Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Questions to the Nation Address
It’s embarrassing. Humiliating. No, not to the foreigners whom we’ve asked our citizens to hitch a ride with. Not the foreign bodies who promised to charter planes for our own citizens. But to our OWN citizens, the OFWs we failed to protect and provide for when it was their turn to ask help from us.
It’s old news—our country survives on the millions remitted by these overseas workers who toil night and day abroad. It’s old news but the meaning never diminishes. The OFWs sacrificed the comfort of their homes and the warmth of love with their families to live in strange places and even stranger employees. They were feeding babies not of their own instead of watch their own children grow up. They were taking care of other people’s elderly instead of their own aging parents. They braved the unknown to feed their families and in the process feed the Philippine economy as well. We called them heroes but they didn’t get that treatment when they wanted to return home.
Where are the millions they’ve remitted to the Philippines?
GMA, the lady in Malacañang, said WE NOW HAVE THE MONEY in her address to the nation. She received thundering applause. She repeated that over and over. Over and over until even I almost started believing her. It was hypnotic. But why is it that we DO NOT HAVE enough money to save our own citizens at the brink of death? Our own citizens who are probably major sources of the FUNDS the government’s been siphoning into projects that can bear their (the government’s) name?
How can we tell our OFWs to hitch a ride while announcing plans to create roads to connect islands? We can’t even bring our own citizens home! How can we tell them to pack and go when there’s no one to bring them home? How can we always expect other countries to help out (but thank God for those who continue to heed our cries!) when we can’t help ourselves? How can you, GMA, say we have funds for so many other things when Filipinos out there are waiting to be rescued? Life above all. Please.
It’s true what Conrado de Quiroz observed. Other countries that don’t depend on their remittances didn’t have second thoughts to send chartered planes or ships to get their citizens out of harm’s way. They did that out of the sole reason that these people are their citizens. Citizens who might be out there as expats or even as tourists. We, on the other hand, owe MUCH to our own citizens in the Middle East. They flew out of a country that can’t provide for them and in the end saved that same country through their sweat and tears. We owe much to our citizens and with what do we show our gratitude? A measly amount out of the billions they remit yearly. We need to see that this country can truly be called home. A safe refuge. The reliable one-phone-call of a friend in need.
It’s pathetic really. We kid ourselves by believing that we’re faring well. We can’t be bombarded by graphic figures and tables because we only understand the tangible and the sensible. We only know we are OK when we feel OK. If we can’t work out the knots of our immediate needs, how can we completely believe that we can push through with the long-term? It is good that we look ahead but not while overlooking what needs to be addressed NOW. We don’t need eloquence, we need action.
We’re being bombarded with untruths by someone who can’t play by the rules. We’re being made to believe we’re great by someone who stooped low and cheated. We are a great nation, a great people! But not by the standards of those who’ve tarnished our country with greed and pride. How can we, great Filipinos that we are, let ourselves be treated this way? How can we stand this humiliation? We’re not hitchhikers or free riders. We’re not leeches. My gosh… we’re not fools. 07/27/06
tweenkies_1106 at 6:05 PM