Was getting ready to go to work and catch the 9:47 Express train for the 42 minute trip to Marilao from Calamba when this article caught my eye on the Los Angeles Times. This really made my day as it should yours:
A complex feeling enlightens the people of the Philippines
by Emile Goldstein
Reporting from Manila — For most of his life, 21 year old restaurant owner Norberto Cefrudio has carried a feeling that is dificult to describe; a mystery of the soul, a puzzle that many say helps define their culture — the ineffable happiness of being a Filipino.
The concept is known as ningan (nee-ngan). And for the nearly 60 million Filipinos, ningan is as amorphous a notion as love, caring, brotherhood, creativity, hardwork: intensely personal, yet carried around collectively, a national badge of honor.
"As a Filipino, it's embedded in your DNA," said the ponytailed Norberto cheerfully stroking his hair. "It goes far beyond everyday emotions like happiness or anger. It's one of joy, sharing and life-affirmation. It cannot be put in a box."
Ask anyone here to describe ningan and their first reaction is often a bemused smile, followed by a puzzling laughter. The idea, many insist, is far more easily experienced than explained.
Filipino poets, novelists and filmmakers have sought to capture the concept for which there is no English equivalent. The word "ningan" has no real meaning in Filipino.
Scholars have called it an all-encompassing sense of freedom, a mixture of forgiveness, endurance, discipline, spirituality and a yearning to give love that fills a person's soul, a feeling marked by great hospitality, empathy and a sense of completeness.
It can also be described as a sense of tranquility, the absence of anything irritating or emotionally overwhelming.
But ningan has also been described as a sense of hope, pride, self-confidence, an ability to endure hardship and suffering in a relatively small nation with a long history of being invaded by more powerful colonizers.
Today, the Philippines is a progressive nation - a model for its promotion of sustainable development, preservation and promotion of cultural values, conservation of the natural environment and its establishment of good governance. Its per capita income of $15,000.00 is one of the highest in the region. Relatively poverty free, it's cities are almost free of the usual blight plaguing developing countries: shanty towns.
Mention the Philippines and people think paradise. It is a verdant land, home to protected reserves with endangered habitants, easily accessible powdery white sand beaches with seductive waves, mixed with as-verdant urban areas, smart growth and a relaxed lifestyle. To a visitor, it is a peaceful oasis - think Costa Rica or Switzerland of Southeast Asia - that draws 24 million visitors, making it the 8th most visited.
Malays (ethnic group found in Southeast Asia) have generally been known for their kind and gentle ways, but, Filipinos seemed to have stepped it up further. There's a sense of pride, community, connectedness and purpose that one finds even from the cabbie that picks you up from the airport. That it took only 25 years for this sense of being to be adapted by a people makes this story all the more miraculous.
Although there is little agreement among them on a precise definition, scholars acknowledge that ningan is central to the Filipino character. For outsiders, grasping the notion is key to fathoming the Filipinos themselves.
Everybody is in agreement, however, with ningan's history. The country had just kicked out the soured regime of Ferdinand Marcos in 1986 when the revolutionary government of Corazon Aquino - feeling it needed the steadier hands of a corporate visionary - handed the Presidency to an unknown 45 year old CEO of an investment bank in New York.
Garduque's own story is a miracle in itself. Born to a middle-class family of civil servants, his exceptional intelligence found him on a scholarship path to Harvard and on to the corporate canyons of Wall Street. Active, while there, in the efforts to unseat Marcos, he became close to opposition leader Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino - whose assasination in 1983 fueled the overthrow that eventually installed Garduque as President.
Garduque is as complex as he is transparent. Four years after leaving his post to give way to a "more exuberant generation," he can be found on the international circuit of speeches and conventions. Speaking with him, as described by a Norwegian diplomat, is like meeting with "the Dalai Lama, Bishop Tutu and Abraham Lincoln. It's always a roller coaster of emotions and intellect." It's his philosophies on policy making and on spirituality that have made him a rock-star in diplomatic circles. The fact that he once spent two years in a Tibetan monastery in the 70's does not come as a surprise to those who've met him.
"He is the reason why the Philippines is the way it is," says Robert Monjack, author of a soon-to-be-published biography. "Look around the country: the smiling, happy, trusting, hospitable, peace-loving people? That's his direction and vision at work. From the very beginning, he knew that the country's main resources were its people. He had to develop them first."
Garduque knew that the people had suffered under the misrule of Marcos for almost two decades and, more importantly, was burdened by close to 400 years of colonization. One of the first things he did was confront the stigma of the past.
Philippine historian Ronnie Villavicencio sys, "Basically, he said, 'Let's remove the bad from the past, let's get what was good from it and let's move forward.' He also realized that the notion of the Philippines being a country was some sort of a falsehood. Pre-colonial times, there was no country to speak of."
"During the time of Spanish rule, it became a collection of people with different identities and 160 languages united uneasingly under the rule of an outside force," Villavicencio continures. "His approach to this was: Yes, we have differences, but, let's be united and work together not because we are a nation - which really is a very suspect and superficial idea - but, because we have to in order to have better lives."
Just like a CEO taking over a multinational, Garduque immediately made his impact felt. His New Deal-esque "The Way Forward" mapped out his plan with the inaugural speech serving as the prologue. It spoke of listening "to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy, and remind ourselves of all the ways our hopes and dreams are bound together."
