I think the root problem of many Filipinos is that their frustration at their inability to climb out of the poverty hole has been replaced by acceptance and resignation. They don’t really care about the coming of THE messiah. They care more about what giveaways the self-proclaimed messiah-of-the-month will be tossing their way. They don’t even give a hoot who this messiah might be, as long as he/she has dole-outs to give. This is another version of the “isang kahig, isang tuka” mentality, as the chook would scratch the soil hoping to find an earthworm.
Live for the time being. Go from meal to meal. In the meantime, Que sera, sera. (What will be, will be.) Condoms? Bahala na. Denudation of forests, depletion of natural resources? Bahala na. Savour the pleasure of the moment, the harvest of the day. Leave the future to those who will wake up to another morning.
This, by the way, is very similar to the attitude of an atheist. Since there is no tomorrow, then let us live for the day. Since there is no God to reward or punish us in an afterlife, why bother to live a virtuous life?
Even if the concept of God, eternal damnation and heaven are just the machinations of a commercial-political church, it nevertheless serves a purpose. It makes one’s neighbour a more pleasant person to live with and it makes for a more civil society.
But when Filipinos collectively despair in the hopelessness of their economic situation, then their despair turns into wild abandon. It becomes an uncaring attitude to peace and order, and to all of the requirements of a progressive society.
Damn the Ping Lacsons, the Chavit Singsons and the Ben Abalos’ of the world. They are the devils incarnate who spew sugar-coated words with forked serpentine tongues!
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