Philippines: The Pearl of the Orient?

There are many things to consider as to revalidate the claim of the Philippines
of being the Pearl of the orient seas. The thing is, that is beyond doubt unless we
change some of the lyrics of our national anthem. It is said and done already and
such endearment has been part of our rich history. As we all know, Jose Rizal called
our country as such in one of his poems. If they (other countries) will take that away
from us, then we would seem like China’s behavior towards other countries who
claims that the Spratly’s also belong to them. So if they don’t want water cannons
splashing their territories too, then they might as well find other sea creatures that
can describe their nation. Like for instance, China can be the Whale shark of the
South China Sea. Isn’t that great? Well, although no other countries can take that
title from us, we need to prove them that we deserve it.

As Filipinos, we should accept that today is a different context compared to

the past. The basis of calling us the pearl of the orient has revolutionized to
something very different now. We can’t deny the beauty of the Philippines in terms
of natural resources. A proof of that is the impressive biodiversity that we have.
However, the question now is, how far have we gone in terms of industry, global
trade, education, agriculture and technology? Those things are actually the trend
today and many countries including our neighboring South East Asian nations have
been struggling to improve their status in terms of the said variables. The global
competition transcended from how beautiful is your country to how rich are your
people. Indeed that we are rising from the dark history that we had but there’s
nothing that makes us different from other nations. Our economy is continuously
rising amidst the natural disasters that hit our country- and so with Vietnam. Our
government is sincere in their fight against corruption- and so with Indonesia. There
have been actions to improve our educational system and global investors are willing
to risk their reserves on us- and so with Cambodia. In other words, we are in the
trend and so with the other ASEAN nations. Calling us the pearl of the orient should
mean that we Filipinos are distinct among other citizens. We should have something
in us that will stand out considering the demand of today and tomorrow. What’s
happening is that we are left behind of this Information age.

Maybe their right that we are really the pearl of the orient. Because just like a
pearl- a one of a kind pearl, it takes decades and centuries for it to form. In our
country, I think it will also take us a century to finally achieve a full highly
industrialized country status while the others have been enjoying theirs decades
before we did. To stand out is to transform our pace faster than the others. There
should be consistency of our goals and visions. There should be unity among us and
most importantly the eagerness to grow as a beautiful and productive nation.

As what I’ve mentioned, there could be no other country that can call
themselves the pearl of the orient. No other country can stay resilient amidst
devastations. No other country can smile back to others although they have been out
of food. No other country can shine through their talents in foreign lands. No other
country can welcome tourist as warm as we do. No other country can be called as
the PHILIPPINES.