It’s not the government, it’s you.

Have you ever blamed the government for your problems? *tanong sa kanila Obviously,
most of you nodded and said yes, actually me too! But, let me ask you all again, did you ever
looked at the mirror and realized sometimes that the problem is really you? Well, that’s not a
simple question, it’s the general truth.

For how many years we accuse them why we’re suffering at many things, we don’t try to
accept some of our flaws as Filipinos. As early as can be, I’m assuring you that I’m not
defending the State. Yet, I’ll just try to awake all of you who are the guilty ones about the
problems we have in the table.

The Presidential Decree No. 966 declares an offense punishable by law all dissemination
of ideas based on racial superiority or hatred, as well as all acts of violence or incitement to such
acts against any race or group of persons of another color or ethnic origin. Yes, you’ve heard it
right, the first thing we have in our plates is the racial discrimination. Many of us are
complaining about being racially profiled from different countries, like some Filipinas in the
Middle East are easy to get and some caught from cameras that the white people are calling us
“thieves”. However, if we take a look at ourselves, we all know that we’re very much guilty in
looking down on other people such as Indians with stinky body odor who live off through ‘5-6’
usury business. Or on Chinese neighbors who own bigger stores in the market as penny-pinchers.
It’s just weird while they taunt and make fun of others back home, they complain as victims of
discrimination abroad. See that? Of course not, because we’re so busy to take pride and not
understand that we’re just like them. We must set our minds that not all of them are like that kind
of people we thought. After all, we always say that Filipinos are different in their own ways and I
think we must adapt it also on other races we always tease.

Globally, an estimated 1.25 million pedestrians die from road crashes every year,
according to the World Health Organization (WHO). This will probably cause by the jaywalkers,
motorists and drivers who caught by the MMDA’s CCTV which violated speed limit,
disregarding the no-loading and unloading zone, beating the red light, blocking intersections,
making illegal turns, illegal overtaking, among others daily. And these will lead us to our next
thing in our menu, the self-righteousness disobedience. The Filipinos are certified rule-breakers.
As we look on the simple side, even wearing prescribed attire (‘please wear a shade of blue semi-
formal wear’) when attending wedding ceremonies becomes a task difficult to follow. Why is it
so hard for Filipinos to obey the rules? For me, the self-righteousness is the real culprit here
because it leads us to our own benefits. Having that kind of attitude means that you believe that
you’re morally right than others even if turns out to be not. We’re always very much confident
that we’re doing the right thing to the point that this making us to be the disobedient ones. Well,
I’m sure that most of us here are getting a decent education which is enough to influence anyone
to follow simple rules. From the white lanes where we must cross in the right time to the
common signs we always see around, we, as the privileged ones must take the lead on following
it so that, if the narrow minded oldies can’t obey those regulations, the younger ones can be our
hope at least to imitate us in a good way.

In connection of what is on the menu earlier, I’m now serving to all of you a plate of
sizzling hot Filipino indiscipline. Sunday, on the 16th day of June this year, approximately two
million protesters went out in Hong Kong and flooded the streets of the city. Once I saw this
article online, I immediately tap the share button not because of what they protest but because of
what happened after that day. They cleaned up and left the road spotless, 0% trash, just like the
same condition prior to the protest. I just laughed when I daydreamed that one day, this may also
happen in our country. That article is a big slap to Filipinos who simply contributes to 35,000
tons of garbage daily as what Asian Development Bank (ADB) expert reported. Who’s the
culprit here? Yes, of course it’s us. It’s like we are born to be guilty in destroying our very own
country’s nature. Thanks to Him, that some of the places like schools and universities practicing
the ‘Clean as you go’ rule like our Alma Mater. This will help the students or the young ones to
be disciplined enough to take their trash on the right place or in their pockets if nowhere to go.
This maybe cliché as may sound but while it’s early, we, educated people must know where our
trash must be placed and don’t wait the illiterate ones pick up our mess.

The paper for the list of the government’s broken promises to us is getting longer and
longer. I know that some of them deserve the hurtful words of criticism from the Filipino people.
Corruption, poverty, hunger, overpopulation, terrorism, unemployment and such things can
absolutely blame to them because we have nothing to do with that. We can’t change the fact that
majority of the people in this administration are like crocodiles who are always hungry for the
money of our nation.

Before you accuse someone else, look at what you’ve done first. We, as a Filipino citizen
have imperfections that we must embrace wholeheartedly. After that, we must do our very best
to change those flaws into our country’s strengths against all the problems we’re facing. Some
people may ask ‘Why just nitpick on bad attitudes and do not offer solutions?’ All I can say to
this is, I know we’re old enough to know how to deal with these bad habits, unless some of us
failed our basic ‘good manners and right conduct’ classes years ago. You can’t find discipline to
others if you, yourself don’t have it. Instead of blaming the government, why not we can be the
solutions to our nation’s problems and as we raise our flag we can be the best version of
ourselves that our motherland can be proud of.

Enjoy your meal! Thank you!