So-called “political analyst” Antonio Contreras’s position on the matter of the ongoing impact of the government’s lockdown on Filipino lives fails to take into account an inconvenient reality of modern society — personal accountability.
Sa gobyerno. Kung ayaw niyong lumabas ang tao, kayo ang magbigay ng mga sumusunod na serbisyo:
•Mamalengke at mag-grocery para sa amin
•Bumili ng gamot namin
•Mag-withdraw para sa amin
•Magpadala ng pera o kumuha ng pera sa LBC, Palawan, Western Union at mga iba pang padala centers
•Magbayad ng mga bills namin.
•Magdeliver sa amin ng mga orders namin
•Umayos ng mga sira sa bahay namin
•Magpainit sa araw sa apo ko pag umaga
•Atbp.Kayanin kaya?
E sa pagdeliver nga ng relief goods, hindi pa maayos.
Should we be taking the “professor’s” post seriously? This is essentially a spoilt brat response to what are measures implemented for the common good. To be fair to Contreras, he offers his proposed solution. The trouble is, his solution is one that requires that the government do all the thinking. He is essentially saying that Filipinos ought to just sit on their asses and wait for the government to help them.
This is precisely the sort of attitude that is behind Filipinos’ beholdenness to “heroes” and the “salvation” theology preached by their state religion. It is the very kind of ingrained thinking that creates influential demagogues and gets unqualified leaders elected in the Philippines. When you have a citizenry conditioned by their “thought leaders” to feel entitled to government “help”, crafting an entire campaign platform based on empty promises works like a charm every election time.
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This Juan Tamad and mentality (also referred to as the infamous palamunin culture Filipinos are renowned for) is at the core of what impoverishes Filipinos to this day — in mind, spirit, and, of course, finances. Contrary to what generations of Filipinos are taught, money does grow on trees. You just need to know what kind of tree to plant and actually get off your ass and plant it to begin with.
People like Contreras miss the opportunity staring everyone in the face here. There are business opportunities for new products and services whenever things change. Most basic of all is that people can once again revisit the lost science of backyard agriculture, for example. Indeed, Philippine society remains a fundamentally agrarian one. Unfortunately, “globalisation” had basically turned Filipinos into farmers dressed in scientists’ robes. They look like modern people on the outside but remain subsistence cultivators on the inside.
Such a society struggles to draw a line differentiating god figures from civil servants. This is why the dishonest rhetoric of their “thought leaders” resonate — because most of them play in that easy space that validates such primitive thinking. It is also why hollow figures like Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto make headline news and attract a vast fan base of starstruck ignoramuses.
Filipinos need to get a grip and focus on sorting themselves out rather than spend their days looking up with gaping mouths waiting for the proverbial guava fruit to drop from the sky. That goes to say whether in times of COVID-19 pandemic or in times of abundance. It’s time Filipinos learn to be independent and turn their back on their debilitating colonial, palamunin, and squatter mentalities.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
By the post made by Prof. Contreras, he just put himself on the level of Mystica.
contreras’s simple point is if you order a lockdown you should be able to provide food because people will starve inside their houses. otherwise let them out. its very simple actually but administration cant do it.
^ This exactly
benign0 the FOOL is once again making clown of himself. Its nice to talk HIGH and MIGHTY when you are living in a first world country like AUSTRALIA!
This is where the VIOLATION of human rights comes in. How exactly are you supposed to get “creative” benigno the STUPID TURD when there are SHOOT ON SIGHT orders from the military?!?!
https://www.rappler.com/nation/256705-duterte-orders-troops-shoot-kill-coronavirus-quarantine-violators
Furthermore delivering food is complicated. You need to think of supply chains from the province to the cities. You want a person living in a SMDC shoebox in ortigas to raise chickens in his condo benign0?!?! You should ask why logistics supply chains are cut in the country.
You should get OFF your FREAKIN ivory tower in AUSTRALIA you TURD. Let them eat cake right benign0?!?!
It’s so easy to make you a fool over and over again. YOU should just SHUT the F — up!
Hmmm… I’m starting to get the feeling you don’t like me very much. ?
