The Wily Filipino

Wake Up.

I usually don't stoop to this level, but I thought I'd reprint some comments from a reader on a post I wrote about the Marcoses:

Ano ba problema mo? just enjoy life and wish that all people do the same thing. tama na yun hate gimiks mo -- pang 70s lang yan, iba na ang takbo ng mundo ngayon. WAKE UP!!!!

Or, in English:

What is your problem? Just enjoy life and wish that all people do the same thing. Enough of your "hate gimmicks" -- that's only for the '70s, the world is already different now. Wake up!!!!

Those of you who have seen my Imelda Marcos page would know that the angriest letters I received were from so-called Marcos loyalists who would tell me to get a life.

The problem, of course, is that the world doesn't seem all that different to many Filipinos; the same grinding poverty and grinning politicians are everywhere to be seen. The same bad deals made with foreign governments, and so on. And while hunting down the Marcoses, and demanding some form of retributive justice, will not solve all of the country's ills, it would, I think, go a long way in moving further. The fact that the people guilty of the most egregious crimes in recent Philippine history are free to flaunt their stolen riches -- well, that really says something.

If anything, my anonymous comment writer (I have your e-mail address, but I'll be polite and won't publish it) should be the one to wake up.

Posted by the wily filipino at July 19, 2003 04:12 PM