I couldn’t help but comment on the courtesy part. Back in elementary days, our school implemented this so-called “greeting campaign” wherein every student is sort of mandated to greet every superior that she comes across. Somehow, that campaign had an impact on me because since then I always greeted the older ones with a smile or a verbal greeting—even if they didn’t respond. Things changed when I got in UP though.

I think it would be nice to imbibe that discipline to the kids, but I won’t go to the extent of proposing to implement this in all schools in the country.

Reply: Thank you for the input. Yes, it’s hard to impose something that should be culturally imbibed. I would like to be believe that there is a social (not just cultural) context as to why people behave in a certain way. The lack of discipline among some Filipinos could be borne out of frustration with the way so-called public servants behave. No amount of imposition could assuage collective frustration. All the best!

Have you ever seen the Lapu-Lapu Statue at the Agripina Circle (near the Department of Tourism Building) in Manila?

Well, that Statue was actually commissioned by the South Koreans and given to us as a gift to honor the Filipinos who fought in the Korean War. The South Koreans were prompted to give this gift after then tourism secretary Richard Gordon met with the South Koreans and told them about our countrymen who participated in the Korean War. Apparently, some Filipino soldiers were honored in South Korea while they remained virtually anonymous in their own homeland. The South Koreans were, afterwards, moved to gift the country with a statue of Lapu-Lapu.

Lapu-Lapu behind that of Jose Rizal can be a unifying symbol taken together. Lapu-Lapu, the Visayan Muslim who gave us our first victory against Spanish colonizers and Jose Rizal, the Tagalog Christian who inspired successive revolts which eventually led to our independence from Spain.

Anyway, just wanted to share this tidbit.

Reply: Yes, I have seen the statue but I did not know that piece of information. Come to think of it, Filipinos participating in the Korean war should not be surprising given our strong ties with the United States which took the side of the South Koreans. Thank you for sharing it to me and the readers of this blog. All the best!