Nov. 18, 2013 Corazons reply to Ms. Geraldines open letter to Anderson Cooper: When the Philippine government was “embarrassed” into action by Anderson Cooper’s reporting and many lives were saved and further misery avoided because of it, that reporting was very good indeed. This article by Geraldine Uy-Wong doesn’t look like it was meant for Anderson Cooper but for Filipinos who are swayed by its appeal to “amor propio” and its tone of “may pagdadamdam”. The good deeds of those who performed their jobs effectively weren’t overlooked, surely, by the people that were served. If those good deeds weren’t featured by Cooper, it was because they were absent from where he was reporting. And if those deeds weren’t spread out in the media, what of it? Shouldn’t the fact that they saved lives and prevented misery be enough acknowledgement? Why do we need to be acknowledged by anyone outside our sphere of service at all, anyway, if we’re doing what we’re supposed to do? Tama na ang drama, tama na ang pagdadamdam of the bruised ego–for these are our biggest stumbling blocks to truly meaningful action and these encourage us to turn a blind eye on what is really going on in the Phils. The Filipinos in the Philippines and elsewhere weren’t embarrassed by the reporting from Anderson Cooper-in fact, thousands upon thousands have responded favorably to it because it impelled the government into some kind of action and perhaps the foreign aid workers to take the initiative where it was lacking on the ground. If the government was embarrassed, it deserved that and more. Moreover, do not equate the government with the Filipino people, nor the administration with the Filipino people, nor the self-serving politicians with the Filipino people. Cooper’s reporting did not drive a wedge among the Filipinos, for they are always united in their love for their country. What Cooper brought out is the long simmering anger and discontent with the way the country is being ruined and ran to the ground by self-serving politicians and their ilk. Korina Sanchez opinions don’t represent Filipino sentiments–they represent her naked poltical ambitions, which need anyone say, is damnable specially at this time of suffering and destruction. That she says what she says in the guise of having the people’s welfare in mind is damnable, to say the least. So, Geraldine Uy-wong, whoever you are, or if you really exist…take a look at the relief goods that have been repackaged, and the flipflops that have Korina Sanchez’ name on them–and ask yourself..am I really that blind? Am I swayed by amor-propio? Am I swayed by celebrity worship and ego centrism or whatever else to react adversely to some disinterested and unbiased journalism that among rational thinking people serves to lance the festering boil in our body politic and ineffectual system of doing things? Who are you, really, Geraldine Uy-Wong, and more importantly, by writing what you wrote, WHOM DO YOU SERVE? REALLY.
Posted on: Thu, 21 Nov 2013 02:20:42 +0000