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| ON THE OTHER HAND |
| The Statistics of Despair By Antonio C. Abaya September 27, 2002 We have all read or heard about the nationwide survey conducted by Pulse Asia in March this year in which an astonishing 19% of the respondents agreed with the questionnaire statement that �this country is hopeless and I would like to migrate somewhere else if I could.� Or words to that effect. This depressing revelation was banner-headlined by the Philippine Daily Inquirer on its June 26, 2002 issue, and parts of the results are archived in our website www.tapatt.org. But, cheer up! The good news, if it could be called that, is that this statistics of despair has been hovering over this country like a black cloud of smog since at least April 1990 when Cory Aquino was still president. The Social Weather Stations (SWS), with which Pepe Miranda of Pulse Asia used to be connected, has been conducting this type of survey long before March 2002, and SWS president Mahar Mangahas sent me their data and graphs to prove it. The operative statement was �There is no hope for this country. If possible, I would migrate to another country,� with which respondents were asked to agree or disagree. During the tail end of the Aquino presidency, this question was asked once (in April 1990) and the reply was 14% agreed, 61% disagreed and 24% were undecided. During the Ramos presidency, this question was asked four times (in July 1993, April 1996, September 1996 and September 1997) and the results were 16-14-11-17% agreed, 60-69-70-65% disagreed, and 24-16-18-17% were undecided. During the Estrada presidency, the question was asked twice (in July 2000 and September 2000) and the results were 18-21% agreed, 62-58% disagreed, and 17-20% undecided. During the Arroyo presidency, the question was asked four times (in July 2001, September 2001, November 2001 and March 2002) and the results were 26-22-19-16% agreed, 53-62-64-63% disagreed, and 20-15-16-20% undecided. The significant trend here is that the percentage of despairing Filipinos remained steady during the Aquino and Ramos presidency at 14-14.5%, climbed markedly during the Estrada presidency to 18, then 21%, peaked at 26% in July 2001 (an effect of the May 2001 attempt by the Estrada supporters to regain power, I would say), and has been going down steadily ever since to almost �normal� level. Rather than an indictment of the Arroyo presidency, it is actually a vindication of it. Why the Malacanang Press Office did not see this and therefore did not crow about it, I can only ascribe to a general state of dizziness in said office induced by the sight of so many numbers. ***** The numbers that should cause despair, alarm and trepidation among thinking Filipinos are the numbers associated with population growth rates. In my talk before the assembled executives of the Lopez Group of Companies, I rattled off the growth rates in East Asia. They can be viewed in my article dated September 19, 2002 and titled �Where We Are Headed.� For those without computers, let me rattle them off again. All, and I mean all, our successful neighbors have population growth rates lower, in most cases much lower, than ours: Taiwan 0.83%, Singapore 0.86%, South Korea 0.89%, Thailand 0.91%, China, including Hong Kong, 0.92%, Indonesia 1.60%, and Malaysia 1.96%, beside which the Philippines� 2.13% (now actually 2.32%) looks absolutely scandalous and suicidal. In the 2002 World Almanac and Book of Facts, where these numbers come from, some impoverished and chaotic countries look more manageable: Bangladesh and Haiti both have a population growth rate of only 1.67%. India�s, believe it or not, is even lower, at 1.55%. Of the 192 countries written up in the Almanac, 54 have population growth rates equal to or higher than the Philippines�. We belong to a super-exclusive club of mostly impoverished countries whose people are multiplying like mice. Of those 54 countries, 29 are predominantly Muslim, 12 predominantly Roman Catholic, nine predominantly animist. Two are predominantly Buddhist (Laos, 2.48%; Cambodia, 2.25%), one predominantly Vedan or Hindu (Nepal, 2.32%), and, surprise, one predominantly Protestant (Solomon Islands, 2.98%, where they stopped eating Anglican missionaries sometime in the latter half of the 20th century). This is the geography of religious obfuscation. Of those 54 countries, 31 are in Africa, six in Asia (Afghanistan, Cambodia, Laos, Nepal, Pakistan and Tajikistan, aside from our Philippines), six in the Middle East (Iraq, Jordan, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen), five in Central America (Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua), one in South America (Paraguay), and five in Oceania (small island-countries that only stamp collectors and shipwreck survivors know of). This is the geography of hopelessness. The only filthy rich