Awaken Dear Philippines

Sometimes I see hints that the Philippines is changing, that Filipinos are beginning to grasp the idea that they need not be so very subservient to authority figures who, to this point, do not have much to brag about in terms of Philippine competitiveness and reputation in the global community.

This past week a Bloomberg Report summarized the state of the HR Bill and noted that 34 percent of Filipinas between the ages of 15 and 49 now use some form of birth control device (United Nations report). This is the same level as in Iraq and Myanmar. I would have expected the percentage to be much lower. But perhaps the attitude of one woman gives hope that there is a women's awakening. A Catholic mother of 14 children, diagnosed by doctors at "at risk" if she had more kids, was lined up to get free birth control services. You see that, and you see legislators - Philippine authority figures - just sitting on the HR Bill. They are stuck in the past and it will take more pushing to uproot them. Like a thoughtful vote next election that considers how progressive the candidates really are. Those who sound a lot like preachers and priests should be the first ones ejected.

Wake Up Call

That is EJECTED, not elected.

Also this past week, it was reported that a Catholic high school in Cebu tried to ban five girls from graduation ceremonies for posing on Facebook in bikinis; one had a beer bottle and cigarette in hand. The parents of one of the girls would not accept that and took it to court. The court ruled that the school had to let the girls attend graduation. The girls' parents will also take step two, sue the school because of the harsh language the administration used in condemning the girls. Let's hear it for "litigious" as a way to seek a better sense of right and wrong in the Philippines!

This morning, I read that six boys have also been banned from graduation by their Catholic high school because their Facebook pages had photos of them kissing one another. Hey guys! Not exactly my thing, but way to go! Push the old fogies and prudish maids off their conventional asses. I hope one of you has a litigious parent.

In yet another incident, students at several universities shot back at Senator Santiago after she ranted that surveys regarding Chief Corona's trust standing are a "contemptuous act.” The university students survey their own student populations periodically. They effectively told the esteemed Senator to "put a sock in it".  Intelligent, issues-focused, rabble-rousing students is EXACTLY what the Philippines needs.

These events are fascinating hints that the Philippines is entering a period of changing values and soft rebellion.

I've argued that the Philippines is not a well-read society and Filipinos remain trapped in an archaic dominant/submissive pattern of behavior that allows corruption and bullyism to flourish.

But modern media, specifically the cell phone and internet social networking, are changing the ground rules. Now previously submissive INDIVIDUALS can find strength in GROUPS. And do it quickly.

The notion that government is "Big Brother" has been turned upside down by modern media in the hands of citizens. That is the foundation for the Arab Spring uprisings. And perhaps Filipinos are now ready to turn the spotlight onto the fallibility of previously sacrosanct powers. In the above examples that would be the Catholic Church, school administrators, and a Senator. All are being publicly slapped down.

You know, I fully expect the Senate to acquit Chief Justice Corona. It is a political game they are playing, the outcome of favors owed and created, and SYSTEMS of favor being protected. But Senators do this at their own peril in a day when opposing candidates will soon pull out the record of an opponent and lay it out on twitter or Facebook.

• "This incumbent Senator voted for acquittal of Chief Justice Corona. Do you trust him/her to work forthrightly on your behalf?"

Given that 75 to 80 percent of the population does not trust Mr. Corona, that is a powerful message.

Perhaps the old power structures will begin to crumble . . .

I hope and pray.

Well, more correctly, I hope.

Change shouldn't require God's help.

Filipino initiative can do quite nicely on its own.