The Ultimate in Filipino Online Personals

Home | JOIN NOW! | Member Login | Browse | Chat | Affiliates | Magazine | Video | Blogs | Groups | Help


Blogs > lickquid > Moonlight Sonata > An Eye Opener

An Eye Opener  

lickquid
4/25/2009 3:33 pm

Last Read:
9/14/2009 6:02 pm
If you say you love the Philippines, prove it.
And if you don't agree with me,
say something anyway.

When I was a young child,
the Philippine peso was P2.00 to the US dollar(exchange rate).

The president was Diosdado Macapagal.
Life was simple. Life was easy.

My father was a farmer.
My mother kept a small sari-sari store
where our neighbors bought sang-perang asin,
sang-perang bagoong, sang-perang suka,
sang-perang toyo at
pahinginang isang butil na bawang..

Our backyard had kamatis, kalabasa, talong,
ampalaya, upo, batao, and okra.
Our silong had chicken. We had a pig, dog & cat.
And of course, we lived on the farm.

During rainy season, my father caught frogs at night
which my mother made into betute (stuffed frog),
or just plain fried. During the day, he caught hito and dalag from his rice paddies,
which he would usually grill on coals–thus we have inihaw.

During dry season, we relied on the chickens,
vegetables, bangus, tuyo, and tinapa.
Every now and then, there was pork and beef
from the town market.

Life was so peaceful , so quiet, no electricity, no TV.
Just the radio for Tia Dely, Roman Rapido,
Johnny de Leon, Tawag ng Tanghalan and Tang-tarang-tang.
And who can forget Leila Benitez on Darigold Jamboree?

On weekends, I played with my neighbours
(who were all my cousins),
these childhood games -tumbang-preso,
taguan, piko, luksong lubid, patintero, at iba pa.
I don't know about you, but I miss those days.

These days, we face the TV, Internet, e-mail,
newspaper, magazine,grocery, catalogs, or drive around.
The peso is a staggering and incredible P47.00
to the US dollar rate.

Most people can't have fun anymore.
Life has become a battle.

We live to work and work to live.
Here are some gruesome experiences of working abroad
because in our homeland life
and economic situation has become so hard
and difficult to earn a living
to support your family needs.

Life is not easy. I was in Saudi Arabia in 1999.
It was lonely, difficult, & scary there.
It didn't matter whether you were a man or a
woman. You were a target for rape.
The salary was cheap & vacations few and far between.
If the boss didn't want you to go on holiday breaks,
you can't do anything but comply.

What can you do anyway? They kept your passport.
Oh, and the employment agency charged you
almost 4 months of your salary
(which, if you had to borrow on a "20% interest per month arrangement"),
this means your first year's pay was all gone
before you even earned it due to usurious interest
on loans you have to get in order to leave the country
to seek employment overseas.

The Philippines used to be
one of the most important countries in Asia..

Before & during my college days,
many students from neighboring Asian countries
like Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan and China
went to the Philippines to get their diplomas..
Like Thailand, they went to study
agriculture in UP Los Banos and earned
their bachelors degree in the Philippines.
and now we import rice from them.
It's the opposite now.

The Philippines used to be the exporter
of many agricultural products,
but now that is no longer the case.
Everything is different.
We import goods and products because
we do not have much land (farms)
which our hard-working farmers
can cultivate and develop to raise
agricultural products for export.

The reason behind this is that those self-serving,
affluent and mostly anti-Filipino members
of the private sectors are focused
on developing mega houses, tall buildings,
supermarkets, malls and other infrastructures–
grabbing and buying out farms from impoverished
farmers/land owners at a bargain or a steal.

What happened now?
What is the Philippine government doing?
Checking their own pocket,
their own personal interest
and pork barrels.

Wow!

Until 1972, men like President Macapagal & President Marcos
were once the most admired presidents of the world.
(Not anymore!)

The Peso had kept its value of P 7.00 to the US dollar
until I finished college...
Today, the Philippines is famous as the
" housemaid " capital of the world.

It ranks very high as the "cheapest labor"
capital of the world, too.
We have maids in Hong Kong, laborers in Saudi Arabia,
dancers in Japan , migrants and TNTs in Australia and the US,
and all sorts of other "tricky" jobs in other parts of the globe.

