‘Filipinos should be proud of their character’
By Rachelle M. Nessia
Filipinos have a lot to celebrate these days due to a slew of homegrown Filipino talents having put the Philippines on the map in the world of dance, innovation, and even political issues in America.
Early this month of June, two principal dancers from Ballet Philippines bagged major awards during the 7th Helsinki International Ballet Competition in Helsinki, Finland wherein nearly 100 dancers from 29 countries participated in three intense rounds of dance competitions. In November last year, Elma Arboleras and Rodel de Guzaman of Iloilo scored the gold medal at the consumer category of the British Invention Show for their iBUS invention, a technology that might help solve the traffic congestion problem in the Philippines. And lately, a Pulitzer-prize winning Filipino journalist appeared on the front cover of the latest issue of TIME Magazine for his bold efforts to put the spotlight on the plight of undocumented immigrants in America.
However, beyond the awards and recognition, Filipinos should be proudest of their character, according to Jenny Lind Elmaco, guest speaker during the 114th Independence Day celebration in Dumaguete City. “We should be proud of our character because we are survivors,” said Elmaco.
In her speech, Elmaco described the Filipinos as survivors, with a strength resilient and unwavering despite the natural disasters that struck the country – from typhoons to earthquakes.
“Because we Filipinos we are survivors, we defend the defenseless and we protect the weak. We are a people who value respect and we treasure family not only those who we are born into but those we have created because our hearts have the capacity for so much care and love. We persevere and we are the most patient people in the world,” Elmaco stressed.
Herself a multi-awarded Filipina, Elmaco brought pride to the country with her achievements in peace and conflict transformation, global youth movement, and gender issues, among others. Currently a research fellow at the University of Bradford in United Kingdom, Elmaco is affiliated with the Women without Borders, Austrian Foundation for World Population, and International Cooperation and the Asia Europe Youth Dialogue.
In 2002, she graduated magna cum laude with a degree of Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Silliman University. In the same year, she was chosen as one of the Ten Outstanding Students of the Philippines and an awardee of the Ayala Young Leaders Alliance and Jose Rizal Model Student of the Philippines. She earned her Phd fellowship with the Junior Research Group on European Civil Society and Multi – level at the University of Muenster, Germany. She recently contributed a chapter on “EU Foreign Policy vis-à-vis Civil Society: A Panacea or Penumbra to Democracy?” in the book anthology European Civil Society: On the Road to Success (Nomos, 2008).
Elmaco also cited how Filipinos find fulfillment in food and in song. “We sing, we laugh, we dance whether we are happy or sad. We create every imaginable occasion not only birthdays and fiestas just to gather the people we like and love around – and we feed them too. We have a lot to be proud of.”
Elmaco’s rousing speech was the highlight of a more than an-hour long program at Quezon Park in Dumaguete City where a shrine of national hero Jose Rizal stands. Prior to Elmaco’s speech, government and non-government officials placed floral offerings at the foot of the shrine to pay tribute to Rizal who, Elmaco said best epitomizes what Filipinos can accomplish.
Elmaco quoted Rafael Palma in her speech: “What is most admirable in Rizal is his complete self-denial, his complete abandonment of his personal interests to think only of those of his country. He could have been whatever he wished to be, considering his natural endowments; he could have earned considerable sums of money from his profession; he could have lived relatively rich, happy, prosperous, had he not dedicated himself to public matters. But in him, the voice of the species was stronger than the voice of personal progress or of private fortune, and he preferred to live far from his family and to sacrifice his personal affections for an ideal he had dreamed of…”
She capped her speech urging Filipinos to celebrate, remember, and be inspired to work for a better and brighter Philippines. (RMN/PIA NEGOR)