@benign0 the CLOWN
You are a HYPOCRITE and a faux intellectual. Your “ideas” are garbage and dangerous.
I’m not a fan
Look who’s talking. Undisciplined and squatter mentality ideas are far more dangerous and garbage than you are trying to spew out. If anything, you applaud people like Aling Alma who complains that Php 8,000 isn’t enough for one week.
maybe benigno wants filipinos to be resourceful by living without eating hehehe
“It’s time Filipinos learn to be independent…”
I agree, but, in a time like today, it’s easier said than done (even for people in the government!)… only if the relevant socio-economic conditions should present itself to those directly affected in the larger community.
I view the Professor’s position more as a call to action for the authorities to get their act together than anything – not mind conditioning nor entitlement to government help.
While your position to persuade Filipinos to do something and strive for self reliance is commendable, in times of COVID-19 pandemic and ECQ here in the Philippines right now, where everyone’s hands are tied to rely on the government, being told to locked themselves at home, really, how should they go about the reality of their daily lives exactly? Those who defied government orders do not represent the greater many!
(Backyard agriculture is okay and should have been thought of as a program by the government way before this pandemic. There was “Green Revolution” during Marcos’ time. Free seedlings were given to be planted in school yards and in community vacant lots. Harvested crops were utilized as ingredients for meals served in schools’ cafeterias. Gardening is also a part of the students’ subject.)
Given the reality of today’s Philippine situation of mostly the underprivileged majority and you’ve have been presented with the questions, can you supply them the answer? Do you have any counter proposal realistically feasible at a time like this?
The privileged class will not see things the same way:
“As social distancing and lockdown periods continue to extend with no end in sight in the Philippines, the “haves” and the “have-nots” will respond differently.”
“The rich, will not see it that way. In fact they’ve never seen life the way poor people do — which is why the Philippines’ elite cocoon themselves in their chi chi gated subdivisions and chauffeur their kids to schools rather than encourage them to take public transport. COVID-19 will just be another wedge that insulates the rich from the poor. To the already high perimeter walls of the rich’s gated communities will be added more measures to socially-distance themselves from the rest of the Philippines.”
Does this apply also to immigrant Filipinos, especially those possessing with a Vulcan mind?
How can there be independence for anybody who is at the mercy of private companies for essentials- like water.. When you work against life itself, then that’s probably what you’ll get.
What’s wrong with a farmer who wears a scientist’s robe? Wouldn’t that be a good idea?
“Lockdown” means you have to follow the guidelines of the Center of Disease Control, to prevent the spread of the COVID 19 pandemic…this is the reason you must research vital informations, regarding the spread of the COVID 19; and the characteristics of the corona virus.
That idiot, Contreras, who calls himself a Professors, is nothing but an educated ignoramus, professing to be wise, but is truly a fool.
People like the YellowTards, don’t have to lock themselves, in their homes, and just watch telenovelas the whole day, and let the government do the work in sustaining their lives…we have to do something useful, and help ourselves and others, also…
The mendicant mentality, or the “Palamunin Mentality” is still prevalent in the consciousness or in the minds of most of us. YellowTards among us, are still running rampant !
actually people just would like the government to stay out of their skin and they can feed and fend for themselves. but if the govt uses force to lock people in their houses they should be able to provide food otherwise they would starve. its very simple actually.
As a Facebook friend said, either we stay in quarantine, or resume our normal lives and risk infection. Secretary Carlito Galvez warned that if we open malls, we could see a resurge in the number of disease cases. That’s not a scare tactic, that’s based on what’s happening in other countries, such as Japan. Seems to me the ones wanting people to be let out without restrictions don’t believe that people are actually dying from this disease.
ChinoF,
is it made public who died in PH from the disease? No, I dont need to know whether Mrs. Smith died. But her background may give insight to whom died.
In my country it is by far the older people (70+ years old) PLUS having already underlying physical health problems. In short, when you are healthy and still contract the disease, you will most likely survive it even after being hospitalized and being treated in a ICU ward.
People can make “abundance” happen. There should be no issue of anyone being palamunin since all of us benefit from somebody’s effort at some point.