The political discourse in the Philippines hasn’t progressed. In fact, it has regressed, particularly in the “activist” community where reform and change and a focus on new ways to see and effect things should be emanating, but aren’t. Back in the 2009 campaign, the rallying cries of activists who wanted to see different approaches applied to the selection of the country’s leaders focused on platforms that clearly spelt out inspiring visions for the nation.
Unfortunately, that is no longer the case today. The irony here is that Filipinos find themselves face-to-face with the biggest outcome of a massive failure (on the parts of educated and uneducated Filipinos alike) to heed the words of platform-focused activists in the 2009-2010 presidential campaign — the administration of embattled Philippine President Benigno Simeon ‘BS’ Aquino III. Look no further than the loud teeth gnashing of former BS Aquino loyalist Walden Bello. Bello, a stalwart of communist-turned-Aquino-lackey party Akbayan now reportedly refers to the Second Aquino Presidency as “a wasted presidency” that was “destroyed by pigheadedness and blind loyalty to incompetent or corrupt subordinates”.
“The President entered negative territory with his stubborn defense of [the Disbursement Acceleration Program and Budget Secretary Florencio Abad], then went on a death spiral with Mamasapano,” he said.
But of course.
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All that talk coming from Bello would have been impressive if it weren’t for the lateness of the hour (with apologies to Senator Tito Sotto for the lameness of the quote). One would have expected men with as formidable minds as Bello to see from the very beginning that BS Aquino was totally unfit to be president of the Philippines. But it turns out that no amount of education and smarts can equip many Filipinos with common sense. Indeed, common sense, we now know, is not very common in the Philippines. And it certainly eluded minds like those of Bello.
Bello is like the man who foolishly smoked in bed then now denounces the “evil” fire that burnt his house down. The real waste here is not the presidency of BS Aquino. The biggest waste of all is men and women like Bello whose supposedly brilliant minds failed us.
Indeed, President BS Aquino does not only represent a failed promise of the Yellow Mob of aged, has-been emo celebrities. His rise to power represents the failure of the entire Philippine “intelligentsia” overall regardless of colour and partisan association. If Jose Rizal were alive today, he’d be crimson-faced with embarrassment seeing his beloved Illustrado class called out for the astounding scale of the idiotic misguidance they have contributed to the Philippine National “Debate”.
Yet today, no lessons have been learned. The focus of every pundit and his dog (at least the few left who actually articulate thoughts in coherent work that extends beyond the 140 characters of those “social media” apps the A.D.D. Generation favours) is to speculate on the fringes of the small square that frames Filipino thinking — that this or that bozo has demonstrated “compassion” under fire from this or that Senate “probe”, how certain individuals have been such low-key “achievers” whilst working from under the thumbs of their noisy bosses, how certain popular politicians have continued the tradition of corrupt patronage and dynastic power brokering, etcetera, etcetera, ad nauseum de cacao.
The smallness of the thinking in the lateness of this hour seems to be the Filipino’s short-shighted panic reaction to the catastrophic confidence collapse of the once-formidable BS Aquino Popularity Empire, a cataclysmic event that seems to have left a cavernous void in the national consciousness. Suddenly everyone is thinking “What just happened?” — a primal response coming from the collective faculties of a woefully-primitive political discourse characterised by a retrospective reflection on a national scale.
The astounding tragedy here is that it has sucked the life out of the nation’s collective faculties for prospective thinking.
Because the Second Aquino Administration was such an immense mistake of epic national proportions, Filipinos’ consciousness have been collectively hijacked by an emotional response not too different from the way a jilted lover deals with their feelings of betrayal. Most Filipinos know what the emotional aftermath of a lover’s betrayal is like. Indeed, they have given a word to it: hugot. Being betrayed by a lover sends most normal people on an emotional spiral as they look back and try to come to grips with the series of events and decisions that led them down a path of delusion and disengagement from rational thinking. The unfortunate feature of this instinctive emotional defense mechanism is how it induces victims of betrayal to temporarily lose sight of the fact that there are ways forward.
The key to extricating ourselves off this national paralysis that was caused by the failure of President BS Aquino is to get a grip and snap out of our torpor and start thinking about the future. The lessons here are quite obvious. Filipinos need to take their politicians to task and evaluate them on the bases of their vision for the Philippines. Indeed, the really big specific lesson here is that President BS Aquino never had a vision for the Philippines. He didn’t have the slightest clue as to what he envisioned the Philippines to be like in 2016 when he took office in 2010. No strategic roadmap could be formulated leading to a vision that does not exist — which is why the government of President BS Aquino merely spent the last five years stumbling from one crisis to another whenever it wasn’t stumbling from one gaffe to another.
