Weekly Brief
A tiny minority of exceptional Filipinos propping up a vast collective of mediocrity
In review and in prospect
The trouble with the Pinoy-style Hero narrative is that it had all but commoditised the wrong type of achievement. The sorts of “heroic” acts that opinion-shapers are packaging for mass consumption are not the sorts that build foundations upon which sustainable long-term progress can take root. Heroism, as Filipinos see it, involves a dashing costumed crusader swooping into the midst of a disaster and saving the day. Saludo!
Pity then the guys quietly beavering away in the background on stuff — new systems, new products, new services, etc. — that prevent disaster. There you go. The trouble with hero worship is that the firefighters get all the glory. The engineers, on the other hand, get their budget cuts.
No surprise then that the Philippines remains an impoverished nation. A system where a minority of exceptionals subsidise the low-output of a vast majority of palamunins. We call that elite minority of exceptional Filipinos “heroes”. And, as if it were not enough that Filipinos do not see the bad in that situation, the quality of these nationally-styled “heroes” is also deteriorating.
Winning used to be an absolute. One wins when one gets the gold and trods upon the enemy’s bloodied carcass on the way to the bank.
You’d think fans of the popular TV show Game of Thrones would be first to relate to that.
To be fair, that standard of what it means to win was a necessity back when winning did not involve much mathematics and navel-gazing. Thank goodness for civilisation. In more civilised settings, rules that determined who won or lost had to be invented. Even then, winners are declared by unbiased third parties — such as referees and umpires and, better still, writers of history books. Filipinos, in contrast, have acquired the habit of declaring themselves the winners.
For Filipinos, because they have for much of their history lost a lot more than they won, it became imperative that victory be re-defined. Thus we re-defined heroism, we re-defined independence, and we re-defined progress to fit the new concept of Da Pinoy Winner. Most recent is the rhetoric that has emerged following the beating Team Gilas suffered in the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain. Team Gilas, Filipinos say, lost “with heart” — with puso in the vernacular.
That’s nice, of course. The notion of “good” even gracious losers works well when you win some and lose some. Trouble with Filipinos is we win some and lose most. So the sting of loss has since come to be alleviated by a steady now-culturally-ingrained morphine dripfeed — self-declared victory. With heart.
Last week's blog posts
Typhoon Carina Exposes Lies of US military Edca Bases in the Philippines
August 4, 2024 by Ramon Ortoll
"There has been no visible presence of American troops stationed in the Philippines actively helping their counterparts in rescue and relief operations. It’s still up in the air as to when the promise of aid will be fulfilled..."