The Philippines: An enduring grotesqueness

Written on Tuesday, August 5th, 2008 at 9:53 am | by benign0

The insight Dean provided to Cocoy’s query, Clueless over Bangsamoro, is quite straightforward. The whole Mindanao thing is nothing more than a bizarre effort to create renewed debate about an issue that is otherwise quite crystal clear (I would have said “to most” but the fact that this debate has come to light again would have brought that further qualification to question).

This effort is bizarre because it essentially pits the National Government against a mere historical relic (the sultanates) and two bandit groups. It is yet another demonstration of a quintessentially Pinoy affliction — an almost pathological predisposition to second-guess the otherwise moot. It is not too different from most other ways we conduct ourselves and regard the world; from “big” “issues” like the debate on the Sabah “question” (to some, it seems, it is still a question ;) ), to smaller things such as the limp-dick way that we manage traffic in most Philippine cities.

DJB cannot have made it more plain and simple:

[…] the Moro insurgents don’t really believe in self-determination. They just want their ransom payment for holding the whole country hostage all these years […] people should challenge the politically correct idea that the Bangsamoro would be better off under their earliest oppressors, even compared to the later ones.

We Pinoys have an extensive track record of not being cluey enough to know when we are being insulted. Someone could be outright sitting on our fat faces and we’d be too busy “counting our blessings” and patting ourselves on the back about our latest dubious “achievement”.

Even more laughable is this chronic willingness to embrace bandits whether it be lowly MILF and commie thugs to morons like Ex-President Convicted-for-Plunder-but-Nevertheless-Pardoned Erap — even as we channel our precious taxes to the very institutions and agencies that they seek to destroy.

It’s almost like Pinoys have an aversion to harmony, order, and structure — something that seems to manifest itself in our aesthetic and design sensibilities. Instead of admiring the elegant simplicity of clean lines, we salivate over the grotesque. There is something to be said about the enduring “ingenuity” of the jeepney, the general ugliness of most Pinoy cities, and our sad inability to make our cuisine visually appealing to the international market. Ours is a truly adolescent society possessing the predictably unstable mind of an adolescent. We swoon over the seductive shortsightedness of the bad boy while shunning the long-term charms of the eligible investment banker.

It’s no wonder that our country is treated more as a trading position — to be ditched at the slightest whiff of bad news — rather than cherished as a buy-and-hold blue chip investment that it could have been.

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About The Author: benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.COM and has once been described as "one of the most enthusiastic hecklers of the politically-passionate" by a respected journalist.

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11 Responses to “The Philippines: An enduring grotesqueness”

  1. cocoy on August 5th, 2008 10:25 am

    heh. benign0, given uncertainties, if the Philippines was stock to be traded— i’d play it short, for now, anyway.

    I think this is the first time in a long time that almost everyone is on the same page to call this deal with MILF, idiotic. not to mention near-universal eloquence in opposition.

    i’d also like to point out this one from Warrior Lawyer:

    I fear that the government, in taking a shortcut to peace, has created an untenable situation which will inevitably lead to war. As John F. Kennedy once said “peace does not rest in the charters and covenants alone. It lies in the hearts and minds of all people”. Few are convinced in their hearts and minds that this agreement is the proper path. In the way it was crafted and is now being rammed down our throats, the Bangsamoro Homeland pact will bring not bring about peace but the exact opposite.

    i also just want to add for those who haven’t seen it— DJB’s post on Sultanic Verses has more to add. it has a few netcasts on the issue.

  2. moya on August 5th, 2008 12:12 pm

    And we have the audacity to believe that Sabah should be part our madness???

  3. benign0 on August 5th, 2008 3:37 pm

    I think the other thing that makes Muslim autonomy such a contentious issue is the inability of the greater Philippine nation to create a more open and secular society to which different cultures can easily assimilate and identify with.

    Look no further than the blight on Edsa corner Ortigas that we call the “Edsa Shrine”. It’s a monument to the “role” played by the Catholic Church in Philippine politics — a parasitical beast that has entrenched itself in the imperial courts of Malacanang and Congress that will forever complicate the relationship of the National Government with Pinoy Muslims and other non-Catholic Filipinos.

  4. hector olympus on August 5th, 2008 6:23 pm

    i’m not that well-known about this agreement but in my perspective, this is very very very political. and knowing the president, i’m just waiting for the “reason behind” why this is being pushed at this point in time.

    chachacha!

  5. nash on August 5th, 2008 8:10 pm

    I concede. I could not agree more. It’s so true. (never thought I’d say that to benign-zero).

  6. Bencard on August 6th, 2008 12:13 am

    benigno, if only those who are hypervenmtilating over the proposed peace agreement - the terms of which have not been fully dissected and understood - could direct their energies and brave, patriotic words (of which cocoy has proclaimed “everyone is on the same page”) to subjugating the entire moro separatist groups, then, maybe, the result will be less “enduring grotesqueness” of the filipinos and the philippines. perhaps that grotesqueness includes our penchant for verbalizing what we want but not what we can do to attain it and how. it’s easy to say one solution is “idiotic” - not as easy to formulate and implement a “brilliant” one.

    in the final analysis, we cannot keep what we cannot defend. laws, rights, fairness, justice, ethics, are mere words and ideas. they have to be enforced. there’s no authority without the backing of obligatory force. that’s why we need a strong, effective law enforcement and defense forces. we need international alliances with countries whose beliefs and practices are compatible with ours.

    i believe the anti-war and peace-at-all-cost throngs of the world wittingly and unwittingly strengthen the enemies of peace by obstructing defensive militarism of free societies, while being ignored by rogue nations, terrorists and outlaws of the world.

  7. nash on August 6th, 2008 12:18 am

    hay naku, ang ganda gandang blogpost and here is bencard again with a rather idiotic comment.

  8. Bencard on August 6th, 2008 12:34 am

    nash, simple minds have no place in here, i think. either articulate or go back to ellenville where you belong.

  9. Bencard on August 6th, 2008 5:11 am

    btw, benigno. let’s not get carried away. “bandits and commie thugs”. if i remember right, that’s what everybody in the free world called ho chi minh and his cadre of rag-tag, black pajama-clad fighters. against two of the most powerful nations in the world u.s. and france), successively, not to mention about half of the vietnamese people, they prevailed.

    i’m not taking the sides of the rebels. if called upon, i will fight for the territorial integrity of my country. but i am not about to take the enemy for granted and dismiss it as a “relic” of the past.

  10. “We cannot keep what we cannot defend” | Filipino Voices on August 6th, 2008 8:53 am

    […] makes a really straightforward reminder in this comment; specifically where he says: in the final analysis, we cannot keep what we cannot defend. laws, […]

  11. pumpy on October 27th, 2008 6:47 am

    But the “grotesque” appears in many cultures, and some even have combinations of baroque and minimalist! There are even others that focus less on detail but are poor compared to the Philippines!

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