Tuesday 27 August 2013

Why This Will Still Drag On Despite Showing and Admitting the Obvious

I was never a big fan of local and national news. While I was out of my hometown for five years working somewhere, I was deprived of the modest opportunity to watch any of the available shows, both foreign and local, on a tube. Deprived, yes, but never felt left out, because, in those in-between moments when I needed to come home, I get to see the same news over and over again. It gets to that sickening level that you no longer want to see any part of it, yet, surprisingly, a lot of people are still hooked into it. Hooked, mesmerized, amazed and ecstatic to see a minute of their favorite news.

Which, to my own understanding, is part and parcel of the political problem that we now see arising from the pork barrel scam. Now I do not want to be just a advocacy pretend hiding behind the cloak of a bandwagon, but here lies the most straightforward hint of a flaw and no one seemed to take it as a grave concern - that despite something becoming SO obvious, we seem very tolerable, very forgiving, of corruption and political evilness.

And I don't seem surprised why I dislike getting excited watching national news.

It's the one thing I hate doing and the one thing that sucks life out of me - to say that the flaw is blamed on our culture. Why this keeps dragging us almost to a drain is because of our inability to show patriotism and loyalty to our country. I believe patriotism is what we lacked, the genuine love for our country.

When some accused get to be scrutinized in public, we cry the cry of a victim. We go out and show placards and let people know what we feel about it. Nothing's wrong with it, but like one political analyst said, we lack a follow-up, the next step, that critical ACTION ITEM. We are so good at showing emotions, yet suck at taking something out of it. Connecting the dots, I can only generalize that the fault is on the following:

1) The culture we have has spoiled us to be activists not revolutionists. Even history gave us a hint of that conflict - the legacy of the revolution was tainted by a conflict amongst the revolutionist and the reformists, even taking it to the extreme by sacrificing one Andres Bonifacio so the "other Filipino" can take the spotlight only by himself. That was many years ago, and we're still seeing the same thing. When did we start to grow up?

2) We do not like to take the lead, yet so pushy at telling people what they need to do. It's like everyone wants to be an advocate but no one wants to take a little "bom-bits" in the butthole on behalf of everyone. I like the Million Man March, but no one seemed to take anything out of it.

3) The only option we like having is to take it to the streets. We forget that there are other options. When you feel sick and tired of the same old same old, leave other lines blank in your ballot during elections; it is not mandatory to fill all the positions out. If you feel that ONLY one candidate deserves your vote, then write only one name. That is, of course, ONLY if the thought crosses your mind.

4) We put humor into something serious the wrongest way. They say there is a spark of smile and enthusiasm in every challenge, but I say there shouldn't be any room for parody when the welfare of the country is at stake. There really isn't anything funny about pork barrel, so there's no need for undermining, unnecessary and stupid sense of humor.

5) There is too many government agencies, yet not one of them know how to do their jobs. COA had in its disposal the audit report and investigation for years, yet never did anything to address the issues. Yes, COA is for auditing from its name alone, but NO, it also has a responsibility to recommend actions to address what it thinks are irregularities. It's as simple as knowing what you are supposed to do and let other agencies know what they need to do about it. People rely on its government to do its job, and we hate it that it takes begging from the people before anyone from the government does something on an issue.

6) In times of crisis and disaster, we fail to realize that they owe us help. Not the kind of help that's given only when a bridge is damaged, but the kind that is given all year, when roads should have been repaired many years ago, when drainage was top priority when there wasn't any flood, when a Barangay Hall was more important than a basketball court. Sad thing is that Filipinos like patches instead of a long-term solution, which is reflective of how we solve problems on our own. We like substandard products, Class B gadgets, and it also shows in our polity.

7) Despite showing the obvious, we are still tolerable of corruption. Very tolerable that even when a Senator admitted mishandling the PDAF, we blame it on Napoles. Have we not realized it yet that each lawmaker has the responsibility of spending the money wisely, and if I were Napoles, I would most likely throw back a rebuttal "eh bat nyo kasi binigay sa akin?" We like scapegoats, and we easily can find one from an unlikely source.

 No sense of patriotism. There is not a genuine love for our country. I say this because I see that people no longer appreciate and respect the small things. Traffic lights get ignored, we pass against one way streets, we jaywalk like Luke (Skywalker, if you get the humor), we Wang-Wang even when a Presidential Decree has been in place since Marcos' regime, we make fun of our National Anthem (..."Ang mamatay ng may bulak"...f*** you if you do this), when given the chance to work abroad we brag about things we saw in another country and compare it with anything local (I hear a lot of people so proud of saying "idiay kastoy nga lugar, mayat ti kastoy ken kasdiay, ngem ditoy ket pulos nga blah blah" or something to that effect). And then there is the problem with camaraderie. Other countries have worse kinds of conflicts. They hate each other for a lot of wrong reasons. But at the end of the day, they find ways to make sure their country is intact and no one, not even their own kind, will put it down a rubble. It's this sense of love for country that we lack. Back in my elementary days, I saw that politics can get into a person as early as grade school. I saw that when kids needed to learn the beauty of governance by running for school organizations, they bribe their schoolmates with bookmarks and giveaways, then when it was labo-labo, their parents intervene by donating school materials or facilities. Because we only like taking care of our welfare, we become oblivious of our responsibility of making sure our culture does not get tainted with selfishness. I also realized that Filipinos have the funny habit of being the overnight critic on politicians yet when placed in the same position, will do the same thing, or even worse. The crab mentality has evolved into a modern "don't wanna left behind" mindset. So the trend goes on and on.

I like making a list of things that bother me, because with a list, I become more aware of what's happening around me. I am neither an anti-Philippines, a rebel without a cause, or an advocacy pretend, although I wished I can be one of those. But at the end of the day, the only advocacy we can be or should be part of, is the advocacy of getting stuck with this country and realizing we owe it big time the sense of appreciation and making sure we take care of it like we take care of our personal intentions. 

Sayang, the country has lots of potential, 20.44B PDAF, to be more specific.

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