Tolentino hailed for defending nation’s dignity

This is a reaction to Conrado de Quiros’ seeming tolerance of Dan Brown’s besmirching of Manila’s image (“Inferno,” Opinion, 5/27/13) in the latter’s new book “Inferno.”

Although it is fiction, it nevertheless tainted the city’s international image in a way that could adversely affect our tourism industry and, subsequently, our economy.

Brown is a world-renowned writer and is so good at what he does that he can twist people’s opinions on the world’s most established religion—Roman Catholicism. And if equating Manila with the gates of hell is left unchallenged by Filipinos, the damage could very well be permanent.

With our economy picking up some bounce, the last thing we want is anything that will lessen investor confidence in our journey to progress. So are we going to allow an arrogant writer to tarnish our country’s image under the cover of literary license even if it has dire implications on our development?

Good thing MMDA Chair Francis Tolentino publicly protested Brown’s “profanity.” He writes Brown and he is quoted by De Quiros: “While we are aware that yours is a work of fiction, we are greatly disappointed by your inaccurate portrayal of our beloved metropolis. We are displeased (with) how you have used Manila as a venue and source of a character’s breakdown and trauma, much more her disillusionment in humanity.”

Funny, because while I was expecting Malacañang—or, at least, the Department of Tourism—to be the first to react to the book, it was Tolentino who stood up to protect our dignity as a nation. The likes of him is what we need. The likes of him is what we should all be. Brown’s “gates of hell” is a barefaced insult not only to Manila but to all of us Filipinos.

Are we a nation tyrannized by the primal instinct of survival? Are we in desperation? Are we becoming like animals? Yes, we have traffic jams, yes, we have sex trade, and yes, we have pollution, but aren’t all countries facing the same problems?

True, we are a poor country, this I do not deny. But in the midst of our poverty, I say we still are the most dignified of races, with a very strong sense of respect for elders. Compared to Brown’s country, here in the Philippines, our young don’t shout at their parents; we don’t have cases of children going to schools and killing their classmates on a rampage. Our suicide rate is lower and we are by far a happier people than his; in fact, we are one of the happiest people on earth. We can find more smiles here in one day than we can in a whole year in the United States of America.

So really, where are the gates of hell?

—CHURCHILL AGUILAR,

chrchl@yahoo.com