For a few exciting, nerve-tingling moments, we were one in rallying behind Manny Pacquiao, our hero of the moment. One has to admire Manny’s courage that went with the desire not to disappoint his country. Still and sadly, he lost this fight and his bloody mess of a face became a picture of what happens to many of our countrymen who are forced to become everyday heroes.
This country is, indeed, full of heroes and like Pacquiao, they also have their faces bloodied, a few literally, and many in a manner of speaking or by analogy. But bloodied literally or otherwise, the pain and suffering they endure as this country’s sacrificial lambs are no less intense.
The OFW who must leave family behind is a hero. In not a few instances, the bloody face comes in the form of a broken family, as in an unfaithful wife/husband or neglected children going into drugs. The young women we see around, clinging desperately to grungy old men (of the alien variety mostly, but only probably because they are more conspicuous), are heroes. Many perhaps find loving husbands in these men, but many others get their faces bloodied literally or suffer emotional indignities in exchange for financial security. In a study on trafficking of women, one big reason the business thrives is the fact that many of our women are willing victims, forced to be heroes to help their family (ailing mother, out-of-school siblings?) survive.
Usually, a hero is one in a million. In unusual Philippines, we have millions of everyday heroes who risk everything (life, limb, family relationships) in order to survive in a country where there are no heroes from among the few who are in a position to wipe poverty from the face of the country. That makes Pacquiao a real hero since in a land of no opportunities, he created his own opportunity.
And those congressmen and government bureaucrats who flaunted their wealth by flying to Vegas to watch the fight should shamefully realize that they did absolutely nothing to put Pacquiao where he is. He became what he is in spite of his country’s leaders’ failure to give him the opportunity to prosper sans the bloody face.
We have become the workers of the world. Yet, ironically, our leaders indulge in righteous indignation when the word Filipina is made synonymous with domestic worker. Why the indignation when their incompetence and lack of vision and commitment beyond the limited confines of their vested interests have forced these women to become Filipinas (read: domestic workers). Some even have the temerity to file a bill forcing our nurses to serve in local hospitals before going abroad. How ironic when, knowing Filipinos, we would really rather work close to home. We do not need to be forced to work in our country. Come off it, please. The stark reality is we are being forced to work abroad for lack of opportunities at home.
This country’s face is a bloody mess, literally and otherwise. This country desperately needs for our leaders to become heroes and risk their political careers to make the bold moves necessary to save this country from being bloodied some more. This country desperately needs statesmen who would wage a relentless war against corruption and help keep the rest of us from resorting to ever more desperate measures. The ordinary Filipino’s or Filipina’s everyday heroism is a desperate measure to tide him/her over. We need the heroism of statesmen to erase forever the hopelessness in the bloodied faces of our everyday heroes. ([email protected])