Quo Vadis, Pinoy? Is that a wonder or a worry?
Are you proud to be a Filipino,
or does it even matter anymore?

When you see the Filipino flag and hear the Pambansang Awit,
do you feel a sense of pride
or a sense of defeat & uncertainty?

If only things could change for the better.......
Hang on for this is a job for Superman.
Or whom do you call? Ghostbusters.
Is that a joke or a what? Right or wrong?

This is one of our problems.
We say "I love the Philippines..
I am proud to be a Filipino."
I want to help the maids in Hong Kong...
I want to help the laborers in Saudi Arabia...
I want to help the dancers in Japan....
I want to help the TNTs in America and Australia....
I want to save the people of the Philippines..

But I cannot do it alone.
I need your help and everyone else's.

Indifference is a crime on its own.

Juan dela Cruz

Farewell! God knows when we shall meet again.
kryztal_babe
50 posts 

4/25/2009 4:25 pm

 Change/move should start from individuals.
The government can't do anything
unless the people will help to clean up!

rescindable

4/25/2009 5:37 pm

 A very good "eye opener" but how can we really open those eyes?

Back to basic, not that easy but the only way.Individuals
composes of a family then a community to a society summing up
into a nation. We start from our own self,move on to our own
family members,barangays,municipalities,provinces,regions,and
the three islands LUZVIMIN...LONG LIVE the PHILIPPINES.

What do you think if we start reading the afore stated
Juan dela Cruz thoughts after every Flag Ceremonies?
Make it a creed in every ones' daily lives
(am sure its' not some sort of brainwashing).
"What you see, what you hear, leave it here!"

kazzandra
80 posts 

4/25/2009 7:18 pm

 I do hope, people and some policy makers
can discover this someday
and they just stop dreamy beefy amounts in their pockets
and bank accounts!

jense26
1380 posts 

4/26/2009 3:20 am

 Philippines situation is overly complicated today. My eyes have been open to see all these things that I sometimes hope that this is just another typical soap opera that can make it twist in the end to let the fate intervene in order to have a good ending. Some sort of deus ex machina which in real life would never occur. It brings me to the deepest sigh (whew!!!). A resignation I believe.

Still, I am proud of being a Filipina and I always feel lucky that I am.

_3sha_
99 posts 

4/26/2009 3:31 am

 It's like a chicken and egg question.
Who should exemplify the good behavior first,
us or people from the government?

poweroflove3

4/26/2009 7:49 am

 mr lickquid,

This is really a sad state! Yes, if everyone stand united there is a way to conquer. First, the government should really clean it up. I've seen Marcos in the 60's as a child in the car campaining. And what he did for the country was great. He improved it a lot. Then hearing all the bad stuff after was a shock. Then seeing him on tv here in the state with his grandchild riding in those rides at the amusement park. I saw a very caring man, who didn't do all those things that he was accused of. To this day I think he is still the best President they ever had.
[I God is pure love...

fantasiamore
3784 posts 

4/26/2009 3:49 pm

 who is without sin, cast their first stone...the bible says....we all have our contributions making the Philippines what it is and what it has become now....we elected those officials enjoying the coffers, we allowed ourselves to be abused...to be bought, to be swindled, to be tricked....what should make that stop now, if we keep doing it to ourselves? for lack of power, for lack of money, for lack of education, etc...it will forever be a cycle that should almost become probably, the worst, time given...sad, but this is true!...we don't come as one but we should come in numbers...like the rebels of yore...for what could one man do? you say yes, but only when that man has died, do we get to realize facts and reality....you could be another jose rizal or another ninoy aquino...but there will only be realizations but nothing for a change....am not resigned because i value myself and my country...but i can do a silent revolution within me...that should matter as much...if you can duplicate me in millions, then the silence becomes a voice....
“I hold it true, whatever befall; I it, when I sorrow most.

BacK_SlasH
77 posts 

4/27/2009 4:14 pm

 Deep in our hearts, we Filipinos want to be proud of our country and ourselves. But what is there to be proud of? What are the newspaper headlines and top stories of TV network news that those high-strung newsreaders are barking? Negative, depressing news. Killings, graft, corruption, exposes, gossip, and inanities. Rarely anything that would extol national pride.

