Dear New Philippines

Philippines. A country also called as “Pinas”. Famous for having citizens who are said to be “conservative”, “disciplined” and “God-fearing”. It is undeniably true that Philippines is a popular country, not only for the things that have been stated at the previous sentence. It is also known for being a country dominated with “corruption” and “poverty”. Why? What’s with the medieval Philippines that the modern Philippines doesn’t have?

Before, you will never see females who ever try to go out to the streets once nighttime ticks. This is not only because of their fear of what might happen to them out of the house during the evenings, but also because of their parents’ restrictions. But now, try going out of the house and to the city. You will wonder over the number of females from the number of males while wearing the kinds of clothes that Maria Clara, the model of Filipinas’ conservatism, never dared to wear even once.

Disciplined. That is also one of the marks of being a Filipino. Probably, we are known in this aspect because ancient Filipinos were taught of giving respect to other people, especially to the old ones. But what happened now? Children tend to speak in foul and dirty language at such a young age, and what’s worse is that some doesn’t even know how to use ‘po’ and ‘opo’, a tradition that has been passed down from generations to denote respect. Another is that not all students allot the right time to studying—they use their cellphone, computer or the television first before even trying to open and read their notes and books. Then, when they come to school, what are they going to do? They will not even greet the teacher or the professor who just came into the room. They will simply sit on their chairs and use their mouths not for recitation, but for nonsensical chitchats and whatnots.

Let’s face it—it’s undeniably true, too, that Philippines has become a poor country wherein the money of the citizens are being pursed in the wallets of the other citizens—usually, these ‘other citizens’ are said to be members of the government who handle the national power. If these ‘other citizens’ are God-fearing, how can they even dare to defy the rules of the Creator? And now, President Noynoy “Pnoy” Aquino is about to near his first seat on presidency, and one of the issues about him is his support for the Reproductive Health Bill (or RH Bill) in his stand that it can control the increasing number of population in the country. Because of this, he is threatened by the Church to be “excommunicated”–wherein he will not be allowed to receive any of the Holy Sacraments, including Communion. With this threat on the line, what can he do to put a halt on the increasing population, which is one of the factors of the country’s poverty wherein the Church will not excommunicate him? How can he govern a once-rich country that is now getting rotten as the years go by? Is there something helpful that the past presidents have done that he can’t do? How can he make Philippines gain the good praises that it once had? When? Where? How?