It’s an interesting time to be in the UK, where the Mother of All Parliaments, the House of Commons, has been roiled by infighting and discouraging economic news.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer ignited a firestorm of protest last week: see Chancellor Alistair Darling warns slump could be the worst for 60 years, precipitating a slump in the Pound Sterling and a furious debate over whether he acted irresponsibly or not. In many ways the entire thing -including debating whether government ministers ought to be blunt or Pollyanna-like in their official statements, the reliability or unreliability of official statistics, the question of whether the chief executive should take the fall to prevent the decimation of the party- sounds eerily familiar and because of that, oddly comforting.
The Brits are working through issues not very different from our own and it seems to be there isn’t all that much of a difference between the way British and Filipino politicians are trying to do damage control: orare ignoring public opinion altogether while politicizing previously relatively partisan-free civil service institutions.
The Times in a recent editorial (which came at the heels of the paper’s report that a sacking was in the offing), The twilight of Sir Ian Blair, looked at the controversial head of Scotland Yard and took him to task in all-too-familiar (for Filipinos) terms:
His responses are by now well practised. He believes that near-constant pressure to quit is an occupational hazard to be shrugged off if not actually ignored. And he believes mutinous disloyalty from senior colleagues is an inevitable result of radical reforms of which he is fiercely proud.
The trouble for Sir Ian is that his reforms have not made him indispensable. Nor can he be sanguine any longer about the calls for him to go. His support from the Association of Chief Police Officers and the Home Office has crumbled: his contract will not be renewed in 2010. This makes him a lame duck not only in the view of his many critics, but in fact. If his record were spectacular, this newspaper would back his bid to stay in office until the 2012 Olympics and beyond. Unfortunately, it is not.
What sets the British media apart from our own is the deeper sense of memory, whether institutional, national, and personal, that the media, the politicians, and commentators have. For example, Libby Purves in Why did Alistair Darling choose 1948? points out a fascinating detail, concerning 1948 as a watershed year for Britain despite postwar austerity:
The disreputable anomaly of plural voting was abolished – previously university graduates could vote in two places, and business owners had an extra vote at their place of work.
The odd thing of course being that there are frustrated middle and upper class Filipinos who continue to think plural voting might be a good thing.
The business and finance media, too, write clearly and informatively, something hardly ever seen at home. The Business Editor of The Times pens an analysis: This slowdown has a long way to go yet — so just look forward to the sales. And there are short, but richly informative reports that contextualize the economic news. An article Is the party over for pubs? points out British pubs are closing at the rate of four per day and also ties in the various economic trends (crashing property prices, increasing food and labor costs, etc.) into the uncertain future of a British institution.
In Britain 2028: we need ten new cities, please, Camilla Cavendish looks at the immigration policies of the UK, something that ought to be of interest to Filipinos living and working here.
Just today, Gordon Brown to increase Holyrood’s tax powers focuses on the great Labour project of restoring the Scottish Parliament and increasing its powers over taxation and budgeting: again, this ia a debate erupting in Britain which should be interesting to proponents of Federalism.
Update: Only Blair could save Labour now provides an insight into how more “mature” democracies factor surveys into the political situation, and how past and present leaders can add and detract from their party’s future prospects.
A great pleasure is reading the obituaries published in the British papers. See K.K. Birla: industrial tycoon and philanthropist.
culture and dignity? does the name republic of the philippines conjure an image of dignity, culture and honor in the international community? what’s in a name? wake up ! ! !
is your ability to name the philippines philippines added up to your credential as “makabayan?” and one who called it PI less patriotic? 🙂
jcc,
In the same manner, don’t be a pseudo internationalist. Remember, there are 8 million overseas Filipinos whom you might be calling as ‘pseudo-nationalists.’
And Philippine citizens desire to be called the country by its official name. Not on any romanticism, nor sex appeal, whether its associated with corruption or not. And definitely not on the say of a U.S. immigrant who would be an American citizen in the future.
You’re fond of quoting Shakespeare. Since the thread is about the Brits, I’d have the Beatles : ‘Live and let live.’
JCC, Pilipinoparin,
I was just trying to be polite but there seems to be a challenge to the veracity of the postal service site as someone posted a link that attest to what that one says.
Well anyway, I used to have a female colleague who came from a place in the north.
I usually get a kick (when I’m slow on my feet and she happens to be fast on hers) when I kid her about her place of origin.
