How I love the Philippines

How I love the Philippines

Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 20:13:00 03/03/2009

Filed Under: Social Issues, Graft & Corruption


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I am a Filipino and I am proud of being one. And I love this country not only because it is where I live but because it is where my roots are. It is the sanctuary of the Filipino values I cherish, and it is where my home and my heart are. Here I was born and here will my final resting place be.

I show my love for myself as a Filipino and for this country by being a good citizen. I don’t just watch what is happening in this country. I humbly participate in building this nation into a better place even when there are some of us who spit on the face of our motherland. I show my concern for this country by expressing my dismay and displeasure if the state of the nation is bleak and the political leadership is weak. I show my care for this country by encouraging others to look deeper into themselves and find ways to make this country more decent and more respectable. I wish I could say something riveting or moving to them.

In my prayerful wishes, they will not be forgotten.

I am a voice of change and I would like to add this voice to the chorus calling for a genuine moral change in this country. I am aware that there are other sounds in the air — the noisiest among them from politicians who think they are the saviors of this country but are in fact modern-day Pharisees praying with pretentious piety before the public; but deep inside they are as evil and treacherous as vipers.

The reason we are in a continuing cycle of national crises is that we don’t love our country enough. It is not love but apathy when we watch our country being gang-raped by political psychopaths. It is not also love but boredom when we allow the illegal numbers game “jueteng,” graft and corruption, immorality and other social evils to persist.

Nowadays, there seems to be no Filipino leader who has the moral resolve to make a difference in the lives of the Filipinos. Instead, it appears that we are pleased to coddle the present crop of leaders who are plundering our resources and desecrating our social and moral environments.
It is not love but sheer hatred that we are showing our country when we are submissive, aloof and detached to these nasty, revolting social realities we are in.

I wish our national hero Dr. Jose Rizal or Ninoy Aquino had been born during these trying times to inspire us, to put meaning into our lives as a people, and lead us into a culture of genuine change. It is so sad that we don’t have the likes of them in our midst. Regretfully, the leadership torch they passed to us has been extinguished by this present generation. This is a shame for this country.

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.

REGINALD B. TAMAYO, Member, Sangguniang Bayan, Aparri, Cagayan



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