The Philippine Online Chronicles

Nation, enough is enough.

Have we not bent over backwards enough for our Chinese overlords? How many times do we have to apologize for our cops, for our leaders, for our inept president whose frequently changing Facebook profile pictures makes him look like a presidential emoticon? How many times do we have to post infuriating photos of other Filipinos who act like complete buffoons, merrily posing in front of the infamous bus, and then promptly saying “Sorry, sorry” to Hong Kong afterwards? When did we become a nation of Super Juniors?

As a patriotic Filipino, it crossed my mind to deliberately incite the Chinese to anger by dancing upon the graves of their fallen countrymen,until I realized that I don’t have enough dancing talent to do it justice. And surely, one can be patriotic without having to resort to cheap shots (Even if the urge is strong sometimes.), right? As a nation, we have gone above and beyond the call of duty to make nice with the Chinese people, but ultimately, there is no quick fix to this. It took years for the rift between Singapore and the Philippines over Flor Contemplacion to be smoothened over. No amount of apologies and self-deprecation will instantly eliminate the tension in the air at the moment. One thing people have to learn is that instant gratification is not an option for us right now.

I thought back to the uproar Chip Tsao elicited from the Filipino nation about a year ago, and how next to nobody asked themselves for a moment, amid all the anti-Chinese racial slurs being thrown about if we ever went overboard. It’s not like the whole of Hong Kong went out of their way to insult us, but we lumped all of them together, and still protested en masse despite a very contrite apology from Tsao. With fond recollection, I recall that individual who said “Mr. Tsao, I think it’s wrong of you to insult our country. So we will insult yours.” Let’s not even get into Alec Baldwin. Overboard? Pah! As patriotic Filipinos, we can never go overboard.

Ah, but when the Chinese turn the tables upon us, immediately we cry that they have gone too far! They certainly go overboard in a hurry, don’t they? How dare they lump the entire Philippine population along with our government’s incompetence? Don’t they know that not everyone wanted the current government we’re saddled with, in the first place? Here they go, hurting our feelings again, like Chip Tsao did before, and it has to stop. How could they ever know what it’s like to be in our shoes? After all, they only lost eight of their countrymen to a hostage situation, not have their entire country labelled as “a nation of servants!” There is just no comparison whatsoever.

That’s why it takes a certain level-headedness to look coolly into the eyes of the Chinese people and commiserate with them for the tragedy that has happened, but quickly remind them at the same time that it was not you yourself who pulled the trigger on those eight tourists, nor was it your personal incompetence that resulted in the debacle at the end of the whole thing. Yes, we patriotic Filipinos are one with Hong Kong in denouncing this travesty, but this far removed from the Lenten season, it doesn’t seem appropriate for us to keep flogging ourselves when none of the arm wringing and finger-pointing is even leading to anything constructive at all. This is not the time to inflame tempers and burn bridges any more than we already have.

We already have enough armchair CSI/Counterstrike experts chiming in to draft an army if Hong Kong ever decided to declare war on us. I felt compelled to not have to add on the dogpiling at this point. Reactions to the unfortunate hostage crisis has unfortunately fallen into two equally distasteful camps: the camp of those who get angry that the Chinese people are angry, and the camp of those who are suddenly ashamed about being a Filipino. Apparently, Manny Pacquiao doesn’t throw enough punches on hapless Mexicans for these fair-weathered Filipinos to stand by their nation in these trying times. If other nationalities were just as easily cowed into self-loathing, America would have collapsed under itself in the wake of 9/11 and after re-electing Bush in 2004.

One can denounce the government for its shortcomings without associating these shortcomings as characteristics intrinsic to being a Filipino. In the midst of unpatriotic Filipinos kicking themselves while they’re down, these people lose sight of the fact that the greatness or the horridness of the Filipino nation is not contingent on the government – sort of like how Captain America opposed the Registration Act despite it being imposed by the American government. As a patriotic Filipino, I take pride in the spirit of the Filipino people, and condemn the non-comedy of errors that has led to the tragedy. I offer my condolences to Hong Kong, but I cannot keep flagellating myself for the bullets I did not shoot, nor do I commiserate with Rolando Mendoza for his plight, even if we assumed he was innocent of the initial charges levied against him - my sympathy for him evaporated the minute he held 25 people at gunpoint to satiate his own selfish needs. What? Hunger strikes fell out of vogue or something?

It is with this sentiment that I denounce the Aquino government as I am wont to do, and to rue the day we replaced our beloved former president GMA, as I am also wont to do. The blame falls squarely on the head of P Noy, and we will casually ignore that the lack of training and competence could only have been engendered from well before P Noy assumed the presidency, although the hyper-competence of other cops can be quite a shock, all the same.

The way P Noy bungled this hostage situation only goes to show how much better off we were under GMA’s tenure, as she clearly knew how to handle hostage situations far better.

After all, didn’t she hold this nation hostage impeccably well for the past nine years?

In the end, dear nation. We rise again. Like we always do in the face of adversity. It's good that we realize the limits of bending over backwards, if only to remind the world that this nation still has its backbone. It's also good that we kick ourselves while we're down sometimes, if only to remind us that this nation still has its legs to stand upon again, come what may.

(Editor’s Note: The opinions presented in this column do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the POC, Stephen Colbert, Chip Tsao, or even the author himself.)

Marcelle Fabie on thePOC or Blogwatch is not to be confused with Marcelle Fabie anywhere else. The Marcelle Fabie of thePOC is a self-proclaimed patriotic Filipino, an administration sycophant, has no regard for the facts, and only believes in his gut and the power of truthiness. He is the lovechild of Stephen Colbert and Chip Tsao.

Photo: “yabangpinoy” by stiffler meister, c/o Flickr. Some Rights Reserved