(NOTE: This was first written last July 15, 2004)
Today I have lost a lot of my pride in being a Filipino. Nope, it's not because of the corruption in our government, nor is it due to our being a poor nation. There are other countries that are worse off than us in terms of these problems. I lost my pride because of our government's surrender to terrorists.
When I first heard the news, I thought it was like the earlier announcement of the release of the Filipino hostage, just a misinformation. But after I saw an official from the Department of Foreign Affairs make the announcement on Al-Jazeera, man, was I deeply disappointed! I was disappointed at our government for being a crowd pleaser and not standing by its principles and commitments. But most of all, I was pissed at all the (pseudo)nationalists for using this crisis to embarrass our government and bash the US.
What are the possible repurcussions of this decision of our government? The first and most worrisome is that terrorism works. Both foreign and local terrorists will now believe that all it takes to bring our government to its knees is to kidnap a few of countrymen or blow up a few buildings. Imagine if some foreign symphatizer of the MILF or the Abu Sayyaf kidnaps some Filipinos abroad and demands the separation of Mindanao from the Philippines. Will we give in yet again just to "save" our kababayans? Another effect of our government's surrender is that other nations are also put at risk since these terrorists will think: "Why stop at the Philippines if there may be other wimps like them!" Other countries now also doubt our reliability as an ally since they will think that when the going gets rough , we'll scramble for the nearest exit.
The president said she wants to turn the Philippines into a Strong Republic. But with what our government did, it seems we're turning into a weanie republic instead.