| Subject: “OUR CULTURE IS OUR DESTINY” |
Author:
75.1% Kutit-orian ti TGCHS
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Date Posted: Mon, Sep 07 2009
Why then, has the Philippines lagged so far behind its Asian counterparts?” (A nagging question that has echoed through several generations of Filipinos.)
In response to this question posted by Manang EDF (below), allow me to post an excerpt of the short version of the speech delivered by Alexander Lacson.
It is highly recommended to read the full short version of the speech, please click on > http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=35555606899&topic=10228
“Our Culture is our Destiny”
Alexander Lacson
Harvard Kennedy School of Government
GK Global Summit in Boston
12-14 June 2009
In 1994, Lee Kuan Yew, the father and the builder of modern Singapore, was interviewed by Time Magazine. In one portion of the interview, Lee Kuan Yew was asked about the importance of culture.
Lee Kuan Yew said “culture is destiny”. Your culture is your destiny. Your culture will determine your destiny. Your set of beliefs will determine how far you will go in life. If you believe you are a failure, you will be a failure. If you believe you are great, you will be great. If you want to excel, you must build a culture of excellence. If you want to become great, you must build a culture of greatness.
Lee Kuan Yew said that this applies not only to an individual person. It also applies to a people. A people’s culture will determine the destiny of that people.
As you can see, we are still a young nation, a people that is still in search for itself, a nation that is still trying to find its own place under the sun.
But today, our Philippines is perceived as the most corrupt country in the whole of Asia and the 11th most corrupt in the whole world.
Today, our country is considered one of the poorest countries in Asia despite the fact that it is the 5th richest in mineral deposits out of 239 countries in the world, notwithstanding the fact that it has one of the richest natural resources in the world, despite the fact that it is the richest in marine life biodiversity in all the world.
Today, according to a Time Magazine article dated 24 November 2008, almost 10 million of our youth are growing up without a father or a mother by their side because the father or the mother has to find work abroad because our country could not provide the jobs to their fathers and mothers.
Today, almost 11 million of our youth are classified as out-of-school youth. They are school aged and should be at school, but they are not at school. They are out there in the streets or in the squatters or in the mountains of poverty.
Today, out of 20 million families in our country, 5 million families are homeless, living in the slums of poverty as squatters. Today, the problems created and caused by foreign invaders and rulers of our country still exist in the hearts and minds of many of our people. Today, many of our people still have no faith in the Filipino and consider our Philippines a hopeless country. Many among us still bash the Filipino in front of foreigners and speak negatively about our country. Today, many of our people just think and live only for themselves and their families, but never for the whole Filipino people. A number of our political and government leaders, while in public office, just serve themselves and their
families, and not the public interest. Many business people only think much of themselves and their families, but=2 0not much of their employees and their employees’ families.
KANYA-KANYA AT PAMILYA-PAMILYA PA RIN LANG ANG MARAMI SA ATIN. AS A PEOPLE, WE STILL HAVE DIFFICULTY ATTAINING NATIONAL UNITY IN OUR ACTS FOR OUR COUNTRY.
Our culture is our destiny. Our culture as a people will determine our destiny as a nation.
[ Alexander Lacson, a lawyer based in the Philippines, authored a “small” book entitled, “12 Little Things Filipinos Can Do To Help Our Country”. Read that too.]
