A response to a blog

A contact of mine wrote a blog on her "complaints" on the Philippine state after living in Japan for more than a year. I had a reply to her on that blog, but it was long I decided to post the reply as well.

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I guess comparing the lifestyle here and other countries cannot be helped. Even after three years, I still make comparisons - from the simple "escalator etiquette" to the "on-time trains" to the "defined bus stops". When I start to remember those seemingly insignificant differences (which ultimately add up to something big), I get somewhat disappointed and frustrated when I feel like I can't do anything about it.

I remember one story I heard from a mentor.

There was a time when a multinational company put together a team of Filipinos to work somewhere in the Philippines. These Filipinos were performers when they were working in other countries, but when they started working here they became unperformers. Conversely, they sent unperformers from the Philippines to Korea, and they became performers, much so that they even surpass their Korean counterparts.

I believe that the reason we are in this state is because of the mindset. People in the Philippines have a "somewhat" twisted mindset, and it includes the unwillingness to change. Those "benevolent" or "righteous" enough to want to change their mindset sometimes have low will, which leads to eventually returning back to the "status quo".

I've met a lot of people from my team who are patriotic and are hoping for a better Philippines. But they're not enough. If the majority keeps on "dousing the fire", we'll never be able to ignite the flames of change.

One reason I believe for the constant "dousing of the fire" is the misconception (or misuse) of democracy. They have a concept of "selfish democracy", where they fight for their rights but don't care of they step on other people's rights.

Sometimes, I wonder if a strict implementation of the law would change all of these, but then again, for a race of whiners, I highly doubt.

This is coming from someone who has also seen the life outside the Philippines.