A Major Case of "Covering" Behinds
The ride that President Benigno Aquino III took from Malacanang to the Luneta in the seemingly cordial company of his predecessor ex-president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, reassured the country, and the world, that to the extent possible, democracy is alive in the Philippines. Alive yes, but how well is it?
Perhaps just as significant the ride was in projecting that image of peaceful transition, was the pointed absence of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato C. Corona, whose assumption to office May 17th was deemed illegitimate by Aquino. Troublesome clouds lie in the horizon.
There is fear that Aquino’s stand on the “midnight appointment” of Corona could lead to a “constitutional crisis”. In my view, the onus for bringing about this crisis should fall squarely on Arroyo’s shoulder. Why? Because it is exceedingly clear that it is one appointment that she did not need to make and could have very well have been left to the new president to act on. As Vincent Lazatin of the Transparency and Accountability Network put it:
“Integrity starts with an appointment that is not only legitimate, but morally and ethically acceptable. A chief justice whose own appointment is embroiled in doubts and suspicion will not be an effective leader.” I.e. how about a little delicadeza, Gloria!
Arroyo and her supporters are resting the validity of their case on the ruling by the Supreme Court that her action on Corona is exempt from the constitutional prohibition on midnight appointments. Perhaps this argument could stand scrutiny and be acceptable except for one minor concern: All those justices who ruled in Arroyo’s favor, every single one of them owed their exalted assignments to, who else(?) but Madame Arroyo herself.
A very strong argument can be made that in appointing Corona, who has been a henchman for her since 2001, Arroyo made a play to secure effective “rear guard” action in her behalf. It is not at all inconceivable that as the highest judicial authority in the land, chief of a group of justices all appointed by Arroyo, Corona could effectively derail any attempts to pursue her for the alleged crimes and transgressions during her long tenure.
And this is immediately visible. One of the very first actions of Corona was to announce that , after languishing for 4 years under a Temporary Restraining Order issued by the very same court that he just now joined, he would bring forth to life the complaints raised by labor tenants of the Cojuangco owned Hacienda Luisita. As Aquino is a 1 percent owner of the said estate, it can be argued that Corona’s action was a warning shot across Aquino’s bow that Corona could very well make life uncomfortable for the Aquino administration.
There are very serious legal matters that the Philippine legal system, especially the judiciary, needs to provide laser like focus and attention to. Foremost among them is the mass murder of the 57 people last November 23 laid at the feet of one of Arroyo’s strongest supporters, the Ampatuans. But no, neither Arroyo nor her government found this to be a serious enough matter to pay close and daily attention to. And Corona, the preeminent jurist of the country seems prepared to follow his benefactresses lead.
I don’t know how long the Filipino people will stand for this zarzuela engaged in by Arroyo and her cohorts. And it is a zarzuela indeed, perhaps a comical one like those engaged in by her late father Diosdado Macapagal and the late actor-diplomat Rogelio de la Rosa who, as youths, provided the Lubao, Pampanga townsfolk with much need entertainment relief with their performances.
Yet relief is not the need of the moment for our country. Rectitude and reform, among other priorities are. It is sad indeed that Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, engaging in the rear guard action via midnight appointments and the elevation of her former henchman to the post of Chief Justice, has clearly made the covering of their behinds, not good governance nor the well being of the country, their utmost priority. She has taken all possible steps to hogtie the incoming administration who cannot now devote all of its time and talent to the task of lifting the wellbeing of the Filipino people, because it has to spend its resources and its days trying to untangle the wicked web Arroyo has woven.
John Milton, in his epic “Samson Agonistes” bemoaned the Israelite hero’s fate after his capture and blinding by the Philistines :
“Thou art become the dungeon of thyself , thy soul imprisoned…”.
