Oratorical Piece. 1o5k2e

Theme: Rediscovering Filipino Values: I see, I act, I advocate

“A transgression to change, a country to save” This is a question for everyone in this room, what is the first thing that you feel when people from other countries make statements about our motherland? Paris Hilton, a Hollywood actress, supermodel, and singer, once said on her 5-day tour in Manila: “The people in the Philippines are so warm, welcoming, genuine and sweet.” On the other hand, there are statements that I encountered over a forum on the web saying that the Philippines is a country where everything can be forged, colonial mentality is dishonestly denied, and most of all, being an hour late is still considered punctual. As citizens of this native land, we cannot help but be insulted about the latter statement. But if we are to reflect on the current condition of our manners, some of us might agree that we, Filipinos, are doing exactly what is stated earlier. At this moment, let’s forget about the negativity of the statements, instead, let’s reflect on the values and traditions that our ancestors lived for, the values that we must seize. Filipino Values is defined by the way people live their life as an influence of one’s culture. Philippines, having been an archipelago, has not become a hindrance towards having a single values system throughout the country. In whatever part of the country you may be, one will find the same hospitality that the Filipinos are known for as well as many other values that have originated from our forefathers. As a general description, the distinct value system of Filipinos is rooted primarily in personal alliance systems,

especially those based in kinship, obligation, friendship, religion, and commercial relationships. Filipino values are, for the most part, centered at maintaining social harmony, motivated primarily by the desire to be accepted within a group. Caring about what others will think, say or do are strong influences on social behavior among Filipinos. Filipinos are also family oriented. They value greatly their families, which is always on top of their priorities. Filipinos are also happy people, always smiling and never forget to have a good laugh amidst the problems and hardships that come their ways. Filipinos are very respectful. They show respect to their elders by saying 'po' and 'opo' and kissing their hands. Filipinos are also religious. They devote time to reconnect with God. They have strong faith, believing that problems and adversities in life will sur with the help and providence of God. These are the Filipino values that Filipinos should be very proud of! I presume that such values are never static, they mutate and evolve and are subject to change as human interactions shape them. Filipino values have been around throughout generations, as these are what the Filipino people deem as ideal and desirable. However, these values have been interpreted in various ways, often in of consequences. Many find it difficult to truly appreciate the positive purposes of our traditional values because we only have a vague understanding of the value system itself. Some have even managed to trace the country’s current problems to our culture’s value system and enunciate it as “damaged.” We often wonder what went wrong with the Philippines. What the most of us don’t realize is that it is our own ill manners and unjust doings that changed the progress of this

country. Filipinos fail to practice good common sense and would rather do what they feel. They still do stupid things like max out their credit cards and feed the whole barangay during a fiesta from borrowed money. Then, afterwards, they complain that life is hard. But why do they still do it? It is because they don’t appreciate what they have until everything becomes scarce, and everything they have is lost. The mere fact is that the negative values are becoming more obvious in the way the citizens of this country live. It is depressing to see that there are more people doing bad and ill-mannered things. Statistics shows that the crime rate here in the Philippines have increased dramatically from .098% to .545% in the years 2001-2009. Crimes are not the only matter involved in this issue, it is our negative response to the values that we Filipinos should have. As one nation, we must help each other for the betterment of the country, but instead, we destroy each other. It is sad but true, that our values are slowly slipping away from us in this generation. What should we do fellow Filipinos? Aren’t we tired of all the dilemmas experienced by our own country? Aren’t we ashamed that our heroes died just for our nation to be respected, and then we Filipinos disregard that truth? If we are up to reviving the cultures, traditions and values that our heroes fought for, let us start with our own little ways. I believe that what this country has is something to be respected, not to be stepped on by other nations. Let us act positively upon this matter. I, as part of the youth, believe that God had given us much of the talents and the positive values we must practice. But as this country go with the flow of modernization, we seem to forget that the things we must hold on tightly, are the things that we easily let go and the things we do not dare to take care of. Though it may

take years and lots of changes to do to revive our once pure values, it is not a hard thing to try. Who knows? We might really prove that the youth would save this country. That us youth can change the nation’s current state, and show the world that the men and women of this country deserved to be idolized and respected. With regards to the change we want to happen, it is not just to depend only on our government. A famous line says that when you want to be respected, you must respect yourself first. The same thing goes with the revival of our once positive values. If we want to bring it back, we should start the “change” within ourselves. A friend once told me that to live life; you must your favorite place: the CR. C stands for Care and R for respect. When you do these two things, everything will follow. So, my fellow Filipinos, we would not want to just sit around and gossip around with our friends. Now is not the time to just watch everything within our nation fall. We must stand up and the models of the Filipinos of today! Let us live of our lives comprised of the true Filipino values our heroes and ancestors fought and taken care of. The Filipino men and women deserve to be respected and we all deserve to fit the true life and meaning of being a citizen in our own native land. Someday we’ll all realize that the change that we brought into ourselves belongs to those great stepping stones that this country needs to attain its ultimate goal, an economic and over-all progress.