You can't have national pride if there is nothing to be proud of.

candid_candy
64 posts 

4/28/2009 4:55 pm

 The "hatred" that most Filipinos feel stems mainly from the frustration of feeling powerless to change the situation especially with regard to the political status of the country (even with the knowledge that they can, at any time, activate people power to oust any undesirable government official). Most Filipinos have given up: "Maski sino ang ilagay mo diyan, magnanakaw din (No matter who you put in power, he will also steal)!"

ANGELIC_LYN
146 posts 

4/29/2009 7:46 am

 HMMMMM....silip ko lang poh!

_pearl_
59 posts 

4/29/2009 4:25 pm

 To top it all, there is just too much politics and corruption
that you can't trust anyone anymore
and begin to fear for the future of your children.

dawn_blitz
69 posts 

5/1/2009 5:06 am

 Still, I am in love with this country.
I wish I could be another Rizal or another Ninoy
just to prove that I really love this country.

mia_belle
485 posts 

5/1/2009 4:30 pm

 i still hope that one day every filipino people
will learn to love each other and our country
and work together for the success of everyone,
that we will have honest and good leaders
to lead our countrymen towards the better,
that our country will be among the richest countries
like it was before, that every filipino will be looked up to
by other people, and lastly that each and every filipino
will be truly proud that they are a filipino.
*It's all said & done, it's real, and it's been fun.*

handyman11
104 posts 

5/1/2009 7:38 pm

 it is pre-destined that the world will shift from goodness to badness. nowadays, giant countries like uk and us have turned into a dramatic recession. there are wars of nation against nation, religion against religion,...well the Bible says these revelation. and i have to agree with most of your comments, also that this blog will reflect much on two involve parties; the government and the people. i sympathetically wish that our reaction will boomerang to the government and will elect better leaders who will not wish for more silvers and gold. i have been working abroad and i have heard the foreigners view of our country - they spit on our system and laugh at our government.( we cant blame them anyway jejeje). my wish for all Filipino people is to compel with our own God given will, intellect and emotion,...let us be improving our own standards - our improvement will help uplift the quality of our government....

sun_set
61 posts 

5/2/2009 1:18 am

 Thank You for that wonderful post. I was deeply impressed and I totally agree on what you said. but sadly many of the Filipinos want to leave the country to go and work abroad, which is a very sad news for us. I still believe there's still hope for all of us and even though we have many problems known to the entire world, still its happy to see its people glad and able to smile even if bombarded with problems while people in the developed countries can't. galing ng pinoy!

stirrcrazy
63 posts 

5/2/2009 3:03 pm

 I think the move to revolutionize the burning love we have lost for our country must start with our mindset. Let us rally behind our government no matter what.Let us not think of other's point of view that its alright for the Philippines to be poor and be trampled by races from outside world. There is a need for us to rethink our position and change for the better lets start from ourselves and the rest will follow...or else we will be trampled upon.

Donald_Hoppy
7795 posts 

5/4/2009 11:39 pm

 I want to help the dancers in Japan..
An expert is one who knows more and more about less and less.

handyman11
104 posts 

5/6/2009 4:07 am

 funny you can say that

tinkahMaviel
10 posts 

5/12/2009 8:27 am

 i remember a time when we dug out holes in the soil to play sungka played taguan on empty streets on moonlit nights i knew how it was to leave baits of frogs and worms by a riverside and come back to a bounnty the next day
i can see where your blog is going lick and i can feel the frustration. i am a few of the filipinos who could have had the opportunity to get out and be comfortable anyplace i choose to but chose to stay because pinas is my home and there is hope.
this is tinker by the way on my blogging id since somebody thought i am too much of a loudmouth so he had me banned
[SIZE 2carpi diem...seize the day

wengsky
75 posts 

7/9/2009 1:02 am

 Di ko inabutan si Macapagal, si Marcos lang but seriously the country went to worsed. Everybody should do something but of course the leaders should be the one to do the first move. Its not an easy task but nothing is impossible. Hope I make sense. God bless

Become a member to comment on this blog