country among the 54 is Saudi Arabia, which has a population growth rate of 3.14%. But they have nothing to worry about since they have endless tracts of empty dessert under which are endless deposits of oil. Besides there are many career opportunities there not available elsewhere. Such as stick-wielding Morals Policeman, to beat up any woman found walking in public with a male companion other than her husband, son or brother; Boulder Heaver, non-Olympic strongman to stone to death adulterers and adulteresses; Headache Reliever, to decapitate murderers; Extreme Manicurist, to lop off fingers and hands of pickpockets and thieves; Instant Urban Renewal Engineer, using hijacked airliners, to level skyscrapers in infidel countries. George W. Bush is out to bomb the wrong country. ***** This article appears in the October 14, 2002 issue of the Philippine Weekly Graphic magaine. |
ONE THEN wonders why the press in general do not put their headlines in the context that it should: irresponsible journalism or incompetence if they don�t know it or (have) done it in the interests of a group. It is good that you sent this to the yahoo group. Gary Santos. [email protected] November 10, 2002 ����������������������������� SINCE OUR YOUTH is the ONLY apparent untainted minds in the country, why not (a) compile all these relevant articles of yours (b) classify them accordingly and title them (c) use the volume as part of a paper in a convention in the country under the theme; BASIC FACTS ON CORRUPTION (and subtitled) WHAT THE FILIPINO YOUTH CAN DO TO ARREST ITS GROWTH. Make the convention a three-day one with international experts participating in it. Require all high school and college teachers to attend and participate in it and have them come up with their �suggestions� on how the youth can assimilate all the ideas and make a schedule of implementing the recommendations. FORGET government officials, bureaus (especially the ones eroded with corrupt systems), law enforcement agencies who perpetuate corruption, and other denizens populating our country. Invite some as guests but no more than that. FOCUS on youth leaders in all public and private universities to take the lead in the organization and implementation. INVITE ALL local and international media channels (press, radio, tv satellite) to take active part in reporting the convention � and report candidly, openly, uncensored, all the discussion points for everyone to see and understand. LET US USE MODERN TECHNOLOGY � yes VIDEO ESPECIALLY in our daily lives the way surveillance video has been performing as �big brother� in checking crime and corrupt practices. Note: If the youth can mount a system of video surveillance checking on EVERY SINGLE SENATOR, CONGRESSMAN, CUSTOMS COLLECTOR, POLICE OFFICER, IMMIGRATION OFFICIAL�..using surveillance video�wow what a dramatic change you will see quickly in the �lifestyle� and behavior of our eroded government agencies. You may not know it but your writings will be emulated and immortalized not only soon but in our future, once the coming generations of Filipinos read them in the time capsule you will bury. Tony Joaquin, Daly City, California. [email protected]. November 10, 2002 MY REPLY. That is quite a mouthful that you are asking me to do. And it will cost tens of millions of pesos: publishing my articles in a book, then using the book as a paper in a three-day convention, to which hundreds of thousands of teachers, as well as international experts, will be invited, not to mention youth leaders and members of the local and international media. Don�t forget you will have to rent the convention hall and provide transportation, housing and food to the invitees. Plus thousands of video surveillance cameras to monitor the lifestyles of senators, congressmen, etc. Who�s going to pay for all this, Tony? You? One must always temper idealism with practical commonsense. I am quite happy with the tapatt website and the responses that it has been eliciting. It is better and cheaper than publishing the articles in a book. My articles are indexed by date and subject matter, the most viewed articles are ranked every month, I engage my readers in a dialogue, and the articles are available FOR FREE to anyone anywhere in the world with access to a computer wired to the Net. I think this is a first in Philippine (or anywhere) journalism. In five months, we have registered thousands of hits, and every month�s hits exceed the previous month�s by substantial percentages. Try doing all that with a book! ���������������������������� MAYBE YOU should send a copy of this article to Cardinal Sin and all the members of the clergy. A triumph of the church? And it is amazing how our priests wonder about the breakdown of morals and sex consumerism. I wish, for high Heavens sake, that they start looking in themselves. Joe. [email protected]. November 11, 2002 ���������������������������� THANKS