Filipinas Agonistes. May we find our way out of the dungeons to which we have been condemned to by the past ignoble acts of the men and muses to whom we had entrusted our fates . As a new day dawns upon us we seek from our leaders no glorious heroism nor a flank of strutting white stallions; give us competence and a deserved dose of honesty and perhaps we may even smile, and dream a little.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Friday, June 18, 2010
Max Soliven on Lacson's 12 Rules for Every Filipino
At age 23 I was a public relations rep for PAL based in Cebu. One day I was asked by members of the Cebu media to join them in a get together and there I met the late Max Soliven,then the country's top columnist writing for the Manila Times and was in Cebu to address the Jaycees. Max and I eventually became close friends. Whenever I was in Manila for PAL business, he'd ask me to drop by his office ( his mom's house) at the corner of Herran and San Marcelino. Whenever he went to Cebu I'd meet him at the airport and take him to his hotel. On one such trip in the middle of the campaign season in 1969 I took him all the way to the town of Balamban in Cebu where Ferdinand Marcos was in the midst of an island wide barnstorming tour. On the way he and I had a conversation about the future of the country and he opined that, given the right leadership and direction, the Filipino people could rise to the challenges of democracy and thus make the Philippines an economic and political power in Asia. Not too long ago I received the below from a friend in Manila. It is a column written by Max about his chance encounter with Alex L. Lacson who wrote a small book, "12 Little Things Every Filipino Can Do to Help Our Country." Lacson is indeed a very unusual Filipino and in these times when our prospects as a nation look dim and hopeless, perhaps he offers a path to our redemption. I'd like to share the late Max's column with you. In my view this column is Max Soliven at his best. Alex Lacson merits a closer look. He obviously puts his money, reputation and life on the line. He is neither an armchair pundit nor an ivory tower type. He is involved in the community on many fronts. He even ran as a candidate for senator in the last elections. Sadly, for the country, he is not among the declared winners.
A Filipino of faith
BY THE WAY By Max V. Soliven
The Philippine Star 12/19/2005
We keep on paying lip service to the catchword, "Faith in the Filipino." In
this Christmas season of hope - and also sadness - this faith and confidence in ourselves too often falls short of being justified. However, here's one story which I must tell.
This incident took place last Thursday in the late afternoon. I was rushing home in my car, an X-5, from my last meeting in Makati - already far behind schedule, since my next appointment, after a change of clothes, was in Malacañang. My vehicle broke down in the mounting rush-hour traffic on the Paseo de Roxas, not far from the corner of Buendia. There I was, frantically
trying to hail a cab in vain while the avenue was crawled alongside, almost gridlocked. My desperation must have been all over my face. I had fruitlessly attempted calling my Stargate office on Ayala Avenue, then my associates and friends nearby. I needed a car badly to rescue me from the corner where I had been stranded. But nobody could be contacted.
Then a white Chevrolet Ventura pulled up to the curb. The young man at the
wheel leaned over, his window rolled down, and asked: "Can I help you, sir?"
I blurted out, "Yes - my car over there broke down. I must get home in a
hurry! Can you bring me somewhere where I can find a taxicab?" The fellow smiled and said: "Hop in, Sir I will drive you home." I scrambled aboard, thankful to the kind stranger, and God - and for my good fortune. In retrospect, I wonder why it had never occurred to me he might be
an armed hold-up man. I guess it was the disarming nature of his smile, his earnest approach. Yet now could anyone be so generous as to stop in the middle of traffic, then offer a total stranger a ride all the way to his home? He hadn't even asked how far away I lived; he'd made the offer without hesitation.
When we were underway, I asked to shake his hand and asked for his name, "My name is Alex," he simply said. 'I'm Max," I replied, then fished in my pocket and offered him my card. He peered at it, then exclaimed: "Wow. It's an honor! I read you every day!"
"Now. Alex, you owe me your card in return." I said.
Stopped at a light, he took out his wallet, got one and politely handed it to me. It read: Alexander L. Lacson, above which was his firm's title: "Malcolm Law", underneath that, "A Professional Partnership." By golly, I had been rescued by a lawyer.
There you are. Somehow, when faith in the Filipino wavers, a Filipino comes along to restore your faith. Restore it? So surprise you with his kindness and generosity. This is an experience - and a shining gesture - I'll never forget.
* * *
I finally told Alex I was headed for Greenhills. He grinned. "By coincidence, since I'm taking you there, my destination happens to lie not far away - I'm headed for Wack-Wack subdivision to give a talk at a Christmas party."
"Why?" I exclaimed. "In addition to being a lawyer, are you also a preacher?"
He smiled even more merrily and explained that he had written a little book. It was on the car seat beside him, and I picked it up. It was entitled: "12 Little Things Every Filipino Can Do to Help Our Country." Alex had his little volume (108 pages) published earlier this year by the
Alay Pinoy Publishing House in Quezon City, and it had sold out in its first printing within three weeks. The second and third printings were about to sell out, too.
No, he wasn't selling it through any bookshop, the biggest book shop (unnamed here) wanted too big a portion of its possible earnings, but I told them I wanted the proceeds to go to a scholarship foundation for the needy."
