Our role in humanity (1)
FOR many of us who have no recollection of the singular Philippine act of humanity – accepting thousands of Jews fleeing the cruelty of Hitler in WW2 – this is what Ambassador Effie Ben Matityau said: “Europe at that time, who claims to be highly civilized, who claims moral superiority over the rest of the world, turned their collective backs on the Jews.”
The Philippines, in the 1940s, was economically poor and suffering under the yoke of hundreds of years of colonialism, yet the country and its people had a heart big enough to open its doors and welcome the fleeing Jews with open arms.
We accepted 1,300 of them to seek refuge and comfort in the country, while those they left behind in Germany ended up in gas chambers and were killed en masse. Were it not for the intervention of WW2, we could have accepted more.
That act of human kindness and compassion reverberates to this day.
Israel, a small but highly advanced country, has not forgotten its debt of gratitude. We have cultural and military ties with them. Over the years, Tel Aviv has not lost sight of us and to this day, has lent a helping hand to lift us out of poverty. Just recently they trained, for free, more than 500 Filipinos in Agrostudies program in Haifa, Israel.
The Filipino students, who came from various agriculture universities and colleges in the Philippines, completed their 11-month academic learning and practical work which exposed them to the latest agro-based technology and techniques being utilized by farms in Israel. When they come back, they will be trainors who would teach local farmers the most advanced way in farming and husbandry.
In 1975, the Philippines was host to thousands of “boat people,” fleeing Vietnam’s war. They were admitted in Palawan and Bataan while their papers were being processed for eventual permanent resettlement in the US.
Today, Vietnam is posed to overtake the Philippines in GDP. Their citizens in the US are well off. When typhoon Yolanda leveled Central Visayas two years ago, Vietnam poured millions of dollars to help the affected families.
(To be continued)