EVERY administration seems to have had its own “branding,” and when it was publicly announced that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was adopting “Bagong Pilipinas,” there was no shortage of critics and skeptics. In a sense, people have a right to be skeptical; after all it has happened so often that the achievements fell far short of the avowed vision. But that has not been true of all — and it certainly would be unfair to past administrations to claim that they failed to deliver on their promises. And perhaps, that is where “Bagong Pilipinas” just might make a distinct contribution.

The novelty of Bagong Pilipinas consists in the fact that it does not announce some new discovery or proclaim a breakthrough doctrine. It offers a perspective, proposes a vantage point by no means new, but certainly an invitation to a “renewed” vision. The Filipino is the Philippines’ worst and harshest critic, and while, for some purposes, this can be helpful, abiding cynicism about the country and about its leadership cannot take us very far.

Why should many Filipinos think of their fulfillment in being non-Filipino? Why should the zenith of their aspirations be in taking an oath that makes them nationals of a different country, after foreswearing allegiance to the Philippines? Many will say that it is because the Philippines is a miserable country compared to the prosperous countries of the West to which our citizens flee — to which they fly in the winter of their discontent! But it is we who make it miserable — we and our refusal to abide by discipline, we and our propensity to demand of candidates for public office donations and largesse, we and our choice to take shortcuts through government processes by bribing our way through, even through such simple processes as securing a driver’s license.

When we ask ourselves the question of why it is that Filipinos flourish abroad — in science, in the arts, in technology, and in simple, mundane tasks like housekeeping and hotel and restaurant services, the answer is not difficult. The Filipino is talented. The Filipino is adaptable. The Filipino is resourceful. The Filipino quickly learns. So, we are not a miserable people. In fact, we are a heroic people — and we do not only look to the heroic figures we study and read about at school but also contemporary heroes like the young Marine who bade his commander to bomb his location to flush the enemy out even if he knew that it would cost him his life. We remember the very first Filipino health workers who fell in the line of duty when Covid-19 first swept through the country. They were renowned health workers — physicians and nurses — and, true to their professions’ noblest traditions, they fell victim to the very pandemic that they were helping our people cope with.

The whipping boy is very often the government — government is blamed for all the travails of the country. Perhaps, that is where a change in orientation should come — and the country can learn from the Synodal journey that Pope Francis has inaugurated for the Church. Just as synodality means that the responsibility for being Church and being true to the Gospel is not the task of the hierarchy alone nor the responsibility of the ordained ministers, similarly, the task of transforming the country must be engendered by a covenant between government and the people. The government must earn the trust, respect and confidence of the people — and to this end, it must be ready to be called out when it fails the people, when public trust is betrayed, when public monies are wantonly spent profligately. But the people must carry their part of the burden, and publicprivate partnership projects are one form, but not the only form. Simple tasks and contributions arising out of civic-spiritedness go a long way — and yet we so often fail in these. Garbage is strewn along highways, and we blame government? Newly painted walls and fences are defaced with graffiti, and we take government to task? Employers short-change their employees, and we cast aspersions on government?

The culture of self-deprecation is not helpful. “Only in the Philippines” — to characterize the quirks and foibles of life in the Philippines was, at one time, amusing. It should no longer continue to be so because it is one way by which we think ill of the country when we should be saying “Only in the Philippines” of the sterling qualities of our people and the enchanting features of our land admired by so many others, except Filipinos.

In a sense, Bagong Pilipinas is not about the Marcos government. It should transcend the present administration and should be a call to take pride once more in being Filipino. And certainly, there can be nothing evil, malicious or wrong about that.