In our Social
Studies (in the 50s in my case), we were taught about the destructive habits or
attitudes of the Filipinos—the Manana Habit, Talangka Mentality, Filipino Time,
Ningas-kugon, Colonial Mentality, etc. I
was too young to care, but being a conscientious pupil, I retained what I learned. Especially the very graphic explanations of
the teacher about the “talangka” (crabs) pulling one another down to clamber to
the top of the bucket, and of dried cogon grass bursting into flames and just
as quickly dying out.
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| Ningas-kugon: short-lived enthusiasm, as grass fire |
Over the years,
many disappointing experiences with fellow Filipinos would convince me that
those bad habits we heard about in elementary school somehow do have basis in
fact. In our country’s current
socio-political situation, for instance, the Ningas-kugon mentality reigns
supreme. Scandalous incidents of
national importance would hog the headlines for days or weeks, and then fizzle
out even before anything conclusive is reached.
Or is it the public’s interest that wanes through time?
Remember the
so-called Mamasapano Massacre, when on January 25,2015, 44 SAF police commandos
were slain in the botched anti-terror raid in Maguindanao? The nation was shocked over the tragedy, and
felt betrayed by the government officials who planned the raid. The public indignation soared when the 44
coffins arrived at the Manila airport and there was no Noynoy to pay respects
to them—he was busy attending a car manufacturing event. Headlines and social media comments burned
with righteous anger in sympathy for the bereaved—such a cold-hearted
president! The bloody incident came to
be tagged as “SAF 44.”
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| Remains of the fallen SAF 44 arrive in Manila |
On July 14,
2017, it was reported that former president Benigno Aquino III would face
criminal trial over Mamasapano tragedy.
A statement from the investigating body said Ombudsman Conchita
Carpio-Morales had ordered Aquino charged with usurpation of authority and
violation of the anti-graft and corrupt practices act.
January 25,
2019, on the fourth anniversary of SAF 44, families of the fallen troopers
called on the Supreme Court on Padre Faura in Manila to seek justice. They called on the authorities to act on the
case: “Please notice our pleading
because we have been seeking justice for four years now.” Are they joined in their plea by the public? It doesn’t seem so. No sustained reporting from mainstream media;
no angry outbursts from netizens.
Why? The grass has burned
out. Ningas-kugon.
Who remembers
the bank cyber-heist that happened in February 2016? It involved Bangladesh Bank, the Federal
Reserve Bank of New York and the Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) in
the Philippines. Reactions to the news
smacked of warnings, and not a few bank clients feared for their money. There followed televised hearings (in aid of
legislation?), which the man on the street found upsetting if not
incredible—for how can something that big happen when Philippine banks are so
strict? Even opening an ordinary savings
account with one-thousand pesos would require the client to fill up so many
papers with personal information. How
much more if the new accounts involved millions of US dollars? After the initial furor, the case was
forgotten.
Until January
10, 2019, when the RCBC branch ex-manager Maia Santos-Deguito was reported
guilty in the $81-million Bangladesh Bank heist. The news said Makati Regional Trial court
Branch 149 Presiding Judge Cesar Untalan found Deguito guilty beyond reasonable
doubt of violating the Anti-Money Laundering Act. Again it raised eyebrows, even in banking
circles, where “everybody knows a mere branch manager cannot do such things on
her own.” Some believe there’s a cover
up somewhere, and that Deguito was persuaded to be tied to the whipping post
for a huge consolation sum. Whatever,
the fire seems to have gone out—the people who were alarmed before continue to use
banks to safekeep their money. And those
with money to burn go on burning it away in our casinos.
Another half-forgotten
scandal: the alleged role of the Bureau of Customs in the shipment from China on May 17, 1017 of illegal drugs worth over
six billion pesos. On record as
containing “kitchenware”, the container with methamphetamine was reportedly
passed through the green lane, escaping the xray scanning—a violation of BoC protocol. The Senate and House hearings invited so many
“persons of interest” and disclosed names of companies and individuals
(including the president’s son Paolo Duterte) implicated in the shipment, some
of them Chinese. Again, the public
reaction was one of outrage.
On September 5,
2018, the news said “The government has lost its drug transportation case over
the 6.4 billion pesos shabu shipment from China that ended up at a warehouse in
Valenzuela City, due to double jeopardy… While Taguba and Tan are detained at
the Camp Bagong Diwa jail, Richard Tan, whose Hongfei Logistics company leased
the warehouse where the shabu was found, and his other Chinese or Taiwanese
co-accused remain at large since the Manila RTC ordered their arrest for the
drug importation case.”
Now the case
seems buried beneath an avalanche of sensational news items. Should we not be looking deeper into the
court decision? Or at least, gather
concerned agencies and citizens to ask, for instance, where the confiscated
shabu has gone? Are the accused still in
the country, or have they forever escaped prosecution through the help of
Immigration? We do not want to think ill
of our government agencies but circumstances like this make us doubt their
sincerity in serving the public.
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| China's militarization in Philippine territory |
Ningas-kugon
destroys more than grass—it keeps us in a stupor. We are quick to say the country is a mess,
but are we doing our part to right the wrong being done? These are but a few of the scandalous things
that caused us to burst into flames of anger in the recent past. If you will peep into history you will see
that there have been many more that aroused our ire in the distant past,
hindering our growth as a nation, but which we soon forgot—or forgave. Where is our ningas-kugon mentality leading
us to?
One day, about
two years ago, we just woke up to find our waters invaded, with artificial
islands containing military installations by a bully nation. We were furious—but didn’t stay so for
long. Last weekend of March we were told
that for the first quarter of 2019 alone, more than 600 “Chinese fishing
vessels have been recorded surrounding the sandbars of Pag-asa Island.” That many?
We would be naïve to think these vessels are only after our galunggong—mackerel scad, which,
incidentally, they export back to us.
More than just cursing China over its bullying tactics, we should do our
homework and intelligently plan to preserve our sovereignty and save our
people. We can’t afford to treat serious
matters with our ningas-kugon
attitude. We must keep the fire
burning. Otherwise, Pilipinas might one
day wake up to find it is already a province of China. And that’s the truth.
