TOWARDS A MORE RESILIENT PHILIPPINES”

  

Resilience amidst disaster is heartwarming and brings hope to a world filled with news of war, corruption, poverty, and death. Resilience is hopeful, resilience is a compliment, and resilience mirrors the strength of our nation. And what a strong nation we must be to smile and joyously live and move on from all hardships that plague us. Except this strength is not our nation’s strength, but a strength individually gained and brought about by necessity and darker circumstances. 

A lot of Filipinos feel proud of our resilience, but our resilience is a defeatist form of resilience. There is not much contempt for the causes of our suffering, and if not contempt then what we lack is the will for a better life for ourselves and all Filipinos. But is this defeatism our fault? Needless to say, the reasoning behind the infamous resilience of the Filipinos is something that needs to be tackled more. 

Of course, not all Filipinos hide behind resilient smiles and bahala na attitude. We have and have always had activists and people who criticize those who are in power and the circumstances that they pass on to us, the masses, and especially to those who have a weaker voice in society. But still too many of our countrymen criticize the act of criticizing. There is much contempt for Filipinos who blame our bad socioeconomic conditions and quality of life across the nation on decisions of the government. 

But shouldn’t we be united against injustices set upon us by the ruling class? It’s true that in the case of natural disasters, we cannot place the blame on any person. But government support for victims of such disaster is always lacking. Just this term, the current administration even diminished our disaster funds. Prevention of floods, a very common incident even in Metro Manila, is given very little importance. This is not even mentioning cases not related to natural disasters such as the numerous injustices against the poor and marginalized. It is true that we cannot keep placing the blame on whoever is seated on the government, but a wide culture of contempt for the act of activism alone shows the face of the Filipino behind their mask of resilience – helplessness and inferiority. 

This sense of inferiority is not something that many are aware of; it’s so normal to be silent and subservient to our superiors. Many Filipino youths complain about their elders considering the act of speaking out as an act of disrespect. Speaking out to or against our superiors – teachers, bosses, leaders – is disrespect, and more value is placed on keeping the peace. Perhaps this is an effect of a long history of futility and powerlessness against colonizers and imperialists, or maybe our people has become so used to suffering that the idea of action towards justice is simply silly. 

Resilience is strength in the face of adversities, but many of the adversities Filipinos face is injustice painted as mere bad luck. We are aware of these injustices but not of our own shortcoming. So we sit and remain resilient as the storms and the tides wash our lives away, and praise ourselves and let us be praised for being resilient, basking in either pity or adoration for bearing these scars. 

But what we need is neither pity nor adoration, but a call for action, or at the very least an awakening to the power we inherently hold and the necessity to harness it. We can improve the conditions of the Filipino life by accepting that something can be done, perhaps not on a large scale individually but little by little, collectively, as we realize that we deserve better and have the right to ask for better. Let us be proud of our resilience without forgetting that strength can also come in other ways.