(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.

(Part 14 of the “In Defense of the Filipino” series)

ANTI-FILIPINOS love to imagine, fabricate, and propagate stories that would make the United States of America a flawless paradise on earth, and the Americans flawless (and almost angelic) beings.

When they see traffic violations, gossips, graft and corruption, back fighting, cursing, urinating on the streets, spitting anywhere, uncollected garbage, thefts, burglary, and other wrongdoing in the Philippines, they right away say:

“Alam mo, walang ganyan sa States!” (You know, there’s nothing like that in the States!)

They heartily believe that Americans do not, for they cannot, commit crimes, mistakes, flaws, etc., and that in America, there are no grievances committed against anyone, people don’t envy each other, there are no gossips, there are no cheatings, there are no fighting, people are honest, they always take care of their families and children, there are no sexual abusers of children, animals and the environment are always protected, and everything is always clean, in order, and progressive. If there are crimes there, they are few, just mild, and always solved by the police. Moreover, it is not the Americans who commit them but Filipinos.

Really?

The United States is a nation of immense wealth and military power. Americans are among the most affluent peoples and are world leader in politics, economy, education, movies, music, literature, medicine, sciences, technology, engineering, robotics, agriculture, and other fields of modern civilization.

America’s greatness cannot be doubted. It is a land of liberty and opportunities. Millions of peoples from around the world try to enter it and settle there permanently. Americans and their native land are really great. But the wrong beliefs about them must be corrected. The following are some of those wrong perceptions that anti-Filipinos always tell.

Error no. 1: Americans are so industrious that they don’t even have time for themselves. All they do everyday is work, work, and work.

Correction: Television, movies, music, sports, circus, theme parks, software games, the Internet, and publishing are multi-billion dollar industries in the U.S.

Americans have abundant time to watch television programs, go to the movies, listen to songs, watch spectator games in coliseums and other venues, enjoy parks and circuses, play computer games, surf the Internet, and read books, newspapers, magazines, and journals. On weekends, they go to the beach, shop in malls, go for strolls through the cities and towns, or have backyard barbecue.

How come they could still do all these if they don’t even have time for themselves and all they do is work and work? Why do they spend more than US$100 billion each year on all those amusements if they don’t even have time for themselves?

Anti-Filipinos say this because when they are in America, they notice that most American families do the cooking, dish washing, housecleaning, laundry, and other chores.

(Part 12 of the “In Defense of the Filipino” series)

THERE was a local entertainer who said on television that she and her family would already immigrate to the United States—after making much money in the Philippines.

Why did she choose the U.S. as her place of retirement? She claimed that the U.S. had no gossips and that it was far from Filipinos, who she claimed were unmatched in the world as gossip makers. She was unbearable. After accumulating money (Filipino money) here, she was already spitting on her native land and her fellow Filipinos.

Gossips are everywhere. They work in humans very naturally because humans have eyes and ears. What is seen or heard travels into the mind. The mind accommodates it. The hoarded thought is brought down the tongue. The tongue will get itchy if what the mind has deposited is not spewed out of the mouth. When the mouth does, everything spreads. Human nature causes it all.

Gossips may be true or false. If true, then “if there’s a smoke, there must be a fire.” If false, it is saddening because the character of the involved person or persons is assassinated.

Tabloids make up most of Britain’s newspapers. Their favorite topic is the royal family, for the British love to know things about their monarchs.

United Kingdom Queen Elizabeth II described 1992 as an annus horribilis (horrible year) for her country because the British press feasted on the royal marriages’ embarrassing secrets.

Paparazzi (social photographers) secretly took pictures of the wife of Prince Andrew (the queen’s second son) while relaxing topless in a beach with her two young daughters and with her new lover. The photos got headlined in many parts of the world. The media also dug up the marriage of the heir to the throne, Prince Charles, and his wife Princess Diana. Their exposed extra-marital affairs led to eventual divorces of these marriages.

Anti-Filipinos argue that while there are gossips in other countries, such are always accompanied by photographs to authenticate them, unlike here where gossips are just gossips.

In 1996, Princess Diana got negative publicity again when she was caught in a video having an illicit affair with another man in an apartment. They were seen through a transparent glass window. She was embarrassed once more, and so were her sons and family. But months later, it was found out that the woman in the videotape was a fake Diana, just a look-alike hired with that man by paparazzi eyeing for big money (by selling the tape to the tabloids).

Because of the cravings for royal gossips, the tabloids and paparazzi always follow almost every move of the royal people. When in need of privacy, the royals sometimes flee from them.