But for reasons some might see apparent, the residents of the place one day decided to change the name to “Saismuan” or something.
“When I said Philippines, their eyes would lit up and they would say: “Ah yes, Imelda, the woman with 1,000 shoes; and the other variety of response is Oh yes, Mr. Marcos, did he really steal money from the people and ordered what’s the senator’s name? Murdered? – Aquino, I answered and they would say, yes, did he?”
funny, i got in trouble one time when someone asked me where i’m from. I said, I’m from the philippine island. which island? I said Leyte.
Then the person said: oh yeah? that’s where Imelda’s from. so do you have a thousand shoes?
i said : NO..
hahahah
maybe i should not be proud to be from Leyte. I actually grow up in Cebu..
I should take KG’s advice to change my name. hahahah
If I will: my new name would be cjoven… since rickycarandang’s blog is no longer available.
I wonder who is tax joven? he could be my relative from Leyte?
jcc,
A’s to your Q’s
culture and dignity? – Yes
does the name republic of the philippines conjure an image of dignity, culture and honor in the international community? – Yes uli
what’s in a name? – A lot
wake up ! ! ! – 3 pm pa lang dito
is your ability to name the philippines philippines added up to your credential as “makabayan?†– At least no one will tell me ‘P.I. mo rin’
and one who called it PI less patriotic? – Not really but Manolo’s blog commenters might think that you’re @#$*!%
That’s the problem, jcc. That’s the reason why every outsider consider our country good for nothing. Filipinos allow it, we don’t do anything to uplift our dignity. Some are contented to be doormats.
I was not KM, in fact I did not like them. Most of them were fake nationalists, instigators in Plaza Miranda, Recto and Espana.
SIDE-topic: Bush-McCain economics still does not make sense. With Iraq costing $10Billion a month and there are no revenue-source to pay for the monthly expenses, not surprising that the US deficit(2008) jumps to $407B ( from $161.5B in 2007).
And headed for worse…… Democrats working to for a second economic stimulus bill (to follow the Bush tax rebate checks sent out earlier this year) that will add another $50 billion or so to next year’s deficit.
uplifing one’s dignity and sense of honor has nothing to do with one’s ability to call Philippines, Philippines. it takes more than that – if you think that saluting the flag, singing the national anthem and calling philippines, philippines added to the dignity and honor of your nation, it is not, that is the real representation of romanticism you decried about.. we must work hard to uplift our economic life and restore honesty in our government bureaucracy, only then we can truly say that we are proud to be Filipinos.
shakespeare brings generic philosophy to the world and it is not victorian, nor english based. the idea that the property of an object does not rest on the name that is appended to it but what really is the object is, thus came the prose: ” a rose by any name will smell as sweet”.
if the philippines is a source of pride and honor, such quality of allure remains even n if you call it P.I. and the name will not add nor subtract to her quality as a nation and to her proud people.
it has nothing to do at all with one’s sense of nationalism which einstens called a disease of mankind.
so beat it. bleeding hearts …. look beyond the representation of “honor” , “dignity”, “pride” “love of country”, for they come in various forms and no one and absolutely no one has a privileged claim to it, not Pilipinoparin, Philman, Nash, CVJ, HVRDS,Leytenian, Supremo, MLQ3, JCC, justice league, etc… 🙂 🙂
That’s the product of materialistic world. We forget the intangibles.
wah naman talaga pumipigil sa iyong gamitin ang P.I eh?
ang kulit mo. sinasabi lang naming hindi siya official designation. bakit ka nagwawala.
oops, I should end my sentences in po and opo. I’m too young to do cruises.
nash my post is not a response to your silly comment. it is a response those who have some legitimate issue that somehow calling RP RP helped improve our dignity and pride as a nation. 🙂
i think nowhere in this thread was that implied.
“Words ought to be a little wild, for they are the assaults of thoughts on the unthinking.” John Maynard Keynes
Imelda Marcos, Sarah Palin and the pornographic political rhetorics that comfort the ignorant mind.
Imelds still holds court over wide swaths of the Filipino populace. She is now being propped up as a role model for the young.
Not surprising in a country where most people live on the edges. She was and continues to be a pied piper in a very good looking package.
Anyone who has seen her will attest to that. She has prescence. In a country where patronage is close to a religion her prototype always will rock.
An analogy can be made of the new political rhetorical machine in Palin. A perfect instrument for the modern instant gratification of modern media. She is like eye candy.
Britney, Lindsey and the rest have serious competition.
