Love your country

In his lifetime, the late president Manuel Luis Molina Quezon, in his code of ethics, advocated the love of country, the value of honor, and life and nationalism. “Love your country for it is the home of your people; the seat of your affections, and the source of your happiness and well being,” Quezon said.

Former president and now Manila Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada rekindled the vision of Quezon when in a published report, he called on Filipinos to love their country, saying this will pave the way for economic stability and progress.

“It is this lack of love for the country and nationalism among people, notably the leaders who prioritize self interest over that of the country and the people,” he said, adding “it is their apathy that places the country in crisis.”

The Philippines is rich and the Filipinos are known to be sitting on top of vast fortune, but because of the leaders’ apathy, the country remains poor, due allegedly to unabated corruption and too much politics.

The Erap call brings to mind a column by the late Adrian Cristobal where he quoted a South Korean businessman saying, “Filipinos complain of too much corruption and too much politics. The Philippines is poor and lagging behind other Asian countries because they don’t love their country.”

The businessman’s view is shared by another Korean, Jaeyoun Kim, a former student in the Philippines. In an essay picked from the internet, he said it is their lack of nationalism that keeps Filipinos poor.

Jaeyoun Kim cited the case of South Korea. After the Korean war, the country was so poor. It had only three factories and no natural resources to speak of, prompting the government to send mine workers and nurses to Germany so they could send money back home to help build factories. Kim said at the time, Koreans envied Filipinos who they considered well off economically. Many Koreans, he said, died of famine, his father and brother among them. The Korean government was so corrupt but they were able to recover and develop the economy because the Koreans did their best for the country and people, their hearts burning with nationalism.

When President Park Chung Hee went to Germany to seek loans, he was met at the airport by Korean workers in the country. Crying, they asked Pres. Park when their country would have a sound economy. With tears in his eyes, Park told them Korea would achieve economic stability if everyone worked hard for the country. He asked them to love Korea from their hearts. Park returned home happy over the loans commitments from the German government.­