It may have occurred to some that Filipinos are some of the most nationalistic people that this world has ever seen. Filipinos take pride of having a democratic nation that usually hits international news headlines that tells of stories of Filipinos who are willing to exchange their lives for a free nation, a nation that peace-loving people have always dreamed of. Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, Ninoy Aquino, yes, nationalistic Filipinos who exchanged their lives all in the name of the Philippines, a nation that few have loved, a nation that many have pretended to love.

The socio-economic conditions that continue to worsen by the day may be the very reasons for the rapid day-to-day decrease of Philippine nationalism. Any middle- to lower-class Filipino who may happen to be asked on what they feel about the current state of their beloved native land, an instant answer would be an answer of disappointment. It is sad to note that despite the rapid industrialization of the country, the poor become poorer, and the rich become richer. An even sadder fact is that the rich who become richer are not Filipinos, but foreigners who fill up their pockets with products of Philippine soil and Filipino sweat, and leave the poor people behind with only wages that are never enough to fill up stomachs with real food and minds with real education.


Filipinos – who supposedly love being Filipinos, are forced to take the bitter pill of serving foreigners by cleaning up foreign arses and sending hard-earned cash to their relatives in the Philippines who are also just forced to receive the products of their relative’s sweat abroad because they cannot do anything in the seemingly hopeless land called the Philippines.

Because of the declining state of the government (evidenced by the Philippine government hitting the limelight every now and then on its supposed practice of democracy), the worsening quality of education, increasing poverty (that public officials claim to have been solving), among others, make the diaspora of the some of the best and the brightest Filipinos become a sad reality. Filipinos are seemingly blinded by the lucrative salaries, and the better future that they can give for their families back home. This, in turn, they say, results to the emptying of the cream of the Philippines’ brilliant human resources and leave the nation hoping and hoping for positive transformation.

The dreams of unselfish and industrious Filipinos of providing higher standards of living for their families back home is slowly becoming a tragedy for the nation. We are, in fact, in the brink of the death of Philippine nationalism. Sad to say, some people may consider it a hypocrisy when Filipinos live being Filipinos, and yet seek for greener pastures abroad – and that loads of Filipinos fly out to seek better lives for their families. But, friends, it would be more of a hypocrisy to say that we love being Filipinos and we will die in this country in search for the real improvement in our lives, and yet we die of hunger, gunshots, and hypertension due to excessive thinking on how we can live better lives despite the bitter fact that foreigners dry up the nation of its natural and human resources. Hypocrisy becomes, this time, stupidity. Stupidity because of the denial of the fact that Filipinos will have harder times to live better lives by just staying in the Philippines, and stupidity because of the neglect of the fact that the Philippines would die if we stop sending Filipinos abroad. If we stop Filipinos from working overseas, a huge bulk of the Philippine economy would disappear, and the competition on the available employment would surge to unprecedented heights that the great nation that ‘nationalists’ dream about would even be farther from reality than anyone has ever expected. It is the status quo that were fighting against, and not the Filipinos who simply wanted better lives for themselves and their families back home.

It would also be stupidity to say that the nation’s best and brightest are all abroad. It equates to saying that all that’s left in the Philippines are the craps who are society’s burdens. But, our dear fellow Filipinos, the Philippines is still beaming pride of the outstanding Filipinos whose feet are on Philippine soil. The nation’s best and brightest are here, proving their brilliance, and making their presence known in the global arena, without even setting their feet on richer, and more technologically-advanced lands. And even being overseas doesn’t make one less Filipino. Filipinos continue on proving that they are some of the best that the world has ever seen. And besides, Filipinos who return to their native land pursue things that improve not only their lives, but also of other Filipinos.

Being nationalistic Filipinos doesn’t necessarily mean that one has to be on Philippine soil in order to be a real Filipino, in words and in deeds. It’s all about thinking for the good of the motherland, and doing deeds that will ultimately uplift the lives of Filipinos here and abroad. Nationalism is all about thinking of what’s best for the country, and not by sticking to definitions that dictionaries and hypocrites dictate. Nationalism will solve the problems that a third-world country like the Philippines faces. And nationalism will all equate to love for being Filipino, love for what is Filipino, and living a life that is worth emulating and lives that are reasons for Filipinos to be proud that they are Filipinos.

The little things that we do to demonstrate that we are Filipinos are enough to lift up the spirit of Filipinos who are down-hearted with what the nation is experiencing. Deeds like buying Filipino products, and simply being good Filipinos could mean a lot. Collectively, 80 million Filipinos saying that they love their country in works and in deeds will ultimately change the Philippines in a positive way.
If we think that nationalism will solve the Filipino problem, yes, it may solve the Filipino problem, and it simply means having a heart for the Filipino race.