The Laundry List
Muppet massacre in the back of a taxi, originally uploaded by saffysafina.Â
Inevitably dinner conversation turns to “What is wrong with the Philippines?” and whoosh! everyone’s venting. We all agree that this country has problems. All countries have problems, and this is not the worst place on earth, but I suspect we are among the world leaders at beating ourselves up and rushing to denounce the national awfulness. We can’t get a rational discussion going because we’re immediately consumed by melodrama.Â
If we’re going to solve anything at all, we have to identify our problems in a cold, apolitical, dispassionate manner. I invite you to post your own list of basic issues that must be addressed. Keep it short and succinct, no rants, no arias. Think of it as a science experiment in which you have to state the problem as clearly as possible. If possible, let’s stick to the tangible, quantifiable, empirical. If you’re in a foul mood because you just spent four hours in traffic, do something else and get back to your list later.Â
1. Poverty, hunger, and malnutrition
2. The huge gap between rich and poor
3. Widespread corruption
4. Inefficient bureaucracy
5. Heavy road traffic aggravated by lack of discipline among motorists and pedestrians, general disregard of road etiquette, decrepit infrastructure, the absence of zoning, and sudden floods when it rains. Â
6. Pollution and unsanitary conditions
7. Poor quality of education, as shown by test scores
8. Overpopulation and congestionÂ
9. Lack of economic opportunity at home leading Filipinos to look for whatever jobs they can find in other countries, doctors retraining as nurses, etc.
10. Crime
By the way, if you’re posting from another country, could you say where? So we can note variables.Â
P.S. I apologize to the readers who could not access this site on Monday and Tuesday. Hate when that happens. The problem has been fixed. Thank you for bearing with us.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
August 27th, 2008 at 00:27
1. Oligarchs and Warlords.
2. Elitist mindset prevalent among the middle class.
3. Apathy when it comes to political issues.
4. Instrumental loyalty instead of Unconditional love for country.
5. Innumeracy even among the educated.
August 27th, 2008 at 09:11
1. Overpopulation
2. Corruption
3. Affordable, quality education
4. Lack of basic health services
5. Food security and self-sufficiency
I really think if noumbers 1 and 2 are addressed,
everything else follows.
August 27th, 2008 at 10:03
There is a Russian saying…”A people get the leaders that they deserve”…
What’s listed here are the symptoms of the myriad problems that this nation and proud people have ended up with…
If we remain apathetic about social issues and continue cursing the darkness and never doing our part in “lighting our candles” so to speak then It IS a sorry lot for us…
The news about thousands of Filipinos heading through the exits everyday (risking life, limb, and sanity) can’t be wrong…
There is still hope, mind you, and its starts with us (me) from this day onward…in our little way and on our own sweet time…and don’t forget, on May 11, 2010 c”,
Let’s not keep on repeating the same mistakes please…
August 27th, 2008 at 10:51
1. corruption up there and down here
2. tv shows that focus on money-getting and money-winning
3. lousy educational system
4. weak church people
5. no more sense of nationalism and patriotism
6. underqualified and inefficient bureaucracy
7. neglect and misuse and abuse of natural resources
8. shallow and hollow, violent militancy
9. too much emphasis by media and press on pop culture, commercialism and entertainment like singing and dancing, overlooking fine arts, science, etc.
10. no more fear of God, fear of authority, fear of karma, fear of death of soul and spirit
August 27th, 2008 at 12:41
1. Corruption. This is not just limited to politicians.
2. Lack of discipline
3. Lack of love for country/pride in being Pinoys.
4. Too many dumb stuff on local TV and radio. If Pinoys would read more, we’d do a lot better.
August 27th, 2008 at 13:16
One of the country’s main problems:
We seem to think that popularity is a licence to do anything. Hence, singers are cast as actors, actors are made to sing, and worse of all, made to run for public office.
Goes like something like this: Pretty faces who can’t even act their way out of a wet paperbag are cast as actors. Children/relatives of popular actors/actresses are, of course, automatically given acting jobs as soon as they utter their first word.
Singers, also, if they become popular enough, are given movie/tv roles, no matter how atrocious and cringe-inducing the acting. They’re popular eh.
They then run for public office. The masa, on the other hand, are happy just seeing these “sikat” people, and would believe anything these people say. Which brings us to another of this country’s problem: ignorance.
And I haven’t even mentioned our decision-makers and those religious people. And the so-called “elite,” and the…!
This is very painful for me. Not to rant.
I better hide my lightsaber.
