FILIPINO GLOBAL CHAMPIONS
From Lea Salonga to Hidilyn Diaz, EJ Obiena and Carlos Yulo: How Filipinos Keep Proving They Can Compete With the World
By Karl M. Garcia
There is a recurring story about the Philippines that we should begin telling differently.
A Filipino rises above the limitations of the country’s institutions, finds an international stage, competes against the world’s best—and succeeds.
Sometimes the stage is Broadway.
Sometimes it is the Olympic Games.
Sometimes it is a world championship, a laboratory, a concert hall, a film set, a technology company or an international business.
The names are different.
The disciplines are different.
But the pattern is remarkably similar.
Filipinos can compete at the highest level of the world.
The question is no longer whether Filipino talent exists.
The question is:
How do we build a country that systematically develops, supports and multiplies that talent?
LEA SALONGA: THE DOOR OPENER
Lea Salonga remains one of the clearest examples.
Her breakthrough as Kim in Miss Saigon took a Filipino performer from Manila to London’s West End, Broadway and eventually the world’s major entertainment platforms.
Her Tony Award was historic.
But perhaps the more important legacy was what happened afterward.
Filipinos increasingly appeared in international productions.
Jon Jon Briones, Joanna Ampil, Rachelle Ann Go, Monique Wilson, Isay Alvarez, Robert Seña and many others built international theater careers.
The pipeline continued with younger performers, including Aicelle Santos, Gerald Santos and Red Concepcion.
And another generation followed, including Eva Noblezada, who went from Miss Saigon to Broadway’s Hadestown.
This is how a national talent ecosystem begins.
One person breaks through.
Others follow.
Networks form.
International employers become familiar with the talent pool.
The extraordinary gradually becomes normal.
Lea did not merely win a Tony. She expanded the world’s perception of what a Filipino performer could become.
HIDILYN DIAZ: FROM ATHLETE TO SYSTEM BUILDER
The same story unfolded in sports.
Hidilyn Diaz spent years competing internationally before finally winning the Philippines’ first Olympic gold medal at the Tokyo Games.
Her achievement was historic not simply because of the medal.
It revealed the enormous amount of persistence required to become world-class when the support system is imperfect.
Diaz trained, competed, raised resources, built international relationships and continued improving over many years.
And her story is now moving into another phase.
She has increasingly become involved in helping develop the next generation of Filipino weightlifters.
That transition—from champion to mentor—is crucial.
A champion’s greatest legacy is not necessarily another medal.
It can be another champion.
EJ OBIENA: WORLD-CLASS WITHOUT WAITING FOR PERMISSION
EJ Obiena offers another model.
Pole vault is not a traditional Philippine sporting strength.
Yet Obiena has established himself among the world’s elite and repeatedly competed at the highest levels of international athletics.
His significance goes beyond whether an Olympic medal is eventually added to his résumé.
The broader record is already extraordinary:
he competes consistently in the global elite.
That distinction matters.
The Olympics are the most visible sporting event in the world, but they are not the only measure of athletic excellence.
World rankings, Diamond League competitions, world championships and sustained performance against the world’s best all matter.
Obiena demonstrates that Filipino athletes can enter disciplines where the Philippines has no historical advantage and still reach the global frontier.
CARLOS YULO: PRECISION, DISCIPLINE AND EXCELLENCE
Then came Carlos Yulo.
His success in gymnastics has been another extraordinary demonstration of Filipino capability.
Gymnastics demands a combination of strength, flexibility, coordination, technique, courage and thousands of hours of repetition.
Yulo’s achievements show what happens when exceptional natural ability meets elite training.
But another detail is equally important.
The Yulo family story is becoming bigger than one athlete.
A younger sibling pursuing gymnastics suggests something fundamental about how sporting cultures develop:
champions create pathways for successors.
The first generation proves that it can be done.
The next generation begins earlier, learns from the experience and inherits a larger ecosystem.
That is how a country moves from producing individual stars to producing depth.
THE SAME PATTERN EXISTS EVERYWHERE
The phenomenon is not limited to sports and entertainment.