So, Lacson has been selling his book out of his office and out of his home.
The dedication of the slim tome reveals his sincerity. It says: "To my Creator, who has blessed me with so much, and to my Country, which yearns for love from its people."
As we drove up EDSA, Alex said: "I read your mother's book, 'A Woman So Valiant,' too - and I loved it!"
Can you beat that?
My mama had written that book of hers in longhand, on yellow pad paper not long before she died at the age of 81 on October 16, 1990 - and belatedly, we had published it last year. Astoundingly, it had been a runaway bestseller, without publicity, and had sold out in the National Bookstores.
My sister, Mrs. Mercy S. David messaged me when she arrived from New York that the Japanese were now planning to transcribe the autobiography into Japanese and publish it in Tokyo, as a chronicle of what happened to a Filipino family in the war years (and during Japanese military occupation). The proposed Japanese title, "A Valiant Mother and Her Nine Children."
But that's another story, far removed from today's inspiring tale about Alex Lacson's Christian spirit and generosity. One thing Alex said demonstrated he had really read Mom's book. He remarked that the thing he vividly remembered in Mama's memoirs was that, in spite of our poverty, she had determined: "I don't want my children to feel poor." Thus, one of us or two
of us in turn had been taken by her, on her meager earnings as a seamstress, to eat at a good restaurant. The "classy" restaurant of the time, Alex recalled from its mention in mama's book, was The Aristocrat. How lives intersect in this spinning world.
To get to the end of the "rescue" saga, Alex Lacson drove me to my home in Greenhills, and I noticed he never broke a traffic rule. I was tempted, in my selfish agitation to get home and get my tuxedo for the State dinner in the Palace, then dash over to Malacañang, to cut corners, such as push into the opposite lane when stuck not far from the Buchanan Gate, in order to sneak into the Gate. But Lacson calmly awaited his turn in traffic. Obey the law and obey the rules were obviously the bedrock of his "12 Things" credo.
In any event, getting to Malacañang in the end was only the bonus. Meeting someone like Alex Lacson was the real miracle.
* * *
Alexander Ledesma Lacson, it turned out, modest as he was in bearing, was a graduate of the University of the Philippines College of Law, 1996, and took up graduate studies at the Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Mass. (Good old Harvard Yard, by gosh). His wife, Pia Peña - it turned out even more amazingly - is the daughter of an old friend, Teddy Peña from Palawan! She,
too, is a lawyer - U.P. 1993 - a legal counsel for Citibank. They established a foundation together to help underprivileged children through school, and are now subsidizing 27 young scholars in different public schools in Alex's native Negros Occidental.
The reason Alex had been headed for Wack-Wack was the fact that the officers and employees of a company named Resins Inc., after buying 1,000 copies of his book had invited him to give the "homily" at their Christmas party. This was not a small group - the company had 600 employees, waiting for his
"word" that night.
Alex, it struck me from our conversation, is an eloquent and devout Catholic. He believes God must have destined our people for some great role - why, in all history, he reasoned, were we Filipinos the "only Christian nation in Asia?" One thing is certain: He and his wife Pia practice their Christianity - and live it.
Four years ago, he and his wife had a serious discussion about migrating to the US or Canada because the Philippines, as a country appeared hopeless since things only got worse year after year. They wanted to know if their children (they have three, one boy and two girls) would be better off staying in our country or abroad in the next 20 years.
Pia and Alex had asked themselves the question: "Is there hope for the Philippines to progress in the next 20 years?"
They reasoned: If the answer is Yes, then they would stay. If it was No, they would leave and relocate abroad while they were still young and energetic. There were long discussions. One day, the realization, Alex recalls, struck them: the answer to that question was in themselves. The
country would improve, Pia and Alex finally understood, if they and every other Filipino did something about it. Leaving the Philippines was not the solution. As Lacson put it in his book: "The answer is in us as a people; that hope is in us as a people."
* * *
When I read the book afterwards, I discovered that many important people had endorsed it.
But these encomiums are not needed. Alex laughed when I quipped that he must be one of the wealthy Lacsons from Negros Occidental, like my classmates and schoolmates in the Ateneo. He cheerfully, and proudly, said that he was "a poor Lacson." His mother, he pointed out, had been a public school teacher in Cabangcalan.
No, he's not poor - his richness are in his friends, and in the heart.
Here are, in outline, his 12 commandments:
1) Follow traffic rules. Follow the law.
