12 Reasons Why nothing will ever change here in the Philippines

First, we love to laugh so much and so often that we think that everything happens here in the Philippines is a joke. Well, most of it, yes.

Second, since we live in a tropical island, we always think that we live in an island where all of our needs are met. Living in an island is okay except of course, if you really think hard of it, we are an archipelago and whatever happens in one island, it affects other islands.

Third, we love showbiz so much that even politics we treat as entertainment. Everything is fantasy that explains why even Presidents dream of phantasms during their terms, with Gloria's Enchanted Kingdom and Aquino's Tuwid na daan.

Fourth, we are a religious lot that we even mistake mere mortals as gods. Look at how we treat our Congressmen and our bureaucrats. We know most of them are crooks but even crooks deserve a lei of sampaguitas.

Fifth, we have seen so much bloodshed and so much inhumanity and injustice that it's now hard for us to really define what "justice" really means.

Sixth, we cry for peace but we are afraid of the consequences of true and lasting peace. For us, peace means silence, when peace is more than the absence of noise--it is a condition of relative symphony of various voices.

Seventh, we have a very poor standard when it comes to managing our affairs that even in government service, "pwede na" means okey. The irony of it all, we have excellent political scientists here in our country, yet they can't seem to practice because there is absolutely no science in our politics.

Eighth, we are used to live in a greyish, colourless world that we find it hard to be creative. Just look at the Makati skyline and you"ll know what I mean. We are a happy people yet we seem to suppress our colourful outlook in life just in the clothes we wear.

Ninth, we are hopeless romantics and Philistinism is our way of life that we keep cars as old as 30 years old and we can't seem to let go of our past. We always think that the past is better than the future because that is how we became when 1986 changed our political futures and we see our lives going down, down a slippery slope.

Tenth, we are poor scientists. We are afraid of experimenting. We are all seguristas. We are deathly afraid of what the future would be like that we would choose to be like this even until the point of our deaths, all to keep our sanity and our precious space.

Eleventh, we know there is a God out there, but we rely on Him so much so that we forget that we need to work for change to happen.

Twelth, we elect to perpetually fight amongst ourselves to keep the peace when the solution is simply of arm's length---one war to end all wars.