Filipino nurses have become indispensable across global healthcare systems.
Filipino seafarers operate ships around the world.
Filipino engineers, architects, scientists, pilots, entrepreneurs, musicians, designers, programmers and technology professionals contribute to international industries.
The Philippines has quietly become one of the world’s great exporters of human capability.
But there is a paradox.
We are often better at exporting people than building systems around them.
That should change.
FROM TALENT EXPORTER TO TALENT PLATFORM
For decades, the Philippine development model has often treated international migration as an economic safety valve.
A Filipino goes abroad.
The Filipino earns.
The Filipino sends money home.
The country benefits from remittances.
That model has produced enormous economic value.
But it does not capture the full potential of Filipino human capital.
The next stage should be different.
Instead of asking only:
How many Filipinos can we send abroad?
we should ask:
How many world-class Filipinos can we develop—and how much capability can they create for the Philippines?
That means building institutions that connect:
education → training → competition → mentorship → international exposure → investment → entrepreneurship → knowledge transfer.
A champion should not be the end of the pipeline.
A champion should become a node in the pipeline.
THE CHAMPION-TO-CHAMPION EFFECT
This is where the stories of Salonga, Diaz, Obiena and Yulo converge.
Lea Salonga inspired generations of Filipino performers.
Hidilyn Diaz is helping inspire and develop aspiring weightlifters.
Carlos Yulo’s achievements have expanded the possibilities Filipino gymnasts can imagine.
EJ Obiena demonstrates that a Filipino can become a sustained presence among the world’s elite in athletics.
Their greatest national contribution may therefore extend beyond medals, awards and individual fame.
They create permission to dream at a higher level.
A young Filipino gymnast can now say:
“Someone from the Philippines became a world champion.”
A young weightlifter can say:
“A Filipino won Olympic gold.”
A young pole vaulter can say:
“A Filipino can compete with the best in the world.”
A young actor can say:
“A Filipino can lead Broadway.”
That psychological transformation has economic value.
Because ambition is the beginning of capability.
THE PROBLEM IS NOT TALENT
The Philippines has repeatedly demonstrated that it can produce exceptional individuals.
The harder problem is depth.
How many potential EJ Obienas never received specialized coaching?
How many potential Carlos Yulos never had access to world-class facilities?
How many potential Lea Salongas never received professional theater training?
How many potential scientists, engineers, musicians, filmmakers and entrepreneurs never obtained the opportunity to develop their abilities?
The national loss is invisible.
We see the champions.
We rarely see the millions of unrealized champions who never reached the starting line.
BUILDING A NATIONAL CHAMPION PIPELINE
The answer is not simply to spend more money on individual stars.
It is to build systems.
The Philippines needs stronger pathways for:
talent identification
specialized training
coaching and mentorship
sports science and performance medicine
arts education
international scholarships
competition and exposure
professional management
private-sector sponsorship
research and development
intellectual property
digital platforms
and ultimately,
career transition and succession.
The objective should be to create a Philippine ecosystem where exceptional talent can be identified early, developed systematically and connected to the world’s best institutions.
CHAMPIONS AS NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE
We normally think of infrastructure as roads, ports, airports, power plants and telecommunications networks.
But human capability is infrastructure too.
A world-class coach is infrastructure.
A conservatory is infrastructure.
A high-performance sports laboratory is infrastructure.
A research university is infrastructure.
A scholarship program is infrastructure.
A national competition system is infrastructure.
A professional talent-management industry is infrastructure.
A mentor network is infrastructure.
And a champion who trains the next generation is infrastructure.
This is the deeper lesson of the Filipino global champions.
Human excellence can compound.
FROM INDIVIDUAL HEROES TO NATIONAL CAPABILITY
The Philippines should therefore move beyond celebrating exceptional Filipinos only after they have conquered the world.
We should ask what enabled them to succeed—and reproduce those conditions.
What training worked?
Which coaches mattered?
Which institutions helped?
Where did financing come from?
Which international networks opened doors?
What barriers did they overcome?
What can be institutionalized?