Like Imelda she is an escape valve that is resonating with the frustration and fear that a lot of people feel about the present economic condition.
Unfortunately for GMA all she had was Nora’s look alike face. When she speaks and projects it grates on people.
If she looked and sounded like Korina she would still be on top of the heap.
Mar are you awake. Push Korina ro run.
For Obama and the Democrats forget she is good looking and is politically deadly effective at projecting and oozing appeal on TV .
The Democrats will have to learn how to bitch slap back on prime time TV. This election will turn on trying to make people forget ‘sex appeal.’
The Republicans are limiting Palins appearances before the media. The media will not be allowed to take her on one on one.
They (media) are like bounty hunters whose job is to make politicans screw up on their feet. She and McCain have declared war on the media as a campaign strategy. Ferdinand and Imelda shut them down. GMA avoids the media like a plague and creates her own version of the news.
These are reall very pregnant interesting times.
The U.S. has defined the enemy personified by Usama. Will America now bring up the antithesis to Usama?
What economic crisis??????
Why the electoral college voting system in the U.S. gurantees that all states will get attention from the Federal authorities unlike in Euroland where fiscal responsibility is left with the states while monetary policy is left with the ECB.
So presidential candidates will have to make sure of winning the states first that can assure the magic number of electoral votes.
You know what earmaks are off course. Pork pork pork.
Like Johnson, Bush has increased the national debt by refusing to increase taxes to pay for war…..
In a Republican constitutional setting you do not want to and ask people for permission to raise taxes to pay for war. They might wake up and ask, but you did not tell us that we were at war…….You told us to keep shopping ……racking up free mileage on our credit cards and borrrowing against the inflated value of our homes…
Sarah Palin is one hot babe…..
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/09/09/business/budget.php
hvrds,
for the first time I see your mind clearly now and though you are a democract, I admire your coming down and wrote english at a level i can understand, and devoid of self-righteousness. let not our past discord and disparate discourse serve as a fence of distrust that will continue to divide us but as a fence where we could build our trust and respect towards one another.
keep up the good work sir. 🙂
Leytenian: “…the countryside today very underdeveloped and poor.. why is that? Is it the form and structure of our government?”
You are correct. It is the form and structure that must be changed. The Local Government Code of 1991 was in the right track. It mandates a visit every five years. But Congress and Senator Nene Pimentel simple ignored this. They did not devolve enough. Now they want to give more powers to LGU”s through federalism. This is the very power they denied the LGU’s through apathy.
You are also correct in saying that Congress will not grant those powers. This is why LGU’s must lead the new people power. This one is not about changing leadership. We now know that it’s useless to change leaders. It’s the system that must be change.
But it must not be federalism. This system will only drag us down. KG, thank you for posting my piece. It explains this point.
Tax Joven,
I agree that federalism is the wrong way of devolution,Thank you for your letter to the inquirer.The cons(federalism) outweigh the pros as presented by the advocates.
==============================
Leyetnian ;C Joven ka pala.
baka nga mag kamag anak kayo.pwede,kung maiden name mo yun.
About a Joven:
The sister of my maternal grandmother was married to a Joven.
“let not our past discord and disparate discourse serve as a fence of distrust that will continue to divide us but as a fence where we could build our trust and respect towards one another.”
“keep up the good work sir. :)”
Go in peace little grasshopper….
i think its just common courtesy if you grant people’s request that you refrain from using P.I. or Flip
you may not have meant it in an insulting matter, but the idea that someone may be hurt as an effect of using that word warrants that you cease using it
even in a world of free speech, the universal rules of courtesy also apply
KG,
“The sister of my maternal grandmother was married to a Joven.”
oh yeah… yup I am a Joven .. maiden name. i will share my personal website soon. it’s under repair … hahahah.
in the meantime: here’s for hvrds and of course everybody.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZzc8uUMiew
Demographic shift plus inflation =
The U.S. will have to cut either social entitlements or defense spending. Either socialize health care like in most of Europe and Canada or
There is another solution. Establish service export processing zones for health care in Mexico, Central America, Caribbean and South America.
Cuba has one of the best and most advanced universal health care systems in the Americas.
It is already happening. This is benign hegemony. However the U.S. should stop insisting in their free trade treaties with the region on maintaining their monopoly patents on medicines. A large part of their discoveries have been subsidized the the Federal government anyway.
Let the government reward the human who did the inventing. Not the corporation.
