Fear and anger

It was not as though I was not affected. The Supreme Court decision declaring that the burial of long-dead Ferdinand E. Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani was like a knife stab in the gut. I did not jump up and down in disgust and anger for a number of reasons, but basically because I had expected it. Though I hoped all the time it would not happen, it just seemed to me that the odds pointed the otherwise.

I remember the impeachment case of former Chief Justice Rene Corona. It seemed so inconsequential impeaching one of a majority who had to combine, for whatever reason, their votes on the most controversial decisions. But only he was impeached, and the odds of more controversial decisions, remain. The great clash between form and substance, between legalese and morality, continues.
Actually, life in our society has its blessings and its curses. The same goes for each administration—that it would roll out good works and also get caught with bad ones. More importantly, it would have its clowns, its misfits, and its thieves as well as a few top performing officials. We take one with the other, just praying that the good ones outnumber the bad. With every presidential election since 1992, the political rhetoric against whoever is fielded by the sitting administration at that time would sound as though the bad was more than the good.

And it does not vary very much from what is happening in America. The Trump victory has shocked not only half of the population there but even a good number of Filipinos here. Yet, why should it? When enough people feel left behind or aggrieved, discontent spreads faster than hope. Hope is aspirational. It can drive people to dream and make an effort to pursue it. Discontent needs no imagination. It needs only for people to undergo difficulty or suffering, enough of it to turn his outlook of life sour. And if they are reminded of their disappointments day and night, they will become fearful, or angry, or both.

Since Filipinos have been conditioned over a hundred years to look up to and covet what America has, all the milk and honey, all the opportunities, America has set the standards for many Filipinos, rich and poor. If following those standards have not worked very well for us, has not lifted the vast majority from poverty over a century, then what we were taught and how we were taught produced disappointment after disappointment to the majority. And the fundamental flaws of those teachings which failed us ahead because we were already weak, finally failed the teacher itself.

The greatest deliverer of Filipinos out of poverty was never by government, never by a vision or a program that centered on precisely doing it. But tens of millions in the last 30 years did climb out of poverty, not by government policy or assistance, but by responding to the needs of more developed nation for talents inherent to the Filipino people. In other words, our OFWs have lifted themselves and their families out of the poverty by sheer determination, by native skills, cultural traits, and by separating themselves from their loved ones.

There are still 50 million Filipinos who wish to taste what the upper 50 million already have. 50 million is a huge base of discontent if properly provoked. It is also a huge base for hope if properly motivated. That is what leadership is all about, motivating or disappointing followers. And with enough time and skill, leadership can also build a proud nation.

If conditions in the world will stabilize enough to allow most economies to go about their way, our OFW market will increase, not decrease. It has less to do with how our government performs and more how other nations will. Those who prosper more than others will raise their standards of living and begin to let go of work that they believe they can pay other nationalities to do, including and most probably Filipinos. Why? Simply because Filipinos are worth much more than they are paid for. Why else would Filipinos be in over 180 countries around the world?

When President Duterte loudly expressed his disgust at America, especially Barack Obama, many among the business community here were afraid that the BPO business would be adversely affected. All the more now because Trump is saying he wants American jobs back. Well, in 2008 when the economy of America went into recession and many went jobless, American companies kept opening BPO businesses here. Trump, too, will find out that Americans do not like to be paid less than $1,000/month.

When our peso devaluated a little, supposedly because of America’s resentment of Duterte, there was speculation that it would devalue even more by the end of this year. Maybe, maybe not. But for sure, the stock market in America is not waiting until December to tumble because it is already throwing up. And while America tries to steady itself, its dollar may need more help than our peso.

But before anyone thinks I am focusing on bad news about the Philippines and the United States, let me say this early that the whole world is in turmoil. We in the Philippines are so sensitive to global dynamics, the good and the bad, because our lives are so intertwined with the lives of so many other nations. We are quite dependent, and international conditions demand co-dependency besides. The wish of President Duterte for an independent foreign policy is natural but largely impossible to achieve. He and we cannot do it unless we are strong enough to stand on our own two feet.

Fear and anger will turn us all into conservatives, even fundamentalists. They will also turn us one against the other. In a world that is being gripped by fear and anger, Filipinos must find, posthaste, the path to self-reliance. Poverty, then, is the greatest obstacle of all. And solidarity the greatest invitation.