And most importantly:
How do we help the next thousand Filipinos reach the frontier, rather than waiting for another exceptional individual to find a way through?
That is the transition from heroic achievement to national capability.
THE FILIPINO ADVANTAGE
The Philippines has a population of more than 110 million people.
That is not merely a market.
It is a vast talent reservoir.
Filipinos are already globally distributed, English-proficient, culturally adaptive and deeply connected to international labor and professional networks.
Our diaspora is not simply an economic remittance network.
It can become a knowledge network.
Filipino professionals abroad can become mentors.
International Filipino scientists can collaborate with Philippine universities.
Artists can develop local apprentices.
Athletes can establish academies.
Entrepreneurs can build companies in the Philippines.
Champions can become coaches.
And successful Filipinos abroad can become bridges between Philippine talent and global opportunity.
THE REAL GOLD MEDAL
The Philippines should celebrate Lea Salonga.
We should celebrate Hidilyn Diaz.
We should celebrate EJ Obiena.
We should celebrate Carlos Yulo.
But we should not stop there.
The real victory would be creating a country where their stories become increasingly common.
Where a Filipino child with unusual ability is identified early.
Where that child receives excellent training.
Where coaches are properly supported.
Where international competition is accessible.
Where failure is part of development rather than the end of opportunity.
Where champions return to mentor successors.
Where success creates institutions.
Where institutions create more success.
That is how national capability compounds.
The goal is not to produce one Lea, one Hidilyn, one EJ or one Carlos.
The goal is to create the conditions for hundreds of them—across sports, science, arts, engineering, technology, entrepreneurship and every field in which human excellence can flourish.
Because the Filipino global champion is no longer an anomaly.
The evidence is already there.
The next challenge is to turn exceptional Filipinos into an exceptional Philippine system.
And when that happens, the world will not simply see individual Filipinos succeeding abroad.
It will begin to see something much larger:
a Philippines that systematically produces people capable of competing—and winning—at the global frontier.
I often find the way the Philippine conversation parses the success of internationally known athletes and entertainment stars is myopic — fixated on the success itself rather than the hard work and consistent application it took to attain it, or the lessons to be learned from how they persevered to the win.
Take Hidilyn Diaz, who practically had to beg on social media for resources just to go to the Olympics — sparking a media scandal cycle in 2019 that culminated in public attacks from Duterte administration officials. She was even pulled unfairly into the “Oust Duterte” narrative, to the point of being publicly threatened — a narrative I suspect was manufactured by an administration then losing popularity, until Covid gave it a more convenient excuse to explain away the effects of its own malfeasance and bad policies. The episode cast a dark cloud over Diaz’s clear dedication to her sport and the adversity she pushed through to win Olympic gold in 2021. Incapable of shame, Duterte himself later appeared to take credit for “helping” Diaz win, in a widely publicized video call.
Or Carlos Yulo, who rose from the urban poor to be celebrated for his Olympic double gold — only to be nationally crucified along with his girlfriend, for speaking out against his mother’s financial mismanagement, breaking with the norms of utang na loob. Yes, Yulo is immensely talented — talented enough to be sponsored by open-minded coaches and trainers in Japan, who fostered his natural-born gifts. There was luck involved too: an unlikely path from his grandfather first noticing his talent doing backflips in underfunded public gymnasiums, to local sports backers picking him up, to Japanese coaches recognizing his capability — but none of that luck excused him from the hard work and consistent effort it took to develop what God had given him.
Both stories point to a pattern: the public and political class are quick to claim a win once it’s secured, but show little patience for what earning one required. Diaz’s years of training on a shoestring budget, funded through her own public appeals, were reduced first to a political scandal, then to a photo-op for the very politicians who had ignored her when she needed help the most. Yulo’s discipline and talent were overshadowed by a family dispute that had nothing to do with gymnastics the moment he broke with the deference utang na loob demands. In neither case did the conversation focus on the sacrifice and consistency behind the medal — it moved straight to spectacle, political or moral. If this is how the country treats the process behind the stars it already celebrates, it’s little wonder that the far less cinematic, broad-based success of Filipinos abroad — built over careers in law, medicine, business, the military, and public service — draws almost no notice at all. The more useful conversation isn’t who won, or even how, but what it takes, day after day, the unglamorous prerequisites to keep winning. So thanks Karl, for this essay highlighting the hard work and dedication required — the real lessons that must be learned to achieve success and the fullest cultivation of one’s potential regardless of talent.
