This article was emailed to me by my sister. It is worthwhile reading for Filipinos living abroad or wishing to.
Copyright Laws prohibits the re-publication of this document. Best that you read the article at the publishers site at the Philippine Daily Inquirer. https://globalnation.inquirer.net/mindfeeds/mindfeeds/view_article.php?article_id=118154
I wonder what that Krisanne girl is doing in the Phillipines… other than writing that journal article ofcourse… surely her employer sent her there for a more lucrative project coz I can’t see how a seemingly contrived ‘self-reflection’ and a strangely optomistic, fluffy and unrealistic take on migrant diaspora can be raking in the cash. Unless she’s chosen to live there…which i doubt…
I think its one of those articles that don’t really have anything meaningful to say but hides it almost brilliantly with its candied words, over the top sentimentality and ofcourse your classic fairy tale moral which is made all the more frightening when you think that the person who has written it is supposed to be a highly educated University graduate who at the very least shouldn’t be propagating such drivel, if not thinking more critically about what she has to say…
Alcantara’s entire diatribe about the beauty of the Philippines is not even all that well thought out… she stuffed in some good qualities, some bad qualities wrapped it all up with a pretty quote that has the undertones of ‘Filipino people are content with the status quo’ and VOILA you have a crowd pleasing article.
She writes as though there’s nothing WRONG with the Phillipines, like the huge international shopping malls eating out small local businesses, the underlying corruption in the political system and the miserable poverty is NORMAL!!!! like its a bloody CULTURAL NORM!!!! not once does she mention that perhaps it is EXACTLY these problems that propagate migration, that makes Filipinos who haven’t left yet think “I need to get out of here” and instead of looking at these problems and seeing that they are the sores which fester on our beautiful culture she calls them “endearing imperfections”.
It makes me want to scratch her eyes out.
I only hope that this article was written out of sheer desparation to be published and that the rest of her work is more honest and sincere… I would’ve expected more from a Usyd graduate…
wow thats the first criticsm i have heard of the article of anyone…i thought it was a very beautiful and uplifting article and sent it to all that i knew…i didn’t find anything negative in the article at all…
it certainly resounded with me, i grew up in pinas and moved over seas when i was 14 and now im 26 and im glad and thankful to god such an insightful article was written.
i definitely dont think the author was glossing over what was wrong with the country but recognizes and accepts that these are part and parcel of what make the country so unique…which is why she mentioned all the glaring contradictions. i dont think she once said that this was ok, or did she once condone it. it was simply an observation. i think there are enough ‘hard news’ articles dissecting the corruption and the flaws of the philippines, and justifying all the reasons why filipinos should leave the country…after a while it becomes desensitizing…i personally thought it was a beautiful ‘flipside of the coin’ piece..
besides i think that youngblood is just that…opinions and sentiments and thoughts of young people and not an academic essay or piece of critical analysis about the state of the nation.
i personally, and on behalf of many others who were touched by it, applaud the article, and the sentiments that come with it. it has uplifted and brought light and a fresh perspective to many.
filipinos need more happiness and its simply negativity and the hatred and criticism of filipinos against other filipinos who are successful like this, that brings the country down…
I too have found Ms. Alcantara’s article to be reflective of the sentiments of Filipinos born or raised overseas. My daughter, I would have thought, would recognise that same sense of fitting in an environment that was not quite right as Ms. Alcantara has described. Like her, she’s 20 something raised in Australia and had a brief visit to the Philippines where, I would hazard a guess, she enjoyed being with Family.
I must admit that when she wrote this – we had a heated argument, for I believe her criticism are misplaced – went as far as calling her envious of Ms. Alcantara’s prowess in writing. But, one thing I will not do is censor her and so I kept her criticism online no matter how I much disagree with it.