Written By Erma M. CuizonSun Star DailyWhen you search “Filipino†in the Internet, you get data not only on Philippine tourist spots, the form of government, the history of colonization but also about depression and gloom, and distrust during election time.
But they talk of hope, too.
And hope is, “Will go abroad and try my luck.â€
This, in general, is what a recent article on the Pinoy in the New York Times Magazine is all about. It’s a cover story, in fact, with the picture of a Filipina walking by the beach, written by reporter and Pulitzer Prize finalist Jason DeParle in a title that’s both strange and familiar, “A Good Provider Is One Who Leaves.â€
The bare facts are: almost 10 per cent of the 89 million Filipinos live abroad in at least 170 countries, outside 1/4 of the number who are seafarers.
But there’s another kind of hope.
Alexander Lacson, author of a thin book called “12 Little Things (Every Filipino can do) To Help Our Country†has hopes while staying at home. And he thinks part of the answer to our problems is accepting the fact that we each have little things to do and do well within our own ability. He’s selling trust and hope, then closing his eyes to wish for the best.
The Filipino, perhaps, doesn’t look at himself as part of a whole. He feels he has to help himself, first, and lastly, the long line of relatives and the neighbors. He doesn’t think that, say, segregating his garbage correctly could go a long way enhance positive living.
When the Filipino abroad has saved enough, he comes home to take care of his family, builds that house, sends the children to school, for them in their turn to learn work outside the country. And he has now enough extra money to contribute to civic organizations. Meanwhile, he doesn’t segregate his garbage, he has broken one or two traffic rules, he hasn’t paid the SSS contribution of his new employee, he doesn’t even go out to vote, unless the candidate is a relative.
No, the Filipino doesn’t see himself as a strong part of the whole country. He thinks fighting corruption in government, say, is the concern of the few honest insiders, or the top leadership, or angry militants.
So is there hope?
Antonio Meloto, a leader of the Gawad Kalinga movement, thinks the “Filipino spirit is rising.†The locals volunteer in building homes for the poor, the Pinoys outside send in money—Filipino businessmen and professionals in Los Angeles, nurses in North California building homes in Bicol.
And so others see hope in the dark.
Remember the Social Weather survey undertaken last year to determine (not elections, thank God!) how Filipinos saw the coming year? It has always been with hope. And the 2006 survey revealed, not surprisingly, that a total of 91 per cent of adult Filipinos saw hope beyond the New Year. Philippines Today publisher, Benigno Tutor, Jr. says that critics of the survey think the hope the optimistic Filipino sees in the beginning of the year is an offshoot of “bahala na.†That’s why it’s easier for the Filipino to smile and endure.
Is there really hope?
It hurts when you read something like what a Filipino expatriate, who comes home for quick vacations, finds—the same old heartaches of a people. A UK resident and Sun.Star Cebu columnist Allan Batuhan says, “When I return home (to the Philippines) in another May time…I might yet again be composing a piece like this—so bereft of hope, so empty of promise and so full of pain.â€
Have you heard of the Philippine silk produced by farmers in Bago City, Negros Occidental? It’s a long story of hope.
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