Just read Nick Joaquin’s short story "A Pilgrim Yankee’s Progress" and it started me thinking, again, about the differences in the way I perceive certain events from my American background, personal and cultural, and the way Filipinos see them from theirs. One of the challenges is that some of the underlying assumptions and expectations are so basic that it’s hard to identify and describe them.
I am thinking in particular of the accusations that ex-president Estrada abused the government-controlled retirement funds of the SSS. If I understand the allegations correctly he intervened to have these funds invested in certain businesses and that these investments benefited his friends and himself but reduced the value of the funds. The losers in the deals were the workers whose money was taken from their paychecks, ostensibly to be invested for them by the government to provide for their retirement. Of all of the financial crimes that Erap has been accused of, this is the most reprehensible to me, and I suspect that most Americans would feel the same.
In trying to explain to myself why I feel so strongly about this, the issue seems to come down to one of "fairness." This may be yet another example of an American characteristic that could be described as naïveté, immaturity, lack of sophistication or stupidity, depending on your own viewpoint. Let me explain.
It’s common for a teenager, when confronted with a situation where he or she can’t get what he wants, to exclaim, "It’s just not fair!" The classical parental response is, "Life is not fair." Intellectually, we recognize that life is not fair but we want it to be and we think we should be. Being fair and being treated fairly is important to Americans. This applies not just to our family and close friends but to everyone.
Perhaps, my analysis of my own values engendered by my American upbringing is not precise, for I find my sense of fairness inextricably bound to issues like honesty and integrity. Perhaps, fairness is simply one specific aspect of honesty and integrity applied in our relationships with people.
In the case of misuse of SSS funds, the people who have money in the SSS earned that money with their own labor. The money was withheld without their consent. It was their money kept in trust for them by the government. In that situation, those responsible for administering those funds have the highest of moral obligations to safeguard the interests of those workers. No other consideration can override that.
It is a betrayal of that trust, a betrayal of the worst kind, to use that money for personal gain, either for oneself or for one’s friends. In short, "It’s just not fair!" If this had happened the US, the protests would have been so huge it would make headlines all over the world, enough to make the Enron scandal look like a misdemeanor.
At the time the misuse of the SSS funds was first publicized, I was puzzled by the lack of indignation in the print media. I can only assume that Filipinos don’t feel strongly about misuse of the SSS funds or about fairness in general. I’ve read and heard that attitudes toward the antitheses of fairness, such as corruption, can be attributed to the influence of the Spanish and the Americans. I’ve read that it may be a result of the war when scarcity and issues of personal survival made abstract qualities like fairness a luxury. Whatever the reason, it seems that there is a basic and profound cultural difference in the value that Americans and Filipinos place on fairness. Sayang. This is one cultural influence emanating from the US that I could be proud of.
Lest this sound like a diatribe against Filipinos, let me say that in my personal experience in the Philippines I have been impressed by the preponderance of examples of honesty, integrity and generosity – among all social classes, although most impressive when exhibited by the poorest – but in those few instances where people have attempted to take advantage of me, it seems that they felt that their attempts were justifiable because they lacked a sense of fairness.
I have gained new insights about the US because I’ve been able to contrast life there with my experiences in the Philippines. I don’t have the eloquence of Nick Joaquin but perhaps I’ve been able to express enough of my feelings about fairness for you to contrast them with your own and possibly learn something about the Philippines. If so, maybe you could pass it on to your readers.
I don’t claim that all Americans are honest or fair or that even those who are most honest or most fair are always so. That doesn’t happen in this world. "All have sinned and fallen short…" I am making a case that fairness is not just a theoretical concept to pay lip service to in political speeches or in sermons but ignored in our actual conduct. There is a pervasive, almost naïve, belief among Americans that fairness is a principle that should be practiced as part of one’s daily life and it is applicable to everyone, not just to family and close friends.
There are so many practical benefits to fairness, honesty and integrity. One of the reasons that living in the US is so nice is the general assumption that the vast majority of people are honest. It makes everything so much more efficient. To go into specifics would require a small book. As a single example, the Philippines it takes an hour or more, excluding traffic, to accomplish the annual registration of a car. In the US it takes at most five minutes of your time. It’s not necessary to bring your car in to have the serial number checked. "Yes," you say, "but some people might try to register stolen cars." Of course "some people" will cheat but the overwhelming number of people who are registering their car are honest, whether in the US and in the Philippines. How much time and inconvenience are spent because of this assumption that the person registering his car is dishonest? So many of the inefficient, time-consuming procedures in the Philippines are predicated on the assumption of dishonesty. It’s not just a question of lack of computerization. Think about that the next time you or someone serving as your agent have to wait in line for some simple task.
I suspect that one reason the Chinese are such successes in business is because they work with family members, people that they can trust. It’s hard to do business if you can’t expect your associates to "play fair."
I still have much to learn about Filipino values and culture. I think I’m correct when I say that Filipinos don’t value "fairness" to the same degree that Americans do. It’s a constant source of misunderstanding. I know that Americans and American policies are not always driven by fairness and given the situation in the Philippines I can understand that these lapses are assumed to be the norm. They are not. Far more often, Filipinos miss out on genuine opportunities either because they hold back, looking for the "trick", a betrayal where none exists or because they do not exercise fairness in their business dealings and sabotage potentially profitable relationships.
Life is so much easier when most people accept fairness as a guiding principle.
Thank God daily for the gift of friends
who are beautiful flowers in the garden of our lives.
No matter how we feel small in this world,
He has something big in store for us.