Edsa 20/20: Alfonso Tomas ‘Atom’ P. Araullo

[…] IF we will pin our hopes on one thing, it must be in our …Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, Philippines – Feb 8, 2006… i like channel 7 ayokong gmitina ng acronym na GMA eh), Kapuso ako eh… … laging nangunguna ang GMA Kapuso Foundation sa pagbigay ng tulong db? … […]

The questions is ; should we isolate our youth of today with our current crop of politicians or should we expose them? My suggestion is to completely ignore the present day and let our youth invent and develop their own. It might even work..

Atom’s words inspired me to write a comment in my blog. Below is what i wrote:

“I was listening to the podcast of a young TV personality. His name is Atom Araullo. He spoke about his views about our country and his aspirations for his kababayan. He speaks with sincerity, free of drama or exaggeration. The funny thing is, I am much older than he is but he seems to have a greater appreciation of what it means to actually feel passion for one’s country.

I’d like to highlight some of the points he raised to which I am strongly in agreement with:

1. The purity of People Power. Very true. We should always go back to this event for inspiration.

On the one hand, I would like to add that we cannot have “People Power” all the time. We need to let go of our tendency for “ningas kogon”. We need to harness these strong emotions into sustainable action.

2. The youth needs to identify with “People Power” and what it stood for. I would like to add that it’s not just the youth. All Filipinos should feel a malasakit para sa Inang Bayan.

3. The Youth is lowering their standard/expectations for the future. This is really sad and this is the one trend which we must resist. This is closely connected with the previous statement. The trend of “brain drain” and migration is part of this. To a large degree, lack of opportunity is the main reason for this problem. On the one hand, for some of us fortunate enough to be educated and be gifted with good intellect, migrating is just too easy and is viewed as a bragging opportunity.

In this case, I will make the analogy of the country as an investment and we Filipinos, its original equityholders. I know it’s a tasteless analogy as business concepts have always tended to be. Our country is supposed to be more than an investment for us. But let’s just suppose that this is the case. As its owners, we enjoy perks and benefits. However, as owners, we also have a responsibility to make our investment–our country, prosper.. market it in business lingo. But we cannot market it if the owners are irresponsible and don’t have a strong passion for it. Don’t believe enough in it. If there aren’t enough who believe in the investment–our country, there will come a day when it will become bankrupt. By then, all of us will really have to leave. It’s as simple as that.

4. Faith in the future of the Philippines. Here is Atom’s statement regarding the right attitude to take in these difficult times:

‘If we will pin our hopes on one thing, it must be in our capacity to shape the future.’

Atom is also courageous enough to recognize the possibility that the progress he hopes for may not happen in his lifetime. Laban lang kahit ano pa ang kahinatnan. The key thing though is as long as we still believe in this country, we should not forget our personal role in shaping tomorrow.

Many of our kababayan (including those who have migrated and ergo should actually have no right to even comment anymore as they are technically defectors but that’s really being harsh) harp on our ineffective political system. I agree. It’s a big part of the reason. But allow me to nitpick on this seemingly popular opinion. The BIG problem is identified to be the personality of GMA. On the one hand, if most of us strongly believe that she’s ineffective as a leader, why then can’t we replace her? Well, there are complications but an all too obvious problem is the fact that we don’t see a potential successor. We see all our other politicians as tainted. Doesn’t this strike us Filipinos as strange, considering we are a country of 85 million citizens?

I believe that you and I are part of the reason why we cannot progress faster, why we perceive ourselves negatively. We need more Filipinos courageous enough to actually get involved, even in their own small way. Right now, what I see as one key solution is Social Responsibility. Tama na ang kadramahan, tama na ang walang pakialamanan; mas maraming gawa, mas pagtitiwala sa kakayanan ng bawat isa. True, we have yet to find another heroic Ninoy Aquino or effectual FVR to lead us. But we don’t need to wait for their inspiration. It’s all inside us waiting to be tapped.”

[…] Dance with Me? Cha-Cha-Cha! I attended an ANAKBAYAN forum about Charter Change, more popularly known as Cha-Cha, yesterday afternoon with Jo in Bantayog ng mga Bayani. The speakers were BAYAN chairperson Carol Araullo (yes, UP graduate-slash-fellow activist-slash-triathlete-slash-TV host Atom Araullo’s mother), and Kabataan Partylist president Raymond Palatino. I was forced to ask a question on how to overcome the diffulty of explaining to our fellow students the transition council being proposed by several anti-GMA forces. The “difficulty” issue was raised by one comrade in one of our meets last week, and none of us who were present were able to resolve it. Hopefully, we’d be able to come up with a brilliantly intelligent justification on that one. […]