On Target : A nation of cheats?
By Ramon Tulfo
Inquirer


EVEN if we won our gold medals fair and square, can we blame other countries for thinking that we cheated in the Southeast Asian Games?

No less than Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra accused the Philippines, the SEA Games host, of cheating.

But can we blame them, given the reports that we ourselves announce to the world about our country?

Election fraud. Cheating in the board and bar exams. Corruption in government and in the private sector. Foreigners falling victim to holdup men and con artists. Policemen fleecing foreign tourists. These are news items about the Philippines that reach foreign countries.

And, let’s face it, cheating is prevalent in our society. We admire cheats as long as they don’t get caught.

A couple of years ago, winning entries to the Manila Film Festival were announced on stage. The names of the winners were not called; the losers were the ones whose names were announced.

“Take it, take it,” said the emcee of the show to an actress who didn’t win in the tally but who was called on stage to claim the winner’s trophy.

Sen. Alfredo Lim, then the mayor of Manila, couldn’t stomach the shenanigans and went up the stage to denounce the fraud. There was a big scandal and an investigation was conducted. But nothing came out of the investigation.

The “pasimuno” (mastermind) of the blatant cheating lay low for a while from the limelight. But where is she now? She is the host of a popular show biz show. People have forgotten what she did.

It’s a case of the boy who cried “wolf” too often for our country. Even when we’re honest, other nations don’t believe us.

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I am not being unpatriotic in playing the devil’s advocate in the SEA Games controversy but somebody’s got to tell us the view from outside.

Let’s go to Saudi Arabia that employs millions of Filipino workers. Do you know what most Saudis think about Pinoys? Oh, you wouldn’t want to hear this, but the general perception in that country is that Filipinos are thieves!

When Filipinos window-shop in the flea market in Saudi Arabia, the shopkeepers keep close watch on them. Why? Because many shops, especially those selling jewelry, have fallen victim to the Pinoy’s salisi method of stealing. “Salisi” means taking advantage while the storekeeper is busy with the other customers.

I once had a friend who had an employment agency that sent doctors and nurses to the United States. She said many hospitals that hired foreign doctors and nurses complained of pilferage of hospital equipment by the Filipino staff.

During the time of Imelda Marcos’ travels abroad, hotels where she and her entourage stayed would give allowance for pilferage of hotel bed sheets, towels and other small items, and charge the theft to the Philippine government.

You want to listen more to the Pinoy’s propensity for taking things that don’t belong to him?

Here goes: After the Americans left Clark Air Base in Pampanga, there was massive pilferage of items within the former US military base. Even the toilet bowls in the former houses of servicemen were stolen.

Many of the looted items taken from Clark were found in a restaurant and a house in Cebu owned by a military general who was still in the active service at that time.

The saving grace was the state of the former Subic Naval Base after the Americans had left: Nothing was lost only because Richard Gordon employed strong-arm methods in dealing with thieves.

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It’s natural for us to get hurt—very hurt—by the accusation that we’re a nation of cheats. But we have to face reality: We have destroyed our reputation as a nation because of reports that come out in the media about our country.

As the police chief in the movie “Casablanca” said: “Round up the usual suspects.”

We are the usual suspects.