In my own opinion, much of the poverty in our country as well as other previously colonized countries all boils down to the structure and culture created by the colonizers way way back almost 500 years ago . . . In the not so popular history books, it was known that our country has been one of the centers for trade in the Southeast, be it China, Malaysia, Indonesia and all the other sea faring traders of that time . . . We were once well known in other other countries as written in their history books . . . But then came the Spaniards, who with their utmost arrogance preyed on our ancestors ignorance.... The current Lungsod-Simbahan-Plaza-Merkado system was set-up and the "Friars became the Right hand of God". They instituted "privileged Filipinos" to become their puppet officials to do their dirty work of manipulating their co-Filipinos. Our government now is just as corrupt as what the Spaniards had wanted it during those times... Divide and Conquer as they say . . . Break down the solid Muslim trading communities and create geographically distinct towns . . . Make the Filipinos forget their slavery by creating a puppet government, promoting siestas, fiestas and using the Word of God as an excuse to colonization . . . . As time went by, more and more control took place, including trade and economy and we see each other not as Filipinos but as Cebuanos, Bisaya, Tagalog, Ilonggo, Bicolano, Ilocano, etc. . .
Now, we are free from the Spaniards, Japs and "seemingly" free from the Americans.... But, where do we really stand right now? The way we think, we act and do things, are still the way it is that these colonizers want us to be ... DIVIDED, LAZY, CORRUPT and DELUSIONAL . . . So how can we really progress if we ourselves do not realize this? How can we change for the better if we are unaware of it? And how can we change what we are if the general culture which has been there for centuries persists?

Let us not blame God (or whoever or whatever you believe in) for all our miseries . . . If you're Christian, is this really what the Christ has intended? Is the Spanish Christianity before which we have adapted until now what the real Christ really wanted us to believe? Let us look at ourselves again in the mirror and ask ourselves . . .

We are what who we were . . .