for the information. More power! Diocese of Digos, Davao. [email protected]. November 12, 2002 ����������������������������� THE PHILIPPINES will be among those who will inherit the earth as we are plenty to be spread around. We are assured of surviving the aging neighborhood. We will not run out of teachers to teach, mouths to feed, children to bring up. We can work in countries disappearing because of aging like Korea, their current 50 million will be 23 million in no time, then our poverty will be addressed if we still have a budget for education and irrigation to produce food. According to the pro-life movers, a 2.2% birth rate is ideal for survival. We are Christians. There is no harm if we are in big numbers. Besides our humour may populate other countries including Malaysia after Mahathir retires. Agree it is a challenge to whoever is our president in 30 years (when) we have a population of 160 million, with 20% at least living overseas. Adrian Sison, Kapatiran. [email protected]. November 12, 2002 MY REPLY. I�d like to think your tongue is in your cheek. But considering that your colleagues in Kapatiran are all �good Catholics,� I�m not sure anymore. ����������������������������� I HAVE GRAVE doubts about these social statistics in general. It is only in this verbose melodramatic land where there is such a thing as �net satisfactory rating.� These people are trying to sound like economists. Bit on pooling though they are quite accurate because the subject is blood and bones even if he�s just a jerk like fpj or erap. What they should ask next time though, as we now have a multi-faced harlequinade, is this: if you�re not voting for this jerk, which assholes will you vote for? Ross Tipon, Baguio [email protected]. November 12, 2002 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO |
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Reaction to �The Statistics of Despair� MR ABAYA, as usual, puts a brilliant twist to what otherwise would have passed unnoticed by us mere mortals. (Mr. Abaya�s formidable brain power and superb writing inspire awe and personally I find myself intimidated by his rapier-sharp wit. But here (go) my thoughts on this subject.) Let me take a different tack. The poll was meant to gauge who are thinking seriously the idea of going out to live in another country to escape the miserable life here. The proposition contains a logical fallacy. It assumes a possibility which most know is not in the realm of probability. In other words, while one can think of getting out of the Philippines as a consummation devoutly to be wished, it is not a realistic option for probably 99.99% of Filipinos, maybe more. So even if one did think life here is a nightmare out of which we would like to wake up, a rational person would consider the idea of going abroad to live there as a nonsense proposition. It�s a near-impossibility. What I think was established in the survey was the high degree of rationality of Filipinos, that their feet are firmly planted on the solid ground of stark reality. It would be different if you frame the issue this way: �I have here plane tickets in your name and members of your family and valid immigrant visas to the US. If I gave these to you, would you take it? I believe that would give us a terrible shock from which this country will never recover. Vicente C. de Jesus. [email protected] November 15, 2002 MY REPLY. Thank you for the compliments. I hope your tongue was not in your cheeks. If you were to offer plane tickets to the US and valid US immigrant visas to anyone who wanted them, this country would lose perhaps 95% of the total population, including at least half the membership of Bayan, Gabriela, Sanlakas, KMU, the CCP and the NPA and some of the anti-American columnists in media. You�re right. This country will never recover from the shock. Neither will the Americans. But this would not be unique to the Philippines. If you were to offer the same thing in other countries, as you should, they would also lose from 30 to 95% of the population in North and South Korea, China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Montenegro, Sicily, Corsica, Malta, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Colombia, Venezuela, Suriname, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Paraguay, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Bermuda, Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Morocco, Algeria, Chad, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Angola, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Cameroons, Niger, Nigeria, South Africa, Namibia, Central African Republic, Mozambique, Ruanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Ireland. I�m sure I missed some countries there, but you get the idea. It would be standing room only from the Golden Gate Bridge to Times Square. ����������������������������� . |