I always dreamed of travelling to different countries — like the famous Seoul, South Korea, New York’s Times Square, Tokyo’s Shibuya Crossing, Switzerland, and many more.

But I realized… did we ever dream of travelling to different cities here in the Philippines? Yes, we have. But somehow, we tend to admire more what’s outside of our country — so much that we start comparing, shaping our dreams around places we’ve never even stepped foot in.

And whose fault is that?

You know who they are.

They filled people’s minds with visions of a lavish life, building illusions so grand that we began to believe progress only exists beyond our shores — that beauty must be imported, that success has to wear a foreign name. And in the shadows of those illusions, they neglected the very land that raised them.

They didn’t realize — or maybe they did — that while they were building comfort for themselves, they were quietly pulling everyone else away from reality.

It’s not that we lack wonders here. Our islands breathe with stories, our cities pulse with culture, and our people carry a warmth no skyline abroad can replicate. But when systems are shaped by greed, when leadership forgets service and chooses self, even the most beautiful places begin to feel unseen, underdeveloped, and left behind.

So we grow up dreaming of elsewhere — not because our country is empty of greatness, but because it was never given the chance to fully become what it could be.

And maybe the real tragedy isn’t that we dream of leaving —

it’s that we were made to feel like staying is settling for less.

But what if it isn’t?

What if the problem was never the country, but the hands that failed to nurture it? The voices that promised change yet fed on the very system they were meant to fix. The ones who turned public trust into personal gain, who chose power over people, and left the rest to endure, to adjust, to survive.

Because the truth is, this nation has always had enough — enough beauty, enough talent, enough potential to stand beside the places we admire. What it lacked was not worth, but honesty. Not capability, but accountability.

And maybe it’s time we stop measuring our dreams by distance.

Maybe loving our country doesn’t mean ignoring its flaws — it means recognizing them, calling them out, and still choosing to believe it can be more. That it deserves to be more.

Because one day, I don’t want to dream of leaving just to feel fulfilled.

I want to look around — right here at home — and feel like I’m already somewhere worth staying for.

And when that day comes, it won’t be because we escaped —

it will be because we finally built a place we no longer need to run away from.

So be wise in choosing who we allow to nurture and lead our country — because in the end, it is not them who will bear the consequences.

IT IS US.