Frankly, from what I've seen, Filipinos have the peace thing down pretty darn well... at least compared to their knife-edge, face-saving, fight-in-a-minute, kill-without-warning Thai counterparts.
Now: A class that teaches the premise that corruption is wrong; that teaches that public officials shouldn't demand kickbacks for doing their jobs; that teaches that scams and cons and cheating and dishonesty are bad...... that's a class that needs teaching in The Philippines.
By every single social, cultural, geographic, economic, and historical indicator, The Philippines should be the wealthiest nation in Southeast Asia... ahead of Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand. The reason it isn't is quite simple: The corruption and avarice at the high end of society, and the poverty it perpetuates at the low end of society. (See here for the example of government corruption in Cagayan De Oro causing 40,000 jobs to be lost when they tried to mulct Hanjin Shipping.)
The Filipinos are a pretty peaceful bunch overall. I'm not against teaching a little "love thy neighbor" by any means. However, in my list of priorities, I would put "don't swindle your neighbor" higher up on the list of things to teach in The Philippines.
1 comment:
just droppin' by in here.
Before I did not agree to the notion that the Philippines is supposed to be rich country until I travelled to some other countries.
Now that the national election is fast approaching, I wish Filipinos should choose the God-fearing leaders above all qualifications. If we have a President who is a true Christian, then the Philippines will rise up again.
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