Home     Forum     Education     Forex Rate     RP President     Archives     Contact Us      RSS

hat is it with us Filipinos? We are a country of "all flash and no substance." Case in point: This ridiculously lavish wedding between two so-so movie stars that sought to outdo even the most "royal" of royal weddings. What was the whole point of this crassly extravagant display? Lest anyone forget, the Philippines is still a Third World country. And many, many squatter's homes (if you can call them "homes") do not have running water or even a toilet!

Some point to the average Filipino's diminutive stature and unimposing presence, that forces them to showoff in order to be noticed. And there may be some truth to such assertion. Try making small talk with a Filipino (or Filipina) and you're likely to get an earful of how great or successful they or their relatives are—all the while flashing their expensive jewelry and designer clothes that they expect you to take notice of. Take Vice President Jejomar Binay for instance. He wants to be president but he's short, dark, and looks like someone you expect to see sitting behind the wheel of a jeepney, than sitting behind the presidential desk in Malacañang. But if the allegations floating around are true, he owns a really fancy hacienda in Batangas with its very own English garden patterned after the Royal Gardens in England. As if to tell the whole world, "yes people, I may look like this, but take a look at what I own."

Unfortunately, the sad truth is that most Filipinos, given the chance, would act exactly the same way—or even worse. Centuries of being put down by Western colonial powers has created a nation of insecure braggarts who see the need to constantly assert themselves by showing off. This is also likely one of the reasons there is so much corruption in the country. Everyone is trying to become filthy rich as quickly as possible so as to have the upper hand at bragging and showing off.

Going back to the Dingdong Dantes-Marian Rivera wedding, a blogger named Ilda wrote that the newlyweds may have violated the Philippine Civil Code against "thoughtless extravagance." It turns out that there actually is a law in the books that reads in part: "Thoughtless extravagance in expenses for pleasure or display during a period of acute public want or emergency may be stopped by order of the courts at the instance of any government or private charitable institutions." In addition, the Philippine Constitution in Sec. 1 Art. XI, as pointed out in the JLP-Law blog, mandates that: "government officers should live modest lives." It may be a bit of a stretch but one can argue that all the public officials—including President Aquino—who were present at that overly extravagant wedding were not only NOT living modest lives, but were also condoning and promoting, by there mere presence, ostentation and reckless extravagance.

The video of the wedding (click here) is a crass display of pointless spending. Juxtaposed against the grinding poverty in today's Third World Philippines: the high-end motorbike; the Rolex watch; and the 2 million peso bridal gown (not to mention the huge oversized cake that will likely make it to the Guinness Book of World Records) appear simply vulgar. Yet most Filipinos seem to find nothing wrong with any of it at all.

If things are to change—and they should, politicians, celebrities, and even the clergy (dozens of whom proudly officiated at the wedding) should decline any invitation or involvement in any event, be it a wedding, a party, or any occasion that is overly lavish or grandiose. First lift each and every Filipino out of poverty and make the Philippines a "first world" nation before you attend such events. Hopefully at that point in time, Filipinos would have also shed their inferiority complex and would see no need to try to impress anyone. Published 1/4/2015

© 1996 - 2015 PHILNEWS.COM     Home     Forum     Education     Forex Rate     RP President     Archives     Contact Us      RSS     Privacy Policy