IF you scan the postings on social media, you would get the impression that the United States is anathema to most Filipinos.
Hateful statements that rake up Yankee atrocities during the Filipino-American war; resentment over the U.S. ostensibly taking the Philippines “for granted” in terms of foreign and military aid; complaints about being turned down for a U.S. visa and why, in the first place, visas are required of Filipinos but not of citizens of many other countries; even the perceived “arrogance” of U.S. military officers towards their Pinoy counterparts, often accompany social and traditional media reports concerning President Rodrigo Duterte’s undiplomatic remarks against the U.S., as well as the measured response of American officials to these remarks.
Along with that, in recent days, have been cheers over Duterte’s declaration on his recent state visit to Beijing that he was “separating the Philippines from the United States” and that it would now be the Philippines, China and Russia “against the world.”
Yet a recent public opinion poll tells us that Filipinos trust the U.S. by an overwhelming percentage vis-à-vis China. And I don’t know of anyone eager to migrate to Moscow.
Data reported in the Country Migration Report, Philippines 2013, prepared by the Scalabrini Migration Center and the International Organization for Migration, in cooperation with the Philippine government, tell us that the U.S. is the migration destination of choice for Filipinos (64.84 percent) followed by a far-second Canada at 16.75 percent.
The 2010 U.S. Census also tells us that people of Filipino descent account for the second largest Asian ethnic group in America at 3.4 million (I suppose, not counting the TNTs), next only to the ethnic Chinese. Saudi Arabia and Canada, at 1.5 million and 842.6 thousand, respectively, are a distant second and third as a migration destination for Filipinos, according to the 2013 Country Migration Report.
One can only imagine what the Pinoy migration would be if the Philippines were like Mexico, sharing a common border with the U.S. The late Alex Esclamado, founding chairman of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) once put it half-jokingly, “If Filipinos could walk on water, millions more of us would come to the U.S.”
And – get this – America accounts for 42.09 percent of Pinoy brides and only 27.44 percent in the case of Japan, 7.86 percent for Australia and 4.24 percent for Canada. Meaning, more Filipina women fall in love with Americans than with any other foreign nationality.
Why the inconsistency? It’s almost like saying, “Yankee go home, but take me with you!”
Some pundits call it a “love-hate relationship” with America. Still, others insist that America “owes the Philippines” for having colonized it and having gotten it involved in the war with Japan and yet not treating Filipino World War II veterans equitably compared with soldiers from other countries who also fought alongside the U.S.
A certain Burt Gabriel posted something on Facebook, which I am quoting verbatim: “Phil was taken for granted, neglected, was not given economic assistance. For last 15-20 years, Phil was abandoned, no financial aid was awarded to Phil for improvement of its security, military and its infrastructure needs. [It’s] not actually a total severance of diplomatic ties with states but [the] establishment of diplomacy with neighboring ASEAN neighbor willing to extend help. U.S. is still [A Filipino] ally and States [have] diplomatic ties with PRC as well.”
The statement reflects the fuzzy understanding of the relationship between the Philippines and the U.S., as well as other countries. And as vague as many of our countrymen’s perception of that relationship already is, pseudo-nationalists and leftists have muddled that limited knowledge further with their rhetoric.
For one thing, assuming that the demonstrators in the recent march at the U.S. Embassy in Manila had a valid reason for doing so, didn’t they have an even more valid reason for marching to the embassy of the Chinese which has literally invaded Philippine territory?
In fact, why did it take Filipino-Americans to lead the demonstrations against Chinese incursion into territory claimed by the Philippines in the Spratlys? Only after media attention had been generated by the issue did Philippine-based activists spring into action over it.
But to go back to the inconsistency between what are said against the US and how Filipinos actually perceive America, one commentator wrote years ago about “the myth of Philippine-American special relations,” pointing out that we Filipinos continue to believe that we deserve to be given “special treatment” by the US because of our shared history. The writer then urged Filipinos to wake up to the reality that the relationship between two sovereign nations cannot be based on one being overly dependent on the other, whatever their historical links might be.
For all of his vulgarities, this is what I think Duterte has been trying to say. The trouble is, he simply muddles the message with his profanities and his jumbled way of expressing himself.
If you disregard the trash talk and try to fathom what he is trying to say, you will see that Duterte is absolutely right. The Philippines, as a sovereign nation, should strive to stand on its own two feet, in a manner of speaking, instead of acting like a mendicant looking for a free meal and complaining that it’s getting only crumbs.
But, let’s get it straight: Are Filipinos really acting like mendicants looking for a free meal? I don’t think so. I believe we have more self-respect than that. I also believe that the ones who insist that we are mendicants should not impute their own mendicancy on the rest of our people – and I’m addressing those who love to post their idiocy on social media.
The fact that there are some 10 million Filipinos working overseas or have become permanent residents or citizens of other countries, and the fact that the majority of them have preferred to go to the US is not necessarily a sign of a “weak Filipino character.”
Rather, it is a natural survival instinct at work. Even beasts do that, and when there were land bridges connecting the continents eons ago, ancient humans moved from areas where food was scarce to places where they could find subsistence.
That is not a sign of weakness. It is a sign of strength. A sign of love of family and the zeal to give their loved ones a better future.
It is, on the other hand, a sign of weakness on the part of our national leaders, a sign of the greed of most of our politicians who also happen to be economic kingpins. It is an indication of the imbalance in the country’s economic growth – favoring the few who are rich and throwing crumbs at the majority who are poor.
They call it “trickle down economics.” But Pope Francis himself doesn’t think much of it, declaring, in not so many words, that the “trickle” benefiting the poor is not enough to survive on.
Thus, we see millions of Filipinos leaving their homes and their families to seek better opportunities overseas. If Duterte can make good on his vow to uplift the poor of our country, we can forgive him for his obscenity.
I think America sees through Duterte’s bluster. When he took back what he said in China (to Chinese applause) and clarified that he really doesn’t plan to cut ties with America (to Chinese puzzlement), US officials must have nodded knowingly and, to paraphrase, President Barack Obama, quipped, “There goes the colorful president of the Philippines again.”
The trouble is, while Duterte keeps flip-flopping on his rants and bluster, his rabid supporters find themselves unable to take back their incendiary postings, even while deep in the hearts of many of them, they really want to say, “Yankee go home, but please take us with you!”
