The Disintegrating Filipino Society

The Filipino society have never been so divided as before. Left, Right, Muslims, Anti and Pros factions, rich and the poor, having their own agendas and interests are hindering the country's development and the creation of the long missing national identity.

Way back before the colonial times, the Philippines have never been under a single flag. Different islands, valleys or plateaus have their own groups and governments. When the Spaniards came, they used these divisions to rule us for 3 centuries. Even now, you could see those divisions. Ilocanos, Kapampangans, Tagalogs, Bicolanos, Muslims, Bisaya... From past til the present people are more identified with their ethnic groups more than their identity as Filipinos. Only when we move out of our country could we identify ourselves.

This divisiveness, caused mainly by the geographic feature of our country, causes problems to our society today. We can't move forward because somehow we don't trust each other. Only in few historical events seemed that Filipinos could unite, and after these moments, we disintengrate again.

I'm not sure if we could correct this, for these divisions run very deep. With the current political and economic situation, these rifts grow more --- further dividing our already divided society.
As compared to our ASEAN neighbors, most of them have attained prosperity after unification or at least minimizing divisions. That's what this country lacks, the sense of unity under a single identity as Filipinos.

Sure, we could blame corruption, graft and endless wars as the problem. But if we as a people stood up against these, will these problems prevail? No one can challenge the will of a united 80 million Filipinos.

Think about it. If a person's hands, feet, mouth, and eyes have their own will and cannot act as one, can he do something?
The same is what happening to our society ever since.

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