SINCE July 1898, the Philippine Revolutionary Government headed by Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo had been safely headquartered in Malolos, Bulacan. They were anticipating the establishment of a future Philippine Republic.

Aguinaldo was holding his presidential office at the Malolos Church Convent; the Revolutionary Congress, which was framing a Constitution for the future republic, was holding its sessions at the nearby Barasoain Church; while Aguinaldo’s generals were spearheading the liberation of towns, cities, and provinces from Spanish rule.

Aguinaldo regularly issued decrees and laws for the land. Some of those statues were penned by Apolinario Mabini, a lawyer who had been Aguinaldo’s most important political adviser since the previous June 12. (more…)

Overseas Filipino Workers: The Emergence of an Asian-Pacific Diaspora

The Philippine nation-state often gets world attention only when calamities—such as the recent typhoon Ondoy’s unprecedented flooding of metropolitan Manila, with thousands of homes destroyed and several hundreds killed, due to government neglect; or the nearly 100,000 refugees created by the Arroyo regime’s indiscriminate bombing campaign against the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front—hit the headlines.

So what else is new? Meanwhile, news about the plight of twenty Filipina domestics abused as sex slaves in Saudi Arabia by Abu Khalid (Ellao 2009), or the brutalization of several hundred Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) illegally detained in middle-Eastern jails, (more…)