(Mis)Leading by example
[Or, a simple view of what's wrong with our country]
Last night, a woman was held up by two men in a taxi she was riding in Makati. The first goon was the cab driver. His assistant hid in the trunk and came out when the driver stopped the cab to announce the stickup. They drove the victim around Makati for some time before finally letting the poor woman out.
I was hearing the news fresh through my car radio. It disturbed me to realize that events of these types have become normal for us.
But what's more disturbing is that a few minutes after this news, a couple of those motorcycle cops with their shrieking sirens passed us by, escorting yet another government dignitary through traffic. (At least with this one, I saw red fonts on the license plates. In most instances, the vehicles being escorted do not sport government license plates.)
If only these cops were patrolling the streets and not wasting our tax money giving special treatment to our government officials who, in the first place, should be solving these problems!
My hyperactive mind once again came up with a litany of problems like that train accident that killed at least 7 people and injured a hundred others, the killing of strikers in Hacienda Luisita reminiscent of the Mendiola Massacre, and, closer to my home and among other things: a large, gaping hole along Elliptical Road at Quezon Memorial Circle dug by PLDT which has been there for what seems to have been forever and which has caused traffic and may have already caused serious traffic accidents.
But who cares? Not even our government officials care.
In an old episode of Debate (GMA-7), an observer cited what I now call the Pinoy Overseas Anomaly (POA). It goes this way: Pinoys in the Philippines are so undisciplined. They are obsessed with disobeying traffic rules, always try to flout the law, etc etc. But when they go abroad, they follow the rules of the foreigners! How come?
No one in that forum, I felt, was able to give a satisfactory answer to the dilemma. But I already have a pet theory about this, which I bet you've also been ruminating about. It goes this way.
We can divide our country into two types of people: ruler and ruled. The ruled watch how the rulers live and follow their example. If Tongressman Manik-manaog's Ford Expedition can weave through traffic and beat red lights, my car can weave through traffic and beat red lights too -- albeit, without the police escorts, but I can manage.
The ruled (a hapless group to which I unfortunately belong) have been frustrated for so long: we need more money to cope with the rising costs of goods, but we can't get proper jobs to get more money. In contrast, the rulers don't even need to apply for jobs -- we vote them in place or allow them to dupe us into giving them more money. Then they get to bend the rules so they earn more of our cash.
This would have been all right for me -- that's the system in most other countries too. But the problem with Filipino rulers is that they're too greedy. Instead of taking care of their employees and constituents, they want their high profit margins and their kickbacks. They siphon off the money into foreign bank accounts (which means less investments circulating in our country) and spend the rest on trips abroad (which means contributing more to foreign economies).
The ruled are so desperate that they sieze the only opportunities they have, which, if you look at it closely, amounts to only three things in this country: work abroad, operate a taxi/tricycle/jeep/bus, or get duped in one of those pyramid scams.
I forgot the fourth option -- crime -- which brings us full circle. As more and more people get disenchanted, we get more crime and our officials need more cops escorting them along EDSA.
So, although we ordinary folk deserve blame for what's wrong with our country, it's time I think we focused on the more important aspect of the problem: the lack of good leaders to steer us out of this mire.
A rather simplistic view, but, hey, it neatly sums up all the economic and political theses I've read in college.
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agree!
yes, i really think anywhere in the world - countries, companies, families - it all depends on the leadership. we are all bad citizens, employees, or children, because we were brought up that way, intentionally or not, directly or indirectly.
so really, we can't do anything about our leaders or our past. let's just make sure that we do not commit the same leadership mistakes when we become politicians or government heads, CEOs or supervisors, and father or mother.
by the way, why the POA? because we were programmed that way. read this:
http://www.counterpunch.org/gray10052005.html
from lolit
BenC: for reasons of brevity, I did not go into the details of POA (Pinoy Overseas Anomaly). My friend Lolit kindly emailed me some of her thoughts, which coincide with mine. I post them here, with her permission.
*** START ***
Some thoughts:
1. Peer pressure - we follow the herd, whatever dominant color it may be
2. Law enforcement - we think that locally, we can get away with it
3. Peer support - some of our "friends" actually think breaking the law is fun to do; those "friends" might be too worried about their own immigration status to consider being naughty in another country
4. Downplaying the good examples - we forget to acknowledge those who actually do the right thing, and remember only the small percent that have gone astray :)
5. Corollary to #4: Downplaying other countries' bad examples - hey,
it's not all that bad here, some places have it worse
6. Feeling of entitlement - since we've slaved enough we deserve some (ill-gotten) perks here at home; abroad, earning a higher wage, we feel we're not slaving and so we can afford to buy our own perks.
7. Lack of padrinos in other countries - if caught, we can't count on the "hipag ng pinsan ng kapatid ng kapitbahay ng roommate ko" to be in the police force or judiciary
Pinoy Overseas Anomaly a.k.a "monkey see, monkey do"
Completely agree with you on that observation - if people see that their leaders and other authorities have such blatant disregard for the law, are never held accountable, are never punished, continuously go and grab as much as they can to fatten their bellies, then why the hell should they have any respect for any rules? The law, my dear, is an ass!
When we go to the west, we see that drivers stop at pedestrian crossings and actually let people cross. A bus stop actually means that the bus only stops at the bus stop! That bureaucracies are less labyrinthine and don't encourage you to bribe your way through. That you can work at a backbreaking factory job on night shift and be paid enough so that you can go overseas on your holidays. That you pay your taxes and you actually see the money flowing back to your own benefit in the form of social infrastructure like education, health care, roadworks, aned social welfare. That people who steal public funds get caught out because whistleblowers don't get death threats at home. That journalists are not killed for uncovering anomalies in all levels of government. That there are still people who sincerely believe in "the public good" as a reality instead of a hackneyed phrase only used for electioneering. And on and on and on...
You know what the really big problem is? In some ways it's a chicken-and-egg situation. A lot of these things in more civil societies work because the people also do the right thing. The rulers and the rules need to both agree to play by the rules. Or play a different game altogether.
Or maybe we will just have to kill off a lot of people if we are ever going to make any headway. Okay, maybe just make them hurt really badly. I mean, Jesus H Christ, whatever happened to the wrath of the oppressed? Imelda and Bongbong and Imee Marcos are all in government. Marcos cronies are also back by the truckload. Despite all the evidence heaped upon him, there are still people that fervently believe Erap has done no wrong. Military rabble rousers stage a military coup and they get spanked on the wrists? Why are there so many guns in Philippine society?
Hey, maybe democracy is a bit of a fucking joke if too many people are ill-informed and willing to whore out their votes. Yes, I know, poverty and all. Sack of rice more important than measly ballot paper. Yada yada.
But see what I mean, it's a sad state of affairs when you think, ah, maybe we need more democracy but that just means people are free to willingly vote for criminals that are to blame for their poverty!
xxx,
frustrated in Sydney
To add one more thought :)
Hi Benc, great piece you have here. There's also one thought I'd like to add - we vote for those in power remember? So we also have ourselves to blame. We are the government, let's not forget that, too. We deserve the politicians whom we voted for. We have crooks and thieves because we voted for them. As long as we Filipinos don't wake up from this nightmare of voting for popularity, promises of basketball courts, and dole-outs, we will never ever win this war. Sad but true.
voting the rulers
I mentioned this in the blog, about 6th paragraph from the bottom :). Thanks for posting -- May I know who posted this comment?