9pm BBC2 SUNDAY - Toughest place to be a bus driver - Manila

[Englishman2010]

I watched this last night and was moved by Josh's experience. I googled his name hoping to send a short message of appreciation for his compassion and empathy and came to this site. For most of the responses here, your sentiments seem to align well with mine.

However, I am bothered by responses which imply that life isn't typically like that in Manila. I myself have had the privelege of being born under different circumstances (or as Warren Buffet puts it, I won the ovarian lottery). Sometimes, people don't have choices. People who do are often times the ones who make it seem that having choices is a birth right... not always. Filipinos who live overseas and go home to visit should try to walk the streets (like Josh did) to experience life as it truly is... a walk down the Fort does not count.

Another one that bothers me is the defense of the Church on the very specific subject of family planning. I think that people should be properly educated on the value of population control. The poor see children as potential sources of income, and hence try to have as many as possible. However, what they don't see is the big picture and that is, the more people competing for the same, finite and limited resource, the harder life becomes. The opportunities dwindle as population increases.

Welcome to the forum Ron, I hope you can stick around. Do you have any connections with the Philippines yourself?
I agree with your last two paragraph's and would guess that most westerners would too. In the west we have largely abandoned religion or taken up non catholic religions which don't preach about the wrongs of birth control. However, our Filipino friends are still very deeply religious and do take on board what the Catholic church preaches. I'm not going to get into the rights and wrongs of that as I don't want to upset any of my fellow members. However, your last sentence sums up my view too

[ron m.]

Welcome to the forum Ron, I hope you can stick around. Do you have any connections with the Philippines yourself?
I agree with your last two paragraph's and would guess that most westerners would too. In the west we have largely abandoned religion or taken up non catholic religions which don't preach about the wrongs of birth control. However, our Filipino friends are still very deeply religious and do take on board what the Catholic church preaches. I'm not going to get into the rights and wrongs of that as I don't want to upset any of my fellow members. However, your last sentence sums up my view too

Thanks. I actually grew up there but migrated to the US in 1986 at the age of 16. I've been back several times and the stark difference between the rich and poor still shocks me. Don't get me wrong, poverty exists everywhere, even here in California. I just took a mountain bike ride yesterday with a couple of friends (or mates if you prefer) from my house to the hillside, which required us to cut through part of Oakland (not-so-desirable part of the Bay Area). My friends couldn't believe the contrast of Alameda and Oakland, which for all practical purpose, is only separated by a freeway.

But I digress... I think it's the proportion of poor people versus the rich that troubles me. There just are not very much opportunities out there. Getting an education does not guarantee a better life. A good number of fast food workers flipping your burgers there have some education (perhaps even college grads).

The blame is very difficult to pin. You could say that government needs to be less corrupt and serve the people more than the whim of politicians, and in a great way, this is true. Which probably implies that we need better politicians, yet our best and brightest are leaving the country in search of better opportunities (there are still some very good people there, but can you imagine how better we could be if all our talented people stayed?). I wouldn't even necessarily blame the Church because it brings its share of positive influences (I think it just needs to think a bit more progressively and pragmatically to reflect the current times).

Progress begins with the creation of opportunities, opportunities that help the greater good (environmentally, morally and ethically). But we need good shepherds in order to foster such an environment, and a common, unified goal. I'm starting to see that in the fringes (Gawad Kalinga comes to mind http://www.gk1world.com/), and hopefully, it will gain critical mass. I hope we as Pinoys abroad can support these endeavors and assert our influence to help make positive changes in our country.

Okay... off my soapbox now.

[Arthur Little]

I watched this last night and was moved by Josh's experience. I googled his name hoping to send a short message of appreciation for his compassion and empathy and came to this site. For most of the responses here, your sentiments seem to align well with mine.

However, I am bothered by responses which imply that life isn't typically like that in Manila. I myself have had the privelege of being born under different circumstances (or as Warren Buffet puts it, I won the ovarian lottery). Sometimes, people don't have choices. People who do are often times the ones who make it seem that having choices is a birth right... not always. Filipinos who live overseas and go home to visit should try to walk the streets (like Josh did) to experience life as it truly is... a walk down the Fort does not count.

Another one that bothers me is the defense of the Church on the very specific subject of family planning. I think that people should be properly educated on the value of population control. The poor see children as potential sources of income, and hence try to have as many as possible. However, what they don't see is the big picture and that is, the more people competing for the same, finite and limited resource, the harder life becomes. The opportunities dwindle as population increases.

Welcome to the forum Ron, I hope you can stick around. I agree with your last two paragraph's and would guess that most westerners would too.I'm not going to get into the rights and wrongs of that as I don't want to upset any of my fellow members. However, your last sentence sums up my view too

Ron ... . I, unfortunately, DIDN'T manage to see this programme ... because I'd been following something else on another channel. But like my friend, Ian [Englishman] with the sentiments you've expressed in the paragraphs he refers to. To me also, they make a great deal of sense ... particularly in relation to the Catholic Church's stance on birth control.

[mikey73]

Ron ... . I, unfortunately, DIDN'T manage to see this programme ... because I'd been following something else on another channel. But like my friend, Ian [Englishman] with the sentiments you've expressed in the paragraphs he refers to. To me also, they make a great deal of sense ... particularly in relation to the Catholic Church's stance on birth control.

hi arthur
the program should still be on bbci player and its on youtube too


there are 6 parts to the program on youtube

[Arthur Little]

I hope you can stick around.

So do I; he talks a lot of sense, does Ron ...