You are most welcome. Again thanks for your insights.
“Both stories point to a pattern: the public and political class are quick to claim a win once it’s secured, but show little patience for what earning one required.” – Joey N.
Indeed an insightful rebuke of the Filipino public and political class. I would say it is accurate.
While a lot may have changed since my days of growing up in the Philippines, still a lot has not changed.
Change also takes patience. We both noticed most of my proposals go beyond our lifetimes and I will learn to accept that.
Not changing may be an ideal state considering the scare stories coming out about AI becoming “sentient”, or self preserving, necessitating the removal of human controls. Those who know AI are crying desperately for slowing down and regulating the beast. So too much change is potentially as dire as too little.
The Philippines is the Philippines. It can’t be someone’s ideal world. If that kind of change were easy, the US would certainly clean up the mess it has become, fighting friends and cuddling up with vile dictators.
The Philippines is rich in many ways. Last week we drove about an hour around the island to find a pizza joint that serves terrific pizza, better than Greenwich or Shakeys. An OFW or seafarer decided to come home. He can cook. Boy can he cook. Little hole in the wall shop, becoming famous in its little hard to reach location. The Philippines is discovery. It is not stupidity.
Yes the whole world is asking for some pause. Thanks.
Speaking of change. Today’s news notes.
Drone motor production in the Philippines. New and rising, hopefully.
https://business.inquirer.net/610992/us-defense-tech-startup-anchors-production-in-ph
Europe wants to ramp up trade with the Philippines.
https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/09/14/eu-trade-chief-to-visit-manila-to-finalise-philippines-trade-deal
I looked into this and it appears the drone motor producer is making motors for FPV drones (the kamikaze drones hunting down individual soldiers we see in Ukraine). Those motors cost from $10-15 per motor and are mainly sourced from China as of now (I helped arrange some shipments of drone parts early in the Ukraine war). These small drones are like LEGOs. Buy standard parts on AliExpress/Alibaba and put them together. A hobby of mine. Good, but not sure how long the market will last as FPV drones are being rapidly phased out for most purposes for more purpose-built drones.
As for the EU trade deal, it has little to do with the US tariffs since 2025. The two trade deals being discussed, Generalized Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) started negotiation in 2014 and the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) started negotiation in 2023. Since the US tariffs were announced on Trump’s so-called “Liberation Day,” Philippine exports to the US have actually increased significantly (+10.6%, or $13.46 billion in Y2025). Most categories of Philippines exports to the US are in fact exempted from Trump’s tariffs, with the affected goods (mainly clothing, shoes, apparel) were hit with tariffs because the Philippines did not provide the paperwork on time to verify exploitative labor was not used despite being given multiple extensions. Other countries complied with the new requirements and got exempted or reduced tariffs.
Need to also look at “what does the Philippines actually export?” Most of the high-value, high-profit exports are already sold to the US, and will continue to be so since those semiconductor testing/packaging and components are being manufactured on contract to US companies. Most of the rest of Philippine exports are clothing, processed food like canned goods, coconut products. Presumably this is what will be traded to the EU. While the EU gets an avenue to dump their goods (cars, appliances, etc) into the Philippines that they can no longer sell on a profit in the US.
“Dump their goods?” That presumes bad faith, which I doubt exists, but rejigging trade in the face of American heavy handed policies that have upset global supplies of oil and other goods is something all sane nations are dealing with, including the Philippines. The EU “hope” to establish new agreements. The Philippines is not inert or oblivious as to penalties and opportunities.
We have been shrieking for years about the need for manufacturing here, and come across a little drone motor shop that wants to go from 10,000 motors to 40,000 motors a month, and we’re going to sneer at the effort? They do robotic engines as well, so not just drones. I don’t know why we are not saying “keep up the good work” versus “not good enough”.
