A Comment on Mr. Wagner’s Post (medyo mahaba to)

Backgrounder: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-wagner/the-philippine-bus-and-mi_b_694544.html

I could not agree more.

However, I have to say something in defense and in fairness to the Filipinos and the Philippines. This is not to provide more excuses. Rather, this is to put in my two cents’ worth of explanation.

As to the hostage-taking incident, I agree with him that the police’s priorities were misaligned. In addition to their lack of foresight, they were also ill-equipped with both the training and the sense of urgency for the duty at hand. It must be because they are so used to the culture of impunity, power and complacency that they think that they could still work their way out of the situation without going out of their comfort zones. They may have this concept that since the Philippines is a third world country, then the chances of some high profile incident catapulting them into international stardom is nil. Again this boils down to low common denominator argument, and being resigned to a system which is totally wrong and entrenched. But can they really help it? Can we? Yes, we can and we should. In fact, I think this is the bitter pill that the police must take in order to reform the system. Is this an excuse or an explanation? It does not matter.

As to the Miss Universe pageant, what if Miss Raj just could not of anything responsive at that time? That she just had to say anything to kill the dead air and save herself (and her country) the embarrassment of taking 40 years to answer the question (and move forward)? What if she was telling the truth? Should we take it against her just to win the crown? That would then put the thrust of the pageant in a different light altogether. Now, would that again constitute excuse or explanation? How about a defense? Again, it does not matter.

Whether a response is an excuse or an explanation does not really matter. What matters is how such response becomes tangible. If it be an excuse, then it should be valid enough to merit pardon, forgiveness or acceptance. If it be an explanation, then it should be reasonable enough to be welcomed, conceded to or accepted. In any case, acceptance should be the end goal of whatever response there it. It is the only way that both the giver and receiver of the response can mutually come to terms with a situation, deal with it and move forward together.

Hence, dear Mr. Wagner, I thank you for the insights and the reality check. However, the romantic and confused people that we are, I would want to think that we really do our best to not settle with a low common denominator. We may seem to be an apathetic people but it is just our defense mechanism against losing all our eggs of hope in one basket. Yes, we did not demand enough of ourselves and of our government. It is not because we are selfish, but because we try to be independent and self-sufficient. It is also because our government has yet to prove itself to us as our champion. With our colonial past and neo-colonial present, it is an effort on our part to insulate ourselves from a government which we do not have much faith in. We nudge our country to progress individually because as of this stage in our nationhood and in face of our poverty, the likelihood of having a constant collective mass of vigilant volunteers is low. I do not believe that the Filipino people should be solely blamed for this peculiar coping mechanism, nor should this be mechanism be deemed a mistake. If it is not too far an argument and too lame an excuse, we have not yet fully broken away with our difficult past. I believe that is the greatest reason for our handicapped psyche. All I plea for is for the world to give us a chance at taking our time in figuring things out. This is our country anyway.

-Michelle P. M. Sabitsana