World Class

There has been a few Filipinos catching limted world attention lately courtesy of the internet marvel YouTube. Arnel Pineda becoming Journey’s lead vocalist, Charice Pempengco guesting at a popular US TV show and the Philippines being credited as the origin of the new dance craze Papaya.

Randomly check the comments on the videos and you’ll see praises in various forms and level but with all practically proudly proclaiming the world-class and unmatched talent of the Filipinos.

And this is where the problem lies. Or this is where the issue is. At least to me, I believe.

I have no argument with Filipino talent. It is patent and proved. It is how this talent, so abundant and so rich, is used and where it has brought now us as a people that perplex me. If we are truly a talented people, why are we so behind other countries who do not have a Pempengco, a Pineda, or a Salonga, or beauty queens, or boxing champs?

Sadly, our claim to fame and world-class talents is matched only at home by massive poverty, repression, and mass exodus of workers.

We sing praise in unison to a copycat singer yet remain dumb and deaf to a stealing and murdering illegal president. We marvel at a high-notes-hitting-Dion-Houston- wannabe- teenager’s guesting in an American television yet remain cold and indifferent to the abduction of a press freedom icon.

We take pride in having all these so-called world class entertainers who continuously ape foreign artists but we haven’t developed our own music. I would like to think of how Bob Marley and reggae music of tiny Jamaica has contributed for example.

We claim to have a chef in the White House yet we cannot even have mainstream restaurants in the US despite the fact other nationalities who have lesser population have managed to do so, like the Thais, the Greeks and even the Afghans.

We pride ourselves on being the best care-givers and nurses, a sad tale that is a different story by itself and requires a different page, yet our people’s health resembles that of a sickbed.

We insist on using the English language, no matter how ridiculous we may sound and appear (take a bow Janina San Miguel) arguing it is the passport to success and progress, when all it has given our people are call centers and not real industrialization.

We claim to be the home of the world’s most beautiful women for having beauty contest title holders when this only perhaps speeds up further the global traffic of our women.

We are the origin of People Power yet we are ruled by a fake, criminal, corrupt and lying president.

Our world class talent rings hollow and our claims to fame fall flat in the face of stark realities.

Quo vadis my countrymen?