Model Citizens
June 6th, 2008
Before leaving for work, I saw on 24 Oras a report about the couple physicians from Binalbagan, Negros Occidental. Dr. Pearle Tecson Pagunsan and wife Dr. Hazel Chua Pagunsan are serving their community instead of going abroad for better wages. The Pagunsans said that there are opportunities of going abroad promising better life that’s been coming their way, but they chose to stay in Binalbagan and serve their countrymen. These are the models every Filipino should look up to and follow.
Dr. Hazel Pagunsan said that weighing the needs and and love for the work, they both chose the joy in working to help the townspeople of Binalbagan over enslaving themselves overseas for better wages. If every Filipino professional has this mindset, then the Philippines would be one step towards the betterment of the country.
I sound hypocritical given I’m overseas, don’t I? I was fourteen when I migrated to the US. A step that I’ve protested from the beginning. I never wanted to come here, but I had no choice. It was a family choice. Then what am I still doing here now that I’ve grown to have my own decision? I plan to return to the Philippines in the near future. I’m just saving for a fresh start. I don’t exactly have anything if I came back, do I? I’m being patient and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I may not be bright enough to offer something for the nation, but I would be one man back.
The Pagunsans are selfless, why would someone like me who is selfish appreciate the act. To me though selfishness boils down to oneself, it does have a layer. Here, I am speaking of national selfishness where the layer is the choice of group. I’m being selfish for the group I belong to. I’m inherently contained in the group and I’m being selfish to achieve my own goals by making sure the group is successful.
What troubles me, though, is that the Pagunsans are also nurses. They took and finished nursing recently. That means they thought or still have thoughts of living the country and nursing foreigners abroad. We’ll see.
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Entry Filed under: Health & Fitness, Philosophy, Travel
4 Comments Add your own
1. MHAR said on
June 6th, 2008 at 7:37 PM
wag ka na bumalik dito, taghirap dito ngayon. ang tataas ng bilihin, kuryente, gasolina at mga taxes. hindi ka mapapalamon ng pagiging patriotic mo o yang iniisip mo… masarap maging pinoy pero kung ganito din lang, nakakasawa na maging pinoy, nariyan ang mararanasan mo diskriminasyon sa kultura, ugali, pagkain, kinagisnan, at lahat ng may kaugnayan sa pagiging pilipino. kung meron mang pilipinong mas higit na tumutulong sa ibang kapwa pilipino—bayani sila sa tingin ko, pero para sa akin, bihira lang ang bayani. balik tayo sa pagtulong, karapatan ng bawat isa ang tumulong kahit anong lahi ka pa, bilang tao ginagawa mo yun hindi bilang isang obligasyon kundi prebilihiyong kaya mong tumulong sa iba,
2. nenette said on
June 8th, 2008 at 11:08 PM
I have great respects for people like the pagunsan’s couple, so give respect to whom respect is due…if they opted to go to the US or anywhere else’s in the world in the near future or not is thier own decisions…for a country like ours where corruptions and and greedy crocs(politicians, govt. officials) are everywhere…at least may 2 tao na may malasakit sa kapwa like the them….mabuhay kayo drs Pagunsan
3. aovaron said on
June 9th, 2008 at 10:44 AM
I’m tired of the word “hero” (bayani) because a little “good” a man does brands him a hero. I don’t consider them heroes, just model citizens. I think that what they do in the future will be of my concern (and other Filipinos as well) because they were already publicized. They are a celebrity whether they like it or not.
4. aovaron said on
June 9th, 2008 at 10:47 AM
I’ll be back and no poverty is going to stop me. Money will only feed you if you believe on a material world. The country has so much to offer and I mean to tap them. Maybe we have lived in different environments that’s why you won’t be able to understand my point. I guess my province is rural enough for me to be able to say such things.
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