A Letter to Future Generations January 12, 2024 Written by the “Iho” of Jesus Lotero and Jocelyn Lotero Dear Ihos and Ihas, It has been my honor to write this letter for you. As an 18-year-old college student, I myself have been called many times an “iho” by my mama, my papa, my tito, my tita, my ninong, my ninang, my lolo, my lola, and to those who are older than I am. Whenever I am called an “iho”, it makes my blood boil. It makes me realize who I really am. I am a son, a child of someone, a grandchild of someone, and that someone is not just anyone. That someone is a Filipino, like you and me. We all know that we are not just anyone, we are Filipinos, and we should take pride in that. I am not just writing this message to deliver you a word of advice. I would like for you to know the reality that we Filipinos have had 50 years or more before you read this letter. And for this, I would like for you to listen to what I have to say. Filipinos have a deep tradition of choosing politicians who are more popular at the time, someone who is very wealthy that they could buy the votes of people through influence, or a traditional politician with a stronger-sounding family name (Loo, 2004). On June 30, 2022, another Marcos was elected into presidency, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., when in fact that his late father, Ferdinand Marcos Sr., was a dictator that put his self-interests before the interests of the Filipino people that took many Filipino lives and ravaged the Philippine economy during his administration. Filipinos’ political ignorance and irresponsibility is an alarming and widespread issue that continues to hunt the Philippines as we know it. Filipinos are often attracted to the sweet words of “pagbabago” of our politicians, but the reality is that nothing ever changes. Maybe the only thing that has ever changed are their faces or “kung sino ang nakaupo”. Popularity, populism, and wealth should be the last of things that Filipinos should consider if we ever want good and progressive change. We should consider electing people who have the proper education to lead a barangay, a city, and the whole country. We should elect people who have nationalistic principles, people that when given the power to decide will always put the interests of their people first before anything else or themselves. Palagi nalang ba tayong magpapaniwala sa mga politikong wala namang ibang ginawa kundi magnakaw sa atin ng ating mga pangarap? Ilalagay nalang ba natin sa pahamak ang kinabukasan ng ating mga iho at iha? Kung hindi tayo mamumulat ngayon ay kailan pa? Palagi nalang ba nating uunahin ang kaginhawaan at posisyon kaysa sa ating mga prinsipyo? A Letter to Future Generations January 12, 2024 Written by the “Iho” of Jesus Lotero and Jocelyn Lotero Do not get me wrong. I believe that Filipinos still stand a chance and deserve a chance. I believe that we Filipinos can enact a movement never seen before in Philippine history, an unstoppable movement that would change the political, economical, and social landscape of the Philippines forever, and finally put the Filipinos in the right path. According to Booker T. Washington, “There are two ways of exerting one’s strength: one is pushing down, the other is pulling up”. In the case of what is happening in the Philippine society, it seems evident that crab mentality or “utak talangka” is a prevalent mindset. So, what is crab mentality? Crab mentality is an act of preventing others from achieving what they want and not wanting others to be successful. The tendency of this mindset is to destroy people who are ahead of you, perpetuating a cycle of resentment and negativity. Ang crab mentality ay isa sa mga sakit ng mga Pilipino ever since the Spanish colonization. The hierarchical structure inflicted by our Spanish colonizers led to a survival strategy among the Indios (native Filipinos), who embraced crab mentality to gain favor with the Insulares and Peninsulares (Spanish elites) (Crab Mentality: A Hindrance to National Progress, 2016). Crab mentality undermines a nation's efforts to unite its people. The unwillingness to celebrate the success of others creates a broken society, whether at home, work, school, and even in politics (Crab Mentality: A Hindrance to National Progress, 2016). In the Philippine society, praises are often rare for achievements. Some utter compliments and praises without really giving meaning to them. Whereas, others are quick to give credit to anyone other than the person who actually accomplished it. The usual, “Oh, it’s because the father is rich”, “May pera kasi ang mga yan,” or “Magpasalamat ka sa Diyos.” when delivered poorly and consistently, reveals a form of crab mentality that has existed not just in