The Christmas Filipinos Deserved but Never Got

It is a rule that when you don’t get what you deserve, you leave. 

But for Filipinos who have been battered by a great deal of disappointments from the government, leaving is not that simple. Because unlike those politicians under scrutiny, they cannot just leave the country easily—not when it’s difficult enough to bring food to the table, and not when they were promised something else.

Every Christmas in the Philippines, it has always brought the light and warmth people needed after enduring long, dark months of poor governance. It is a season to, for a while, ‘stop dance’ and karaoke their way out of the heaviness. But as always, even that small escapism gets stolen by self-serving and opportunistic people. And so, in this season meant to be jolly, Filipinos are left to mourn the Christmas they could have and should have had if not for the overflowing greed of those in power.

A Plentiful Noche Buena

Who doesn’t deserve to feast on Noche Buena more than the ordinary Filipinos who have given their blood, sweat, and tears just to pay taxes and get through the year? Their Christmas tables should be filled with ham, queso de bola, spaghetti, fruit salad, lumpiang shanghai, and every single dish should have complete and generous ingredients. No less sahog, no less cheese, no less cream, no less anything.

They deserve to celebrate Christmas without having to trim it down just to make up for the failures of those in charge. They should not be gaslighted into just making do with the little they have, as it is a spit on everything they contribute to keep the country running. It is a denial of their dignity as citizens, who have every right to be properly served by their elected leaders.

Filipinos deserve to feast. They are entitled to a plentiful noche buena that does not burn a hole in their pockets. Maybe not necessarily extravagant, but it just has to be respectable, something enough for a whole family to share and enjoy while they all sit at the table.

A Table without Empty Chairs

Christmas has always been about presence. It is about families finally sitting together after long days of work, sharing food and laughter. Filipino families should have gotten a Christmas exactly like that. Not a “celebration” lingered with silence and grief.

They deserve to sit at a table without anyone missing due to floods and disasters that should have never taken lives in the first place, had the government done its job in protecting its people. They deserve to see each one safe and whole at the Christmas table. They deserve to hear the laughs of one another across the room. They deserve the comfort of knowing they did not lose any of their family members to disasters because their leaders did not embezzle their money. They deserve so much better than whatever Christmas this year has brought.

Filipinos deserve a season of warmth that does not coexist with mourning that could have been prevented. Their parols should be the ones lit, and not vigil candles. But like what always happens, Filipinos are forced to make do. And so, all the way from the Philippines, Santa Claus gets asked for something painfully simple: a government that is actually on the side of its people.

A Competent Government

There is nothing sweeter than having honest and people-centered officials. It is probably the best monito-monita gift you can ever give the people of the Philippines, as they are currently plagued by the opposite.

This Christmas (and forevermore), Filipinos do not deserve leaders who need to hire a camera crew or produce a whole podcast just to prove they are working. They do not deserve to have their hard-earned taxes go to performative governance that does nothing for the rumbling stomachs of those who spent their holidays on the streets. What they deserve is a government that does not forget that it owes its people service, an administration that does not feast on public funds like shameless parasites. 

All this misery and longing for a true Christmas wouldn’t have existed if only the Philippines had competent people sitting in those powerful seats. Only if there were leaders who knew how to govern, the colors of Christmas lights and lanterns would have been brighter, and families wouldn’t have to grieve losses forever.

If you think about it, these things are only bare minimums, yet Filipinos ask for them so desperately. The people have been settling for less for far too long now to the point that even the spirit of their dearest Christmas is no longer felt. It has been a long time coming that the greedy pay for all of it, for the despair and agony they’ve put everyone through. And Santa Claus wouldn’t be the one to make that happen (he is not real, and even if he were, this is a third-world country), but the Filipino people. They are entitled to so much better, and they must demand it.

So when the season of celebration comes again next year, Christmas will be Christmas again.

Article: Lian Joy Magano

Graphics: Yvonne Gacillos