Sure, there are a few candidates out there — the best of them are, sadly, mere compromises while the worst are, we are told, “pure evil”. That’s the political reality of a nation renowned for its tradition of endemic mediocrity — that not a single really good presidential candidate could be found amongst a people that number a hundred and one million. But, not to worry, the best way to equip one’s self to deal with the future is to embrace absolute reality.
Quite simply, Filipinos need to change the way they think — abandon the old ways where honour and intellect are dismissed as luxuries of the rich and slapstick thinking and contrived “humility” resonate the strongest amongst the “blessed” poor. The first step to that important change is for Filipinos to apply a more lucid regard for the future and use that framework to take their leaders and “representatives” to task.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
Filipino’s, your country is just as fucked as it has ever been.Why do you all think the thieves that run the gov’t. are going to do anything to improve your lives?isn’t it obvious by now,after all the people that have promised you all ‘change’, that you are being “Shanghai’d” ? LOL !
Save yourself and get out now,if you can,by any means possible.
Making a person change their way of thinking is by no means an easy one. Its something they have to realize for themselves. Thinking about the future is not about thinking about what you want, you have to think about what you want and how do you plan on getting there. Which is the very point of a vision. Because there are so many winding directions that its too easy to get lost.
Unfortunately, to get better at thinking, one needs to absorb new ideas first. And for the common Filipino, there’s alot of ground to cover.
@Ricardo,
I get the notion that the following is true for 90%:
Ask any 15, 16, 17+ year old Filipina girl what she wants and you will get the following answer:
I want to get married; I want to have my own family and (last but not least) I want (or is it MUST?) to take care of and look after my own parents when they are old.
Do I need to say more?
As you said, 90% Filipino girls unfortunately fall under the typical trappings of female expectations in the Philippines: Be love-crazy, make kids, run a house. Definitely something wrong in the society because in other countries, women’s plans drastically differ from each other. Here? Its almost cookie-cutter. And I’m pretty sure the expats living here long enough know this.
Also, the notion of taking care of your parents in their old age is something commonly seen in Asian culture. Successful societies like South Korea, Japan and China still do those.
Now what makes the Filipino version terrible? Because most of the parents are deadbeats acting like entitled kids. Who guiltrips their kids with reasoning somewhere along the lines of; “I provided the sperm/egg you were made from so obey me!”
Ricardo,
then why doesnt it work for the Philippines. If SK, J & C can do it then why cant the Philippines?
Our parents could have used that guilt trap as well. Bu they didnt and they dont.
Our angle is completely different. The parents task, duties and responsibilities is to provide for your kids till they reached the age of maturity (18). Then the kids become responsible beings themselves. They will spread their wings and will stand on their own 2 feet. We will say thank you very much to our parents and that is it basically.
Our parents want to live on their own as long as possible and they can support, look after and take care of themselves (in all aspects).
Only when they need specialized help (health wise) they might enter an old-age center where they will find professional aid for their problems which the kids cant provide. Or the parents will hire a professional aid.
The majority of the Dutch kids dont like the prospect to live with their old aged parents under one and the same roof. All parties are too much in favor of each privacy. And that (privacy) is an unknown concept in the Philippines (and probably other Asian countries).
For your first question, because we Filipinos have been raised on flawed values (Something that is actually covered on Benign0’s GRP book. Available for free on this site.) compounded with crappy media (Which forces down the values of a stereotypical Filipino Family as well as propagating the idea of what a Filipino should be. And sadly, it involves being a love maniac and letting things be in God’s hands. In short, recipe on how to be a sheep) and government mandates that effectively stunt the people’s ability to learn. (Filipino Language classes in every grade while English learning begins in college)
As for the lack of privacy part, again, its the culture here in the Philippines. Other Asian countries do know what privacy is and why is it important. (Your love life here is something they will always ask about.)
Needless to say, tradition are the chains that keep the Philippines from ascending. Again, something covered in the GRP book.
Ricardo,
both regarding the flawed values and privacy, I dont get it exactly.
