Filipinos are their worst enemy and their politics more important than country
Hopefully there can be progress in the Philippines – but not without a systemic change in values from the top down. The Philippines ought to be able to improve – but this is contingent upon good policies, honesty, ending corruption and laws be followed. I am doubtful Duterte can change things; further, what will happen next election? If he can make significant changes( infrastructure, proper funding of departments, end corruption) then the country may move toward a better direction.
Referring to previous comments regarding foreign typhoon aid, other countries will donate and the money will be stolen as usual. I remember the comments from Roxas to Romualdez in Tacloban, after Yolanda. The politicians have hatred for each other. I remember politicians repackaging aid goods from foreign countries and putting their name and picture on it. Sometimes ‘aid’ comes as a quasi bribe, in my opinion. The U.S. provides military security to Europe and then Europe bows down to the U.S. Gov. Be careful which type of prostitute you wish to be. Europe is a prostitute, along with many others.
Filipinos are their own worst enemy. Politics seems more important than the country. Filipinos cause more damage to their country than the Spaniards, Americans and Japanese combined. Many countries have the same problem – but the Philippines is as bad as I’ve seen.
-------------------------
This is a GRP Featured Comment. Join the discussion!
Based on what I read it seems that Filipinos are hopeless for improvement. I beg to differ. Filipinos can stil get better lives. We can still live harmoniously and with prosperity. One thing must happen...DISCIPLINE. We have to discipline ourselves. Next is values. We have to go back to basics. Remember our culture. Remember who we were. We were a nation loving citizen. We highly respect others. Filipinos became vindictive because of the poison of People Power Revolution
ReplyDeleteFrom Lee Kuan Yew’s book “From Third World to
DeleteFirst”, Chapter 18 “Building Ties with Thailand, the Philippines, and Brunei”):
Marcos, ruling under martial law, had detained opposition leader Benigno (Ninoy) Aquino, reputed to be as charismatic and powerful a campaigner as he was. He freed Aquino and allowed him to go to the United States. As the economic situation in the Philippines deteriorated, Aquino announced his decision to return. Mrs. Marcos issued several veiled warnings. When the plane arrived at Manila Airport from Taipei in August 1983, he was shot as he descended from the aircraft. A whole posse of foreign correspondents with television camera crews accompanying him on the aircraft was not enough protection.
International outrage over the killing resulted in foreign banks stopping all loans to the Philippines, which owed over US$25 billion and could not pay the interest due. This brought Marcos to the crunch. He sent his minister for trade and industry, Bobby Ongpin, to ask me for a loan of US$300-500 million to meet the interest payments. I looked him straight in the eye and said, “We will never see that money back.” Moreover, I added, everyone knew that Marcos was seriously ill and under constant medication for a wasting disease. What was needed was a strong, healthy leader, not more loans.
Shortly afterward, in February 1984, Marcos met me in Brunei at the sultanate’s independence celebrations. He had undergone a dramatic physical change. Although less puffy than he had appeared on television, his complexion was dark as if he had been out in the sun. He was breathing hard as he spoke, his voice was soft, eyes bleary, and hair thinning. He looked most unhealthy. An ambulance with all the necessary equipment and a team of Filipino doctors were on standby outside his guest bungalow. Marcos spent much of the time giving me a most improbable story of how Aquino had been shot.
As soon as all our aides left, I went straight to the point, that no bank was going to lend him any money. They wanted to know who was going to succeed him if anything were to happen to him; all the bankers could see that he no longer looked healthy. Singapore banks had lent US$8 billion of the US$25 billion owing. The hard fact was they were not likely to get repayment for some 20 years. He countered that it would be only eight years. I said the bankers wanted to see a strong leader in the Philippines who could restore stability, and the Americans hoped the election in May would throw up someone who could be such a leader. I asked whom he would nominate for the election. He said Prime Minister Cesar Virata. I was blunt. Virata was a nonstarter, a first-class administrator but no political leader; further, his most politically astute colleague, defense minister Juan Ponce Enrile, was out of favour. Marcos was silent, then he admitted that succession was the nub of the problem. If he could find a successor, there would be a solution. As I left, he said, “You are a true friend.” I did not understand him. It was a strange meeting.
Based on what I read it seems that Filipinos are hopeless for improvement. I beg to differ. Filipinos can stil get better lives. We can still live harmoniously and with prosperity. One thing must happen...DISCIPLINE. We have to discipline ourselves. Next is values. We have to go back to basics. Remember our culture. Remember who we were. We were a nation loving citizen. We highly respect others. Filipinos became vindictive because of the poison of People Power Revolution
ReplyDelete"KAILAN MAN HINDI AKO NATAKOT SA MGA MANANAKOP. MAS NATATAKOT AKO SA KAMANGMANGAN NG AKING MGA KABABAYAN." - RIZAL
ReplyDeleteFor a nation to be prosperous it needs to have a people healthy and educated. After WW2 Europe was more poor than the Philippine but health care and education was free for all.
ReplyDelete