Free trade and free markets have always been about human interaction. They are the foundation of human social institutions. The corporations have distorted the markets.
But how do you kill this idea that they have the same rights under law as humans????????
“When many Americans think of debt and deficits, their knee-jerk reaction is to blame the war in Iraq, or defense spending. Some people think that we can solve the country’s financial problems by stopping fraud, waste and abuse, or by canceling the Bush tax cuts. The truth is, the United States could do all three of these things and still wouldn’t come close to solving the nation’s fiscal challenges.”
“The U.S. already has $11 trillion in fiscal liabilities, including public debt. To this amount, add the current unfunded obligations for Social Security benefits of about $7 trillion. Then add Medicare’s unfunded promise: $34 trillion, of which about $26 trillion relates to Medicare (parts A&B) and about $8 trillion relates to Medicare D, the new prescription drug benefit which some claimed would save money in overall Medicare costs. Add another trillion in miscellaneous items and you get $53 trillion. The United States would need $53 trillion invested today, which is about $175,000 per person, to deliver on the government’s obligations and promises. How much of this $53 trillion do we have? Nada” Chris Mayer -The Daily Reckoning. Figures from the Congressional Budget Office of the U.S.
What is it about simple arithmetic that people are so afraid to use it to deduct a negative 0 – negative 0 remains a + zero…
McCain will be dead by then and Palin would be a hot 70 year old if she watches herself. She would be on a Federal government pension guaranteed by the government she “loves’ to hate.
Oh by the way there is already a Pinay doctor who is practicing in Nassau. Man the talent on those beaches is awesome……
“But how do you kill this idea that they have the same rights under law as humans????????”
“Health care is not a right. As such, it is not the responsibility of government to provide health care.
If universal health care is provided by federally mandated purchase of health insurance, it may be unconstitutional, since the Constitution does not give the federal government this right and reserves all non-mentioned rights to the States or the People.
“Universal health care would result in increased wait times, which could result in unnecessary deaths.”
” Unequal access and health disparities still exist in universal health care systems.”
” Universal health care would reduce efficiency because of more bureaucratic oversight and more paperwork, which could lead to fewer doctor-patient visits.(citation needed) Advocates of this argument claim that the performance of administrative duties by doctors results from medical centralization and over-regulation, and may reduce charitable provision of medical services by doctors.
Many problems that universal health insurance is meant to solve are presumed caused by limitations on the free market. As such, free market solutions have greater potential to improve care and coverage.
The federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act requires hospitals and ambulance services to provide emergency care to anyone regardless of citizenship, legal status or ability to pay. The health care safety net, which includes free medical clinics, charity care, nonprofits and government-run community hospitals, provides necessary care to the uninsured.
The widely quoted health care system ranking by the World Health Organization, in which the US system ranked below other countries’ universal health care systems, used biased criteria, giving a false sense of those systems’ superiority.”
Empirical evidence on the Medicare single payer-insurance program demonstrates that the cost exceeds the expectations of advocates. As an open-ended entitlement, Medicare does not weigh the benefits of technologies against their costs. Paying physicians on a fee-for-service basis also leads to spending increases. As a result, it is difficult to predict or control Medicare’s spending. Large market-based public program such as the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program and CalPERS can provide better coverage than Medicare while still controlling costs as well.
Universal health care systems, in an effort to control costs by gaining or enforcing monopsony power, sometimes outlaw medical care paid for by private, individual funds.”
My own opposition:
Demand for healthcare professionals is growing as the population of America ages. Changing to Universal healthcare prior to balancing supply and demand will pose a greater risk.
Immigration quotas and approval of visas must be lifted. Meeting the demands of healthcare professionals will stimulate the economy. The demand for housing will increase. The multiplier effect of increasing migration will balance supply and demand.
Universal Healthcare – Easier Said Than Done
“In order to address our nation’s trouble with healthcare, we should accept that a shortage of insurance and/or monetary resources committed to the purchase of healthcare is not the problem. A shortage of actual healthcare is to blame. We must increase the supply of healthcare and healthcare professionals for our citizens, at least to the extent that such an increase is economically and politically feasible. Simply throwing money at the problem to allow our citizens a chance to buy healthcare that does not exist will solve nothing.”
http://whitehouser.com/policy/domestic/healthcare-limited-supply-unlimited-demand/
liam tinio,
What would you say that if I tell you that I am offended also if you use RP and request that you use P.I. instead. Would you refrain from using it also so you can give me your courtesy? 🙂
I’m sorry to be a pain because it’s hypothetical but what then would be the basis for being offended with the use of RP?
