Saturday, September 29, 2012

Jologs Nation


According to the Urban Dictionary (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=jologs) the word "jologs" was derived from the combination of the words "daing", "tuyo" and "itlog". As these are mostly poor people's food, the word acquired a class sense referring  to anything "masa" with a pejorative tone. Thus people would call something as "jologs" anything that does not merit their esteem.

Over time, the use of the word "jologs" died out but I sort of held on to it and gave it a new sense by defining it as a failure of people to go beyond the superficial and see what is truly essential.

While biking along the Floodway somewhere in the Pasig City area sometime ago, I was struck by the disparity between the modern buildings from afar and the shanties lining the river. Some people may not find a connection or relationship between our spanking urban centers with big malls and tall buildings and the teeming mass of people living miserably in shanties and hovels but there is. At the very least, we should realize that the wealth of our country does not benefit many of our people and that we should make more effort to share it more equitably.
 
A nation whose people have come to accept poverty and  inequality as normal and do nothing about it will always be a jologs nation. We can pretend to be rich, modern and sophisticated but in the end, we only expose ourselves to be without conscience or intelligence.


Monday, September 10, 2012

Better to see the looter jailed than just the loot

 (photo taken from internet)

I agree with Department of Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez in questioning the wisdom of  putting up for public display the sequestered Imelda Marcos jewelry. Those jewels represent neither a great artistic achievement in craftsmanship nor do they have any edifying historical value.

While those jewels may serve as a reminder to the people to never again allow themselves fall under a kleptocratic dictatorship, they actually serve more as  insulting reminders of the sad failure of the Presidential Commission on Good Government to get full justice for a people robbed.

The Marcos jewels represent nothing but loot. What will be more satisfying to see is for  the looter justly punished. Punishment is the most eloquent way of saying "Never Again!". It is also the beginning of reform.