(Part 11 of the “In Defense of the Filipino” series)

WHEN one resident opens a sari-sari (variety) store and then days later a neighbor also puts up a similar enterprise, anti-Filipinos claim that Filipinos are copycats—gaya-gaya, puto-maya—and that they are good only when they imitate their neighbors. These are another wrong charges against Filipinos.

In the past, the Philippines had decades-old monopolies in a number of industries, like telecommunications and airline. Filipinos suffered from those monopolies. They would wait for up to ten years before they could have telephone lines, and ten more years of waiting for dial tones, because the telephone sector was controlled by only one firm, the Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) Company. Since there were no imitators, PLDT was dry in meeting the public’s wants and satisfaction.

The Philippine Airlines (PAL) Inc. was then the only airline company in the country; thus, were its Planes Always Late, If not cancelled, aside from having high fares.

Ten years of waiting for a telephone line and ten years more for a dial tone, or late planes, cancelled flights, and expensive air tickets—they were cruelties, weren’t they?

In 1994, President Fidel Ramos continued the dismantling of those monopolies in his efforts to push the economic reform programs that began during the term of his predecessor, President Corazon Aquino (1986-1992).

One of those deregulated sectors was the telecommunications industry. It resulted in the surfacing of new telephone entities. The worthy effect was that PLDT, fearing that its current and potential subscribers would shift to others, was forced to improve its services and to launch massive advertisements. And with the invention of mobile phones, it is now very easy to have communication with anyone, anytime, anywhere.

Today, telephone firms give both telephone lines and dial tones right after they are asked. If PLDT can do that now in just a few days, why could it not do such in the past? The answer is very simple: There were no competitors then.

As telephone companies compete and try to outdo each other through better services and effective campaigns, the customers finally have various options, after decades of being punished. They have now the luxury to choose the one that will immediately give them what they want.

New firms have also entered the airline industry since it was deregulated. Passengers also have more options now for airfares and flight schedules.

What if both PAL and PLDT still control the country today, and then stage a nationwide strike at the same time? One can easily surmise the colossal devastations that will be inflicted on the country’s transportation and telecommunications systems. Almost everything will be shut down—from the transporting of people, goods, and services to the transactions, trade, industries, investments, Internet, tourism—the entire nation. But if we have other airline and telephone companies, the damage will not reach injurious proportions.

(Part 10 of the “In Defense of the Filipino” series)

ANTI-FILIPINOS say that Filipinos, because of their colonial mentality, always prefer foreign talents and products to local ones. This mentality does exist, but it is wrong to accuse us Filipinos as always practicing it.

Colonial mentality is the thinking that foreign talents and products are always the good, the better, and the best, and that the local ones are of poor or no quality at all. Colonial because our Spanish and American colonizers, during their four-century rule of the Philippines, instilled into the Filipino mentality the belief that foreigners and anything associated with them were the superior, and that Filipinos and anything associated with them were worthless.

Preferring an imported talent or product to the local one is not always colonial mentality. There are reasons why such preference occurs.

Swiss watches, French perfumes, Japanese cars, German gadgets, and Dutch dairy products are admired and sold throughout the world. Peoples of the world patronize them—even if they have their locally made watches, perfumes, cars, gadgets, and dairy products. Is it because they have colonial mentality? Is it because they always prefer foreign products to local ones?

Philippine-made microchips, garments, textiles, shoes, canned foods, farm products, and other goods worth more than US$50 billion a year are exported to many countries. The Swiss, French, Japanese, German, Dutch, Americans, British, Spaniards, Arabs, Chinese, Koreans, Taiwanese, Indonesians, Malaysians, Thais, and Singaporeans are among the patrons of our locally made products. They buy our products because they have colonial mentality? Is it because they prefer foreign products (made in the Philippines) to local ones?

No. It is because of the natural human tendency to appreciate and embrace good talents and products, be they local or foreign.

It is also because of universality. If a talent or product is good, it will really be admired, patronized, and imitated. It has no boundaries; it affects humans—because it is good. This has been proven by the wheel, paper, ink, William Shakespeare, the British government, the United States Constitution, Thomas Alva Edison, the telephone, Albert Einstein, the Beatles, Elvis Presley, the World Wide Web, and countless others.

If imported products are preferred, it’s because of good and better quality. The consumers should not be blamed, for they are only being wise, and wise consumers purchase goods with high standards of quality.