Feel free to fact check anything I said, which is devoid of personal bias.
I’m not challenging the facts. I’m challenging the efficacy of looking at the empty part of the glass.
Fantasizing does not create realities. What I admire is Marcos Jr. and his trade reps are working within reality, and admirably I might add.
I agree that fantasizing does not create realities (though “if you don’t have a dream, how are you going to have a dream come true?” from South Pacific).
But I did not catch what you say JoeAm is fantasizing about. Can you clarify?
You are welcome to backread.
“You are welcome to backread.” – Joey
On backreading, it looks like you are calling JoeAm’s “10,000 motors to 40,000 motors” as a fantasy. Looks more to me like a goal at this point in the trade talking, not a fantasy.
No.
Well, I’m glad we agree on that.
Why “dump their goods” instead of “find an alternative market in the Philippines? I’m just curious as JoeAm did bring up the issue of the former phrasing presuming bad faith.
Please read the EuroNews article Joe shared, it’s right in there:
“The latest round of EU-Philippines trade talks took place in May, with access to public procurement emerging as the final sticking point. An agreement would mark a shift for the Philippines, which has so far kept public contracts closed to foreign bidders.”
“An official from the EU executive also told MEPs that sanitary and phytosanitary rules for food products were “ambitious”, alongside automotive standards that would improve EU manufacturers’ access to the Philippine market. The official added that the EU and the Philippines were “complementary” in both industrial goods and agriculture.”
1. EU prefers to make cars and appliances in their own countries, incurring heavy tariffs under Trump tariff regime (regime as in trade regime, not dictatorship) for cars and appliances. They are looking for alternative markets.
2. Main PH -> EU exports are assembled electronics (by EU subsidiaries in PH) and agricultural goods.
3. EU is pressuring PH to allow EU companies to be allowed to win PH government contracts, accept import of EU high-value goods like cars and appliances, while putting up conditions for PH agricultural exports.
5. Trade negotiations started long before Trump took office, are still focused on the same items of disagreement, so the trade talks have little to do with the US tariffs. As I pointed out, PH -> US exports actually increased substantially in 2025 despite the tariffs, because most of the PH -> US exports were exempted from tariffs.
Interesting, Joey…but I still could not find any evidence to show bad faith, and hence “dumping.”
Why do we suppose trade deals that started talks years ago (one in 2014, the other in 2023) are only now seeing the EU trade commission send a high profile representative to try to solve disagreements on the deals proposed? While the Philippines under Marcos appears to be holding out (correctly) for a better deal against the EU demands which I have enumerated? Which side here seems more desperate to sell their goods? The Trump tariffs have little to do with these developments for the PH side, which is what is my point originally to Joe.
“Why do we suppose trade deals that started talks years ago (one in 2014, the other in 2023) are only now seeing the EU trade commission send a high profile representative to try to solve disagreements on the deals proposed? “ – Joey N.
Obviously because circumstances have changed, hence the EU is looking for alternative markets, not “dumping.” That’s all. JoeAM brought the issue up and hinted that “dumping” implies bad faith on the part of the EU, which he did not see…and neither do I.
As to which side seems more desperate to sell their goods…I don’t know. I think trade negotiators look for the best deal that they can get….seldom is it about desperation unless you are like Russia which has to deal with sanctions, etc. etc.. Remember, there are a whole lot of other markets that the EU can look to for their products – like all those countries in Africa for example.
Africa does need European cars. Yes, that’s what they need.
“Africa does need European cars. Yes, that’s what they need.” – Joey N.
Yes, much more so than the Philippines needs them…as well as other European products. They are a much bigger market.
Actually what gave me the idea was watching a documentary last night on how Zimbabwe is attracting foreign investment in building Data Centers in that country…and that is only one country in Africa.
Ah yes, Zimbabwe is doing relatively well. Kenya too. Nigeria to an extent. Then there’s South Africa.
My point though, is that the current PH trade reps are sticking to their guns with regard to the dual EU deals, as they should. And we should root for the PH side, who have been admirable negotiators since the beginning of the Marcos Jr. presidency. If the EU side gets a win-win, great on them too. But I’m rooting for the Philippines.
