President Noynoy Aquino has just ordered all government contingency teams to look after the welfare of people who will be affected by super typhoon Megi. Packing winds of about 250 kilometers per hour, meteorologists even of China described Megi as the strongest typhoon ever this year.
Megi, which turns into Juan when it enters the Philippine area of responsibility, barreled towards Northern Luzon last night. Pagasa expects it to hit landfall by today. Affected areas have been placed with their corresponding typhoon signals.
Aside from government, people, especially private companies, should also be ready. We must not allow government to just be the one who will shoulder the cost of helping our fellow Filipinos. I urge every one, every single Filipino, to be ready and be involved in reconstruction when this typhoon hits us. We should help Filipinos in the Northern provinces who are expected to be affected by this super typhoon.
This is the most opportune time for us to show our unity as a people. In many instances in the past, we have shown the world how we Filipinos exercise Kabayanihan.
Kabayanihan, an inherent Filipino trait, is an example of how Filipinos love their fellow men. Kabayanihan is an admirable trait which we Filipinos should always exercise not just when there's a contingency like this. It should always be our daily ritual in life, to help others who are far lesser in life than us.
Showing posts with label kabayanihan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kabayanihan. Show all posts
Monday, October 18, 2010
Thursday, August 5, 2010
From Kabayan to Kabayani
This, I believe, is the right path to take.
Less government means less public funds to spend. More people participation means more growth in the democratic sector. The more people involved in nation-building, the greater chances are, of a speedy recovery of government.
People power people is a concept which sprung from the experiences of Filipinos in EDSA 1986. Former president Cory Aquino took part in this great enterprise. Her untimely death has not waned the people's desire to partake in Nation-building, however small those contributions are.
Atty. Alex Lacson's book " 12 Little Things Every Filipino Can Do To Help Our Country" is a veritable new Filipino kartilla. It talks about how ordinary Filipinos can accomplish great things by doing small ones.
Every single Filipino doing these small ones must consider himself part of the great Patriotic enterprise. By doing your share in Nation-building, you automatically become a Patriot.
A Patriot, by transliteration, means "bayani". Bayani is not "hero" when transliterated in English. Our concept of a "bayani" is more akin to Patriot than hero. Besides, heroes, according to Western concepts, are usually people who does things in historical spurts. While Patriots are living heroes, always doing the right things as a Citizen every single day of their lives.
If you believe in this, it is now time for us to abandon calling our fellow Filipino "kabayan" since the concept just means "my fellow Filipino born in the Philippines, the land of our births".
It is time for us to call every Filipino "kabayani" or fellow Patriot or compatriot. We are all Patriots, all those who believe that the responsibility lies in every Filipino, not just with government, when Nation-building is involved.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Kabayanihan as National Ethic
So far, so good.
Smartmatic did a fine job, answering every doubt and quieting the rising tensions in the political atmosphere. Questions on the integrity of the recent polls are slowly being settled. The PCOS machines, Smartmatic says, are un-tamperable. Thus, results from the polls, are un-challenged. The Brazilians are asking us to move forward. And move decisively forward, we must.
As of presstime, Aquino leads the presidential polls by a mile over Villar, Estrada and Gibo. If the National Canvassing tallies with the preliminary un-official Comelec results showing 5-6 million voters favoring Aquino more than former president Joseph Estrada, then, presumably, we now have a new president.
Every one of us knows how crucial and how important this year is for us. We need political stability. Most of our neighbours are quietly working, earning money and improving their economies. The potentials are there, we just have to harness it. We have plentiful of resources, enough to propel our economy to the next level. And fortunately, we have the best minds in the region, some insidious, not ingenuous, unfortunately.
Yet, there is still time for us to purge the minds of some of these people and make them "attune" to the "national ethic".
With the right and proper "attitude", we can surely surpass our neighbours. This is very important. For the past decades, we have failed to institute a national ethic, a "Spirit", if you will, that guides every one's actions. China has its Confucian ethics, Japan its "bushido" codes. Americans have their "dreams" while Singaporeans have their "discipline". Us, we have "talangka mentality" replacing our once proud ethic of "ka-bayani-han".
