Hey! so I am following this Filipino teleserye (television series) of ABS-CBN called Ngayon at Kailanman. The story is cliche and predictable, the plot is very common like about rich versus poor, greed, deceit, and family feud but I’m still following it for entertainment (I’m so defensive on that part hahahaha). But this post is not about the teleserye it’s about a particular episode or maybe a scene.
Ok na yun.. kasi sanay na kami sa ganyang kita!
In every story, you will always get a lesson to ponder and on this scene at episode 28 where Inno Cortes (Joshua Garcia) is trying to win Eva Mapendo (Julia Barretto) to make business and become one of their jewelry designers. Inno was arguing to the friends of Eva about why they are willing to accept the deal of the fish vendor that will purchase their fish at a very low price and they did not even consider their other investments like time, effort, plus the fact that they have to divide it with the group. Then this friend of Eva with a red band on his head said “ang sabi nga namin, ok na yun.. kasi sanay na kami sa ganyang kita” (as I’ve said, it’s all ok.. we are all used to it), Inno asked if that’s just it, that they are contented with that. Eva answered that they already accepted the fact that that’s how and what their life is. They work hard the whole day then sell it and if the customer haggles they are willing to accept it to the point that if not break-even, sometimes they are losing just to survive the day.
I don’t have a problem with that because I understand, in fact my family is doing the same thing, and that’s really a reality. We, poor people, are always at the losing end but if you are going to look at the perspective of Inno. Inno being a businessman, it’s not right that you are all doing the hard work all day just for a few pence for your family to survive. You have to be smart and you should not waste your precious time just because you want to survive for the day. For me, this scene is anti-poor because it teaches the poor mass (which majority of the viewers are) to just continue with what they currently are doing and be proud as a consolation because of the “hard work”.
It is the same story of a man stranded on an island, every day he went fishing just for him to survive while waiting for the rescue but one day he grew tired of doing it over and over with a few catches a day enough for him to have a meal. So he decided to skip a day fishing and create a new fishing tool for him to catch more fish in less time and buy him more time of the day. So, after he is done with his new tool and catches fish more than he can consume, he also has more time of the day exploring the island. Very unlikely to what he did on the past days that the whole day was dedicated fishing and getting just enough to survive the day. The lesson is: the man is willing to sacrifice his day to “survive” for a long-term survival.
Television is a very effective tool to influence people and spread information. If only the creators of the teleserye also consider helping the poor Filipinos and educate them through this kind of program instead of like tapping the pinoys at their back and silently say “keep it up and stay being like that” for sure we as a nation will progress faster than our current rate. The creators are already blessed to have that opportunity to rewrite the nation’s fate by influencing the mass through a program that is not just entertaining but at the same time educating.