The fallacy of a ‘weak’ youth
DAVAO CITY–Last Friday, I went back to classroom teaching at the invitation of the chairperson of the Department of Social Sciences in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of the Philippines Mindanao. I was assigned to facilitate the learning of Generation Z students at this campus on two major subjects in anthropology.
I was quite elated that almost 10 years after my mandatory retirement from Mindanao State University, General Santos City, I was given this opportunity.
For the whole day last Friday, Feb. 13, 2025, I met with 12 senior-level Bachelor of Science in Anthropology majors, who are in their last semester of academic courses prior to graduation. In the afternoon, my classroom was filled with 32 students, with ages ranging from 19 to the early 20s, definitely still part of Generation Z.
I missed this kind of learning platform that I have been part of for more than four decades of my life as an academic. Seeing young students eagerly awaiting every word I uttered and having observed how their eyes sparkled when they understood what I was saying, was for me, quite rejuvenating. Certainly, there were times when I saw their eyebrows meet, expressing obvious displeasure whenever I distributed a long reading list and lists of their assignments. So it was fun hearing them excitedly introduce themselves to me, complete with giggles and even heckling from their classmates.
From what they discussed, I can say they have so much wisdom beyond their years. When they started sharing their thoughts about present social realities, all of them were quite vocal about the state of our democracy, as it has given in to the dominance of political elites and the impunity of many of our leaders. They did not even hide their disdain for the ruling family in Davao City, especially for its patriarch, who now languishes in an International Criminal Court (ICC) detention center in The Hague.
I was even surprised that this bunch of young people were able to identify the increasing “gentrification of society” (to quote their exact words).
When I asked them for details of what they meant by such a phenomenon, they gave examples of how many Filipinos have succumbed to the lure of engaging with foreigners, not only as possible love partners but also as employers in several local resorts. Two of them described that Siargao, for example, has been “taken over” by a new elite group composed of mostly—hold your breath—Israelis.
Students talked about how the new Israeli “visitors” in Siargao have managed to purchase land in the island resort municipality. What they said is not only confirmed by various social media platform comments about how these Israelis (and some Russians) have an “inflated sense of entitlement,” looking down on Filipinos on Philippine soil.
The process of gentrification has driven poor residents in that island resort municipality toward becoming “alalays” of these tourists, and becoming even poorer as the prices of local goods have risen to take advantage of these foreigners with greenbacks to spend.
They also briefly mentioned the abuse and bad behavior of the Israeli tourists toward locals there.
Social media posts confirmed what my students were saying. One post went even further to say that these Israelis are starting to “colonize” the island, and it expressed fears of a possible future of Siargao being declared another “holy land” for them.
All these thoughts are coming from very young people who are already starting to question social realities as something that results from flawed government policies that allow free rein of foreigners to our resources, in the guise of promoting tourism.
A few days before I met my class, the former actor turned senator, Robinhood Padilla, once again received flak for commenting that the youth are “weak.” He said that the youth are “weak,” and that they easily get depressed, for what he described as “konting problema lang.” (petty problems). He alluded to his generation being “mentally strong,” as he even said he never even experienced depression or learned what it means.
The other day, Padilla expressed he is now “depressed” that his close allies in the Senate, former Davao City residents and Sen. Ronald ”Bato” dela Rosa and Sen. Christopher ”Bong” Go, are identified by the ICC as “co-perpetrators” in the crimes against humanity charged against former President Rodrigo Duterte in carrying out his deadly war on drugs. “Nakakalungkot, nakaka-depressed,” expressed Padilla in a recent interview. He fears that he will lose his close allies in the Senate if the two are brought to court in The Hague.
What now, Padilla? Definitely, you are no longer part of the youth, although you were young once. But are you now admitting you are weak, too?
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