society but in Filipino families as well (Gohu, 2023). In schools, students resort to destructive behaviors by sabotaging their classmates' or schoolmates' projects to stop them from achieving higher grades (Crab Mentality: A Hindrance to National Progress, 2016). Meanwhile, in the workplace, there are people who spread malicious rumors about their colleagues who are up for a promotion to sabotage their reputation (Shatz, n.d.). In businesses, huge corporations abuse their dominant position in the market by behaving in a way that substantially lessens competition by pricing unfairly below cost to drive small competitors into bankruptcy or impede them from growing (Asuncion, 2018). This competitive environment creates a problematic cycle of crab mentality that will last many Filipino generations to come if not pointed out and fixed. A Letter to Future Generations January 12, 2024 Written by the “Iho” of Jesus Lotero and Jocelyn Lotero I share the same sentiments as the author of the article entitled “Utak Talangka or Talangkang Pag-iisip: What is Crab Mentality?”, Kevyn Gohu of Modern Parenting. Although jealousy is a normal human emotion, we have to realize that acting upon our jealousy makes situations worse. We have to accept the fact that we will not always be in the spotlight, and we have to respect the fact that we also need to acknowledge other people for the greater good. Sometimes, we feel that another person's success makes us smaller or more unlikeable because they achieved something that you did not achieve yet. However, not everyone gets the same motivation. We are all different individuals in our own way, but it does not mean that we get to pull other people down just because it does not benefit us. As Filipinos, we need to appreciate people more, and as Filipinos we can be better people (Gohu, 2023). Moreover, there are many more negative traits that we Filipinos do not need such as the Ningas-Kugon, Mañana Habit, Bahala Na Attitude, and more, but we could all start from somewhere. I firmly believe that we should first start by slowly erasing our crab mentality since it is something that undermines the true essence of being a Filipino, being a makabayan and a makakapwa. If we manage to change our political and social landscape for the better, then I can presume that we could also change the country’s economic landscape. However, there are still millions of Filipino families today that suffer from the devastating effects of poverty and inequality. With the country’s high inflation rate, goods and services become more and more inaccessible for Filipinos as the income of Filipino families do not keep up with the rising inflation rate (Canto et. al, 2023). Government intervention can only do so much for the people. Everything boils down to the ability of the people to choose the right leaders and the right people to run their government. With all these economic problems that Filipinos have to go through every day just to survive, there are some people that think that only a miracle could change that. In spite of that, I believe that instead of waiting for the outcome of our future, we should start now. We should start with ourselves. Mga iho, mga iha, mga kapwa kong mga Pilipino, walang silbi ang paniniwala kung hindi naman tayo gagalaw. Wala ring silbi ang aking mga salita kung ang gagawin lang din naman natin ay maghintay. Upang magkaroon ng tunay na pagbabago sa ating buhay na ikakatuwa ng ating mga iho at iha, magsimula muna tayo sa ating mga sarili. We should empower ourselves, support one another, and never bring each other down. We should review our past mistakes from history, learn from it, and never repeat it again. We should choose what battles are worth to fight and take our chances for the betterment of our lives. Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! Mabuhay ang mga Pilipino! A Letter to Future Generations January 12, 2024 REFERENCES Asuncion, A. C. (2018). (King) crab mentality . Philippine Competition Commission Ensuring businesses compete and consumers benefit. https://www.phcc.gov.ph/column8-bm-caca-king-crab-mentality/ Canto et. al. (2023). The Philippines’ Economy in 2023. McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/ph/our-insights/what-does-2023-hold-for-the-philippineseconomy Crab Mentality: A Hindrance to National Progress. https://studymoose.com/filipino-crab-mentality-essay StudyMoose. (2016). Gohu, K. (2023). Utak talangka or Talangkang Pag-iisip: What is crab mentality?. Modern Parenting. https://modernparenting-onemega.com/crab-mentality-what-it-isand-how-it-destroys-filipino-families/ Shatz, I. (n.d.). Crab Mentality: When People Pull Down Those Who Get Ahead. Effectiviology. https://effectiviology.com/crab-mentality/
