Fetalvero: To fight or to give in

WE can readily identify two groups of people in a Philippine setting. The aspirants and the desperate are easy to spot because of our demographic.

Aspirants compose of our Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) and those who have dreams, those who will remain focused and will not stop until they achieve their dreams. Working students and our scholars are in the list of aspirants. School children in the remote barangays who have to walk barefooted for kilometers on treacherous dirt and slippery roads in order to get to their school, aspire high even if there are limited resources provided for them by the local government. Children coming from the poorest of the poor, who strive to survive by helping their parents earn a living on weekends, in order to realize a promise made to their parents to get them out of poverty; they are also aspirants.

Also in the same group, children in show business who made a strong commitment to help their siblings achieve educational goals in the road to success.

Of course, we cannot miss those people in war-torn areas who, despite atrocities, still manage to find time to educate themselves by what they witness as they advocate for peace among Filipinos.

On the other side of the fence are the desperate, as manifested in risk taking activities, if not in various negative scenarios.

Why are “jueteng,” cockfights and the lottery so popular among the marginalized citizens of this country? It’s the desperation that makes Filipinos want to gamble and take their chances in order to uplift themselves from what appears to be an uphill battle. Every penny counts and government seems to be interested to get a share of that minimal income by taxation.

In desperation, Filipinos insist on going to Kuwait as domestic helpers even if there is that big chance that they will be abused. Despite the deployment ban, I heard there were those who are determined to go to Kuwait through the backdoor.

Human trafficking, child pornography, carnapping, kidnapping, guns for hire and prostitution are still rampant despite government efforts to curtail such illegal activities. According to some of our fellow citizens, they think this is the only way to survive.

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