SANCHEZ, Kenneth Xavier, O.

CRITIQUE, REACTION AND REFLECTION PAPER

3BIO6

WHY THE PHILIPPINES IS POOR? By Francisco Sionil Jose

This paper that Mr. Francisco Sionil Jose submitted to Ambassador T.
Yuchengco was an excerpt from his speech given during the hosted
luncheons of RCBC. Francisco Sionil Jose is an acclaimed writer, author and
artist who hailed from the University of Santo Tomas, was the editor-in-chief
of The Varsitarian and had won numerous awards in Literature and Arts for
his astounding works on the political and cultural analyses of the Philippines.
One notable award he won was the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards, in three
categories throughout his writing years; he even won the award for National
Artist for Literature. An excerpt like Why the Philippines is poor? is one of
the many essays and stories that made him fluent in writing about Filipino
colonialism and the troubles of our culture. Some of his notable works were
Mass, Platinum, Ten Filipino Stories, A Scenario for Filipino Resistance, We
Filipinos: Our Moral Malaise, Our Moral Heritage, etc. In my opinion, this
particular work is controversial for it is a direct critique on the present
situation of Filipinos, or should I say stagnant condition.
F. Sionil Jose started the excerpt by posing the question as to why we
did not modernize fast enough and consequently, trapped our people into
poverty. The idea of self-perpetuating poverty was mentioned. Poverty in the
Philippines

is

worsened

by

inefficiency

from

laziness.

Priorities

are

sidetracked and yabang, as mentioned, is poured attention upon. This seeps

into bigger problems, like allowing cronyism and corruption to spread like an
incurable epidemic, the people blind from the truth. Of course, he did
mention two solutions, education and revolution, which can galvanize real
change from the society; but he especially made clear that these would not
be successful in the course for change if not coupled with new ways of
thinking, a new overall Filipino attitude. As closing statements, he shifted
focus on the good aspects of the Filipino people, dwelling on the past and
finishing with a strong idea: We are our own enemy. And we must have the
courage, the will, to change ourselves.
The author posed strong, effective arguments that were agreeable
and, one might say, strong-worded to the common people that may have
read his work. But we must always realize that truth often times should be
harsh to our very ideals we hold in the present. We have allowed irony to
inoculate in our daily lives that we Filipinos sometimes have a good laugh
on; corruption, scandals, inefficiency, stubbornness, backwards thinking,
historical revisionism and many more. All of these are serious topics that we
should dwell upon and analyze, to stop the epidemic of ignorance and
spoon-fed lies. Crab mentality from politics, Bahala na attitude, Filipino
time and Ningas Kugon we Filipinos have should often be discussed to
expose the harsh truth. It is extremely true, when Mr. Jose cited that we
actually have lost our ethical moorings. Being indifferent to poverty or at

least to the larger good is very dangerous for us and to our progress as a
nation. F. Sionil Jose, cited the general scheme of evident regress in our
nation, through several bad examples of attitudes. One solution solves all;
the will to change.
Today, when you log in a common Facebook account of a Filipino, it is
filled of trivial videos and posts of other people. Right now, during election
periods, it is filled with posts about different candidates and political ideals
other people want to disseminate to other people. Often times, young people
are enticed by sweet worded promises and white lies, because other people
know the true potential that lies in the hands of the youth. For example,
historical revisionism is now rampant across the web of Filipino social media
pertaining to Pres. Marcos past government, ultimately making young
people think progress and development of the nation should be attained in
any way possible, even if it outweighs the lives that were lost during the era
of Martial Law. This is Historical Revisionism. We, as the youth and citizens
of the Filipino nation should combat this by clearing out facts and keeping
the truth. We should keep out backward-thinking people from the system
and rely on lessons that we can learn from the EDSA Revolution. We should
analyze intensively who we are voting for, as the upcoming Presidential
Elections is closing in. We should keep watch for plunderers and the corrupt
that mock societys laws and continue to undermine the proper system in the

government. We should fight for what is right, not only when it is a

convenience for us, but especially if we know we should.
We are a multicultural nation composed of differently opinionated
youths and the common people who know the truth. As individual persons,
we have separate lives we live in, socializing and interconnecting across a
wide spectrum of other people. Hence, we have our own wrongdoings and
shortcomings to each other. As a nation, the community should always look
and persevere as one for the greater good. Our history as a people is filled
with lessons, stories which shaped the Filipino people up to what it is right
now. How come we are having a hard time to spread the truth about certain
things we as a nation are not proud of? Why do we continue to hold unto
false ideals and continue to justify the wrongdoings of others? Why do we
keep accepting bribes from corrupt officials and ultimately lose our moral
values just because we cant find a way to provide for the family? Why do we
continue to undermine the goodness of the common worker in the workplace
and cheat his payroll? Why do we abuse and use our fellow countrymen,
send them away from their families abroad to work under iron-fisted
foreigners? Why do we let our loved ones succumb to drugs and other lifedisrupting vices? Why do we ultimately sin against each other, as a neighbor
and as a citizen of the Filipino nation? Why do we hinder our own progress
and cling to the temporary scheme?

From the principles of Biology, evolution is initiated from something

that harms or brings discomfort to the organism. I believe this is also true
on a macro- aspect. Whatever the society holds dear that clogs the cogs and
gears for nation building should be removed and learnt from, even if this
means removing the luxuries and spoils of the people. To achieve the larger,
greater good, we must be ready to sacrifice a part of ourselves for the
nation.