THE TRUE STATE OF THE LONG-SUFFERING NATION-THE PHILIPPINES

"Wake! For the Sun,
who scattered into flight
The Stars before him from the field of night,
Drives night along with them from Heav'n and strikes
The Sultan's turret with a shaft of light."

-from the Rubaiyat of Omar Kyahham-


Otherwise known and often ridiculously branded as the mail-order-bride country of the world, the nation of prostitutes and thievs, the sex capital of the world, the playground of worshippe-foreigners, an of people who would rather serve and slave away in other countries than work for the welfare of their own, and many other less-flattering titles; it is a baffling nation of many odds and surprisingly strange conglomeration of cultures that seems to celebrate its own misfortunes and tragedies.

By all standards, the entire Philippines is mired in grinding poverty. Notwithstanding the grim facts of life in the less-fortunate recesses of the archipelago and a very weak economy that is at the mercy of foreign manipulation, the Filipino elite reveles in the glittering lights of fantasy and make-believe world of show business which tend to ignore the pitiful cries of agonizing masses. What can instead be seen are outrageous copy-cat productions of western programs such as the capitalist American Idol and other decadent practices of the sinful west.

bagong umaga, bagong pag-asa

A people long enslaved and lost in the darkness of the macabre past could only hope to be delivered and rescued from their poverty and destitution by well-meaning individuals and entities. For despite great advances in technology and other aspects of society, it can not be denied that millions, countless masses of society still live in sub human standards and suffer the brunt of crime, pestilences, unemployment, and deceases. While a few, spoiled members of the Philippine elite enjoy themselves in worldly opulence and abundance, millions of the long-suffering Filipino masses struggle for grim survival at the brutal ground-level places of our country.

WE are not children to be fooled by pretenses to national prosperity. Our cities and towns may be bathed in colorful lights, still, in the dark alleys and bleak streets, hopelessness and hunger lurk and wait for the poor citizens whose cries are drowned by the false declarations of the state and the wild orgies of the rich.