But it is not true that we Filipinos admire and patronize nothing but foreign talents and products only. We watch local movies and television shows. We adore our movie stars, singers, television personalities, artists, scientists, athletes, professionals, magnates, leaders, and other talented countrymen. We use Calabarzon-manufactured household appliances, read Manila-printed books, wear Marikina-made shoes, drink Batangas coffee, own Laguna carvings, and display Ilocos pottery.

(Part 9 of the “In Defense of the Filipino” series)

FOR anti-Filipinos, the meaning of Filipino time is “always late.” It is said that the Filipino is and will always be late for his appointments. He does not value time. He is never punctual. He wants to be late for gatherings because he likes to get the attention of everyone. He is the one who arrives last; thus, everybody notices him because of his untimely arrival. Are all these negative remarks against us Filipinos true?

Early discipline. Classes in public and private elementary, secondary, and tertiary schools begin at 6:15 a.m. For those in the afternoon shifts, their classes begin at noon.

Morning-shift students wake up before dawn. From the time they get off the bed, they hurry in taking baths or showers, having breakfast, brushing their teeth, and putting on their school attire. It is heartwarming that there are six-year-old Grade One pupils who wake up and take baths or showers that early so that they would not be late for school.

The children do all that to arrive in school before the flag ceremonies, which regularly commence at 6:00 a.m. Those who live in far places wake up earlier to avoid being caught in entangled traffic flows during the morning rush hour.

Most of the teachers and students arrive in schools before 6:00 a.m. For those in the afternoon shifts, they arrive before noon. This is discipline. More than 20 million Filipino students and half a million Filipino teachers practice it.

Work schedule. Work in offices, factories, stores, and other similar establishments begins at eight in the morning. Thus, professionals, employees, and workers also hurry in taking baths or showers, having breakfast, brushing their teeth, and getting dressed to arrive in their places of work early or on time. Such rush is already a regular ritual for the hardworking Filipinos.

Again, it is discipline. Now that they are already in their respective bread-winning fields, they still do what they had practiced when they were still studying.

Market vendors are all ready before dawn so that they can buy the freshest vegetables, fruits, fish, meat, and other wet market items at the delivery centers or slaughterhouses. They have to get the best goods, and they can only do that if they arrive early at the delivery centers or slaughterhouses.

We Filipinos arrive early or on time in our destinations. This is the real or genuine time of the Filipino.

Spanish defect. Why is it that the Filipino is slapped with the accusation that he is always late, even when he arrives in his engagements early or on time?

This has something to do with the Spanish colonization of our race. Being the colonizers, the Spaniards wanted to be superior to the Filipinos and in everything. They wanted to be served, adored, and given all the attention.

(Part 8 of the “In Defense of the Filipino” series)

ANOTHER upsetting negative charge against us Filipinos is that we have short memories, that we have no sense of history, and that because of it, we disregard our patriots and the crucial events that had happened in our country. These are misleading accusations.

The human mind does not have the ability to fully know, recall, or understand every historic episode that had happened before, why and how it happened, and what its worth is in the present and future lives.

Thus, because of this natural human frailty, almost all countries have set aside certain dates as their respective holidays. The objective behind it is to inform, remind, or make people understand that on those particular dates, something remarkable took place.

There are national and local holidays, anniversaries, foundation days, and other similar festivities to mark the births of nations, regions, provinces, states, cities, towns, villages, schools, institutions, associations, etc.

There are holidays reserved for patriots, leaders, veterans, and other special individuals to remind everyone of the importance of those people.

Proofs. Surveys, studies, and tests in many countries all prove it: That human beings do not have a sound mental faculty for the full awareness, recollection, and understanding of the past.

In 2001, the National Assessment of Educational Progress examination conducted by the U.S. Department of Education showed that about six of every ten American high school seniors had an extremely weak grasp of their country’s history. Of the eight graders, only 39 per cent knew that the First Continental Congress was largely formed because of dissatisfaction with the British Parliament. Only 57 per cent of the fourth graders were aware that one of the primary causes of the American Civil War was the slavery issue. 29,000 students in grades 4, 8, and 12 from public and private schools took the test. History scores were lower than those of mathematics, reading, and any other subject evaluated by the examination.

A survey in 2002 made by NFO-Trends for the Ateneo de Manila University showed that many Filipino youth did not know their country’s heroes: 93 per cent were aware of Jose Rizal; 63 per cent, of Andres Bonifacio; 38 per cent, of Apolinario Mabini; 25 per cent, of Emilio Aguinaldo, and most could not recognize Juan Luna. Then only 37 per cent could sing the National Anthem correctly, and only 28 per cent were able to recite the Patriotic Pledge.

