Here’s to You, Jude Cross (the idiot formerly known as Judas dela Cruz)

Written on Friday, April 4th, 2008 at 9:19 pm | by The Jester-in-Exile

The following is the featured post for The Jester In Exile, written at his blog The Journal of The Jester In Exile.

I have had the (at times dubious) pleasure (let’s not call it privilege) of meeting both IRL and in cyberspace citizens of other countries who were once Filipino citizens, both locally and on my foreign travels, and not a few times had I engaged such people in conversation.

Not exactly great conversation.

I have a pet peeve about some of these people — despite the fact that they are no longer Filipinos, they continue to hem and haw about how rotten the social and political systems are in this country, how idiotic are the people of these islands, and how hopeless are country was, is, and will be, world without end, amen.

I always hear from these people, or from people who intend to emulate them, this statement:

“It’s useless to have any hope for the Philippines, so I’m going to vote with my feet and leave this fucking hopeless country for good. I’m definitely NOT GOING TO LOOK BACK, and I’m certainly NOT GOING TO COME BACK.”
My answer to them has never changed. It’s this:

“Yeah? Then take your fucking mouth with you and stay the hell away from us for good. Don’t come looking over the shoulders of us who decide to stay and do our damndest to make things work; leave us be, as you are useless to our country — no longer yours — now that you’ve voted with your feet… ASSHOLE.”
Yes, friends, I detest such people, they who have the gall to profess that they are better Filipinos than we who have decided to stay and try to make a difference, even as they have willingly shed — rather, stripped themselves off! — their Filipino identity in favor of some country or other. I despise such people, they who encourage the rottenness we who have stayed are trying to fight (as witness, for instance, the latest elections), by trumpeting all the hurdles we are up against and blurbing it up as “ang Pinoy nga naman.”

I might readily forgive unwarranted criticisms made by a foreigner of non-Filipino descent than those of a foreigner who was formerly a Filipino immigrant — one is likely ignorant of the history and culture of our islands, while the other is likely spouting these criticisms to blurb up the fact that he is no longer a Filipino (perhaps a means to assuage a sense of shame that he was once a Filipino?)… in much more colorful terms, agin-agin ti okin-amana, nagkukunwari ang puta.

I might even go as far as to suggest that the fellow should get industrial-strength bleaching, ala-Michael Jackson, if one feels that being kayumanggi is something shameful.

I would likewise not shirk from suggesting to the fellow to get the Gattaca treatments, to conceal that that his DNA contains blood from the 7,100 islands.

Then again, I might suggest neither. Such people are to my mind useless lumps of carbon, taking up space and air, not worth paying any attention to. They’ve left; so what? Fuck them; we’re still here.

The changes in our Las Islas Filipinas will not be because of the opinions of those who have left and watch from afar in their comfortable foreign homes — change will be because of the efforts of we who have stayed here despite the hardships we face from day to day.

Pinoy ako. Ikaw? Tanginamo.

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About The Author: The Jester-in-Exile is an engineer by training and profession turned law student, and he writes of the Philippines because of his love for it. He blogs at The Journal of The Jester-in-Exile, and can often be found daydreaming about giving Robespierre haircuts to corrupt officials.

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One Response to “Here’s to You, Jude Cross (the idiot formerly known as Judas dela Cruz)”

  1. rjmarmol on May 30th, 2008 6:13 pm

    this is by far, the most passionate article i’ve read here. down to earth and fist-pounding.hands-down to you bro, a true Filipino, through and through. i’ve always had the same sentiments about those who leave us “because they can”, may they rot in their chosen newfound heaven. but i have the deepest respect and adulation, if you may, to those people who stay not because they have no choice, but “because they want to” — because, cheesy to others as it may sound, “they care”. in the context of Gattaca, my fervent wish is that we can get your DNA replicated, million times over, if only to get more people to care and do something good for this country instead of bashing its people and its government without a concrete solution or suggestion in mind. i suppose there’s no need for them (who left) to re-sequence their DNA’s or bleach their skin, for in essence, they are not Filipinos after all. it takes more effort to be truly Filipino than just to be born “kayumanggi”. a true Filipino is a Filipino at heart.

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