Views of hopelessness from a 75 yr old filipino

[FrankDrebin]

Shattered hope
By Silverio F. Aquino

I AM now 75. I have a wife and six children and two truckloads of grandchildren, but my family has been breaking up because of the failures of our government. All this makes my blood pressure shoot up. I think many senior citizens are in the same situation.

I know whereof I speak because I have lived through the administrations of Quezon, Osmeña, Roxas, Quirino, Magsaysay, Garcia and Macapagal, and life under them was good. I was a boy during Quezon's time and I know little of Osmeña's rule, but I know they were good and dedicated leaders. During the administrations of Roxas through Macapagal, I got an education, got married, had children and educated them in turn. The government under them was also good.


Then came Marcos. At first the people responded well to his exhortation: "Sa ikauunlad ng bayan, disiplina ang kailangan (For the nation to progress, discipline is needed)." But he turned out to be a dictator. He killed or imprisoned his political enemies, stole money in the billions of pesos, and repressed the people's freedoms.

One day my youngest daughter, who had just finished her course at the University of the Philippines announced, "My future has been ruined by Marcos. I want to leave."

I was dumbfounded, but I knew she was right. She went abroad.

Then my eldest son, an electrical engineer, followed her. I terribly missed them, and I blamed the government for taking away their hope for a bright future in their own country.

Upon the petition of my eldest son, now a citizen of another country, my wife and I were granted immigrant visas so we could live in that country. I did not go, but my wife went to live with my children there, so now we only visit each other. She, too, was disillusioned with our leaders. Her leaving was to me the unkindest cut of all.

Marcos was thrown out of power, and was succeeded by the widow of his foremost victim and later by a former army general. But my four children remained skeptical about the future.

Tragedy struck when a movie actor was elected president. Then he was charged with plunder and detained without bail.

I watched what my four remaining children would do. True enough, two of them soon gave up and left. I could not believe they would go, since they had studied in good universities, they had decent houses, drove cars and lived in relative comfort. But they left because they saw no hope here especially for their own children.

Now I have only two children left with me. They are also jumping ship because they do not see any good reason for staying. Sadly I know they are just waiting for me to go to my final destination, and they may have only a few years to wait.

A recent survey found that about 20 percent of Filipinos want to leave the country. Many families really want to go abroad for good. One Inquirer columnist said it all for them when he wrote, "For the first time in my life last week, I really felt that this country has become hopeless."

Like my four children who have gone, many people are convinced this country is hopeless and wish they had the opportunity to move elsewhere with their families.

Countless Filipinos have chosen another way to leave, which is by finding work abroad. If they could, they would uproot their families. But they are forced to leave behind their spouses, children and parents in order to take foreign jobs, mostly menial and below their level of education, and they and their loved ones must suffer the pains of separation and loneliness. While the government is happy for the millions of dollars that they send home to prop up the economy, it does nothing to address the reason why, like the emigrants, these overseas Filipino workers have to go abroad in the first place.

There is also the big brain drain that the government does not seem to care about. Educated and talented Filipinos go to live abroad and apply their expertise and knowledge to their foreign jobs. The exodus of doctors, nurses, engineers and technicians goes unabated, but the government is not bothered by this waste of talent.

Why do Filipinos go away? First of all, there is so much corruption everywhere in the government. A world opinion survey has revealed that our country is the third most corrupt in Asia and the 11th most corrupt in the world.

There is also too much politics. The finance secretary has said that politics is the cause of our dire economic problems.

But who is engaged in too much politics? Why, the politicians, of course. There are too many of them in and outside Congress. They are concerned only about their personal ambitions and their expensive junkets and their abuse of their pork barrel and other perks. Gone are the days of Recto, Laurel, Diokno, Osias and House Speakers Cornelio Villareal and Eugenio Perez, of Ramon Magsaysay, and of justices like Concepcion, Moran, and Avanceña.

Many politicians give speeches about poverty, joblessness, crime and other ills, but do very little, if at all, to address these problems. Instead, they resort to what is expedient or good for themselves. Look at the shameless speed with which congressmen have railroaded the impeachment charges against the Chief Justice and how some senators are thirsting for the publicity they will get as judges during the impeachment. Look also at how fast many politicians have risen to defend the Chief Justice without ascertaining that he is really innocent in his handling of the Judiciary Development Fund amounting to billions of pesos.

