Pinoy Pride Won't Help Defeat COVID-19

The COVID-19 issue is really a huge problem. It's no secret that the government has its struggle and it can't do it alone. Debt accumulated during the COVID-19 crisis is not a joke. Why is there debt accumulated? It doesn't matter how much money was raked in before but a crisis is a crisis. It's a nationwide crisis and spending will be required to keep things in order. The Philippines really NEEDS to pay back the debt accumulated during the crisis. Recent events have proven that the 1987 Constitution is NOT the best in the world. What was also disproven by COVID-19 is the irrational notion that "Filipinos are the most powerful in the world!" mindset.

Proud to be Pinoy this COVID-19? Don't be and take a look at reality. Other countries that Filipino anti-intellectuals have scoffed and hated for stupid reasons are now defeating COVID-19. Consider that Singapore did have a sudden surge but it has a higher recovery rate (in both percentage and numbers) than the Philippines. "Low-ranked" Vietnam when it opened itself to foreign direct investment (FDI) had further helped in its fight against COVID-19. Consider how Taiwan and South Korea have also helped curbed down the virus. If Filipinos were indeed the "mightiest race in the world" then why is the Philippines as the "best country in the world" falling backward in the fight against the COVID-19?

Let's consider how Pinoy Pride just didn't help the Philippines. One of the biggest contributions that Pinoy Pride has given is the Philippines has the LOWEST intellect in ASEAN. Another is that the Philippines ranks the lowest among 79 countries last 2019. It has to be emphasized that it's resulted in decades that Filipinos have been fighting against reforms that could've truly made the Philippines a great country. Why? Is it because their Pinoy Pride has been hurt? Talk about the need for foreign investors to help the Philippines and you've got a LONG range of excuses. Some of them even go as far as to say that the Philippines will be sold to foreigners with economic liberalization. I'd even want to call Pinoy Pride as the opium of the Filipino masses to ignore current problems and the need to improve themselves as a people. All the Pinoy Pride hasn't helped the Philippines ONE BIT. Instead, it has further drowned the country in misery brought by poverty, poverty has resulted in intellectual decline due to lack of nutrition and education, and tell me how has Pinoy pride truly helped?

There's even this slogan the bad double standard regarding Pinoy pasaways or hardheaded people in English. Some say that pasaways are not to blame. As much as the government should be held accountable for its mistakes but don't tell me civilian pasaways should get a free pass. If they want a free pass because taxes aren't paid to them then they shouldn't have a problem giving taxes to a pasaway government. Why demand Koko Pimentel and Debold Sinas to get punished when they want the license to be pasaway? Don't tell me that they didn't violate the mass gathering guideline by FILLING UP an entire campus? Why ask Sinas to be punished and not them for breaking the SAME GUIDELINE? COVID-19 as a virus is HIGHLY CONTAGIOUS so they should follow health protocol. They demand mass testing but are they willing to follow simple guidelines? Vico Sotto for one even says that the testing is STRATEGIC and TARGETED. Also, if Vico's method requires strict compliance then are they willing to follow those guidelines? I wonder is being pasaway also associated with using one's Pinoy identity to enjoy one's blunder? Since when did being a Pinoy or Filipino mean one has to follow a set of negative behaviors to be "truly Filipino"? Again, I guess Pinoy Pride has also carried the slogan of "I'm a Pinoy and I'm proud to be pasaway!"

Filipinos need to really get over their ego if they really want REAL improvement and recover from the damages wrought by COVID-19. Just imagine if Lee Kuan Yew and Deng Xiaoping kept sticking and stroking through egos rather than solutions. It's easy for some Filipinos to criticize China but it's Chinese pride that ruined it. Mao Zedong's two FAILED programs namely the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution were a result of arrogance. Mao believed that the Chinese can do anything, wanted to create a Sariling Atin Only economy, and FAILED! It was when Deng started to realize Chinese pride wasn't helping that China began to prosper. Deng had a China poorer than the Philippines to take care of and his economic reforms changed the country for the better. Lee had a Singapore poorer than the Philippines and did a marvelous job lifting it up. What's the next excuse now, huh?