Book Review Bakit Baliktad Magbasa ng Libro ang Mga Pilipino by Bob Ong

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Bakit Baliktad Magbasa ng Libro ang mga Pilipino?

BAKIT BALIKTAD MAGBASA NG LIBRO ANG MGA PILIPINO? BOB ONG

In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements in Management 197-

Special Topics in Management

Submitted to:

Prof. Anette Escoto

Jordana Mari Jaco

BA Political Science IV

October 1, 2012

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“Meron bang aral na mapupulot? Nasa mambabasa na ‘yon kung handa s’ yang madumihan ang kamay sa pamumulot.”

Just as what the author said in the introduction, the yellow book discussed about the different opinions of people regarding different topics. The author first made clear that the book is composed of some articles from BobongPinoy.com where the author was the webmaster.

BobongPinoy.com is the site of Bob Ong that tackles about the beauty and the disgrace of being a Filipino. It was launched during the election of the then president Joseph Estrada and was shut down after his ouster. In this site, Filipinos here and abroad are gathered to share their thoughts about what is happening in the country and to know some news about our current situation. Most of the topics being discussed are about politics and governance which is advantageous because this discussion is online therefore they can freely say what they want and foreigners can also observe because it is accessible.

The yellow book suggests that Erap was the symbol of a Filipino – lazy, apathetic and ignorant. He accompanies Juan Tamad in waiting for nothing and he supports Uncle Sam in everything he wanted regardless if it’s good or b ad for our country.

Because of the site’s closure, Bob Ong thought that it would be better to write a book and so it resulted to Bakit Baliktad Magbasa ng Libro ang mga Pilipino which was called the yellow book because the author wanted to copy the “For Dummies” book series.

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While reading, you can’t escape from frequent self-asking like “Why are we like this?” and “Will it ever change?” and some affirmatives like “You’re right” and “Make sense”. Furthermore, it will open you to the flaws of the society we have. “Siguro nakakatawa ang mga pangalan, pagkain, at kaugalian natin para sa mga taga-ibang bansa, pero dahil lang iyon sa iba ang kultura nilang kinagisnan .”

Cover

The cover is an inverted picture of Erap, Juan Tamad and Uncle Sam. When seen from a far, you will look dumb to read it upside down but as the author said, “Hindi dahil sa magmumukha kang tanga ay hindi mo na babasahin ang libro.”

Number of Pages

The book is composed of 201 pages.

Reviews and Awards

The

BobongPinoy.com

was

acclaimed

as

Best

Blog

Award-Entertainment

Category/Social Reality during its launch that was the reason for the compilation of its pieces

and eventually turned into a book. In the comments for Bob Ong, many praised his style of writing because in simplicity he can communicate to a wide quantity of readers encompassing gender, age and social status. He even said in his site that he is very thankful especially to the youth for valuing his works.

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One author said that Bob Ong should be a national artist for using his knowledge in promoting the national consciousness and based on his style of writing he can convey nationalism in each and every one of his readers. He is like the modern Jose Rizal but the difference is that he is still anonymous.

Bob Ong is also popular in the internet world. He is an idol to the netizens (internet citizens) that there’s a vast number of blogs written about how good his books are. Anntukin.wordpress.com said that despite the anonymity of the author, “the book is good and pointed out what we Filipinos are lacking --- determination” and 115, 000 readers rated 4.45 out of 5 stars in Goodreads with 94% positive reviews.

However, Bob Ong is not limited to positive reviews. He was also criticized for using street languages in writing. In this book, he also cited authors that are not even credible to even bother. Most high profile writers tagged him as simple as his books and that he does not deserve the attention given to him.

In this book, he is criticized for presenting flaws, but he does not offer concrete actions. He wanted us to be proud and do something, but he never presented the exact things to do. Thus, at the end of the day, it’s up to the reader to decide whether he is actually a worthto-read-author or just another pen name, wanting to catch the heart of the country in pursuit of money.

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Author’s Biography

Unlike other authors, Bob Ong is until now unknown. In an Inquirer.net article, the author wanted to remain unidentified and a private person. Bob Ong is just a pen name and by not disclosing his identity, he can do things a normal person can do without intrusions from fans and the media. He can control the things he wants, therefore he can hone his skills as a writer. According to him, it is not important to know the author for it is all about his works. But in his first book we can read a glimpse of his life studying in a not-so-popular college and his struggle as a student.

Bob Ong became famous especially to the young intellectuals. His books are always on the best-seller like the Green book o ABNKKBSNPLAKo?! (2001), the Black book or Ang Paboritong Libro ni Hudas (2003), the Orange book or the Alamat ng Gubat (2004), and White book or the Stainless Longganisa (2005), the Red book or the MACARTHUR (2007), the Silver book or Kapitan Sino (2008), the Violet Book or Ang mga Kaibigan ni Mama Susan (2011) and his recent work, the Pink Book or the Lumayo Ka Nga sa Akin (2012).

Because of his simple and easy to understand words, Bob Ong has conquered the hearts of his reader even without knowing the person behind every piece of art.

Highlights

The book highlights for me are divided into two categories; first is the actors and second is the different scenes from the novel.