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- I bilib also in religion. Japan's Shinto ang "high octane fuel" sa kanilang economia. They would rather die kung walang perfection. Now Hondas are everywhere. (NT) -- Just my opinion po, Wed, Sep 09 2009
- Thanks for the article Kutit (why Kutit? Kuting na lang sana). There's some truth to Lee Kuan Yew's statement. Sabi nila poverty is like a punishment for a crime we did not commit. If that’s the case then Lee Kuan Yew’s statement may make sense. Ang ideology na iyan if taken at face value ay parang “it’s either this or nothing.” Mahirap naman yata. However, we also have the freedom to make choices to improve our lives. Culture influences the way we do or react to things but should not be an absolute excuse for poverty. Yung nga lang to live outside our comfort zone or just a mere attempt to do it is difficult. It is similar to rearranging furnitures in our homes where we try to move things around to have a new look, only to find ourselves putting things back to where they were because we decided that the original one looked better after all. In a deeper context, the analogy also talks about limitations of resources. (NT) -- Change involves taking risks and some people are not just receptive to taking chances. The statistics that 5m out of 20 million families in our beloved country are homeless is really disturbing......Femy, Wed, Sep 09 2009
- Manang Femy, Kutit-orian-ak la ngaruden, aramidem pay nga kuting, nakarkaro manen nga kakaasi gapu ta "totally helpless" met didiayen. Kaska diay imbaga ni tino idiay baba (below), "IT WAS THE 'FACE OF POVERTY' THAT MADE ME ASPIRE AND PERSEVERE TO SUCCEED!" Ngem agpayso man nga kutit-ak nga naggradwar iddi High School, ipagpannakkel ko met nga adda met nasaayat nga nagbanagak, kumperar daguidiay nakagradwarak nga nangangato ti grado da ngem siak. (NT) -- So I am not helpless after all. ---- KUTIT-orian 75.1%, Thu, Sep 10 2009
- Hi Kutit - let me veer off the topic a bit. I am a cat lover. I received a domestic white cat as a gift that was adopted from the animal shelter and I love him like my own child. His name is Snowball. He is my alarm clock. No agriingak iti bigat adda idiay ayan iti ruangan, ur-urayennak nga rumuar diay kuarto. I also have a maltese lap dog and her name is Barbie. Bigay din sa akin ito. Ay na apo, kunam la no ubing nga bassit. Liwliwak isuda nga duwa. Kaya Kuting is a compliment para sa akin. :-) Sa totoo lang agyamanak ti participation mo. -- EDF, Thu, Sep 10 2009
- I love cats too. (My lastest 2 girlfriends are named Cat-herine and Kat-rina hehehe!!!) Kidding aside, in the Philippines, I used to have a cat named "Momo" (ghost). I was under my car, fixing something when this came to me. She was so frail and thin, I gave her a bowl of milk and she did not leave since then. She was all black except the tail and all 4 paws which were entirely white, hence the name. Ngem ti sinal-it nga pusa, malpas nga padakkelek,, nakitaray met diay boyfren na nga pusa ti kaaruba ket di met nagawidden. Then I was given a black and white Dachshund puppy whom I named "Garet" from Steve Mcgarrett of Hawaii-5-O. Why that name? Because, he loves to watch that TV show. If you change the channel, he will not stop barking. (This is all true.) He died of old age. (NT) -- I have been around for quite sometime, just reading. I miss the good writers though. -- KUTIT, Fri, Sep 11 2009
- Hah-ha – my first laugh for the day. I remember my friend calling his cute daughter Kit-Kat and I call mine Sunshine. I did not realize how affectionate cats were as these are usually passive until I owned one. These creatures have biological needs too, you know ;-). That’s a funny story, parang oasis after another grueling day of policing activity at work. Anyway, I did sense the DNA of your writing therefore I knew. Napnapanamon aya! It has been equally tough at my end but I was able to accomplish my academic, professional, and personal objectives this year. (NT) -- Femy, Fri, Sep 11 2009
- Hmmm talaga met! Mabalin ka nga ag-FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation - aside from a Full Blooded Ilocana) manang ko. I knew that it will just be a matter of time for you to sniff me out - hehehe! Anyway, I have been soul-searching, focusing on the kids and farming. I may not have been able to search for my soul, but I was able to give fatherly advises to my 2 kids, and I had a very productive vegetable garden, especially "utong". I started last year with only 30 utong seeds which was smuggled from Pinas. This year I had 300 yard-long bean plants, which yielded more than 8000 pods, excluding about 1000 nga bin-i for next year. I did not know what to do with it until someone from the flea market came to buy all I can produce. Adda pay tabungaw nga nagbukel, parya, kabatiti, kamatis, tarong, pipino, bell / banana / hot peppers, kamote, karabasa, pechay, mustasa. It was just a past-time but the money I earned was good. > http://i379.photobucket.com/albums/oo235 (NT) -- Ammok la kuma ta address mo so I could have sent you some 200-250 nga utong, with parya and more. $10.35 met laeng ti flat rate box diay USPS. Naparamanak man ni Manang Edna, and 2 boxes were sent CA. Congrats manang for your academic achievement. --- KUTIT, Sat, Sep 12 2009
