Digital Filipino Talks:Promoting Love of Country Online

Last Feb 28, 2011, Digital Filipino Talks on Promoting Love of Country Online. Interviewed is Mr. Alvin Gale Tan of 7107 Reasons to Love Pinas!


Promoting Love of Country Online from Janette Toral on Vimeo.

Mr. Alvin Tan shares his insights and challenges on maintaining his advocacy through his blog. An encounter with an elderly foreigner in one of his trips abroad prompted him to start this advocacy. It seemed that foreigners compared to us can give us a lot of reasons to love their country.

Reading through his blog and what he shared in this video, if I asked myself now, what would be my reason why I love the Philippines?

My views on the issue:

A. The Filipino identity

As Pinoys, whenever a fellow Pinoy achieves something great, we rally behind his greatness. But when a fellow Pinoy does something grave, we right away denounce our being Pinoy - as if the reason behind our failures is that we are Pinoys. From here, what I can say, our love for the Philippines is kinda shaky. In other words, not planted on solid foundations.

Let us take the hostage crisis situation that happened August last year. As I came across some comments from fellow Pinoys, there were mentions: "Sana hindi ako Pinoy, nakakahiya..." (I wished I were not Filipino, because of the shame) and similar comments. Our fellowmen made such comments even though the reason why it happened was the decision of the hostage taker alone. The whole country should not take the blame.

B. Is this really our Lupang Hinirang (chosen land) ?

Majority if not all Pinoys know our National Anthem. But do we really take this by heart? The title, "Lupang Hinirang" means Chosen Land. But how come a lot of us Pinoys are leaving our home land? Obviously for better money making opportunities and more jobs abroad.

And because of this, the more skilled and talented Pinoys leave the country. Who's left behind? Either the ones who cannot pass the world's standards - in short, 1) the latak, 2) the martyrs, who try to survive the country's poor political and economic conditions, with smaller pay and more work, or 3) the well-off, which are the rich or those who already have good income.

I read a column about this once and called the writer called this scenario the brain drain.


And that is why Professor Solita Monsod, told her UP students in her lecture to serve the country first, and not emigrate immediately after graduation.

If a lot of talented Pinoys leave the country, who then will help make our country a more lovable place to live in?

C. My contribution to why I love the Philippines

I am proud to be Pinoy (and I believe most are proud because) we have...

1. Manny Pacquiao

A lot of us Pinoys cheer for him in his fights because he possesses a lot of positive values. These traits include: courage, perseverance and dedication. He also shows humility, sportsmanship and being humane to his opponents. That is why our 8 division champion of the world deserves to have a spot on why we should love our country. He represents the best in us.

2. Tita Cory and the EDSA Revoultion

Thanks to Tita Cory Aquino, we enjoy the freedom we have today. Although we still have a lot more to do for real change to take place, the EDSA revolution was a good start. It symbolizes that for change to take place, all of us must make a stand to change for the better. That is what I believe EDSA is all about.


Postscript

Sure, our country is not perfect. We have dirty politicians, imperfect judiciary system, poor law enforcement, corrupt high ranking military officials, small wages, underemployment, etc. Funny, but we might be able to come with our own 7,107 reasons to hate the Philippines (hehe). But kidding aside, we must develop our reasons to love our country before it's too late. This is where we get our strength that unifies us as a nation.

Our personal love for our country defines us as Filipinos.

This is my entry to DigitalFilipino.com's Talks Blog Contest. Be part of the conversation. Visit the contest page to join. Feel free to comment on my blog post about My view on Promoting Love of Country Online.