Aquino, a scion of two patriots, should lead the charge and marshall all the forces of the State to re-instill this ethic into each and every Filipino's mind.
We must recognize that our country is in a state of a man-made disaster. The centuries-old maladies have corrupted and nearly destroyed the system. We are on the verge of destruction.
The solution rests not on the shoulders of the Executive but on the collective will of a people sick and tired of these problems.
Aquino must transform the highly bloated bureaucracy into an empowering organization, laying the predicate for motivation, enabling people and harnessing positive energy from the negative.
An empowered organization means an organism that shares power with all stakeholders.
The national goal, therefore, is clear---improve our quality of life. How then will we do that? By harnessing the collective will and turn it into a potent force strong enough for change.
This force, I am referring to, is our Consciousness. This consciousness should be defined and refined so that it will be acceptable to every one of us.
Every Filipino should recognize that nation-building is a shared responsibility. Every one has a stake in how things are to be run. Every one has his own oar, to be used in rowing our national boat to wherever direction we want it.
Aquino's role in this empowering organization is provide the direction based on his understanding of the prevailing consciousness. If the direction he wants necessitates the eradication of corruption in the first years, then, so be it. These stages should actually be explained to the people so that every one feels responsible for its success.
Gone are the times when governments are assessed based on its promises. Now, is the time when we assess government based on how it motivated and led the people towards concrete goals and promises.
Smartmatic did a fine job, answering every doubt and quieting the rising tensions in the political atmosphere. Questions on the integrity of the recent polls are slowly being settled. The PCOS machines, Smartmatic says, are un-tamperable. Thus, results from the polls, are un-challenged. The Brazilians are asking us to move forward. And move decisively forward, we must.
As of presstime, Aquino leads the presidential polls by a mile over Villar, Estrada and Gibo. If the National Canvassing tallies with the preliminary un-official Comelec results showing 5-6 million voters favoring Aquino more than former president Joseph Estrada, then, presumably, we now have a new president.
Every one of us knows how crucial and how important this year is for us. We need political stability. Most of our neighbours are quietly working, earning money and improving their economies. The potentials are there, we just have to harness it. We have plentiful of resources, enough to propel our economy to the next level. And fortunately, we have the best minds in the region, some insidious, not ingenuous, unfortunately.
Yet, there is still time for us to purge the minds of some of these people and make them "attune" to the "national ethic".
With the right and proper "attitude", we can surely surpass our neighbours. This is very important. For the past decades, we have failed to institute a national ethic, a "Spirit", if you will, that guides every one's actions. China has its Confucian ethics, Japan its "bushido" codes. Americans have their "dreams" while Singaporeans have their "discipline". Us, we have "talangka mentality" replacing our once proud ethic of "ka-bayani-han".
Aquino, a scion of two patriots, should lead the charge and marshall all the forces of the State to re-instill this ethic into each and every Filipino's mind.
We must recognize that our country is in a state of a man-made disaster. The centuries-old maladies have corrupted and nearly destroyed the system. We are on the verge of destruction.
The solution rests not on the shoulders of the Executive but on the collective will of a people sick and tired of these problems.
Aquino must transform the highly bloated bureaucracy into an empowering organization, laying the predicate for motivation, enabling people and harnessing positive energy from the negative.
An empowered organization means an organism that shares power with all stakeholders.
The national goal, therefore, is clear---improve our quality of life. How then will we do that? By harnessing the collective will and turn it into a potent force strong enough for change.
This force, I am referring to, is our Consciousness. This consciousness should be defined and refined so that it will be acceptable to every one of us.
Every Filipino should recognize that nation-building is a shared responsibility. Every one has a stake in how things are to be run. Every one has his own oar, to be used in rowing our national boat to wherever direction we want it.
Aquino's role in this empowering organization is provide the direction based on his understanding of the prevailing consciousness. If the direction he wants necessitates the eradication of corruption in the first years, then, so be it. These stages should actually be explained to the people so that every one feels responsible for its success.
Gone are the times when governments are assessed based on its promises. Now, is the time when we assess government based on how it motivated and led the people towards concrete goals and promises.
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