- Hahaha! Ney, you can qualify for the FB! (Federal Bureau of Investigation). I knew that you will be able to sniff me out, but I never thought that it will be this soon. Well I did some soul searching, spent time with my kids and did some farming. I may not have been able to search my soul, but I had a great time giving fatherly advice to my kids, and I think I did a good job as a vegetable farmer. Aside from the exercise I got, I also earned some. Congrats for your academic and professional achievements. (NT) -- KUTIT, Sat, Sep 12 2009
- "Its either this or nothing" - Precisely the dilemma of the filipino people, that is why we filipinos tend to do anything or everything to improve our lives, even just to survive. There is nothing we can expect from our government and the scenario now, which has been for generations, is "to each,his own", kanya-kanya at bahala ka sa buhay mo. It is this desperation (which is being embedded in our belief and in a way, our culture) that most of us, filipinos, only think about ourselves and our own. I am not saying that poverty should be used as an excuse for not being able to improve oneself, because poverty should be the driving force to survive, and to succeed. But how can you succeed when all elements in the country seems to be working against you? The Philippines is one of the richest in natural resources, Singapore has none but Singapore is considered as a "First World in Asia", and the Philippines, one of the poorest. >> 2 (NT) -- KUTIT-orian 75.1%, Thu, Sep 10 2009
- >> 2 - A survey made in 2008, revealed that the filipinos ranked as the 2nd highest income earner among ethnic groups in the US, with filipino families earning more than American families on average. This came as a surprise to the Fil-Ams, for they feel that they did not do anything spectacular to achieve economic wellbeing except to seize opportunity after opportunity that they encountered along the way. The filipinos are industrious, aside from being smart and being able to adapt to whatever environment and culture. They are not just competitive but they excel. But it is a sad note that whatever good traits the filipinos have, and no matter how hard working they are, in our own country, they can hardly survive. It is because of this that I told my kids, "if you will be taking a course where the market is limited to the Philippines, wag na lang kayo mag-college". I know that what I said will be part of the belief of my kids, but can you blame me? (NT) -- I am a filipino and I love the Philippines, but my survival and that of my family is more pressing as of now. Again, can you blame me? ---- KUTIT-orian 75.1%, Thu, Sep 10 2009
- I agree with the article written ( speach) by Alexander Lacson that our country is one of the corrupt nation in the whole of Asia and the 11th most corrupt in the whole world. I financed a Coca-cola dealership business of my daughter and my son in Gensan from my small savings and a loan from my brothers and sisters last December , 2006. In my small way I wish to aleviate the family and maybe be able to help economically the Philippines by employing some unemployed Filipinos. As of now 8 laborers were given employment as drivers and helpers. However, I feel discouraged when My daughter complain that when they register the delivery trucks (3) and a service pickup they paid extra money without receipt . According to them that is now the standard procedure in Gensan. Also traffic oficers visit them every now and then to ask for bonuses.--- Kaibigan ni Pacman (NT) -- Kaibigan ni Packman, Sat, Sep 12 2009
- Allow me to share also. In Paranaque/Las Pinas where I used to live, water is a problem 'til now. Thus I set up a water delivery business, starting with 1 truck, which grew to 6 trucks and 12 employees. Each truck has a quota of 4 trips in a day, loading water from a friend who supplies both deep well water and Nawasa. For extra trips the employees get bonuses. At the start, each truck can run 6 trips each day, but later on all trucks were only running 4 trips and the usual excuse was bad traffic. I found out later-on that my drivers were loading water from another source and were pocketing the sales money. Since I was about to leave for the US, I sold the whole business and the new owner fired all of them immediately. As you can see, chearing (or corrption) has become a way of life (culture). Despite this, Im still willing to invest if I can find sincere and honest people who willng to grow with the business, and not only on lining their pockets and making themselves fat. (NT) -- No ag-retire-ak apo, kayat ko kuma nga agawid idiay Pilipinas para ag-negosyo. But, is Tagudin any better? (Agdamdammag laeng apo.) -- KUTIT, Sun, Sep 13 2009
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