Still a proud Filipino?

Today, I went out to find a job. After taking the exams and a few interviews I was down to the last one—the final interview with the vice president of a plywood company. As we began, I noticed that the 80-year-old executive seemed bothered by something. He kept talking about the low performance of the employees. I just listened and then he looked me in the eyes and asked, “You’re a psychology graduate, right? Can you tell me why?”

I looked back at him, gathered my thoughts and said, “Maybe, they lack the proper motivation!” He shook his head a few times and, with a forceful gesture of his hands, replied, “Motivation? Isn’t it enough that they’re poor and now a chance at a better life is in their hands?”

For a while I couldn’t make any reply, just thinking he was right! I felt I needed to answer him, but I had to be cautious. He was my ticket to a job after all.

“Well, I agree,” I said. “However, even with proper motivation, the organizational culture you have right now doesn’t inspire your employees to desire a better life.” He smiled at me and nodded.

Apathy in us. . .

Filipinos are widely known to be hardworking. Even today, our overseas Filipino workers, especially our seamen, are preferred over other foreign workers, primarily because they are hardworking. Yet, our country remains poor and most of us Filipinos don’t seem to care. We accept this situation, doing nothing to change it. Why? Do we lack the talents and skills to become a great nation? Do we have more illiterates than our neighbor-countries have? Do we lack the raw materials needed to make us more productive than other economies? So why are we poor?

Looking at nothing. . .

We look at our leaders for change. During elections, we hear their promises and most of us seem to believe. We put our fate in their hands, and then we stand aside and watch them do what they have always been doing to us—fail us!

And history repeats itself . . . over and over.

Most of the time, we look at others for help—to the Americans, to the Japanese, to the Chinese, even selling our souls. For what? Table scraps?

They don’t have to give us what we need to be a great nation once again, because we already have the thing—for a long, long time. We simply don’t realize this.

Believing in ourselves . . .

What we, Filipinos need is to go back to our roots, to our culture. We were once a proud and great nation—unconquerable, resilient in battle and self-reliant. We have survived against invaders, toppled a dictatorship and overcame so many other tests.

All we have to do is to find deep within ourselves that one and true identity once again, the basic DNA that make us Filipinos…

After the interview, I went home to my family, hugged my children and kissed my wife. We had a nice, quiet dinner and then these realizations hit me! It set me on a new vision, a new challenge. And now I feel free!

If someone asked me, am I proud to be a Filipino? Yes, without a doubt!

“Did you get the job?” I heard my wife asking me.

“I hope so!” I told her.

Marvin D. Asilo, 29, is a graduate of BS Psychology from Ateneo de Cagayan. He is a writer by heart and was once a social development worker.