All those pinays that are married with foreigners and live abroad should by now get the picture of how life can be lived less flawed and that privacy is not bad.
In other words: I will copy your behavior when I see that it will be better for me and when it will benefit me.
I personally see more benefits in a life with privacy then having to spend all my life surrounded with family members. It really drove me mad when people started to barge in without making an appointment first when my partner and I where at her parents place in Cebu.
I do agree with you regarding Philippine traditions keeping them from ascending.
A few years ago I downloaded Benign0’s/GRP book.
I really need to get out of this country, and when i will i swear it’s going to take a very long time for me to get back
@ G-tation, yes, get out and never go back.The country is set up so no one has a future. NO FUTURE, NO FUTURE, NO FUTURE.
Be careful where you decide to go though. The USA is fucked, no jobs….and North Western Europe, even though cold in winter, is your best bet.
Dos,
it isnt as simple and easy as you state.
To enter and settle anywhere in Europe (as Non-European nationality) you have to meet a few requirements. And those requirements dont change by simply marrying a person who is a European.
The most challenging requirement is probably that the non-european has to do and pass a language and culture exam in the Dutch embassy in MNL (to enter and settle in the Netherlands permanently).
If a non-european just wants to visit the Netherlands as tourist, a Tourist-visa is enough.
Filipinos are very hard to grip their realities.
Why did they vote the same corrupt politician over and over, is the one I cannot understand.
Aquino became a President; and was Clueless on the management of the country; same as his mother: Cory Aquino. Both of them had no vision for the country. Except to save their Hacienda Luisita , from Land Reform.
Aquino thought that being President is easy. Like shouting YellowTard slogans, and wearing Yellow colored shirts.
I was a victim when Cory took over. I was hoping that Philippines would be better without Marcos, so I was one of those in Aguinaldo, the tanks and Camp Crame who stayed until Marcos left. My business was doing so good at the time of Marcos and I felt it would get better without him. Little did I know that Cory who is so naïve and incompetent to rule and manage the country would bring the downfall of economy and bring back major corruption at all levels. Cory started by closing the Bataan Nuclear power station without any alternate
plans on how to cope up with the power shortage of the country which resulted to so many black-outs that hampered production and sales. This resulted to so many factories closing and many multi national companies taking their operations out of the country. Local companies are so affected, and many have closed shops that unemployment became so high, consumer spending went down to the lowest level that affected retail stores and made small companies go bankrupt. Then the so many coup that happened, the major earthquake, and the floods made the country’s economy zoomed down. That made me decide to sell all my business at a loss, and left the country for good.
Right after I left, Mt. Pinatubo erupted and it damage further the economy and rise in unemployment. If not for the resiliency of the Filipinos who manage to leave and work abroad, the country will not be in it’s state right now. It is the OFW’s remittances that’s keeping the country alive today, not because of any President or politicians actions, in fact if there are no corruptions by these people, the country could be better than any in Asia except China or Japan. OFW’s remittances expanded the growth of entertainment in the country, the condominiums, the restaurants, the Malls, the branded items, because people have a lot of money to spend coming from their OFW family not because of employment in the country. So many small business have erupted, food carts, Tricycles, and jeeps being financed by the OFW, and so many of them also have closed because of mismanagement and being sucked by the Mall owners charging so excessive high rents for a small space. So many imported second hand cars bought by OFW money that made the streets overflowing and horrible traffic, as there was no growth planning, zoning, and proper management.
Now, another naïve Aquino is leading the country brought about by the death of the mother only. People not thinking if the guy is capable, competent and educated enough to stand, analyze, and govern the country. He was elected due to emotions, not because of merits.
Hope that Filipinos now have learned their lesson, that popularity is not enough to lead the country. They need an educated, honest, sincere and caring President to make a change in the country and stop corruption that is killing everybody.
I wonder where the regular Aquino apologist-commenters are now that the official reports and investigations into Mamasapano have come out and have all concluded that BS Aquino IS responsible and should be held accountable for the tragedy?
Wait for the official investigations to finish up they say. Now that they came out, now what? Will these nimrod Aquino apologists now be joining the many other Filipinos who are now expressing regret for having supported this failed administration?
It is most likely that they’ll hope that the filipino people will once again forget this glaring fuck up that their boss did but unfortunately for them, it isn’t going away anytime soon since people are already aware that the government will try to cover the issue up.
You realize that our mistrust of the future makes it hard to give up the past.