Nation in denial

For more than 50 years since our "so-called" independence from the United States, we have been a nation that seems to be always in denial about the realities around us. This could stem from the various attitudes and characteristics that have been used to describe us as a people such as bahala na, the mañana habit, puwede na, among others. The worst part is that we continue to deny ourselves what we truly deserve as a people. There is so much that this country can offer in terms of its people, its natural resources, and other things. Perhaps, the lost treasure that Padre Florentino threw back to the sea at the end of El Filibusterismo is an allegory for our present lack of self-entitlement and confidence. Chucking off denial and truly "knowing ourselves" will make the treasure resurface to finally do some good for the country.

Today we continue to see corruption all over the place. We continue to blame Marcos, Estrada, Carlos Garcia (not the former President but the General), and everybody else, including our neighbor’s dog but we refuse to look within and make the necessary changes. We are so distracted by outward stimulus and spin that we have forgotten to be inward-looking. Corruption has become endemic that the only way to cut it down is for everybody to do their part.

There are still a lot of people who continue to live as if there is no tomorrow – "Tuloy tuloy pa rin ang ligaya" – including our politicians who continue to play all kinds of grandstanding tricks before the high heavens when we have a fiscal crisis that needs to be addressed. In the short term, if we do not solve this fiscal crisis, we will all go down the drain. In the long-term, there is the unbridled population growth that has to be checked because the weight of 1.8-M people added every year can never allow the country to take off like an overloaded aircraft. In the lingo of pilots, we need the "weight and balance" to be able to take off.

We have now reached the point that we have no choice but for us to have to implement a stronger population management program to forestall the eruption of a potential social volcano. This will serve to let off some steam and ease the pressure of an impending eruption. In Paul Kennedy’s book – Preparing for the 21st Century – he wrote that developing countries need a well-educated population with tools and establishments like libraries, computers and laboratories for the acquisition of knowledge, a sophisticated financial structure, adequate capital, and entrepreneurs for to compete in a borderless world. More tellingly, a country like the Philippines has to put an end to the inertia of anachronistic religious fundamentalism and the hurdles of bureaucratic ineptitude. There must be a transformation of value systems that are aligned with the norms of Western rationalism and capitalism for the Philippines to catch up with the rest of the world in the global arena. The Filipino youth and professionals are losing their fighting spirit, opting to live and work abroad.

The "Bahala Na" attitude persists as today’s operative principle. But in reality, we can turn things around if we start addressing our problems today in a determined and systematic way. No one should blame everything on the president for the nation’s ills. Most of these problems stem from the fact that they were inherited or maybe inherent in Filipinos. In a Newsweek column, Robert J. Samuelson correctly opined that a President can’t be expected to control productivity and job creation, or deliver prosperity.

All of the country’s problems are the result of a confluence of events and presents an opportunity for a strong leadership to begin the process of change because it may be the only the window of opportunity left. The reality today is whoever sits in Malacanang has the unique opportunity to preside over a national turnaround or a total breakdown. To paraphrase JFK – GMA can either tame the tiger or end up being eaten by the tiger. But the one reality that we sometimes accept and more oftentimes deny is the fact that the Americans have continued to intervene in this country since time immemorial. We recall that they effected a blatant regime change in the 1950s when Ramon Magsaysay was directly helped by the CIA. EDSA 1 was clearly a People Power uprising but no one can deny the fact that the Americans played a role in the removal of Marcos. They physically evacuated him to Hawaii and kept him there ostensibly to avert a potential civil war. Again, they played a role in keeping Cory Aquino in office with their "persuasion flights" during the 1989 coup attempt. The fact of the matter is we continue to rely on American beneficence. They averted a potential bloodbath when they withdrew their support for Estrada and recognized GMA. Erap realized that "the end was near and that he faced the final curtain" when military and American support were withdrawn.

There are many who tend to believe Sen. Pimentel’s allegations that the CIA – or other covert agencies – are involved in the expose of the Gen. Garcia case. Obviously, it was clear that the leak of the $100,000 caper came from the Americans. With the US Congress doubling their military assistance to the AFP, the United States believes that it is probably cheaper for them to effect the changes in our military now to protect their own interests. They know only all too well from the lessons of history that sending troops like what they did in Panama, Grenada, Haiti, Bosnia, Somalia, and finally Afghanistan and Iraq could be a costly war with the loss of American lives. The way I look at it, this is probably our "safety valve" because of the renewed American interest in the country. As a matter of fact, four more years of a Bush Presidency will even be better for the Philippines.

This is the realpolitik that we must accept. But more important, if we really want to determine our own destiny, then we have to squarely address the realities of today. We have to start making the changes that have been long overdue. Otherwise, we will continue to have that "invisible white hand" determining our political, military, and economic future. Until we accept the realities of life, we will remain a nation in denial.

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