Heaven and hell

Last November 6, coinciding with the American presidential elections, the people of Puerto Rico voted in a non-binding referendum to go for US statehood. It is now up to the US Congress whether or not to take up Puerto Rico on its desire. The Philippines and Puerto Rico share many things in common. Interestingly, it is from these things in common that spring many of their difference. But first let us count the ways in which we are alike.

Both the Philippines and Puerto Rico are island nations, although the Philippines is a bit larger than Puerto Rico. Both were former colonies of Spain until the Spanish-American War ended in favor of you-know-who. As a result of the American victory, Spain was forced to cede the Philippines and Puerto Rico, among other territories, to the emerging global power. Both the Philippines and Puerto Rico figured prominently in the Treaty of Paris, the agreement governing the post-war settlement.

But while Spain merrily ceded away Puerto Rico to the Americans in 1898 by virtue of that treaty, the Philippines came at a price for the United States — 20 million dollars, to be exact. I do not know if the amount reflected our value to Spain, but at least we came at a price.  Under our new rulers, however, our value did not seem to match the price paid for our acquisition. While Puerto Ricans went on to become US citizens, Filipinos remained as they are, needing a visa to go to America, a visa largely dependent on the mood of the consular officer.

This is not America’s fault though but of the Philippines and Filipinos whose nationalist pretensions have become their biggest predicament, and which can best be summed up by the moronic equation that it is better to be run like hell by Filipinos than be run like heaven by Americans.

To be run like hell is hell, regardless of who does the running, and anyone who prefers hell over heaven is being stupid, as well as being contradictory, given our religious orientation which tries to steer us to heaven instead of to hell. I am writing this comparison between the Philippines and Puerto Rico because the conduct of the last American presidential election amazed Filipinos more than ever because new technology and social media brought us straight to the heart of the action.

But there was more than just amazement that gripped Filipinos. There was a great longing to be like how America does things. To have an election and a winner on the same day with no one claiming to have been cheated is the sort of heaven we bargained away in favor of hell.

So mesmerized were the hell-bound Filipinos at how quick, efficient, and thorough heaven can be that they almost completely missed the deep personal upheavals that went with each vote cast in tiny Puerto Rico. For decades, despite enjoying US citizenship, earning in dollars, immigration access to America, and non-voting representation in the US Congress, Puerto Ricans consistently opted out of statehood, in deference to national pride. Last November 6, they finally reversed themselves.

I am not advocating statehood for ourselves. It is too late for that. And we have gone too far down the road to our chosen hell for any change in course to be effective, practical or beneficial. What I do wish for myself, as well as for other Filipinos, is for us to stop wishing we could be like America in the things that they are able to do quickly, efficiently, and thoroughly because we only have ourselves and our false pride to blame.

Look at us and how pretentious a people we are. No less than our president goes to America and what does he do? He goes to a New York sidewalk to have a hotdog lunch. No wonder Filipino life is always intertwined with the sidewalk. We do not know which direction to take.