Roxas Boulevard back when it was called Dewey Boulevard.
Photo: pinterest.com
he
Philippines is being left behind by many of her neighbors. Once the
leader in the region, we are now the laggard. How did this happen?
Here’s my take. I think it is because we Filipinos have just been too
lazy to do anything about it—period! When I was growing up in the ‘50s
and ‘60s there were those who said that Juan Tamad—the extremely
lazy character in Philippine folklore—described Filipinos “to a T.” As a
young Pinoy growing up, I resented that description. Unfortunately, over
the decades, I think I have now come to a similar conclusion. If it’s
not laziness, then something else must be very wrong in our character
because our country should not be where it is today. Based on our
starting point after World War II, the Philippines should be way ahead
of Taiwan, South Korea, even Singapore.
When
the United States left the Philippines in 1946, it is true the country
was still in bad shape. Filipinos were just recovering from the horrors of
World War II. Manila and many major cities were in ruins, the economy
was in disarray, and most Filipinos were still reeling from the pain and
suffering inflicted on them by their Japanese occupiers.
Nevertheless, we were more fortunate than most of our Southeast Asian
neighbors, also devastated by the war. During the 1950s, through the
1960s, the Philippines was a major player in the region. It had one of
the oldest stock exchanges in Asia. The country proudly heralded the
fact that it had one of the highest literacy rates in the world. The
best and brightest business leaders from across Asia enrolled in the
country’s Asian Institute of Management (AIM), the top business school
in the region.
Today, all the countries that were following our lead back then, have
surged past us. At one point, we were called the “sick man of Asia.” A
backhanded compliment from today’s perspective, as “sickness” connoted
it was just a “temporary” state, and the country would soon be back in
the pink of health. Sadly, today the country is seen more as a
backwater—a supplier of household help and cheap labor around the globe.
Manila International Airport in the 1960s. Photo: lougopal.com
In
this age of surging science and technology, we are a country that still
believes in myths, mystics and the supernatural—ghosts, kapres,
dwendes, and enkantados. We have failed to do the heavy lifting that
most of our Asian neighbors have undertaken. Like Juan Tamad, we
chose instead to just lay back and wait under the guava tree for the
fruit to fall on our laps.
It
is time we Pinoys change things. It is time we stop being followers and
start becoming leaders. It is time we take our place in the world and
help shape the future of mankind. It will take a different mindset—a
different kind of Filipino. A Pinoy who sees himself or herself as one
among equals across the globe. If our Taiwanese, South Korean, and
Singaporean neighbors can do it, why can’t we. I’ll talk more about this
in a future column. Meanwhile, tell me what you think by joining the
discussion below. Published 3/7/2018 |