like and dislike about being filipino

WHAT I LIKE AND DISLIKE ABOUT BEING A FILIPINO (Point of View of a 100% Pinoy)

Two videos just recently got viral featuring Americans stating what they like and dislike about the Philippines. And as a Filipino, I already knew more than half of what they said. It’s just interesting to watch tourists declare their opinion about our country. Part of it helps, some parts suck.

Now, I’m not trying to be smart for writing this. I just want to be part of the conversation and share my opinion. I have lived my entire life in the Philippines and who better say what one likes and dislikes about a country? It’s people. Though half of the time, I feel we’re not heard.

Question I wanna ask people is, do we really just care about something by the time that it actually becomes a problem, a controversy? Did we even give a damn about what these tourists showed about our country even before they made the video? Maybe more than half of us would say no. Because, firstly, Filipinos are known and it has been part of our culture to say ‘Bahala na’ (Let it be). We’re just used to all this. It’s us.

I think that’s one of the major things I hate about us Pinoys. I think we should always always think about this, reflect on our everyday actions and constantly aim for progress. ‘Coz otherwise, we get stuck. Well, we had been for some time now, hadn’t we?

I honestly don’t know where to start. As a Filipino, there are lots of things I like and dislike about our country.

Well, let’s start it with our politics. It’s messy. Just a lot of mess. ‘Course there are those few good people who know how to do it right but just the majority of the people in the government knowingly do it wrong. Elections start all the ramble. They post pictures of whoever-they-are everywhere, mostly are sons of daughters of Congressmen, granddaughters of sons of Senators, former sexy stars, celebrities, nobodies. All wanting to get a position somewhere. I honestly don’t even know what’s good about being a politician, unless of course you have the best intentions of being a leader of progress somewhere in the country. Most of them we only see on elections and disappear like bubbles after being elected, some get paid without even having to go to work, some just sit there at their desk, sign papers and get their who-knows-how-much salary. And most of the times, we’re used to it. At some parts of history, we did express our dislike and made large public protests, hence the EDSA revolutions, which did kick out a few people out of their grandeur seats but every time we elect another leader, the tension of that revolution happening again never goes away. It’s like we either don’t get satisfied with whoever leads us or we always elect the wrong folks. Or some other distorted reasons. It’s just messy. Repeats itself over and over.

I also don’t like our justice system. I’ve experienced it myself.  My dad got convicted for a case (which I don’t wanna discuss in detail) and got imprisoned right after his capture. It took them 5 long years to even conduct a hearing. There were million processes apparently. Which is the same to be said for all other government transactions. (Name it. Securing an NBI Clearance, applying for an SSS ID, getting a cedula, etc.) After the long wait, they finally got a verdict and sentenced him for 3 years imprisonment. You read that right. That means my dad served time in prison longer than his sentence. He was freed right after. And that’s only a minor case. I can only imagine what others are going through. Bless them.

And that’s me talking about a convicted person. My words wouldn’t be enough for the victims who’d been harmed not only by their attackers but by the justice system. I think we are milestones away from having that part of our country fixed. Everyone’s used to it already. But nobody fucking likes it.  But who can do something about it? Apparently, with the hundreds we elected, a whopping NONE.

Now, let me talk about our entertainment. It’s just the same over and over again. Our movie industry’s dying. TV’s getting boring and full of nonsense drama we don’t need. The news is also getting polluted with not-news-worthy stuff. I honestly honestly believe and am proud to say we are very talented people. Most of us can sing, we have a ton of great singers. There are, well, some good actors and actresses yes. Directors who know how to do their job.  Fantastic dancers, from folk to hiphop to all kinds of dance.  Very funny comedians, talented hosts and reputable newscasters. But why oh why when we finally put it all together, there’s always something wrong, mediocre or even below average about it?

 A movie won’t be commercialized without a famous actor and/or actress on it. And I see that that’s because it seems that majority of us Pinoys and the government actually want that. Come on. This girl paired to this guy then makes another movie with a different girl then makes another movie with a new guy and most just don’t make sense. Some are even paired badly. A 20-year old to a 40-year old, a bad actor paired with a bad actress. Most do not fit the worth of a P200 ticket. That’s why we’re going down. Because we’re ALREADY USED TO IT. We hide our creativity and talent in a box and think about just getting the money. And the people absorb that attitude. But the Filipino audience is starting to wake up. And that’s why we’re going down even more. Because the industry still continues to feed us with the same stuff when clearly, Hollywood’s getting a large large profit from us already. We need something new. Something more interesting, worth to watch and more creative. NOW. That’s not mentioning yet the country-wide, exposed issue of piracy. Where’s our Bayanihan spirit? Also going down?

Traffic is terrible in the Philippines. Cleanliness is not maintained everywhere. Education’s not supervised orderly, not to mention it’s getting more and more expensive, unaffordable. Prostitution’s here and there. Economy they say is going up but so are the gas prices, transportation fares, grocery supplies, everything. The value of peso seems to have gotten stuck where it was a few years ago, maybe a decade I can’t recall and didn’t feel any change. The Philippines seem to have gotten stuck in a not-so-good place and we can’t afford that.

But there are tons of great things about our country. We are happy people. No matter how bad it gets, we always know how to smile at how good it’s going to be and how blessed we all are. We welcome and accept change. We’re not like other large countries out there with people who panic when they don’t know how to turn on their tv or to send a text message. We figure it out ourselves. We may have been colonized by other countries way back but we are starting to make our own identity. It may not be so good right now, but we all are positive people who know how to value every little thing we have and make use of the tiniest resources available. We don’t terrorize other countries just to prove our stand. We terrorize our own bad stuff and we always try harder every day. We have had the worst of worst and we’re prepared to get better and better. I know it takes a lot to get everything in order but we’re not alone. We do this with the whole world.

I’m very proud to be Pinoy and I can’t imagine and don’t want living anywhere else. 

by:darwintaylo

source:http://darwintaylo.wordpress.com/2012/03/14/what-i-like-and-dislike-about-being-a-filipino-point-of-view-of-a-100-pinoy/