Reasons to celebrate?

Filipinos had a lot to celebrate during the week that passed.

For a number of days , Gringo Honasan's arrest dominated the headlines and prime time news. One side, particularly the government, was exhilarated at the capture of somebody it considers the godfather of all coups. The other side, which includes the whole political spectrum from center of left leftward, found one more reason to damn the government for what they consider a policy to muffle dissent and exterminate the opposition.

Well, while the government tries very hard to trumpet the arrest of the former senator as a significant triumph, it eerily finds itself in the defensive in the media war. Unless the police escorts assigned to secure Gringo allow him to escape like what happened before, no doubt he will go the way of Erap Estrada, Nur Misuari and Crispin Beltran. They represent the full range of the “destabilizers” of the government, and it is to the best interest of the State that these people and many others like them be kept at bay until PGMA proves her point: that she is the best President the country ever had, so far.

Unfortunately for the government, Gringo is still seen by many as a hero. A sizable sector within the military establishment, and among civilians have great respect for Honasan and the causes he espoused. Accounts of his affairs with other women did little to tarnish his credibility and leadership. Some say, in a macho society like ours, dwelling on such aspect of Gringo's life serves to boost his mystic as the penultimate icon of male power and virility.

Speaking of male power , a recent international survey showed that it is in fact a myth in the Philippines . We ranked number six, and are proud about it, in efforts to close the gender gap in the country, while the US ranked number 22. This confirms our suspicions that we are actually a matriarchal society where men are allowed to occupy positions of power implementing the decisions subtly made by women. And in times where men fail, women had no choice but take on the reins.

Then, Manny Pacquiao made us proud again as a Filipino. He clobbered Mexican Eric Morales into surrender in the third round of their boxing match. Many believe Pacquiao is the best thing that ever happened to Filipinos of this generation. He gave us the reason to walk with heads up before the world and, without apologies, say, “Pinoy ako!”

The tragedy is that, this vicarious victory and pride actually highlights the extreme poverty in body and spirit of each Filipino. Could there be something better to be proud of as a Filipino than a Manny Pacquiao who clobbers, hurts, maims, conquers and in doing so, earns millions of pesos, in dubious world of big professional boxing manipulated and dominated by international syndicates?

In fact, thousands more important and great reasons to celebrate and be proud of are out there, other than Manny and Gringo, if we only look close enough and discover our true worth as Filipinos.