LEAP: Poe’s patriotism

Presidential Candidate Sen. Grace Poe INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / JILSON SECKLER TIU

“Who among the presidential candidates is the least patriotic and has shown the lowest degree of love for the Philippines?” This is the question raised by LEAP or Lawyers for an Election Advancing the People’s will, in connection with the upcoming presidential election.

The question rose due to a small number of individuals mulling over the quality of patriotism manifested by Senator Grace Poe as for a time she swore an oath to become a US citizen and resided in the United States to follow her husband and family.

“The question becomes resounding as it is being amplified by rival presidential candidates specially now that she remains the candidate to beat based on the latest survey by Pulse Asia,” the LEAP opined in its press statement.

Speaking in favor of Senator Poe, Atty. Pearlito B. Campanilla, lead convenor of LEAP, said: “Patriotism, like motive, is complex and is difficult to ascertain. Often, they are determinable only by looking at one’s past action, but even that is not steadfast. I have several close relatives who have traded their Philippine passports for an American one yet they remained 100% Filipinos by heart and mind.”

“It cannot be argued that for quite sometime now, economic crises have forced millions of Filipinos to leave their homes to work and live in foreign shores. To most, it has not been a decision to uproot themselves, let alone completely sever their ties from the country of their birth. Yet the burning desire to return and retire in the Philippines has remained always in the spirits of most Filipinos staying overseas.

“This is not mentioning their continued subscription to the Filipino channel on cable television, their constant rooting for Manny Pacquiao in all his boxing bouts, their being proud about Pia Wurtzbach crowned as Ms. Universe and their unceasing sending of balikbayan boxes to their relatives in the Philippines. In a globalized world, conscientious patriotism has become passe. Changing one’s citizenship is a practical decision that ought not to define one’s entire being,” added Campanilla.

Allegiance does not stop when we leave our borders. A candidate who espoused a contrary view will certainly not received votes from the millions of Filipinos who are staying or working abroad. This runs contrary to the policy of the government giving respect to our unsung Filipino heroes who toils out of the country to earn dollars which keeps our economy vibrant, said Campanilla.

Campanilla elucidated: “True patriotism is rendering loyalty to the principles of justice, freedom, equality, rule of law and respect to human rights. This makes the country humanely habitable for its citizens. Loving our country means possessing an unyielding intent for our country to become a great nation. It is not merely a case of waiving the Philippine flag, memorizing the names of our national heroes and sporting a ‘barong tagalog’ or a Filipinana dress. It is striving that our country be righteous, strong and peaceful.”

The proposition that an individual who stays in the Philippines is considered patriotic becomes valid only if that individual participates in nation building. The fact is, our countrymen abroad care more about what is going on in our beloved fatherland compared to the many who stays in the Philippines but incessantly plunders and pillage its coffers. The same are true to those who does not respect the human rights of its citizen or who muddles with democratic processes for individual benefit, Campanilla added.

Atty. Pearlito B. Campanilla with Atty. George Garcia at the 4th oral argument of Sen.
Grace Poe’s disqualification case before the Supreme Court.

To give credit to Senator Grace Poe, Campanilla said she has sacrificed substantially by abandoning the US, a country that offers a superior and much better life for her and the family, to be back in the Philippines and face all the drudgeries of living in a third world country. The deteriorating public infrastructure, clogged traffic, rising criminality, unemployment, poor government services, periodic calamities and all the others that contributes to the Filipino’s diaspora, Senator Poe will face them again. That should say a lot about her patriotism. It does not follow that since she left for the U.S. ergo: she is not willing to sacrifice or suffer for the country anymore contrast to us who stayed, Campanilla quipped.

Ironically, those who takes pockshots against her for being a former U.S. citizen are the ones who have in their facebook photos showing that they were taking a grand time vacationing in the land of milk and honey. Thus Campanilla stated: “It reminds me of those individual who rallies in front of the U.S. Embassy shouting ‘Yankee go home’ but at the same time whispering in between breaths, ‘but if you do, please take me with you’.”

To recapitulate, Filipinos who sojourns abroad or changed their citizenship does not necessary mean that they have turned traitors to the motherland. Those who stayed yet robs the taxpayer’s money, gives no regard to the rule of law or infringe on the peoples basic rights are the one that can be considered as traitors. To say otherwise is to have a clear case of a misguided sense of patriotism, Campanilla stated.