O wad some Power the giftie gie
us to see ourselves as others see us.
(Robert Burns)

CIRCULATING now on Internet is an essay by Alex Lacson, author of the “12 Little Things Every Filipino Can Do to Help Our Country,” now on its 11th printing. He starts by quoting a friend who, after the hostage crisis noted, – ‘it is very hard to be a Filipino today,” It is therefore important to remind ourselves who the Filipino really is, before our young start believing all this negativity, he adds. He gives examples of our “great moments,” one of which was recently written about.

“In 1939, when many countries refused to allow Jews to enter their country, our then President Manuel L. Quezon opened our nation’s hearts to the fleeing and persecuted Jews. Eventually, 1200 Jews made it to Manila. Seventy years later last June, the first ever monument showing Quezon and the Filipino people was inaugurated in Israel.” There are the Filipino greats, he added, scientists Baldomero Olivera, Josette Biyo, Efren Penaflorida, two honest Filipinos - Nestor Suplico and Marites Galam, Ramon Magsaysay, Ninoy Aquino, Lea Salonga, Manny Paquiao, Paeng Nepomuceno, Tony Meloto, Joey Velascao, Juan Luna, Jose Rizal, and beauty queens Bemma Cruz, Gloria Diaz, Aurora Pijuan, Evangeline Pascual, Melanie Marquez, Ruffa Gutierrez, Charlene Gonzales, Miriam Quiambao, and Venus Raj, to name a few.

“We are all the builders of the beauty and the greatness of the Filipino. Thus, we can do two things – defend and protect the Filipino and demand for good leadership and good government.”

We need to bolster our damaged self-esteem but we also need to ask the questions – “why has this happened, and what can we do individually and collectively? Then it becomes necessary to engage in introspection and to examine our limitations. We need to see ourselves as others see us, a reader reminds us. Reacting to my column which cited positive attributes, he challenges those with influence to lead the way in overcoming some of these weaknesses that surfaced during the recent Incident Investigation and Review Committee hearings. Like Lacson, he says that we must be more demanding of our leaders and ourselves. He relates how his son and classmates are “watching and waiting for a real hero – that if we miss out on this opportunity, we have to wait for another generation.” These are highlights from his lengthy letter, written with considerable passion: “We need greater discernment and to act with a sense of urgency. There is not much understanding of our protocols, especially on what a state of emergency means. There is too much duplication of tasks. We conduct too many investigations. Many of our leaders do not have formal training in handling crises. We lack of teamwork and civility. There is a tendency to blame others and seldom admit mistakes. The media keep on replaying the same terrifying episode and this may have contributed to the general confusion.” In general, he blames the botched operation as well as other failures in the past, on our “carefree” nature (being lax), from an educational system that does not encourage much self-evaluation and nurturing of real leadership, as well as a media system with its “carefree entertainment.” These, he noted, had “nurtured passivity, bribery, damage to natural resources, and poor maintenance of infrastructure. They prevented us from applying quality discernment or self-evaluation and the ability to come up with alternative plans.”

And a feedback from Bea Ong: “This is the first time in a long while that we have a President who takes responsibility for the mismanagement of a crisis, who is willing to take a stand to correct what ails the government. I hope we continue to give the government a chance.” I am sure that in the months ahead, we shall continue to hear from our fellow Filipinos on how this unhappy incident had nonetheless transformed their lives and those of others. My e-mail is florangel.braid@gmail.com.