I agree that Philippine negotiators should firmly defend Philippine interests. But I am not sure we can say, from the outside, that the Marcos Jr. negotiating teams have been “admirable” without knowing the details of the positions they have taken, the concessions requested by each side, and the economic analysis behind them.
“Sticking to their guns” is not automatically a virtue. It can be justified if it protects an important Philippine interest—such as vulnerable agricultural sectors, meaningful market access for Philippine exports, or appropriate safeguards for local industries. But negotiations are not a game in which one side wins only when the other loses. A sound trade agreement should be sufficiently beneficial to the Philippines while also giving the EU enough reason to sign, implement, and sustain it.
The real test will be the final agreement (if one is ever reached): what access Philippine exporters obtain, what concessions the Philippines makes, which sectors are protected or given adjustment periods, and whether the benefits are practical rather than merely promised on paper. Until those details are public, I would reserve judgment. We can hope the Philippine side negotiates well without assuming that firmness alone proves it.
I have hinted that the EU is the more desperate market here, and the PH position is stronger than ever due to the US tariffs which the PH largely escaped due to the basket of export goods the Ph has. But yes, let us see what the final agreement is when that comes.
The same can be said for the Pax Silica initiative which will be an agency to agency document, not state to state. It is supposedly targeted for November signing.
Here is an interesting article that suggests Philippine debt markets are growing, in a healthy way. Moodys wants to be a part of the action.
https://business.inquirer.net/611211/moodys-buys-into-philratings
Had a look. Good that Moodys is investing in a domestic rating agency for private corporate debt. Might help with attracting FDI. I will emphasize though that the main impediment to FDI is the lack of consistent application of laws and regulation, especially where LGUs start meddling. Positive news is that Ramos, Aquino, now Marcos Jr. built upon each other in this regard, more so than the backsliding in between. More FDI is a good thing. Philippine entrepreneurs have good ideas if there is matching investment.
My perspective is to show the glass as filling, yours is to point out the gaps to perfection. In the real world of the Philippines, the glass is filling. It will never ever be full. The US glass has been cracked and the water is running out. Sara Duterte would tip the Philippine glass upside down, or smash it. If more people believed the Philippine glass were filling, the more they would not vote for Sara. So a relentless focus on Philippine shortcomings does not, in my estimation, serve Filipinos well.
Joe, your feelings towards your home country are valid. I share some of that feeling towards our shared home country too. But you too often let that feeling cloud your views. I cannot agree with that.
I don’t think my views are clouded at all. They are anchored in different aspirations and principles.
Well, it’s wrong and does not reflect reality here back in the US. What hit the UK, PH, US first is now hitting broadly across Europe. France. Germany. UK again. Suppose the US falls as you describe, the world is screwed as we know it. But that’s not happening. Things are righting themselves here. Election in a few months. The lens through social media is not real life.
“The Philippines is discovery. It is not stupidity.” – JoeAm
I’m sure my kapwa Filipinos would appreciate your kind words. Unfortunately, we know all too well that a lot of what we discover in our homeland is stupidity….but we probably use nicknames for it like “PinoyThink” or “Only in the Philipines” as in “OITP.”
I love that story about the pizza baker an hour’s drive away from your home in Biliran. In a place like the Philippines, we need those little “holes in the wall” to give us bits of joy amidst all the hardship around us.
In my college days, we used to row on the Pasig River from the Manila Boat Club in Santa Ana, Manila. After our rowing practice, we would walk over to the Santa Ana wet market where we discovered this vendor who sold excellent pansit palabok for cheap. A great combination for hungry and cash strapped students. We didn’t realize then that that market probably dumped a lot of untreated waste in the the very Pasig River that we rowed in…hehehe I believe that the river was already biologically dead at that time and at that point in the river which was not far from the Guadalupe Bridge.