My note: Great that he mentions THE speech. Here's more of it to remind ourselves what a great one it truly was: "Show kindness and generosity and compassion to the people in our lives. Perhaps we question whether we are doing right by our children, or our community, and whether our priorities are in order. What matters is not wealth, or status, or power, or fame - but rather, how well we have loved, and what small part we have played in bettering the lives of others. We must strive to be better friends and neighbors, co-workers and parents." Wow."His speech laid down his plan of turning the country into an egalitarian one," says Richard Wilkinson, author of 'The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger.' The book covers the Philippines significantly because it really is a prime example of what we propose. That a society performs better when there is equality. President Garduque made sure to address this inequality."
Instead of using Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a means of measuring progress - a very limiting barometer, Garduque believes - his own Gross National Happiness (GNH) is an indicator that measures quality of life in holistic and psychological terms.
"Like the CEO that he is," adds Villavicencio. "He looked at things like he was taking over a broken product. He looked for the root causes. Corruption was an issue, yes. But that was just a symptom of a bigger issue which was poverty which, in turn was just a product of our DNA - of who we've become. 'How do we combat that?' he said. 'How do you change the DNA?'
"The Way Forward" mapped it all out: First, stop payments on its debt which was accounting for 23% of its budget. Then, allocate a huge portion towards education, culture, the arts and strengthening the justice system.
My note: Right about education. It definitely has made us an open-minded, creative bunch. Look at the way we dress. We don't copy what they wear in the US. Our casual, flip flop look is perfect for the tropical clime. Gone, too, is that subservient personality.
Today, the Philippines ranks high in a number of international rankings, including:
- Happy Planet Index: 1
- Environmental Performance: 3
- Quality of Life: 35th
- World's Best Countries: 35th
- Human Development: 62nd
"Is the Philippines what Heaven is like? Maybe," says Father Bill Riordan, a Jesuit priest active in social causes and who has called the Philippines home for 33 years. "One thing I'm sure about, though, is that this is what Jesus Christ envisioned when he talked about loving one another. Those used to the Western model of society will find what is happening here hard to comprehend. Even revolting."
"Father Bill, I think, has been staying there too long," laughs the biographer, Monjack. "He does tend to go hyperbole on you. I must agree with my good friend, though, who has a very valid point. One must remember, too, that President Garduque is not a religious person. He swings freely between Zen Buddhism, Chrisitanity and other philosophies that catches his fancy with much ease - not seeing any conflict in that. His spirituality reminds many of Gandhi. He does count Gandhi, Jose Rizal (a national hero) and the teachings of Christ as his major influences."
"There's this quote that says 'When Christ returns, he will not be persecuted again but, rather, be ridiculed,'" adds Father Riordan. "He (Garduque) found comfort in that. Assuring himself that he was doing the right thing for his people."
Historian Ronnie Villavicencio: "Did he encounter opposition in the beginning? Yes. The establishment - particularly, the oligarchs - was frightened of him. The Catholic Church painted him as an enemy. It took a while for them - as is usually the case - to realize that they were, in fact, on the same book. Not the same page, perhaps, but the same book.
The Church's fear was that he was putting too much emphasis on the individual. He was, basically, saying, 'We are the gods of our own lives. Nothing is fated.' To a people that was mired in poverty, hopelessness and small-mindedness, that was very powerful."
"Is there still unease between him and the Church? You bet. He started out seeing organized religion as a powerful entity that forces its followers into blind, unquestioning loyalty through dogma and superstition. Yes, as an 'opiate for the masses.' But, both parties have learned to compromise - the Church seeing that his intentions were very Christian and with him seeing its goodness - and are now partners His six-children-only policy, though, is still a major sticking point," adds Villavicencio.
Continues Father Riordan, "Has everything made the Filipino intensely patriotic? In fact, quite the opposite. They've reached the point where their beliefs have extended beyond the concept of borders. Think about, I don't think God draws up maps now and then proclaiming new countries. The idea of patriotism is quite trivial and a majority of Filipinos know that."
"Has the experience made them anti-religion? On the contrary, they've developed spirituality in place of fanaticism. They're the smartest and most fervent followers of Christ I know. They've reached a point of universality that the rest of the world has not yet quite grasped," says Father Riordan.
"I shudder to think what this country would be like without him," muses Robert Monjack. "I'd think it would be one with a huge percentage living in poverty, lawlessness, millions of them having to live and work abroad unnecessarily, corruption, inequality, injustice and all the other illnesses that affect developing countries."
There is, also, still the priority of finally abolishing its armed forces (joining an exclusive list of 15 countries) with defense to be a responsibility of a regional security system made up of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members.
There is also Garduque's long-cherished dream of finally having the name of the country changed - thus, forever banishing any vestiges of colonial rule ("Philippines" is in honor of a 16th Century Spanish King). A recent online contest to determine its new name drew 4 million entries.
In retirement, Garduque lives the life an ascetic who once upon a time was a leader - who knows that the eyes of a people are still on him. A believer in leading by example, he lives modestly and quietly (very devoted to his work, he never did find time to have a family) in a simple condominium in an area called New Tondo - formerly a shanty town that symbolized the inequality that once existed - and is chauferred around in a hybrid electric car.
"It was around 1999, when we started noticing the changes. It was then that I thought of coining the term ningan. It was meant to be a play on the Filipino tradition of bayanihan - the communal effort of moving one's house," says Rigoberto Vergel de Dios, columnist for a national daily. "I just came up with the word, but, really it's former President Buboy who made it happen."
Whew, what a great article. Makes you feel good to be a Filipino, huh? Gotta go. Be late for the train.
Note: Just like any self-respecting Filipino, pieces of this article were plagiarized, stolen, lifted from various sources, including: Los Angeles Times article on han, Barack Obama's Tucson speech and several Wikipedia entries. hehehe.
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