‘Wangwang,’ crabs

PRESIDENT AQUINO used the term “utak” (brain) twice in his State of the Nation Address (Sona) last Monday, to refer to particular mind-sets that plague the Philippines.  First was “utak wangwang,” the term “wangwang” expanded from its original meaning of a siren used on police cars, ambulances and, until last year, politicians’ vehicles, to mean  abuse of power.  Throughout his Sona the President kept referring to wangwang, even converting it into a verb (nagwangwang) to refer to malversing funds.

The other reference to “utak” was in “utak alimango” or crab mentality, much better known to Filipinos than utak wangwang (which, as far as I know, was used for the first time in Monday’s Sona).  Toward the end of his speech, the President appealed to Filipinos to end this crab mentality and to give due recognition to achievements (“. . .puede bang iangat naman natin ang magaganda nating nagawa?”).

Anthropologists like myself consider mind-sets to be part of culture.  Mind-sets are powerful especially when they are shared by a majority of a community.  That community can even be an entire nation, the mind-set helping people to propel them forward, or to hold them  back.

The good news is that mind-sets are not inborn, meaning we are not destined to stay in a rut just because most of our compatriots have a certain mind-set like utak wangwang or utak alimango.  Mind-sets are abstract, but they constantly interact with our experiences and social encounters.  Mind-sets can be learned—and “un-learned.”  Just look at Filipinos who have to work for a company—locally or overseas—that is strict about efficiency.  A mind-set of mediocrity, mentioned in the President’s Sona as “oks lang” is quickly shed off when the employee realizes he could lose his job with the most minor of lapses.

The bad news about all this is that mind-sets can also be quite formidable and difficult to change, especially when the home and work environments tolerate them.  The case of utak wangwang is instructive.  For years, we muttered and grumbled each time we had to sit (and seethe) in traffic as some VIP car wang-wanged its way forward while everyone else had to stop.  On the other hand, we began to subconsciously accept this as part of a natural order of things, believing that the high and mighty were entitled to this special treatment.  When given the chance, for example, an offer of a special police escort for a wedding or a funeral, we jumped at the chance, for  a few hours of status and prestige.

Plunder

The President used his Sona to expand the use of the term to refer to a more vicious abuse of power that encompassed the plunder of public funds.  The wangwang was an appropriate start-off point, something that seems so trivial and harmless, but which in the long term builds more negative entitlements.  The media lapped up the President’s revelation of P1 billion supposedly spent on coffee by Pagcor.

There were many other exposés in the President’s speech, from P18.7 billion budgeted for the ineffective dredging of the Laguna de Bay (“playing with mud,” he sarcastically described it in Filipino) to billions of pesos spent on unnecessary rice imports.

I did feel there was too much of a litany of past wangwang for one speech.  I had to download the transcript of his Sona from the Internet to be able to review the many instances of utak wangwang.  They were important, even more so than the other so-called achievements (which I have to say were lame, like claiming credit for a drop in hunger self-ratings between March and June).  Filipinos are sick of corruption and want to see more evidence that the President is cleaning up and truly banishing this utak wangwang.

But we rarely hear of these efforts against utak wangwang, and sometimes it’s because the media are not “hearing” them even when they are being said.  During the commencement exercises at UP Diliman last April, the President mentioned how the Land and Transportation Office used to issue 300 to 600 certificates to emission testing centers per day, clearly many of these under the table deals.  Spurious testing centers had since been closed down and he believed that a drop in air pollution levels may have been due to this clean-up.  That news item didn’t make it to most of the papers I read the next day.

This selective “deafness” is a form of utak alimango, referring to a basket of crabs where a few might be able to climb up, almost about to escape, but are pulled down by the others so that in the end everyone ends up as crab stew.

Depleted resources

Much has been written about this crab mentality, to the point where we almost accept it as innate, a dark and mean side to the Filipino.  But then the crab mentality is not unique to the Philippines.  Anthropologists have documented this in many cultures, sometimes referring to the “image of limited good.”  In societies where resources are limited, and this can be an impoverished community or an office where there are limited opportunities for promotion or advancement, anyone who rises above the others, even through honest effort and merit, will immediately be suspected of having done so through “connections,” corruption, seduction of the boss, even using the occult (ginayuma ang boss).

The “image of limited good” theory has been criticized as an instance of circular reasoning, where limited resources are said to lead to the crab mentality which then means even more limited resources.  More radical social scientists remind us to ask why there is limited good in the first place.

That’s where utak wangwang and utak alimango come together.  Resources aren’t just limited; in many cases they are depleted because of neglect and corruption. The shrewd corrupt leaders and their hirelings may even encourage utak alimango because it keeps people divided and distracted.

It’s not going to be easy tackling utak wangwang and utak alimango.  The President spoke of creating fairness, described as “patas na pagkakataon” (equal opportunities) and “patas ang laban” (fair competition).  As we move in that direction, people need to get more frequent progress reports about these “counter-wangwang” efforts and achievements.  For the Sona, the President had to use mega-figures like the P1 billion coffee scam, but for the man and woman on the street, the concerns include dealing with local day-to-day issues, for example, traffic aides on the take, or city hall clerks who take forever to process simple applications.

Turning off the wangwang means going after the big crooks, as well the local ones.  Just as important though is transparency and access to information.  Citizens need to know about new job openings, loans and grants, project bids, as well as the way budgets are used.   We need not just State of the Nation Addresses but reports on the state of  agencies and local governments. That reduces opportunities for corruption, as well as cynicism, mistrust and utak alimango.