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by Yoly Tumangan Tubalinal.
October 1, 2011
Philippine National Artist, F. Sionil Jose started a flurry of emotionally charged internet conversations among Filipinos all across the globe with his September 12 “Hindsight” column in Philippine Star. The article expounded on why he, like former Senator Leticia Shahani, thinks Filipinos are shallow.
Jose began with a recollection of a recent show where he and the “former senator Shahani, PhD in Comparative Literature from the Sorbonne,” were seated together to watch a medley of Asian dances. When the Philippine “Tinikling” got an almost standing ovation and the “stately and classic Japanese dance (his exact words) a grudging applause,” the senator turned to him and asked, “Why are we so shallow?”
There are many reasons why Filipinos, according to F. Sionil Jose, are shallow. First, we are shallow because he says our educational system no longer teaches excellence. He equates the pursuit of excellence to learning the humanities, the study of the classics, the Latin and Roman languages and philosophies that date back to the ancient Greeks and Romans.
He calls us, Filipinos, shallow because we are “mayabang, egocentric” and unable to distinguish the difference between knowledge and wisdom…That this arrogance makes us accept positions far beyond our competence, insisting on staying in power even though we know we can’t perform the duties and responsibilities of such office. We are shallow, he says, because “ we lack the most important knowledge – who we are and the limits to what we can do.”
We are shallow because in Jose’s eyes, we lacked the perception and courage to fight for what is right. For example, we neither criticize religious quacks nor stand up to their believers…that’s why “evil prosper because good men are silent.”
Finally, we are shallow, he said, because our media are horribly shallow. Our newspapers and television shows offer nothing of intellectual value. Indeed, he believes we are shallow because no one reads anymore and that we are so preoccupied with our desire for material things.
A differing view
In his Philippine Daily Inquirer column, Glimpses, Jose Montelibano fired back with a stirring essay on the good that this elite group in the likes of former Senator Leticia Ramos Shahani and national artist, F. Sionil Jose, failed to see.
Montelibano traced back the Filipino character and attitude first, to history… to centuries of foreign domination and slavery and then, to the extension of that domination by the elite class that exploited the weakness of these people. When poverty took over their lives, he wrote, “the beast in them went into submission but did not turn to violence and genocide.” He asked, “Would have turning violent been the more refined reaction against oppression?”
Crediting the rise of the new middle class to the Overseas Filipinos who brought home an unbelievable annual remittance of $20 billion, Montelibano stressed how this group paid a high price, “from absentee parent or sibling to the children growing in a family with a missing mother or father, or both.”
It’s this sacrifice of a generation to which he has attributed the breaking of a cycle of poverty, the weak middle class, “born of allowance rather than hard work, but they will have more opportunities to grow as time moves on.” But as Montelibano quickly pointed out, the other half, especially the poorest third of our population, those without relatives living or working abroad, are very poor are very hopeless, too.
My take
Many Filipinos and Filipinos at heart share Montelibano’s sentiment. Sharing his point of view on the subject was only a natural reaction, like a knee jerk response to an irritating stimulus. The nationalistic fervor in us always surges in defense of the Filipino victim, regardless of who the victimizer is.
Perhaps it hurts us even more to hear disparaging remarks from one of our own about us, whether collectively or individually. Perhaps it’s the bigotry, the elitist attitude and the total lack of empathy for a nation long oppressed and exploited in its own land that make these criticisms even more offensive and distasteful.
I remember how the condescending remarks against OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers) written by Malu Fernandez in her society column published in People Asia magazine in 2007 sparked international outrage and caused her to eventually resign her position. The article, “From Boracay to Greece,” was not like F. Sionil Jose’s at all. Not even close. For while Jose’s commentary on our shallowness as a people offered to shed light on the roots of that shallowness as if to tell us how to cure it, “From Boracay to Greece” had no such saving factor. It was riddled with contempt for the lowly state of this class of Filipinos who have braved the unknown and the pain of separation from their families in exchange for better opportunities for the families they left behind.
From beginning to end, Fernandez’s piece left a bad taste in most every reader’s mouth. Right off the bat, it reeked of arrogance, elitism and disdain for the “lowly Filipino workers. She began:
To save on my ticket, I bravely took an economy class seat on Emirates as recommended by my travel agent…However I forgot that the hub was in Dubai and the majority of the OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) were stationed there. The duty-fee shop was overrun with Filipino workers selling cell phones and perfume. Meanwhile, I wanted to slash my wrist at the thought of being trapped in a plane with all of them.
And she ended her travel account with her characteristic haughtiness and disrespect for the “low class” OFWs with a sharp contrast between the cheap Charlie and AXE cologne and her expensive scent of Jo Malone.
On my way back, I had to bravely take the economy flight once more. This time I had already resigned myself to being trapped like a sardine in a sardine can with all these OFWs smelling of AXE and Charlie cologne while Jo Malone evaporated in thin air.
Because we are a social being and we interact with people from all walks of life and varied orientations, criticisms will always be a part of our everyday experience. Whether it’s about our tradition, beliefs, values or simply our individual habits, language, lifestyle, etc. the fact remains that we will be subjected to a form of criticism every now and then. Our response will vary, depending on whether we see it as a put-down or a wake-up call.
In the end, when all is said and done, I think it’s time to reflect on our experience. Remove the chaff from the grain and be blessed by the knowledge of good and bad. The choice is ours. We can remain angry and bitter longer, or we can grow wiser and better much earlier.