Ha, well, you called me on that. It is common to discover telephone poles in the right lane of the nice four lane national highways now common across the Philippines. So few use the right lane, thus negating the whole purpose of the widening. So one can discover the poles whilst cursing the idiocy that results in them residing there. I stand duly corrected. There is a lot of stupidity here, kind of like mistaking a chili pepper in the stew for a bean. Not a good kind of discovery.
There is a small core of liberal reformers in the Philippines, perhaps not as big as in previous decades before Martial Law, but it’s there. I would not fault the public generally for “not knowing any better;” they can be taught. And the liberal reformist core, which did not exist indigenously before the Propaganda Movement and has waxed and waned since then, can be grown again. In some ways the liberal core is already growing as more and more Filipinos are exposed to new ways of doing things in an increasingly interconnected world.
“I would not fault the public generally for ‘not knowing any better;’ they can be taught.” – Joey N.
I dare say that the problem is not that simple, and neither is the solution.
We should consider the possibility that the public has been taught. They just chose/choose to do things differently.
I spent 16 years in Philippine schools – kindergarten through college – and I was taught the Constitution, Philippine history, citizenship, civic duty, nationalism, ethical behavior, etc. The issue is not that Filipinos have never been taught these things. It is that schoolroom lessons have long competed with the real-life lessons of patronage, inequality, weak institutions, dynasties, corruption, and impunity. And we actually discussed those real-life lessons in school too.
The task is not merely to teach liberal-democratic values again, but to build a political order in which acting on those values is credible and effective.
How to do it is on the leadership of our country. That is what we elect them to do.
Hmmm… I’m not dismissing your personal story, but your experience was probably not reflective of society outside of the middle and upper classes of the time. The great majority of Filipinos are either poor or dirt poor, then and now, and have an entirely different experience.
“What came first, the chicken or the egg?” is an age-old question that confounded philosophers of the past. Well now we know what came first, the egg.
Likewise, it is not the leadership that changes a country, because what is leadership but a reflection of the people? Therefore the citizens would need to be changed first to elect better leaders who reflect a better citizenry. Sometimes the learner is a bit hardheaded and takes longer to learn the lesson, perhaps after burning their hand a few times. IMHO, expecting leaders to do everything is just another form of hoping for someone to come along who is at once a dictator with transformative powers and a servant who caters to our very whims. The Philippines tried that with Marcos Sr., when the old middle class clamored for such a leader, and it didn’t work out very well.
“Hmmm… I’m not dismissing your personal story, but your experience was probably not reflective of society outside of the middle and upper classes of the time. The great majority of Filipinos are either poor or dirt poor, then and now, and have an entirely different experience.” – Joey N.
Yes, but my suggested approach is that leadership needs to do its duty and lead the country to prosperity. Not everyone needs to have a college degree to be a leader. I like to use the founding of the University of the Philippines as a starting point for when we began to produce educated Filipinos with college degrees. That was in 1908. Of course we had many graduates from other schools during the Spanish period, but for the sake of simplicity I like to start with the American period and the founding of the UP.
So the UP has been producing graduates for over 100 years. That should be reliable a source of “educated” leaders to lead the poor or dirt poor who did not have good “book learning” as Americans sometimes call it. That should take care of the objection that the people need to be taught.
Now you say that the egg came first, and you also say that leadership (the chicken) is but a reflection of the people (the egg). That is why when you asked me a few months ago what I propose for the Philippines, I answered: “I propose what Rizal proposed – that we (the egg, the people) make ourselves worthy of the liberties that we seek so that we can produce the chickens and leadership that can build a respectable nation to take its place in the world among the family of nations.”
I recall you weren’t impressed with that answer. I think you wondered how an egg can make itself worthy without chickens to teach it, or something to that effect. Maybe now you see my point more clearly….or maybe not.
I agree with Rizal’s thought that a people must make itself worthy of the liberties it seeks. But I would not interpret “worthiness” as something acquired mainly through formal classroom instruction, diplomas, or academic knowledge.
The first and perhaps most lasting education takes place at home—at the feet of one’s parents, grandparents, relatives, and neighbours. Long before a child studies civics, history, or political theory, he or she learns by watching how the adults around them live. A child learns whether promises are kept, whether work is done conscientiously, whether people of modest means are treated with respect, whether one tells the truth when it is inconvenient, and whether authority is exercised fairly.
