Reverse the policy of servitude

DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
09/03/2010



Around five to 10 percent of the messages I get these days run counter to the tide of remorse that most Filipinos have over the massive hostile reaction of the Hong Kong people in the wake of the deadly hostage disaster — feelings which are being stoked by the endless tale of errors of the Philippine government. One text from Michi says the Chinese are already going overboard, as exemplified by Sen. Jinggoy Estrada’s allegation that a Hong Kong immigration officer threw his passport back at him. Danny echoes the same but with more pain: “Masyado na tayong minamaliit” (We are being belittled too much), as news of Pinay domestics being harassed come in. Despite movie idol Jackie Chan’s efforts to dampen the burning rage of his countrymen, attempts such as these only douse more fuel to the fire.

One can sympathize with the Hong Kong people yet think that they might be overdoing it; but then, as more developments in the Philippines unfold, the situation only gets worse. The “Kodak-an” of uniformed policemen in front of the bullet-riddled bus, posing as if it were a tourist attraction, has by now circulated massively on the Internet, revealing a penchant for kababawan that treats the tragic crime so lightly, which can only rekindle heated emotions that could have otherwise started simmering down. Another picture that has a bevy of white uniformed schoolgirls also posing before the hostaged bus naturally elicited a caption that reads, “One of these bitches could be your domestic helper next.” Indeed, these things might be a fun topic among Pinoy barkadas; but they are weird and even macabre. So I can’t really blame the Hong Kong people.

On our end, the pain from the shame is growing too, especially as we sense the helpless situation of our domestic helpers in Hong Kong, where some of its citizens are still unforgiving, and understandably so, despite the Philippine public and officialdom’s acts of contrition. I had actually begun to feel that the Chinese protested unnecessarily about the Philippine flag being draped on Mendoza’s coffin; but when I read the transcript of the final interview of RMN (aired over GNN) with Senior Insp. Rolando Mendoza, who at that point threatened to shoot “even the small ones” among his hostages, I changed my mind. Mendoza, of course, was no longer in his right mind; but for anyone, and a police officer at that, to consciously target children is so cowardly (and unbecoming of a Batangueño). Imagine the rage of those from Hong Kong who will get to read it.

Truly, the thing that makes this recent imbroglio testier is that around 200,000 Filipinos work as domestic helpers (DHs) in Hong Kong. Filipino DHs are preferred, though they cost more, while Filipino DHs prefer to work there because of proximity. When the people of Hong Kong demanded compensation for the victims in their recent rally, some Filipino bloggers made the retort that they should also compensate Filipinas who were wronged. But the fact is, Hong Kong’s laws are clear and fair. Filipino domestics have been permitted to stage rallies in the past to demand better wages and benefits. Still, we wouldn’t be in this situation if our countrymen didn’t have to leave their home country by the hundreds of thousands to find work outside.

Marcos was the last Filipino leader to have set his eyes on industrializing the nation to ensure sufficient domestic employment. If he had succeeded with his “Eleven Industrial Projects,” which included, among others, the copper and aluminum smelters, the integrated steel mill, and the centerpiece Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, we wouldn’t be where we are today. The US ensured, through systematic sabotage, that none of these projects would take off. Through Ninoy Aquino’s assassination, it was able to create turmoil by using the unsuspecting middle-class and ambitious military officers to stage a coup that put the nail on the coffin of Marcos’ dream.

Corazon Aquino, with Joker Arroyo, became instrumental in dismantling the foundations of Philippine industrialization by deconstructing the independent energy sector; privatizing state assets crucial to developing a sovereign nation; and turning the Philippines into a servant country.

The humiliation of Filipinos did not start with the Hong Thai hostage fiasco and won’t end with it. We recall American radio shock jock Howard Stern calling Filipinos “monkeys;” the case of Flor Contemplacion who was executed in Singapore for killing her fellow domestic, with the Philippines unable to do anything to save her; and how dictionaries of certain countries define a Filipina as a “domestic servant; someone who performs non-essential auxiliary tasks.”

If Filipinos should be angry at anyone or any group for this humiliation and apparently hopeless future as unwitting “servants of the world” (a concept that is even promoted by some local religious groups, idealizing “servant leadership” as against “visionary leadership”), it should be at the Philippine social and political leaders who have sold this nation for slavery.

What happened in the fall of Marcos’ vision of industrialization was nothing less than a counter-revolution of historic proportions. Thus, social conditions will require an equally great, revolutionary effort to reverse our dependency and mendicant economy. It took 24 years of the elite Yellow counter-revolution to entrench the Yellow movement (after a near upset by the masa in the election of Estrada); but now under the last Aquino, the nation has begun to understand and reject them.

We must return to the original colors of the revolution of Bonifacio, Mabini and Rizal. The present crop in the Senate and Congress is hopelessly corrupted. Fortunately, there are possibilities in the margins of the present power structure, such as Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada (if he expands on his father’s masa focus), and maybe Jojo Binay if he frees himself of his chains to the Yellows (and the Aquinos) and starts to oppose the Big Business cabals.

(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; watch Politics (and Economics) Today, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m. on Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 21; visit our blogs, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http: hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)