The people are now cynical of this government. Even Filipinos abroad share this cynicism, as shown by the fact that only one out of every 100 of them has bothered to register under the new Absentee Voting Law. Like my wife and children abroad, they do not trust the government enough to participate by voting. The common lament is, why vote when the same kind of so-called leaders will get elected anyway, by hook or by crook?

Now, I am horrified to learn that another movie actor, who has reportedly not finished high school, will be elected president in 2004.

When my last two remaining children leave because this country is hopeless, my family would be completely shattered and, if I would still be alive, my hope in the government will also be completely lost. This would be tragic for me. I have seen better governance from the likes of Laurel, Recto, and Magsaysay, and I will never see the light of hope in this hopeless country.

-------------------

Silverio F. Aquino, 75, is a lawyer.


http://www.inq7.net/opi/2003/nov/07/...ghblood1-1.htm

[shadow]

looks like that it came from malacanang publicist....

[1D4LV]

bakit walang mention si gloria. baka nga from malacanang as per shadow.

[wreckless]

i hope all politicians would be awakened by this..

[wildthing]

i think its propaganda!!!

kung ako tatanungin ninyo...positive mental attitude lang ang katapat niyan.....ask anybody who have worked/lived abroad....is the pasture really greener....or is it just another same scenario.....a negative attitude individual will never see any light on the darkest day of their life....

enjoy life....that is how simple it is to me!

[shadow]

and beside eversince naman filipino go abroad to seek greener pastures, wala talagang panaman ang sweldo for example ng nurses dito compare to a 1st world country....don't make the gov't or the country an excuse kung gusto nila umalis dito,

eh di sumama na lang siya sa mga anak niya..... pinapalaki lang niya problema niya......

[sequoia]

kahit ano pang doomsday scenario gawin ng malacanang, it is inevitable na si FPJ ang next president natin. sabi nga" just grin and bear it... and dont forget to pray a lot". baka tamarin akong bumoto, talo sigurado ang bata ko.

[woulfe27]

Originally posted by shadow
and beside eversince naman filipino go abroad to seek greener pastures, wala talagang panaman ang sweldo for example ng nurses dito compare to a 1st world country....don't make the gov't or the country an excuse kung gusto nila umalis dito,

eh di sumama na lang siya sa mga anak niya..... pinapalaki lang niya problema niya......

hindi nga nila gusto umalis, napilitan sila umalis kase nga walang future dito. the government encourages filipinos to work abroad, which is an admission na it cannot provide decent jobs to its citizens. saka bakit hindi mo sisisihin gobyerno eh corrupt naman talaga. mga mayors na wala pa sa one-fifth natin ang sweldo naka-luxury cars? Reality is what it is, not what you want it to be.

hindi na kelangan palakihin problema, kase malaki na. and many of us are to blame. instead na ikahiya natin yung mga kurakot sa gobyerno, kinukuha natin silang mga ninong at ninang sa binyag, sponsors sa kasal, speakers sa graduation rites. we glorify them instead of ostracizing them.

[TJMaxx]

Don't fall for that line that FPJ is unbeatable. Except for
the SWS survey (Mahar Mangahas it turns out is FPJ's
pinsan buo), FPJ is No. 3 or 4 sa Pulse Asia at Roper ASW
surveys (more credible). Our boy, Roco, is no. 1
Make an effort to vote on Election Day for any other
candidate you like EXCEPT for FPJ. Your vote counts!!

Mahirap kasi yang policy ng gobierno to promote overseas
workers. Nagkaka-watak watak ang mga pamilya. Maraming
bata ang lumalaki na hindi nakakagisnan ang kanilang ama
or ina. Lungkot nun, di ba?

[empy]

well, i did what his kids did, but my case was a bit different - i grew up in the US, migrated to the philippines, and went back to the US after graduation. in a way, it was like coming home, but i did leave parents and some fairly lucrative job offers behind.

i think young folks really do leave because of the opportunity - i know that i am far more successful at my age (29) than i ever dreamed of going to school in the philippines. and the corruption comment is dead on - it kills me that filipinos are paying so much in taxes to worthless idiots that line their pockets and abuse the same folks that they steal money from.

i love the philippines dearly, but i don't think i'm ever going to live there permanently...not the way it's going, and because all signs show that it's not going to improve anytime soon.

of course, i miss my parents and siblings like crazy, which is why the article really struck a chord with me...