Buti pa thailand.
“…………r a court forced Samak Sundaravej out of office over a scandal surrounding his TV cooking shows.”
Si Gloria Macapagal Arroyo na NANDAYA (or naki-alam during the election counting) and used her influence for his brother in law to keep the Pidal accounts (and who did not pay tax on those claimed millions) still keeps her job!
Super kapal talaga! (Well, she has that Messianic complex…)
Meanwhile, Another Assumptionista (also with a messianic complex) Loren Legarda peddles whitening pills…
on the PI of RP, what do you suggest we do with BPI(Bank of the Philippine Islands)? go to the congress or senate and have its name changed?
this is getting insane or infantile!
if you really think about it, the word Philippines is a name given by Spain that enslaved us for more than 300 years! that maybe explains why we as a people cannot get passed our progressive SE asian neighbors.
they have a sense of identity. they pride themselves of being malaysians, thais but, us we pride ourselves of our english speaking skills! we say we speak filipino but in reality we speak tagalog.
my point is we must find our identity as a nation and people.
and maybe a starting point for us to move forward is (it may sound silly or idiotic for some of you here but), i propose that we change our country’s official name to something we can really call our own not given by our former colonizer.
on the flipside, what’s in the name anyway!
any violent reactions?!
Ramon Farolan’s article is interesting — he rails against the country’s inability to win at least one bronze medal in the Beijing Olympics. He did speak of the Filipino character — (i) ..leeches that have made Philippine sports their livelihood and their own private domains;…. (ii) we need to inject a sense of discipline among our athletes and this requires strong leadership with a no-nonsense attitude… The Koreans have displayed this virtue time and time again ……….. but they realize that excellence comes from discipline and determination.
Farolan seems to say that it is okay for Koreans to behave brusquely against Filipinos in the Philippines because they — Koreans — know how to excel. (I think that is the wrong conclusion, though.)
Farolan identifies those Olympics when the Philippines won medals. Conclusion — it was when the Philippines was still a commonwealth when the country was a better “collector” of medals at the Olympics games.
The article is here:
http://www.inquirer.net/specialfeatures/olympics/view.php?db=1&article=20080908-159287
a boring link on name change for our beloved country the,
Philippines:
http://www.asianweek.com/2008/08/26/name-change-for-the-philippines/
at UP n
hwag masyadong dibdibin yang olympic gold.
whether we admit it or not, the olympics is like a formal dinner party where everyone is invited to participate to eat the food and drink the wine except that poor countries like us don’t dress up in haute couture because we can’t afford to.
take the case of the danish cycling team who said ‘compared to the UK were are a mickey mouse operation’ to refer to the fact that UK put more money in their team than anyone else and so they won most of the golds. now we can’t say denmark is a poor country, they just weren’t willing to pay that much……
of course that logic on ‘excelling’ and ‘olympic medals’ by farolan is idiotic. Filipino athletes are just as disciplined! We just don’t have da money to buy Nikes…and rather we have healthy kids in the general population than spend millions on ONE person to get us to win a gold model.
So sa olympics, ok na na saling pusa tayo.
Got this from email.
Share ko lang.
Meron akong gustong ibahagi para sa ating lahat na mga PILIPINO. Simple pero parang mahirap gawin ng karamihan sa atin.Hindi ito makukuha sa puro daldalan lang or walang kabuluhang pagtatalo,kumilos tayo ngayon na.
Sa ibang bansa: Pag nagkasala ang Pinoy, pinarusahan siya ayon sa batas.
Sa PINAS: Pag nagkasala ang ang Pinoy,ayaw niyang maparusahan kasi sabi niya mali raw ang batas.
Sa ibang bansa: Pinag-aaralan muna ng Pinoy ang mga batas bago siya pumunta roon, kasi takot siyang magkamali.
Sa PINAS: Pag nagkamali ang Pinoy, sorry kasi hindi raw niya alam na labag sa batas iyon.
Sa ibang bansa: Kahit gaano kataas ang bilihin at tax sa USA okey lang, katuwiran natin doble kayod na lang.
Sa PINAS: mahilig ka sa last day para magbayad ng tax minsan dinadaya mo pa o kaya hindi ka nagbabayad. Rally ka kaagad kapag tumaas ang pasahe at bilihin imbes na magsipag mas gusto natin ang nagkukwentuhan lang sa munisipyo o kahit sa alinmang tanggapan.