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Actors:

The book has suggested no particular actor aside from first Juan Dela Cruz who symbolizes the Filipino people - from OFW, government official, housewife, worker, writer, activist, and what not. One part of the book said that it was Mack Magno (wrote an article against Matthew Sutherland who said that Philippines is doomed country) as well as Teresita Bacolcol. There’s a lot of Juan Dela Cruz everywhere who are stupid but great at some point. Through Juan Dela Cruz, Bob Ong clearly discloses the situation of our country and what can we do to help it. The second actor would be Uncle Sam who symbolizes every foreign country who influenced us, most especially the United States. The country have lots of relationship abroad like investments from China, colonialism of Spain, Japan and U.S.A, tourist going in and out, celebrities. The thought is as long as you’re imported, you are important. It was stated in the book that anything as long as it is from Uncle Sam is sure to be to-of-the-line and majestic in the eyes of Juan. But not all gems are fine like Matthew Sutherland who, as I’ve said earlier” wrote an article to croticize the culture of the Philippines. I thought, “Why does he care about us?” But as Bob Ong said, “Ayaw pag -usapan ng mga Pilipino ang sakit ng bansa…kaya tuloy ang mga taga-ibang bansa ang gumagawa nito para sa atin.”

And the third and last actor who is part of the book ’s highlight is Erap. Because of him BobongPinoy.com was established and because of him Filipinos were acquainted to a corrupt president. Just like what Herdy Yamul said in his article “Who Wants to be a Filipino?”, Erap was the symbol of all the bad things that you would expect from a Filipino. Moreover, according to “Pinoy Pride” by Teresita Bacolocol, when God showered us with intelligence Erap was drunk

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with FPJ. It was sort of fun to think that a president like him can arouse our national consciousness.

Scenes:

The opening of the story presents a dialogue between the foreigner boss and fellow Filipino workers. They thought that they can’t escape the police waiting to be bribed because that time was the peak of red tape. In this part, the author creatively showed how “dumb” the Filipinos like joining a game show which he repeatedly lost. Furthermore, he illustrated how our

thinking is different from other countries; how backward it is. Bob Ong showed what’s wrong without offending it’s reader hence catching their attention to realize what we are doing wrong and how to change it.

In the middle of the novel, the problems of Juan are slowly getting visible. Just like what Bob Ong cited, the article of Barth Suretsky which stated, “…ang mga pangit na ugaling ipinapakita ng maraming Pilipino ay sintomas ng kakulangan sa pagmamahal sa sarili, ng respeto at

ng pagmamahal sa bansang kinagisnan, at higit sa lahat, ng kaisipan na sumuko na sa

paghahangad nang pagbabago at kaunlaran sa baying sinilangan .” Juan is his own enemy. He doesn’t think that there is still hope and that we’re stuck in this worse situation. There is an internal conflict between the choice to maintin our culture or to adapt the culture of Uncle Sam.

How can you paint your country in a cloth full of stains? And if ever we change the name of the Philippines, does its culture follow? These are the questions that were posed in the climax of the novel. Alongside with these questions are answers that stirs up our nationalism, we should

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fight for our sovereignty and we should start improving our country by being critical to the system of corruption and failure.

“Kailangan pa bang matapakan tayo ng ilang beses bago tayo gumawa ng hakbang at gumalaw? Kailangan pa bang madaganan at madumihan ang pagkatao natin bago tayo magising sa katotohanang tayo lang ang makakapagpabangon ng sarili nating bayan? Lumabas ang katotohanang tayo mismo ang pr oblema. Nagkaisa man a ng bansa, overnight lang at may

kasama pang mga tanke, karatulang tela, wristbands at kung anu-ano pang abubot, maipakita lang na nagkakaisa sila. Pero matapos ang mga gabing iyon, larawan lang ng maduming EDSA ang nanatili. Napatalsik na ang pinuno. Nawala na rin pati ang pagkakaisa. ”

The author suggested that Filipinos need to be praised in order to be proud and that is not something our country deserves. We have nothing to gain if we do nothing and keep blaming each other.

In the end Bob Ong said that, “Higit sa pakikinig kung ano ang sinasabi, unawain mo kung ano ang ipinapahayag: ‘May problema ang bansa, mangangailangan ito ng tulong mo.’ ‘Yan lang ang simpleng mensahe. Hindi na importante kung may iba kang opinyon, ang importante’y isa ka ring nagmamalasakit.”

“Samantala, wala pa ring malinaw na lunas para sa sakiting bansa. Walang pumapansin sa nag-aapoy nitong lagnat, at walang gustong magbigay ng gamot.”

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Reactions/ Recommendations

I think Bob Ong was right that there is something wrong with this country and we need to do something about that. We have so much to be proud of and that other countries can’t underestimate us. The problem, however, is that we don’t fight for our reputation, we never tell the world how proud we are; instead we keep on doing something bad and disgracing our motherland by blaming it to our culture.

Bob Ong was good at using symbolism as a tool to carry out his message. He often uses metaphor, hyperbole, apostrophe and irony and this means he is well-versed in writing. To his advantage among other authors is that his work is readable and relatable even though it tackles sensitive issues regarding the government and foreign relations.

I like that throughout the novel first person was used which means he is talking based on his own perspective and it’s up to the readers to decide whether to believe or not.

Conclusion

We cannot deny the fact that what the novel said is still happening in our country. The immense graft and corruption, the “crab mentality” and other problems are still haunting us. It was 2001 when the book was published, but its 2012 and there is no difference. 11 years have passed and we’re still stuck with the same dilemma. Have we stopped hoping? Have we forgotten all of these crises? Or maybe Juan Tamad has been lazier than ever.

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As a political science student, it’s my responsibility to be updated with what’s happening in the society ‘cause in the long run, the youth today will be the world’s future. And I hope when that time comes, there is already a new system and the people are not afraid for change and maybe some grave insults from abroad.

“Gising na Pilipino. Hindi sa lahat ng ora s ay may pupuna sa mga kakulanga n mo bilang mamayanan.” ###

Book Review Bakit Baliktad Magbasa ng Libro ang Mga Pilipino by Bob Ong

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