Misrepresented Filipino character: A Look at Historical Figures

A lot of people reacted quite negatively to Fallen Angel’s latest article as well as Marcial Bonifacio’s first article. Their critics claim that they have written things that are overwhelmingly negative and are putting the spirits of Filipinos down. People who only briefly looked through the articles without ever understanding the spirit of them have gone on to bash the writers for being anti-Filipino. Now that I have time to think about it though, it’s not surprising since majority of their critics are probably people who have no knowledge of history, geography or politics.

Indeed, I have the misfortune of having to live with house-help who enjoy watching local TV that is utterly filled with errors and worse. As much as I’d like to put a stop to it, I try to be a gracious host and employer and allow them to watch whatever it is they want. “To each his own” after all. However, I cannot help but note the silly implications presented by Filipino channels on ideas of heroism, holiness and genius.

I have come to believe that it is because of the mental-garbage fed by the local media to the masses that has reduced them to their current state of ignorance and dependency. With extremely few references, both local and international, people are just forced to eat up whatever the media simply shoves in their faces. In the end, we get silly notions like Ninoy Aquino is a hero, Cory Aquino is a saint, Manny Pacquiao is a multi-tasking genius, Coco Martin is a great actor and Noynoy Aquino is a great leader. Of course, the only proof we get that these people are who they say they are is the word of the media just as our courts continue to value the testimony of witnesses (who can be bribed, bluffed or intimidated into saying whatever is convenient for the parties involved) over that of empirical and unquestionable evidence.

This article is supposed to question said claims with historical evidence and pit the said individuals against others from the international community. So guys, are you ready? Cause I’m about to take you for a “wild ride”!

“LET’S GET READY TO RUMBLE!”

(Techno Syndrome plays in the background)

Round 1: REAL Heroism: Ninoy Aquino vs. Oskar Schindler

“The Filipino is worth dying for.”

“I could’ve saved more.”

FIGHT!

Ninoy Aquino was a scion of the Aquino family and was actually a friend of President Ferdinand Marcos at the time. He was married to Corazon Cojuanco-Aquino who would go on to become president of the Philippines in 1986. He was exiled because of his opposing view against Marcos. However, he returned later on with great danger to his life and was shot dead at an airport that was soon named after him. There have been circulating rumors that it was not Marcos but one of his relatives, either other Aquinos or one of the Cojuancos, and not the Marcoses who had him assassinated.

Oskar Schindler was a simple German businessman in World War II and a member of the Nazi party. He made money by supplying arms and metalworks to the German military at the time. He was also quite infamous for being a womanizer. However, when he realized how horrible the Nazi party was and how they planned on slaughtering Jews by the millions, he took it upon himself to protect them in his factories. He was a man who faced great difficulty and danger and he knew that what he was doing would be detrimental to him as a businessman. He had nothing to gain by helping people who were complete strangers to him and everything to lose as Germans who helped those deemed “undesirable” by the Nazis were often put to death but he decided to help them anyway and saved around 1200 of them. He was never a remarkable man and majority of the business ventures he made after the war failed miserable. After his death, the Jews he saved had him buried in Israel.

K.O.!

Round 2: REAL Sainthood: Cory Aquino vs. Mother Teresa

“It is not I who have been consigned to the bedroom of history.”

“If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”

FIGHT!

Cory Aquino was the scion of the Cojuanco family and wife of Ninoy Aquino. She went on to become president of the Philippines after her husband’s death and the success of the EDSA Revolution in 1986. She was also instrumental in putting forth the “yellow” constitution which we all know and love so much today. She died later on of colorectal cancer in 2009. She worked closely with the Catholic Church in the Philippines who helped in making the “People Power” what it was. She was said to be hiding out in Cebu when the revolution happened.

Mother Teresa was a religious sister and missionary from Macedonia. She came to India to help the poor and realized how terrible the living conditions were for many of the people who lived there. While she has gained some criticism for some of her actions such as having poorly maintained hospices and converting the sick without consent, she nonetheless did what she could for an otherwise destitute population. Her willingness to help and serve the poor was what probably contributed to her death in 1997 which was caused by cardiac problems.

Hyper-combo Finish!

