The war in our midst where they are while their government crows about the ha from supporting the war in Iraq. They stand to reap something else 1 do not mean by it our wat against erime, though ‘The war in our midst is only in the movies where it is now easy to tell cops from 1 finding bya local survey as year the country. Th ing figus . ‘on the bight side. We can 81 percent does not have any strenuous desire, by force or necessity, to leave it, Despite the bombings, despite the kidnappings, despite the rs unleashed upon this land by Gx feustration, those who leave vowing never to look back, Other Asian countries their share of nationals seeking greener pastures too, but never from 2 feeling of| ‘oppression and hopelessness, those who leave saying not goodbye but good sywhere you go. The expostulations of fury, the Institute, which produced the Green Revolution, end up importing the rice it taught other Asians to produce in plentiful quantities? the world? How ean rising themselves heroically to rd the world of snd inhospitable world?Tongues on Fice their Farewells tot. Some wit not always known how than half a century ago, This today—feeelance o institutional has found a way to wayls who he is. We do not know wh Who is our enemy? Specifically a colonial past, history of oppression, re of corruption and sloth, which pins us explode after half millennium of sleep and drown a once lush region 216 The war in our midst category of individuals, even though I am. But other countries have experienced the same things 100, however arguably to lesser degree, and survived, Other countries have met with those a toa more benign degree, and prevailed. Why have we notTongues on Fire his ability to make a joke about his cruelest afflictions, comes from this. Of course, that can be both good and bad, but Iwill not go into that. ‘That creativity is shown more clearly in the way the Filipino keeps excelling in other countries. Ido not mean by this only Lea Salonga ot Cecile Liead, who have stormed the musical world, though their accomplishments in this respect are awesome. I mean by ths the many Filipinos doctors and businessmen and inventors who have made a name for themselves in America and Europe. I mean by this the many overseas workers who have endeared themselves to their employers by theit industry and talent. The Filipino hs ido, a faculty he doubtless developed over centuries of dealin ingers or perils known, or ‘unknown, to man. And he shows in all types of human activity. ‘The Filipino does not lack wit. What he lacks is will—the other part of what ‘makes for tee character. That is what has laid this country lowe ‘That is true for both this country’s leaders and its followers, for both the most e this country. A monstrous iron) with enlightening the country should prove to be a major contributor only to moral decrepirude. ‘When the previous education secretary, Raul Roco, took over, Few expressed optimism he could rum it around. The DepEd had just been ocked by humongous scams during the Erap administration. If he could only tim corruption at the margins, people said, he would aleady have done a good job. 1 myself remembered thinking at the time from reading this from various commentators something George Foreman said long time ago, Foreman was th ‘most feared boxer during his time, ave ‘my opponent's eyes” he sai, “and T new snniilator inthe ring. “I looked beaten even before we exchang he was going to get floored, Tews the same situation here. It was inthe eyes of the officials the DepEd, as well indeed as in Customs, in Immigration, in the BIR. The task was impossibl itcould not be done. They were beaten before they started, their eyes certainty they were going to get pummeled. It was in theit eyes, the certainty the therein his eyes, the feat. The 218 The war in our midst ‘would soon perform the ritual ofthe wringing of hands. “The problems in the department of education were doubtless formidable. were also from another perspective simple, The question cone of the exact source of the corruption, e knew the exact naruce of the rip-off ‘most of all. Curiously, the Filipino public school teacher's the most he person in the world. She has something like five insurance plas ‘compulsory, which cut deep into her pay. Why she should be so heavily insured, for ‘a job whose sks only come from juvenile delinquents, or from the failing of ‘conscience, only t knew How to solve ‘not a question of ingensity, it was a question of will Undeterred by Of pessimism around him, the previous education secretary, Roco, stopped many of these practices. It dd norcome without opposition and risk-—he got threats, he told me, both open and subtle. And slowly, he managed 'P3,000 per month of the teachers’ pay. In ile Problems are intimidating only if you look at them ‘overnight. You take the 1" to quote a accumulation of virtues to make ‘Yet another example is elections. Thisis the part that shows the lack of will of immagine a vote for them willbe useful and productive. Thatis that has produced the ‘rapos among us. That is the kind of thinking, 219Tongues on Fite produced the absentee congressmen among us. That isthe kind of thinking that .ppily is no longer among us. (Wel, the one who replaced ly? While seemingly commonsensi tange and alien concept. To imagine that someot chan having our ability to think and act forebly taken away from us is we ourselves surrendering it out of ignorance or choice. The only thing worse than other people oppressing usis we oppressing ourselves. The oily as traffic to something problem of traffic, you something external to us,a force or powe and oppresses us. When trafic, ‘messing our city strets. The way we something out there, something es ‘control that dominates and opps because we tolerate it in our offical, admiing it privately while condernni ‘publicly, whose solution lies in our nor tolerating tin our officials, We have no dearth of examples to show the lack of will on the evidence is not dissipating, itis piling up more and more each day. our willingness to do everything Washington bids. No, more 20 The war in our midst eagerness to please Washington, out willingness to anticipate what George W. Tused to believe inal political ones a for self-destruction that only seems to grow worse each year, compelling us 1o leave ‘our country more and more abundantly each time, more and more desperately each time, more and more gratefully each ime. The explanation is really so much simpler: they say, Look at Malaysia. They are euled with an iron hand, yet they have prospered toastounding lengths. Their people eat well, thie people are educated well: Maybe that is more democracy than most of us will ever have, Maybe we just had the political orders different religions, in common. ‘They havea fierce sense of country “Thatis the thing to marvel a, not authoritarianism. That is what has pushed to be Filipinos, caring ot ‘green-card holders. Today, Thailand grows rice abundantly and is one of the economic dragons of Asia. Today, we import rice from Thailand and ace the laughingstock of Asia 221Tongues on Fite ‘The lessons their own, habit of forgetting everyt eof it matters life goes on, we have to go on. We are a laughing to OU The horfifie consequences of not having sense of fe by the Americans, or mounting crime and anarchy, or rebels the toxic wa vermin i ot fo speak of sors and earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, whichever ‘comes fist “The poot think nothing of trashing the country since dhe ich do so a8 wel thei leaders d0 80 2 wel they can away bao 0 family heirloom or steal them to buy # the rebels of He teEr the wrong cattidates becau percent ofthe Population the grace of God oF tl 222 The wae in our midst We have no sense of country: All the symptoms of lack of the national the ies of our tes wwe find that the enemy, whose cruel visage lets at us ike a grinning gargoyle, is We ourselves We are at war with ourselvesin more ways than that we cannot persuade afi of our population to stay, We are at war with ourtelves in the sense that we are heats, with our ability to find the courage to ive for democs ‘Weare the enemy we must fight. We are the enemy we must vanquish. 223