Filipino overseas contract workers have a reputation of being hard-working individuals not picky of jobs that are dangerous, dirty and domestic that require long hours. They are law abiding and dependable while working abroad. Their ken is exposed to first world services and practices which should have rubbed off on them as they yearn for the day when the Philippines have space for decent paying jobs that makes working abroad not the monadic choice for a better life. In spite of these, OFWs have been very disappointing in the democratic discourse. They have not overcome regionalism, smart shaming and anti-intellectualism in their unabashed support for duds that unsurprisingly underperform in visionless governments. Our nation’s efforts to catch up with our ASEAN neighbors never stood a chance.

The father and son tandem of Nicolo and Oscar Bernardo (2017) wrote that the values we put into the pursuit of property and prosperity already spell much difference on economic status of a nation. They point out that Protestant states are more prosperous than Catholic and Islamic states. The Bernardos elucidate that the distinction may be due to opposite ideologies, beliefs and perception about work and money that is mirrored in laws outlining the state’s economic agenda.

In the Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Max Weber argues that the Protestant’s value for hard work, individual justification, personal enrichment, multiplication of resources, and prosperity are considered signs of divine favor that made protestant states economically richer. Conversely, Catholicism encouraged the mindset that it’s alright to be poor as it wins you an admission ticket to heaven; the religious are cheered on to take vows of poverty and ascetism as the highest expressions of piousness. According to Weber, Catholicism has a penchant for prayerful indolence, self-abnegation, and feudal habits. Individual and communal enfranchisement play second fiddle to the friar’s tendentiousness towards slumpflationary rituals and fiestas. In addition, the poor continue to be fleeced to finance costly construction of the house needed by the omnipotent Christian God in the midst of scarcity.

Critics of Weber state that his analysis of Catholicism particularly applies to Hispanic and French Catholicism and not to Italian Catholicism which ushered the Renaissance, the birth of universities, high art and culture, and the emergence of the first banks, foreign exchange, and bond markets.

Dr. Jose Rizal did not hold back on his criticism of the Catholic Church in the Philippines. He said, “Perhaps indolence is authorized in Catholic countries in general and in the Philippines in particular,” (Essay praising Francesc Pi y Margall’s 1884 “Las Luchas de Nuestros Dias (The Struggles of Our Days)). This “faith in miracles makes men expect everything from heaven,” wrote Rizal.

In response to the accusation that Filipinos were lazy and would rather gamble their money than work in the farm, Rizal wrote Sobre la indolencia de los filipinos (The indolence of the Filipinos) wherein he said that, “A man in the Philippines is only an individual, he is not a member of a nation.” Dash Mendoza-Magayano (2021) explained that,” When Rizal wrote this line, he was trying to explain why Filipinos never prospered under the Spanish colonization. Rizal contended that Filipinos were not inherently lazy – their indolence was just brought about by the treatment of the Spaniards (and some Filipino elites unfortunately) towards the natives. Rizal described pre-colonial Philippines citing Pigafetta and Morga, among others, who recounted the abundance of the islands and the diplomacy of the natives when trading with the foreigners. Rizal elucidated how the Filipinos were reduced into idiocy when the Spaniards came to conquer the country. As Rizal put it, Filipinos were already convinced that they could only attain happiness if they throw their dignity outside the window.

Under Spanish colonialism, Filipinos accepted their fate that Spanish interest comes first over their own welfare and rebelling against the colonial master is contrary to Christian virtues. It was no different with the Americans’ benevolent assimilation that cultivated the same mindset for Pacific Negroes aspiring for statehood. When World War II was over, sovereignty was finally handed to the Filipinos. Unfortunately, in a vicious twist of fate, majority of the Filipinos had no clue on how to run the republic, thus, it ended up in the hands of oligarchs whose intentions were for the benefit of the few and not of everyone (Magayano, 2021).

Filipinos have never learned how to be a nation. This fundamental invalidism cannot be cured by simple sound-bite calls for unity by duds.

Atty. Magi Gunigundo is a former lawmaker, civil law instructor, and author of law books. He is also an education reformer and an advocate of anticipatory governance.