These past days we have been witnessing our native “bayanihan” at work. Whether on the more graphic TV, or the more-detailed-account of broadsheet, or the more-immediate-reporting on radio, reports on the recent Ondoy typhoon never fail to elicit varying emotions from the viewers, readers, and listeners alike. The reports never fail to give me goose bumps. The recent catastrophe is clearly an expression of the heavy wrath of God upon a people who did not show much appreciation for the enormous gift of Mother Nature and who did not do much to make sure that the fruits of the earth are equitably distributed. I am always sympathetic with people who suffer a terrible loss and I always feel a lump in my throat every time other people come a running to make these losses a little more bearable. Filipinos may be riveted with some embarrassing, and therefore hard to admit, defects. But show a Filipino someone who has just lost a loved one, or his home, or his ability to live a normal life, or all these combined and you will see the Filipino’s helping hand invariably reaching out. Once in a while I feel truly proud being a Filipino. The unsolicited gesture of countless Filipinos, young and old, rich and poor, going out of their way to help the suffering victims of the recent calamity, should make every Filipino proud.

The communication technology that recognizes no bounds of time and space could not have presented to the world in a more vivid and compelling manner the helplessness of the victims.  And the world reacted promptly with their assistance. Help came from institutions as well as individuals. I have my serious doubts however that help from many countries came solely because media showed the stirring poverty situation in the Philippines and the mind-boggling magnitude of the typhoon destruction. I strongly suspect that there was something else that motivated other nations to be generous and helpful to us. The friendly nations and nationals have seen the visual drama of the tragedy with its victims. But they’ve also noticed the Filipino spirit of “bayanihan” vibrant as a ball of fire in the background. I guess the path for generosity remains wide when we see on the receiving end helpless people helping themselves.

That’s the handsome face of “bayanihan”. It has another face that is no doubt ugly. We feel the need to seek help during most trying times such as the one brought to us by Ondoy. But we also need assistance when we are about to embark on an activity that we feel is worthwhile for our community. We expect to see the same mechanism of “bayanihan” to apply, which requires, to begin with, a gathering of people. Sure, we succeed in gathering the people. But we do not see the same spirit of selflessness operating. Instead, we see the “talangka mentality” at work. So whoever is taking the lead in a pursuit of something noble gets pulled down by some weight of someone else’s envy or inability to give himself up for a good cause. I have seen many times this despicable attitude of Filipinos here and abroad. Each time I quiver in shame!

The true spirit of “bayanihan” will keep us Filipinos proud of our history and our heritage among ourselves and before the world. Let us keep it looking handsome. For comments / reactions, please email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it