Making our time count

I once told a foreign visa commissioner that I wished to remain a Filipino citizen given a chance to be petitioned for another.

He was quite obviously flabbergasted, and at the time, this made me feel slighted. Why should choosing to be a citizen of our country be a source of such incredulity?

That was three decades ago, and though I have staunchly remained patriotic to the flag, many events have slowly chipped away at my confidence in our people.

It pains me to admit this, but just recent events alone have revealed the glaring details of a national shame.

Corruption has eaten at the core of our pride and dreams as Filipinos. We have battled graft-ridden controversies, risen against leaders who would sacrifice our welfare for their vested interests, but it has taken decades for us to see, once more, that nothing much has changed.

The quickest way to tell if a government is working is through structures or infrastructure.

Singapore’s excellent transportation system and metropolis design, Tokyo’s high-tech transport and railway system, Seoul’s advanced digital infrastructure, Hong Kong’s skyscrapers — they are but some of our neighbors who have successfully transitioned toward the future, leaving us sadly behind.

And yes, plenty has been said about the Duterte government’s “Build, Build, Build” program, to Marcos Jr.’s “Build, Better, More.”

What do we have to show for it? Some nice airports against some neglected ones; falling bridges, roads to nowhere and plenty of highly funded nonexistent ones. All over the country.

Ordinary folks, or those who dream of progress and development but experience daily the travails of urban folk in our cities and the agricultural neglect in our provinces, realize that this road is a long and crooked one.

Ancient cities in Turkey show us that the old world had all the right ideas for progress, development and sustainability, but in our case — in the new world — this knowledge and technology have been lost to greed and self-preservation.

Many civilizations rose and fell, leaving behind structures and artifacts that have lasted to this day.

They remind us that humans come and go in this world, and that the relics or the detritus that remain will eventually reveal what kind of souls lived then.