Sa Singapore : Kapag nahuli kang nagkalat or nagtapon ng basura sa hindi tamang lugar, magbabayad ka na 500 Singapore dollars. Sabi ng Pinoy, okey lang kasi lumabag ako sa batas.
Sa Pinas: Kapag nagkamali ang Pinoy katulad nang ganito, Sabi ng Pinoy, ang lupit naman ni Bayani Fernando , mali naman ang pinaiiral niyang batas eh akala mo kung sino. Ayun nag-rally na ang Pinoy, gustong patalsikin si Bayani Fernando kahit na alam niyang mali siya. .
Mga igan, ilan pa lang iyan baka may iba pa kayong alam.
Bakit ang PINOY, pwedeng maging ‘law abiding citizen sa ibang bansa ng walang angal’ pero sa sarili nating bayang PILIPINAS na sinasabi ninyong mahal natin, eh hindi natin magawa, BAKIIITTTTT? ????????
ETO PA, ‘Ang Pilipino NOON at NGAYON’:
NOON: Wow ang sarap ng kamote (kahit nakaka-utot)
NGAYON: Ayaw ko ng kamote gusto ko French Fries (imported eh)
NOON: Wow ang sarap ng kapeng barako
NGAYON: Ayaw ko niyan gusto kong kape sa STARBUCKS (imported coffee 100 pesos per cup)
NOON: Bili ka ng tela para magpatahi ng pantalon like maong
NGAYON: Gusto ko LEVI’S, WRANGLER, LEE (Tapos rally tayo ‘GMA tuta ng KANO ‘) Di ba tuta ka rin naman.
NOON: Sabon na Perla OK ng pampaligo
NGAYON: Gusto mo DOVE, HENO DE PRAVIA,IVORY, etc. may matching shampoo pa
NOON: Pag naglaba ka batya at palopalo ok na, minsan banlaw lang sa batis pwede na
NGAYON: Naka-washing machine ka na plus ARIEL powder soap with matching DOWNY pa para mabango. Alam ko mas marami pa ang alam ninyo tungkol dito, pero mangilan-ngilan lang iyan para bigyan ng pansin.
Mga Pilipino nga ba tayo? O baka sa salita lang at E-Mail pero wala naman sa gawa.
My Fellow Filipinos,
When I was small, the Philippine peso was P 7 to the $dollar. The president was Ferdinand E. marcos . Life was simple. Life was easy. My father was a farmer. My mother kept a small sari-sari store where our neighbors bought sang-perang asin, sang-perang bagoong, sang-perang suka, sang-perang toyo at pahinging isang butil na bawang. Our backyard had kamatis, kalabasa, talong, ampalaya, upo, batao, and okra. Our silong had chicken. We had a pig, dog & cat. And of course, we lived on the farm. During rainy season, my father caught frogs at night which my mother made into batute (stuffed frog), or just plain fried. During the day, he caught hito and dalag from his rice paddies, which he would usually inihaw. During dry season, we relied on the chickens, vegetables, bangus, tuyo, and tinapa. Every now and then, there was pork and beef from the town market. Life was so peaceful, so quiet, no electricity, no TV. Just the radio for Tia Dely, Roman Rapido, Zimatar, Dahlia, Tawag ng Tanghalan and Tang-tarang- tang. And who can forget Leila Benitez on Darigold Jamboree? On weekends, I played with my neighbours (who were all my cousins). Tumbang-lata/ preso, taguan, piko, luksong lubid, patintero, at iba pa. I don’t know about you, but I miss those days.