The foundational lessons are quite simple, though not easy:
Schools can reinforce these values and give children knowledge, reasoning skills, and a wider view of society. But schools cannot substitute for the moral example set at home. A child can memorize the Constitution, recite Rizal, and earn high marks, yet still grow into an adult who lies, exploits others, despises the poor, or treats public office as private property.
So, to me, the preparation for liberty begins not only in a classroom but in the home and community. If we want citizens worthy of democratic freedoms, we must raise people who understand integrity, duty, compassion, respect, and fairness from their earliest years. That kind of “home school” may be the most important school of all.
By now I’m sure you agree that like you, I’m a fellow admirer of Rizal. Where I disagree with you strongly from a few months ago is that Rizal strove to be an example of what he taught (e.g. the Dapitan School), rather than expecting Filipinos to self-educate from a position of ignorance. Rizal himself wrote often about his own recognition of his self-ignorance, despite clearly being a prodigy when in his time, and sought out teachers and mentors to correct that ignorance. So what I’m saying is we cannot expect Filipinos who are still ignorant of what Rizal espoused for should be taught by teachers, mentors, and experts, principally within the Philippine community, preferably by the diaspora if possible. Then they will as you hope, and I hope, be equipped to choose better leaders who are worthy examples of emulation of the liberties all Filipinos deserve.
Well I also agree with Rizal’s foundational lessons you shared. But here we have a paradox: if parents, grandparents, family, neighbors, and the community do not know better, how would one suppose the child will learn honesty; responsibility; hard work and perseverance; kindness and consideration for others; respect for others; fairness and a sense of justice; humility; and civic-mindedness? Then how will the adults, not being equipped thus to teach those values to their offspring, elect good leaders who also model those values? Just as children are a reflection of their elders, so are the people reflected in the leaders they choose. “The mirror” is the fundamental cornerstone of East Asian relational dynamics, including in Singapore which many Filipinos admired from the Third Republic until now.
Things tend to maintain cyclical repetition, unless the cycle is disrupted and adjusted somehow.
“But here we have a paradox: if parents, grandparents, family, neighbors, and the community do not know better…” — Joey
Yes, that presents an “if” situation. But there is little reason to dwell on the hypothetical if it does not generally describe reality. The fact is that parents, grandparents, relatives, neighbours, and communities often do know better—or at least possess the basic moral knowledge needed to raise children decently.
We Filipinos often identify ourselves as Catholics. Even if family members lack formal education or expert training, Catholic teaching offers a moral foundation: honesty, compassion, responsibility, respect for human dignity, concern for the poor, and the obligation to treat others as we ourselves would wish to be treated.
But these values did not begin with the Spanish arrival or with Catholicism. Long before colonization, Filipino communities had their own moral traditions: respect for elders, concern for kin and neighbors, bayanihan, reciprocity, keeping one’s word, courage, and responsibility to the community. Catholicism reinforced and shaped many of these values, but it did not create the human capacity for moral judgment from nothing.
And, of course, people also learn through experience. Trial and error is not the ideal teacher, particularly where serious harm is involved, but ordinary life teaches its own lessons. One may have to “burn one’s hand” a few times, figuratively speaking, before learning not to put it into a fire. I believe you made a similar point earlier.
My point remains that moral formation does not depend entirely on teachers, experts, or formal instruction. Schools and mentors are valuable, especially in teaching history, civic understanding, and critical thought. But the first lessons in decency, responsibility, self-restraint, fairness, and concern for others can—and usually do—begin at home and within the community.
Yep, certainly some of what you shared was lost, and can be found again. I suspect more than one way will avail itself.
Like I said, the problem is not that simple, and neither is the solution.
This much is true.
Is the Philippines finally having its soft power moment? | Lifestyle.INQ | Lifestyle.INQ interesting article that covers a lot of what we have discussed here (not just in this article but in this blog in general regarding that topic) – including this:
Wonderful article. Cerebral. Current. Aware. Inspirational.
Cool.