A survey in March 2003 revealed that most Canadians were not that aware of their nation’s history: Most did not know the French explorer who discovered their country, the founding father who established the first European settlement in Canada, and who opened the fur trade in North America (http://hnn.us/comments/13182.html).

(Part 7 of the “In Defense of the Filipino” series)

IT IS said that we Filipinos have crab mentality and so we do not attain the progress and prosperity we have long been aspiring for, that it is practiced only by us Filipinos, and that we will remain a poor nation if it is not plucked from our selves.

Allegedly, we pull those on top of us so that we can be the ones in the better position; or when it seems that we cannot all go out of our bad conditions, we pull everyone down so that all of us will share the misery; then, we relish it when we have pulled somebody down.

Neighbors defaming neighbors, reporters inventing stories about celebrities, businessmen performing unfair competitions, and professionals dislodging fellow professionals are among the crab mentality practices. Of course, there is the timeless neighborhood rivalry: If a resident buys something, his neighbor will try to outdo him by purchasing a similar but more expensive item. And when politicians fail to deliver their electoral promises of better lives, they chastise the people for not cooperating and rather pulling down others, hence the general failure.

There was that actress who became “world-famous in the Philippines” when she made striking feats in London’s West End and New York’s Broadway theaters.

Her countrymen, who were very proud of her, prayed for her to win the most prestigious stage-acting award in New York. Her victory overwhelmed them. But years later, she pointed out in a television interview that she achieved all those glories because she came out of the Filipino attitude of pulling each other down.

What about the millions of Filipinos who were very proud of her and prayed for her?

Universal attitude. Crab mentality is a human habit similar to what crabs do when put in a basket. If the basket is left with no heavy cover, the crabs inside it will all have gotten out fast in less than an hour. If the basket is weak, they go to one side and cause it to fall toward it, thus freeing them all. If the basket is designed against their escape, they cannot all go out.

They all try to get out of where they are, and in that process pull each other down, whether they succeed in getting out or not. For them, pulling down or stepping on others is a fact of their existence. It is natural for them in the quest for success or when confronting failure.

Crab mentality is also part of humanity. It simply is envy. (Crabs do not envy one another; they just want to be free.)

Humans envy and try to outdo each other because of selfishness and greed, but not all the time. When one envies somebody, one of his natural reactions is to knock him down, but this does not always happen. Each one of us may envy, yet we do not always pull others down. We usually just keep to ourselves those envious feelings and then let them go away.

(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.

(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.

In April 1989, Japanese Prime Minister Takeshita Noboru was also forced to resign because of stock-trading and bribery scandals, which also involved bureaucrats, business executives, and politicians, including Takeshita’s predecessor, Nakasone Yasuhiro. Takeshita and Nakasone were never prosecuted.

These scandals shattered the myth that the Japanese would always undergo hara-kiri (a ritualistic suicide involving disembowelment with a sword) once accused of corruption, because those accused Japanese did not hack their stomachs during their disgraceful times.

In November 1995, China was shaken by a US$2.2 billion bribery scandal that involved high-ranking government officials, including the deputy head of the National People’s Congress, the vice chairman of the National Consultative Congress, and the chief of the country’s only political party. They and 45 other high-ranking officials have been arrested and sentenced to jail for involvement in this largest-ever scandal to hit China (Reuters, November 5, 1997).

In May 1997, the chief minister of Indian state, Bihar, and 54 other politicians and officials were linked to a US$271 million swindling transaction. The money was part of a state government fund established to purchase cattle feed (AFP, May 3, 1997).

Also in May 1997, Brazilian President Fernando Cardoso shocked his government and the financial markets when a newspaper published a taped conversation of him bribing five Congress deputies of US$190,000 each to ratify a bill allowing him for another presidential term (Reuters, May 24, 1997).

On December 20, 1997, Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption reported that it had arrested 45 people, including a former bank manager, over a suspected HK$4.4 million (US$570,000) loan fraud (AFP, December 21, 1997).

On May 19, 2000, South Korea’s Prime Minister Park Tae-joon, one of the country’s prominent industrialists, resigned from office after a court ruled that he had evaded taxes by entrusting real estate to a third person. The court ordered him to pay the government US$1.2 million in taxes (AFP, May 20, 2000).

In April-June 2001, the South Korean government arrested 251 banking agency officials and businessmen for corruption and bribery, which cost the country US$1.5 billion. One of those arrested was a former vice defense minister who accepted bribes in return for business favors (AFP, June 30, 2001).