These days, we face the TV, Internet, e-mail, newspaper, magazine,grocery catalog, or drive around. The peso is a staggering and incredible P45 to the $dollar (last year ay umabot pa nga ng P55 per $1). Most people can’t have fun anymore. Life has become a battle. We live to work. Work to live… Life is not easy. I was in Saudi Arabia in 1983. It was lonely, difficult, & scary. It didn’t matter if you were a man or a woman. You were a target for rape. The salary was cheap & the vacation far between. If the boss didn’t want you to go on holiday, you didn’t. They had your passport. Oh, and the agency charged you almost 4months of your salary (which, if you had to borrow on a ‘20% per month arrangement’ meant your first year’s
pay was all gone before you even earned it). The Philippines used to be one of the most important countries in Asia . Before & during my college days, many students from neighboring Asian countries like Malaysia , Indonesia , Japan and China went to the Philippines to get their diplomas. Until 1972,like President Macapagal, President Marcos was one of the most admired presidents of the world. The Peso had kept its value of P8 to the dollar until I finished college. Today, the Philippines is famous as the ‘housemaid’ capital of the world. It ranks very high as the ‘cheapest labor’ capital of
the world, too. We have maids in Hong Kong, laborers in Saudi Arabia , dancers in Japan , migrants and TNTs in Australia and the US , and all sorts of other ‘tricky’ jobs in other parts of the globe. Quo Vadis, Pinoy? Is that a wonder or a worry? Are you proud to be a Filipino, or does it even matter anymore? When you see the Filipino flag and hear the Pambansang Awit, do you feel a sense of pride or a sense of defeat & uncertainty ? If only things could change for the better…… . Hang on for this is a job for Superman. Or whom do you call? Ghostbusters. Joke. Right?
This is one of our problems.
We say ‘I love the Philippines .. I am proud to be a Filipino.’ Dati pa, ang pamasahe nun sa jeepney ay 25 sentimos, ngayon ay tumataginting na P8.50 na at may mga nagbabalak pa na itaas ito. Ultimo text messages sa cellfone ay balak pa rin lagyan ng tax ng mga ungas na pulitiko eh sila itong dapat taasan ng tax. Mga pulitikong graduate ng 4 na sikat na kolehiyo/ unibersidad sa Pilipinas (alam nyo na kung ano yung mga yun) na namumuno ng bansa, mga aktibista kuno ngunit may bahid ng pagnanasa na nakawin ang kaban ng bayan! Mga ungas at magnanakaw talaga na nagsipag-aral pa sa mga sikat na kolehiyo upang gawing perpekto ang pangungurakot!
When I send you a joke, you send it to everyone in your address book even if it kills the Internet. But when I send you a note on how to save our country & ask you to forward it, what do you do?
You chuck it in the bin.
I want to help the maids in Hong Kong … I want to help the laborers in Saudi Arabia .. I want to help the dancers in Japan … I want to help the TNTs in America and Australia …I want to save the people of the Philippines … But I cannot do it alone. I need your help and everyone else’s. So please forward this e-mail to your friends. If you say you love the Philippines , prove it. And if you don’t agree with me, say something anyway. Indifference is a crime on its own .
Juan Delacruz
From Crookedtimber</a, , the ‘best sporting nations’ taking into account Gross National Income.
1. Jamaica
2. Kenya
3. Cuba
4. Belarus
5. Australia
6. Ukraine
7. Russia
8. South Korea
9. Netherlands
10. Britain
11. Germany
12. France
13. Spain
14. China
15. Italy
16. Canada
17. United States
18. Japan
Methodology used by the author:
sorry for the unclosed tag.
istambay_sakalye :
nice piece . ! ! !
@cvj
you have to take into account that those top 10 countries on the GNI ranking have focused on speciallsed programs…jamaica for athletics, kenya for distance running (where the only investment needed is good running shoes), belarus for anything involving throwing and homo-erotic grappling 😀 etc…
Australia, now that is a different case methinks because Sport is their Religion.
nash, yes you make a valid point. nothing is stopping us from doing the same. Here in Singapore, in one of the morning radio shows, someone said the country should forget hiring Chinese sportsmen/women and concentrate on adopting Jamaican orphans instead.
‘if you really think about it, the word Philippines is a name given by Spain that enslaved us for more than 300 years! that maybe explains why we as a people cannot get passed our progressive SE asian neighbors.’
from wiki
‘The name Indonesia derives from the Latin Indus, meaning “India”, and the Greek nesos, meaning “island”.[4] The name dates to the 18th century, far predating the formation of independent Indonesia.[5] In 1850, George Earl, an English ethnologist, proposed the terms Indunesians  and, his preference, Malayunesians  for the inhabitants of the “Indian Archipelago or Malayan Archipelago”.[6] In the same publication, a student of Earl’s, James Richardson Logan, used Indonesia as a synonym for Indian Archipelago.[7]’
To reinforce Supremo’s point (at 9:58pm), as with Indonesia, same goes with ‘Vietnam’. The following is an explanation of the etymology of the name of that country:
Besides, without the Spaniards, there would have been no Filipinos. They are the ones responsible for our coming together as a nation so no shame in giving King Philip II his due.
there will be still be “filipinos” though nothing like us today, maybe better or worse but, that we will never find out and can never change. 😉
i still believe we are much better than our SE asian counterparts, but all of it is being wasted by bickering, regionalism(so much for us coming together as a nation!), poor leadership. 😉
spaniard’s greatest contribution is catholicism and i stop at that.
king filipe II is an adulterer, mass murderer and married his first cousint! and it is a big shame that our country is named after him!
