Why the Philippine future is exciting

He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery. — Harold Wilson

When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. — Victor Frankl

They must often change, who would be constant in happiness or wisdom. — Confucius

Whether in the economy, politics or movies, I am bullish that the future of the Philippines will be exciting. Why? Because of the irreversible changes brought about by globalization via the magic of our Internet access to global information, better education and through the millions of overseas Filipinos exposed to modern and egalitarian societies in foreign countries, which are starkly different from our Philippine-style feudal politics and socioeconomic system.

Overseas Filipinos as Agents of Change

I believe that one of the reasons Asia’s greatest heroes — Dr. Jose Rizal of the Philippines and Dr. Sun Yat Sen of China — were rebellious thinkers was because both of them traveled extensively overseas and saw what an ideal society should be in their respective homelands.

Rizal studied in Spain and Germany, while also later practicing medicine in Hong Kong; Dr. Sun Yat Sen was an overseas Chinese youth educated in Hawaii and Hong Kong (where he was classmates in medical school with overseas Chinese Dr. Jose Tee Han Kee, 1904 co-founder of the Philippine Chinese General Chamber of Commerce and our Chinese minority’s anti-Manchu revolutionary activist leader in Manila). In the 20th century, one difference between China’s two great leaders, Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, was that Mao never traveled overseas except to backwards Soviet Russia, while reformist Deng was a working student in France (where his roommate once was China’s future revered premier, Zhou Enlai). 

It was overseas Chinese communities worldwide (including my paternal forebears) who passionately supported Dr. Sun Yat Sen’s earth-shaking 1911 revolution, which changed the centuries-old feudal system in China, in the same way it was Jewish minorities worldwide, like Albert Einstein, who vigorously supported the 1948 struggle for Israel to be revived as the Jewish homeland. I urge the 10 or 11 million Filipinos now overseas to be a critical mass of people who can demand and help push for sweeping cultural, political, ideological, socioeconomic and other reforms in our Philippine society now shackled by excessive political corruption and an oppressively semi-feudal socioeconomic system!

By the way, ethnic Chinese in the Philippines will forever work for friendship between the Philippines and China, in the same way the Jews in America forever lobby for the USA-Israel alliance, and in the same way Filipinos in America will always work for USA-Philippine amity. 

‘Masa’ To No Longer Patronize Junk Politicos?

In the May 2010 election, I believe that the majority of voters won’t be easily swayed by guns, goons, gold and emotional histrionics because more voters will be young people who are Internet-savvy and exposed to global trends favoring meritocracy, transparency, accountability, genuine democracy and other international benchmarks of good governance.

In the same way, demographics and the globalization of our society have changed the way the so-called “masa” patronize the movie industry, which should be fair warning for our moviemakers in the Metro Manila Film Festival this December. Why have several star-studded local flicks by big producers in recent months bombed so miserably at the box office in contrast to the Kimi Dora surprise box office hit by indie producer actor Piolo Pascual starring the less-known but talented Eugene Domingo in her first-ever lead role?

In Philippine movies nowadays, famous stars and fiesta-like public-relations gimmicks by producers no longer guarantee that the Filipino public will blindly line up at movie houses to pay P120 or P150   or more per ticket to watch local films with ludicrous sampalan/sabunutan (slapping/hair-pulling) scenes or lousy stories. The Filipino youth, middle-class, and so-called “masses” cannot be duped anymore by cinematic trash, because millions of people have been exposed to global standards of minimum quality and sensible stories in foreign films via the Internet, 24-hour cable TV and pirated DVDs. Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) chairman Rolando “Jacky” S. Atienza also recently told me that their studies show that 70 percent of the movie-going public have at least a high school diploma.

Study In Europe, South America & China

How do we promote more global thinking in the Philippines to change the old narrow-minded parochial thinking of the past? We should promote young people traveling and studying overseas. This advocacy has been pioneered by two “rags-to-riches” taipans, Lucio Tan and John Gokongwei Jr., who send outstanding scholars every year to study in the world’s oldest continuous civilization and new global economic superpower, China. Both of them believe it is tragic that many in Philippine society do not fully understand the richness of Chinese culture, the character-building qualities of Confucian values and the fast-changing realities of modern China.

This writer recently met Peruvian Francisco “Tachi” Cazal, president of the AFS Intercultural Programs, Inc. based in New York City. One-time Harvard professor Abram Piatt Andrew Jr. started AFS in 1914 as a group of young volunteer ambulance drivers who wanted to be involved in World War I but not in the fighting. It has since evolved into an international youth exchange program. Originally called American Field Service, AFS evolved into a postwar group promoting student exchanges between the USA and the world, and now the program has evolved beyond the US to include Europe, China, South America and other places.

AFS is the world’s biggest and oldest non-profit, volunteer-based foundation arranging for high school teens to study abroad for one year and living with foster families, thus promoting global thinking, intercultural understanding and leadership training for young people. The only Filipino in its prestigious global board of trustees is former AFS scholar Francisco de la Fuente Guerra III, also vice president of SC Johnson in charge of developing markets ASEAN and Korea. The current favorite destinations of Philippine AFS scholars are Spain, France, Belgium (the Dutch-speaking Flanders region), Switzerland, USA, Germany, Japan, and Latin America; some even choose to study in Latvia or Russia.

For high school teens who wish to explore the world through AFS, I urge parents and the teens to contact the AFS Philippine office at the second floor of the University of the Philippines ISSI Building (Virata Hall), E. Jacinto Street, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, call 928-3342 or 929-5750 or visit the website at www.afs.ph. Ideal ages are between 15 to 17-and-a-half years old. Students should be emotionally stable, have leadership potential, good school performance (but no need to be top-honor students academically), possess a high emotional quotient, have a sense of adventure and want to see the world. AFS also provides funding for those students whose families can’t afford the costs.   

Travel and education overseas are among the best ways to expand our horizons as future leaders in business, culture and arts, science, politics and other fields; they also make us better human beings, more open to other cultures and more aware of the bewildering realities of our fast-changing and future borderless world.

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