Round 3: REAL Multi-Tasking: Manny Pacquiao vs. William Hope Hodgson

“You know…”

“I read, and, in reading, lifted the Curtains of the Impossible that blind the mind, and looked out into the unknown.”

FIGHT!

Manny Pacquiao is a well-known Filipino boxer who is noted to have had lifted the image of Filipinos thanks to his very successful boxing career. He is also an actor, singer, soldier (lieutenant-colonel, in fact!) and politician in Philippine media. He is often absent in his job as a congressman and his latest act was to oppose the BBL (which he initially supported) when he realized that his province of Sarangani would also be subject to it. As you know, he and the rest of his family are now building their own political dynasty.

William Hope Hodgson is a sailor, bodybuilder, photographer, writer and soldier. Having earned his fame in the turn of the 20th century, he was considered somewhat of a curious figure as he took an interest in the new technologies of the time such as cameras (which people of the time looked at the same way we’d be looking at stealth technology today). As a bodybuilder, he was known for introducing some new exercising techniques that would help shape modern-day physical training. However, he was most famous for his speculative fiction stories which inspired H.P. Lovecraft himself (making Hodgson the grandfather of the cosmic horror genre) and was the creator of Thomas Carnacki, a veritable rival to Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. Sadly, he met his end in World War One through an artillery shell as he was part of the British army at the time.

Babality!

Round 4: REAL Acting: Coco Martin vs. Samuel L. Jackson

“Maari po bang…”

“YES YOUR HONOR, THEY DESERVED TO DIE! I HOPE THEY’RE BURNING IN HELL!”

FIGHT!

Coco Martin is a well-know heartthrob in Philippine cinema. Thanks to his good looks, he has gone from a simple waiter to a model to the actor that everyone loves. One of his most successful roles was that of Juan de la Cruz, a half-human half-vampire hybrid in the series of the same name. Wielding a magical cross that could take the form of various weapons, he took on vampires with a lot of action-y poses on many local TV screens with his signature “constipated” facial expression. His latest project was that of Feng Shui 2 where he starred with Kris Aquino (whose acting is another issue to be worthy of debate and discussion) and once again showed off his ability to look constipated in front of a camera.

Samuel L. Jackson is a widely celebrated American actor. He is quite famous for his role in the film A Time to Kill which was based on the John Grisham novel of the same name. In the film, he played the role of Carl Lee Haley, a disgruntled African-American employee whose daughter was recently raped by white supremacists. It is by far one of his most memorable roles as he assumed the role of an angry father who simply wanted justice for his daughter. Asides from that, he is quite the prolific actor because of his ability to take on many emotions and has appeared in The Avengers, Unthinkable and S.W.A.T.. Just so you know, he also takes on voice roles and is well known for having played the protagonist in the anime Afro-Samurai.

Animality!

Round 5: REAL Leadership: Noynoy Aquino vs. LKY

“My parents died too so now we are even.”

“Even from my sick bed, even if you are going to lower me into the grave and I feel something is going wrong, I will get up.”

FIGHT

Noynoy Aquino is the son of Ninoy and Cory Aquino mentioned above. He won the presidency thanks to his appeals to emotion and sympathy after his mother’s death even though there is evidence of his psychological instability. He wants to approve the BBL even after terrorists have slain 44 of his most loyal subjects (and didn’t even bother to show up for their wakes because he was “busy”) all because he wants to win the Nobel Peace Prize and, with it, continue his presidency. Whatever criticisms are leveled against him, he quickly deflects them by blaming others. He always brings up the issue of his dead parents to invoke the people’s sympathy as well as the name of God. He doesn’t give a rat’s ass about people he doesn’t know. He is currently trying to date a beauty queen who is being pushed to him by his sister Kris. Enough said.

Lee Kuan Yew is a well known prime-minister of Singapore whose administration is more of a dictatorship than anything else. However, thanks to his iron grip on his city-state, he has disciplined them into becoming a first-world country. It is through his will and resolve that Singapore became what it is today and none can doubt that is is one of the more successful and progressive nations in Southeast Asia. He also prefers to keep his personal life a secret as he believes that it is irrelevant compared to the current state of his country.

THRILL KILL!!!

Yeah yeah, I know. I’m supposed to present to you the next chapter of Deep. I just couldn’t help myself after reading so many dumb comments against both Fallen Angel and Marcial Bonifacio.