@cvj
“… nothing is stopping us from doing the same”
I agree as long as it’s not going to come from direct taxes because in a country like ours, winning medals in the olympics is not a priority. (Reproductive health care muna…)
The UK funds its athletes with Lotto money. We could do the same…
….pero ayaw ng Simbahan ng ‘sugal’ (pero yung sex na coitus interruptus at measuring vaginal discharge with ones fingers eh malaking sugal naman…)
istambay_sakalye,
‘king filipe II is an adulterer, mass murderer and married his first cousint!’
That’s par for the course in those days.
IMHO, the Spaniards’ greatest contribution is the relatively free movement of the different ethnic groups under its domain. Before them, the Bicolanos, Tagalogs, Ilokanos, Kapampangans etc. were confined to their indigenous ancestral domains. As for Catholicism, i’m ambivalent on its value. The Japanese of the same period were less hospitable to the missionaries and it turns out that they have less hang ups.
guys, please don’t waste precious comment space on this blog. if you want to continue with what you’re doing, do it in a forum site. or you could just chat among yourselves where you could throw insults at each other ad infinitum. we don’t care. but not here, please! please?
a vibrant trade between island neighbors already existed before magellan came to leyte and cebu. sooner or later
we will establish trade with the rest of the world without the spaniards.
simbahang katoliko at mga pari pa rin ang pinakamalaking kontribusyon ng mga kastila sa atin.
on the olympics, maybe to the philippine olympic committe the word olympic meant “HULIMPIC”, pa hulihan o kulelat at hindi pabilisan! mas marami pa yata ang mga taga gobyerno kaysa atleta ang bumubuo ng philippine olympic delegation at sa lahat ng mga international athletic meets.
…sooner of later we would have established with the rest of the world….
yan ang gusto kung isulat. 🙁
Sorry, nahawa ako kay Ca t. Let me repost for clarity.
Yes, as far as trade is concerned. However, the point i was making was about internal mobility of persons (not trade). the Spanish domination removed previous tribal boundaries. So for example, people from the Visayas could migrate to Manila (as my ancestors probably did).
I agree. Some areas would probably would have become more like the Sulu Sultanate which was a hub of the Chinese Tea trade in the 1800’s. However, it is the ‘we’ part that is open to question. If not for the Spaniards, there might have been no ‘we’. The ‘Filipino’ identity, after all, only dates from the 1870’s. (The ‘Bangsamoro’ identity is much younger since it only dates from the 1920’s.).
Without the Spaniards then the colonizers would be the Portuguese then Dutch then Japanese then inclusion into Sukarno’s Indonesia for Visayas and Mindanao. Luzon would probably become part of Taiwan.
cvj, supremo,
That”s one item we owe our gratitude to the Spaniards. Though we dislike them, our identity as Filipinos is a colonial artifact that, no matter how we rid it, will never go away.
Changing the name PI to RP (or keeping PI, as some say) is now immaterial. It depends on us what name or label we would like to have.
cvj, your post of 9/11, 1:09am intrigues me no end. Nick Joaquin has something to say on “Filipino identity.”
Joaquin thinks of two dates as important in shaping that identity, 1521 and 1565. Before 1521, “we” could be anything but Filipino, but after 1565 “we†could be nothing but Filipino.
Incidentally, “Moro” identity was born a little later. It probably started in 1579 when the Spanish colonizers launched the first attack in Sulu to get rid of the Moros, who were like their ancestral enemies in Spain for being Islamic. Since then, the “Moro wars’ characterized the more than 300 years of Spanish colonial history in the Philippines.
Some parallels in history may be made. You’re right, use of “Filipino†is a 19th century phenomenon; it came to be associated with Rizal and other intellectuals in the late 1800s, but wide acceptance of “Moro†came during the secessionist storms in the early 1970s (Moro National Liberation Front, Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Bangsamoro, etc.). Earlier, the label Moro was totally objectionable to Muslims, being correlated with bandits, pirates, lawless and second-rate citizens.