August 27th, 2008 at 15:07
If I were a Christian zealot, I’d say it’s these seven things:
Lust – overpopulation
Wrath – the unending war in Mindanao
Gluttony – corrupt officials
Greed – corrupt media men who are paid to distort news, maliciously influence the public, etc.
Sloth – unemployment
Envy – colonial mentality
Pride – Kris Aquino?(wala na akong maisip, e.)
August 27th, 2008 at 18:51
I think everyone listed things which result from the real problem: Filipinos have low standards.
Lack of discipline? Pinoys I’ve met outside the country are very disciplined, but back home we see that it’s soooo easy (and sometimes fun) to try to get away with it so why bother, no?
We don’t try to do something about our inferior education system. I say system, not education. Ours is far more superior than Thailand’s, but alas alas. Most graduates are unskilled at best.
We complain about overpopulation. No, no, no. China’s overpopulated. Are they poor? No. It’s all about budgeting. Where does a large chunk of our budget go? Corruption.
We must have given corrupt people in power (not just politicians but big business, the media, organised religion, etc.) the go signal when we tacitly allowed them to steal and get away with it.
We seem to just take bullshit from people without questioning it. So they carry on feeding us bullshit. I think what we should do is say, “This is utterly unacceptable. It’s just not good enough.”
Personally, I liked it when the Alex Boncayao Brigade went out and shot people who are more often than not corrupt. Yes, yes, collateral damage and all. But at least they were able to accomplish what our courts can’t. The ABB posse seem to have gone, though. I wonder if they took caregiving courses and are now working in London.
The biggest mistake we had was in 1986 when we got rid of the Marcoses but let their tentacles stay. They regenerated at a rate faster than the cheerleader in Heroes could only imaginge.
The church is more than happy to brand us as filibusters for threatening to use a piece of rubber. Wow. It’s Spanish colonial times all over again. Jeez. I don’t understand why we don’t abandon the concept of organised religion when it caused a lot of wars all over the world.
Bottomline is we only get what we deserve. It’s nice that we allow time for bitching about what our problems are, but unless we do something about it, we should really just shut up. No list will get us out of this hole. We need a revolution, guillotine and all.
August 27th, 2008 at 19:25
1. Poverty
2. Environmental degredation/Pollution
3. Lazy, apathetic, undisciplined Filipinos
4. Corrupt officials/politicians
5. Greedy capitalists
6. Filipinos who complain a lot and still not doing anything substantial (e.g. some militant groups)
7. Education system (especially public schools)
8. Oligarchs and elitism
9. Insurgency problem/extremists
and the list goes on.
August 27th, 2008 at 20:20
i don’t trust this administration, after the way it stole the election in 2004 with the help of COMELEC officials.
and i have a problem with people who defended them on this issue. that includes the CBCP.
August 27th, 2008 at 21:02
1. idiocy
God, do we need a revolution?
August 27th, 2008 at 22:37
…and if the Philippines were National Bookstore, I’d say:
10. “Please leave you bags in the counter sir, since we consider everyone in this country a potential shoplifter.”
9. Self-help books are the constant bestsellers. We must be desperate.
8. Too many school supplies, but not enough classrooms to use them.
7. Pocketbook romance occupies several shelves. Who the hell reads this stuff?
6. We must have an overpopulation problem since the children’s book section is huge.
5. You call this a science section? The saleslady can’t even find it. If science education were the Olympics, then we would not be competing there at all… the Paralympics, maybe…
4. Religious books galore, with the occult section in close proximity. I used to be religious… until I discovered rational thought. I was around 2 years old then…
3. I swear this is true… I opened up “Modern Earth Science” in the textbooks section and found it to be the 1964 version.
2. Hey, that magazine issue looks nice.. wow 800 bucks! Oh, it still has that goddamned plastic wrapping… must ask the saleslady to open it… but it says no reading allowed… heck, I’ll just get the FHM thingy.
1. Last but not the least: “Why aren’t there more authors like Jessica Zafra in this country?” I’m just kidding…. I’ve just ran out of things to say.
August 28th, 2008 at 00:00
1. Religion.
We can’t solve problems through prayers, dammit!
August 28th, 2008 at 00:09
1. Too many poor people who are mostly miseducated.
2. Too many rich people (the country is in the hands of a self-aggrandizing oligarchy oblivious of the lower classes)
3. Too much religion.
Reduce family size, get people better educated. Redistribute wealth. Neuter the church.
August 28th, 2008 at 20:45
1. religion – it’s a disease! it’s inversely proportional to peace and prosperity!