Thread by @sejoalzir

COWARDICE AND BRAVERY FROM CRADLE TO GRAVE

The interplay between karuwagan (cowardice) and katapangan (bravery) is the recurring narrative in the life of a Filipino from the time he is born until his last breath on a flat surface. Cowardice is always castigated and humiliated.

Pregnancy is an existential battle among Filipino parents, and the womb of a woman is viewed as an unpredictable place--almost like a boxing ring. Strong fetuses cling to life, their survival, while the weak ones let go of themselves, miscarriage. Those fetuses are labeled early.

Childbirth is the first struggle of a Filipino, especially in rural areas where traditional midwives' effort is prone to infection and complicated delivery. "Lumaban ka, anak" (fight, my child) is the desperate line expected from worried parents who view surviving as a struggle.

The moment the sex of babies is revealed, fathers already have masculine standards and manly expectations if male--sports, labor, family protection, and courageous dreams, which are all related to strength and bravery. No father wishes cowardice and weakness for his newborn son.

After surviving birth, Filipino babies are given weapons against usog or buyag in Bisaya--the evil eye that causes doom, misfortune or injury. Have you seen a string of tiny black and red balls around a baby's wrist or an amulet around his waist? It's still around and used today.

After a couple of years, the bravery or cowardice of toddlers is tested by scaring them with ghosts (mumo), drunkards (lasing), priests (pari), and Indian lenders (Bombay). The scared tots cry, run, and hide in fear, while the curious ones do not cower but demand explanations.

The first day of school is another instance in which bravery and courage are instilled by parents in their children's innocent minds attacked by separation anxiety. The parents say "you are brave" or "don't be afraid" to allay their children's fear of the unfamiliar surroundings.

T-shirt boxing or child fistfights instigated by adults also separate the brave from the cowardly. "Pitikin mo ang bayag" (flick his ball) and "hawakan mo ang tenga" (touch his ear) are egging commands that ridicule kids who won't fight and hype the hardihood of praised bullies.

The cowardice-bravery play evolves as Filipino males grow up. Their coming of age defines their strength and courage. There are three child-to-adult baptisms (binyag) in the Philippines--tuli (circumcision), unang kantot ( devirginization), and maagang panligaw (early courtship).

Circumcision has always been associated with bravery and masculinity. I presume it is due to the traditional method in which metal blades or sharp thin bamboo strips are used. In rural areas, that method of cutting foreskin is made worse by infection and lack of pain medication.

The motive of fathers, uncles, brothers, and cousins who arrange teen devirginizations is to develop their kins' sexual confidence. Again, even in motels and brothels, courage to fuck and bravery to tactually explore the female sexual anatomies are demonstrated and experienced.

Early courtship is also replete with egging or pushing. Filipino men are encouraged by relatives and friends to pursue women, and when they're ignored by women, they're told not to give up. Yes, women are struggles or games to be won to such men, the early purveyors of misogyny.

The Filipino elite has its own exclusive baptisms--the coming out to society. The trust-fund kids, when they reach twenty-one, are given responsibilities in running their parents' businesses or encouraged to put up their own ventures--scary to the weak and exciting to the strong.

The sons of oligarchs are presented to the public to be adulated in balls for the rich. They are introduced as someone who just graduated from Wharton or who returned to the Philippines after a decade in Europe. That coming out needs courage to show off and bravery to role-play.

Even the young sons of political dynasts have their own coming of age. They run for the first time in elections dominated by their folks. They are scared to lose and break the line of family dominance. Political bravery to them is winning at all cost or by any means necessary.

There are also social forms of cowardice and bravery. Filipinos experience this one in parental sermons about education and poverty: "You quit because you're a coward who won't struggle for a better life. You aren't brave enough to defeat difficulties." That's existentialist too.

At least, the first twenty-one years of Filipino lives are spent on the interplay of cowardice and bravery in which the latter is valued and celebrated. Do you expect Filipinos to admire Marcos' no-show in Soho's presidential interview? In short, Filipinos don't like cowards.

Filipinos have been bombarded with myths and legends with characters that are deified because of strength, courage, and bravery--they never quit, give up, surrender or say pass. Yet you expect Filipinos to revere the cowardice of Marcos to face an award-winning female journalist.

The films and the TV series Filipinos watch are full of confident, courageous, and brave heroes or protagonists, yet you still push the disconnected narrative that Marcos is the leading man (bida) in Philippine politics because he's the son of deified Malakas, a feared dictator.

Using Lam-ang, indigenous headhunters, and juramentados (suicidal and homicidal warriors) to demonstrate the cowardice of Marcos is too much. I prefer Juan Tamad and village idiots who are still mentally confident in their idiocy and lunacy--definitely, not intellectual cowards.

In politics, there have been presidential candidates who garnered tons of votes due to their perceived strength and bravery. Two of which were action stars--Erap and FPJ. Santiago's feistiness and Duterte's pugnacity captivated voters too. Do you think Marcos is in their league?

Marcos' puppeteers should be alarmed by the recent political history of the country. The people didn't side with the coup plotters during Cory Aquino's administration because they were thought of as agents of Marcos, who was perceived as a coward because of his sudden departure.

In Philippine history, Rizal, Bonifacio, and Luna were not war victors, yet Filipinos think of them as heroes. Perhaps it's due to their martyrdom that defines a different kind of bravery or courage--the courage to face punishment and death and the bravery not to escape or hide.

Marcos' supporters should also go back to the ouster of Erap because of his cowardice to tell his allies to open that envelope. His voters and fans abandoned him, while angry Filipinos were filling the streets. "Kung hindi takot, pabuksan ang enbelop" toppled a corrupt president.

I still believe to this day that if only his handlers trained him well in public speaking, rhetoric, political spin and debate a la Ronald Reagan of the United States, FPJ would've won by a mile and GMA's cheating would've been futile. Fame isn't enough to cover mental cowardice.

What happened to Santiago in 1992 was a political realization that perceived lunacy is the only thing that could cancel a politician's image of bravery. Sadly, Duterte's Fentanyl addiction and psychological evaluation weren't revealed and spread widely but deemed as mere gossip.

It's also difficult to ruin Duterte's role-played strength, courage and bravery even though he seems senile at times, arthritic when he walks, and mentally docile when it comes to China. Maybe killing, in Filipino minds, is bravery. Drugged or insane juramentados are still brave.

I read somewhere that Bonifacio called Rizal "duwag" (coward) for rejecting and not joining in his revolution. Bravery to Bonifacio was aiming a rifle at someone or wielding a blade for hacking necks. In truth Rizal was too brave to go against the ignorant bravery of Katipuneros.

Rizal's view on cowardice seemed prophetic--"cowardice rightly understood begins with selfishness and ends with shame." That has been the life story of selfish, unprepared, and myopic revolutionaries. Bravery is also one's mental ability to accept his weaknesses and deficiencies.

Going back to Marcos, where are his confidence, courage, strength, and bravery? Let's say his supporters are right that women are weak. Why couldn't he face Soho and Robredo, who are women, in an interview? Remember, Filipinos ridicule men who are scared of women--under de saya.

Done.