I should not surprise us anymore that despite the difficulties of the past few
years, the Filipinos remain as optimistic as ever of the coming year. Hope springs eternal
for Filipinos as shown by a survey last year by both Pulse Asia and the Social Weather
Station that showed 89% or nearly nine of ten Filipinos face the coming year with hope.
The same percentage of Filipinos showed the same optimism about the coming
year in 2009, which was slightly lower than in the three previous years — 91% in 2006
and 2007, and 92% in 2008. This year’s results shouldn’t be far from those numbers.
Hope surveys had customarily been at high levels, starting at 87% when the SWS
first polled about hope in December 2000, and 88% in December 2001. In December
2002, New Year hope reached a record high of 95 percent before declining to 90 percent
in December 2003. It slumped to 81 percent at the end of December 2004, but rebounded
to 85 percent in 2005 and to 91 percent in 2006.
Except for that period following the Garci cheating scandal in 2004 when street
protests nearly toppled Gloria Macapagal Arroyo from Malacanang, Filipinos have been
traditionally hopeful of the coming year.
It may be worthwhile to note that in Germany, where the first survey about fear
and hope was made in 1991, hope among Germans never topped 58% in any year from
1991 to the present. It is ironic that the Philippines, one of the poorest countries in the
world, has a much higher hope rating than Germany, which is the world’s fifth largest
economy, next only to the United States, China, Japan and India.
Analysts cite the resiliency and the traditionally happy disposition of Filipinos
as the reason for their eternal optimism in the face of poverty, disasters, calamities,
corruption and inefficiency of government, and the prolonged separation of families
because of the export of labor.
That Filipinos remain hopeful despite all these negative factors is indeed a
testament to the resiliency of Filipinos, which was first noted by the late President
Manuel L. Quezon who described Filipinos as “pliant like a bamboo,” in reference
to the bamboo tree, which bends with the wind and survives the storm. This inherent
characteristic of the Filipino enables him to survive disasters and calamities that confront
him, enabling him to adjust to life’s difficulties and move on.
But whether such eternal optimism and resiliency is good for the country or not is
another thing.
The Philippine Daily Inquirer, for example, commented in an editorial in 2005
that “it may well be that Filipino optimism is actually what is holding the country back,
rather than pushing it forward.”
The editorial added: “In a year marked by serious scandal, at a time when many of
the nation’s institutions came under attack or (under) a pall of doubt, the Filipino seems
ready to let bygones be bygones and – to use one of the catchphrases of the year – move
on.
“This explanation (one of several, we hasten to add) is what makes the President
and her defenders sleep better at night; the Filipino views what’s coming up with more
hope than fear because he finds it easy to forgive and to forget what had gone before.”
In conclusion, the Inquirer said: “In other words, we may be incurable optimists
because we expect too little of the future, or from ourselves. We let alleged crimes slide
because we do not demand an accounting; we are happy to continue eating two square
meals a day and call that progress. Enough already. If this is optimism, let’s all get real.”
In a blog, one Totie Mesia said about the Filipinos’ optimism: “We rightly laud
our innate positive mentality which helps us cope with the economic crisis. But we have
the temptation to look at reality in a blurry prism, sometimes with a tinge of “denial.”
Our country is mired in a protracted “crisis” which makes it tempting to rest painful
issues at the backburner. Perhaps, the survey should not bring us that much of hope if we
understand our situation more.”
And that precisely is the problem with the Filipinos’ eternal optimism. Because
we have set the bar too low, we tend to be satisfied with what we have even though it is
clearly not enough, and in this situation, it is not difficult to be hopeful. And because of
our ever-hopeful spirit, we tend to ignore the problems of the past and move on, only to
encounter the same problems in the coming year.
The problem with these hope surveys is that they are usually conducted in the first
week of December, when a festive atmosphere prevails over the Philippines because of
the coming Christmas season. At this time of the year, Filipinos put their problems under
the rug and put a happy face for the most festive of all Filipino celebrations. And besides,
many of them enjoy a moment of satisfaction at this time of the year, having just received
or about to receive 13th month pay, bonuses and other perks.
While hope is generally a good thing, too much of it can bring bad results. After
all, isn’t it a fact of life that anything in excess is not a good thing?