BANANACUE
REPUBLIC
Vol II, No. 16
June, 2005
by Leoncio Olobia
Traveling in the Philippines
I cannot help but compare Philippines with my visits in other parts of the world. Europe, for instance is a continent of spotless scenery. Everywhere you go the streets are clean, parks well-manicured with lush of greens and flowers, cars well-parked and the sight of unfortunate street children awaiting for some coins is not seen at all. Perhaps I could be wrong with this but I have visited the major cities of Europe like Rome, Greece, St. Petersburg, Norway, and much more. (If you ever wonder why I had the luxury to visit them, I was a pianist for many years aboard a luxury vessel otherwise I wouldn’t have had the chance to see even one of them).
Philippines, conversely is an archipelago of trash. This ugly scene seems to be a well-orchestrated one perhaps making it a lifestyle among Filipinos. It doesn’t matter whether you are rich or poor, you are still condemned to throw garbage in your backyard, frontyard, along corridors and stairwells, all over the streets where everyone can see, just about any where there is opportunity to throw.
Let me ponder on this unfortunate behavior. Because of our deep influence with Spanish culture, the abundance of street peddlers, sari-sari stores, mobile food chains, halo-halo or sorbetes in the streets can easily catch your attention. Just visit a school for instance. What do you normally see outside the main building in these institutions? Street food, candies and so many other garbage-inflicted items ready to be discarded just about anywhere where the last bite is taken. For instance, a kid in some elementary school buys volumes of candy and tries to open each one as he runs to his buddies willfully throwing out wrappers If we have not been ruled by Spaniards, how clean would we be by now? I see similar patterns of Hispanic culture in the Caribbean where street food extravaganza pollutes the eye.
Clearly we cannot blame this stupidity to our dear Spaniards. It is up to us to cultivate a bad habit and make it like one of ours. Certainly we have achieved greatly.
Aside from garbage proliferation, ours is a culture of alienating tourists. I mean in general, how do we behave to foreigners walking in our midst? What is the general feeling we have against them? Isn’t it true that we chatter about their being transient and ‘foreign’ to our culture? How many times do we ridicule them in our own vernacular tongue as if coming to us is a way of hiding themselves. Isn’t it true also that they are either branded as sex offenders, or drug pushers, or ex-convicts? Even if it’s true, we still have no right to judge them because in their eyes, they might have some offensive remarks that can degrade us as a nation in general. We are not a dominant race of positive influence so we need to be a little bit less condescending.
In my travels in the Western Hemisphere, I got to feel how special tourists are in the places we’re visiting. St. Thomas, US Virgin Island, is an economy that heavily relies on tourism. Every week is like 4th of July because cruise ships go there regularly. These colossal ships have over 3,000 guests each and there are about 8 of them docked in one day. It is madness everywhere. Yet amidst the turbulence experienced while shopping, the locales are so polite and very approachable. Tourists have the right of way when crossing the streets. Cars literally stop when one attempts to cross, as simple as that.
Our problem is accepting them. Giving them a warm welcome is just so difficult even in the face of government programs. So many impositions befall us but how truthful are we really? We just want to go about our personal life. We don’t care if tourists are here to help us or not. We don’t give a damn if our economy is alleviated somehow by their presence.
Having said all these, I am strongly proposing a clean-up society. There should be penalties for individuals caught throwing garbage anywhere. Imprisonment is a great punishment so that actions are not repeated. Singapore has learned to live a life of cleanliness because of this heavy imposition. Secondly, let’s be more sociable with tourists. They appreciate the value of friendship because they are here to learn about us. Gone are the days of quite recluse among tourists. They want to immerse in our own local culture. Let them know us.
Posted 07/20/05. Send your comment to
bananacue_republic@yahoo.com
"...how do we behave to
foreigners walking in our midst? What is the general feeling we have
against them? Isn’t it true that we chatter about their being transient
and ‘foreign’ to our culture? How many times do we ridicule them in our
own vernacular tongue as if coming to us is a way of hiding themselves.
Isn’t it true also that they are either branded as sex offenders, or drug
pushers, or ex-convicts?"