2) Whenever you buy or pay for anything, always ask for an official receipt.
3) Don't buy smuggled goods. Buy local. Buy Filipino. (Or, if you read the
book, he suggests: 50-50).
4) When you talk to others, especially foreigners speak positively about us
and our country.
5) Respect your traffic officer, policeman and soldier.
6) Do not litter. Dispose your garbage properly. Segregate. Recycle.
Conserve.
7) Support your church.
8) During elections, do your solemn duty.
9) Pay your employees well.
10) Pay your taxes.
11) Adopt a scholar or a poor child.
12) Be a good parent. Teach your kids to follow the law and love our
country.
These are the 12 things every Filipino can do to help our country. At first blush, they seem simple. When you study them more closely, they are difficult to do. But all of us, together can do them.
A Filipino of faith
BY THE WAY By Max V. Soliven
The Philippine Star 12/19/2005
We keep on paying lip service to the catchword, "Faith in the Filipino." In
this Christmas season of hope - and also sadness - this faith and confidence in ourselves too often falls short of being justified. However, here's one story which I must tell.
This incident took place last Thursday in the late afternoon. I was rushing home in my car, an X-5, from my last meeting in Makati - already far behind schedule, since my next appointment, after a change of clothes, was in Malacañang. My vehicle broke down in the mounting rush-hour traffic on the Paseo de Roxas, not far from the corner of Buendia. There I was, frantically
trying to hail a cab in vain while the avenue was crawled alongside, almost gridlocked. My desperation must have been all over my face. I had fruitlessly attempted calling my Stargate office on Ayala Avenue, then my associates and friends nearby. I needed a car badly to rescue me from the corner where I had been stranded. But nobody could be contacted.
Then a white Chevrolet Ventura pulled up to the curb. The young man at the
wheel leaned over, his window rolled down, and asked: "Can I help you, sir?"
I blurted out, "Yes - my car over there broke down. I must get home in a
hurry! Can you bring me somewhere where I can find a taxicab?" The fellow smiled and said: "Hop in, Sir I will drive you home." I scrambled aboard, thankful to the kind stranger, and God - and for my good fortune. In retrospect, I wonder why it had never occurred to me he might be
an armed hold-up man. I guess it was the disarming nature of his smile, his earnest approach. Yet now could anyone be so generous as to stop in the middle of traffic, then offer a total stranger a ride all the way to his home? He hadn't even asked how far away I lived; he'd made the offer without hesitation.
When we were underway, I asked to shake his hand and asked for his name, "My name is Alex," he simply said. 'I'm Max," I replied, then fished in my pocket and offered him my card. He peered at it, then exclaimed: "Wow. It's an honor! I read you every day!"
"Now. Alex, you owe me your card in return." I said.
Stopped at a light, he took out his wallet, got one and politely handed it to me. It read: Alexander L. Lacson, above which was his firm's title: "Malcolm Law", underneath that, "A Professional Partnership." By golly, I had been rescued by a lawyer.
There you are. Somehow, when faith in the Filipino wavers, a Filipino comes along to restore your faith. Restore it? So surprise you with his kindness and generosity. This is an experience - and a shining gesture - I'll never forget.
* * *
I finally told Alex I was headed for Greenhills. He grinned. "By coincidence, since I'm taking you there, my destination happens to lie not far away - I'm headed for Wack-Wack subdivision to give a talk at a Christmas party."
"Why?" I exclaimed. "In addition to being a lawyer, are you also a preacher?"
He smiled even more merrily and explained that he had written a little book. It was on the car seat beside him, and I picked it up. It was entitled: "12 Little Things Every Filipino Can Do to Help Our Country." Alex had his little volume (108 pages) published earlier this year by the
Alay Pinoy Publishing House in Quezon City, and it had sold out in its first printing within three weeks. The second and third printings were about to sell out, too.
No, he wasn't selling it through any bookshop, the biggest book shop (unnamed here) wanted too big a portion of its possible earnings, but I told them I wanted the proceeds to go to a scholarship foundation for the needy."
So, Lacson has been selling his book out of his office and out of his home.
The dedication of the slim tome reveals his sincerity. It says: "To my Creator, who has blessed me with so much, and to my Country, which yearns for love from its people."
As we drove up EDSA, Alex said: "I read your mother's book, 'A Woman So Valiant,' too - and I loved it!"
Can you beat that?
My mama had written that book of hers in longhand, on yellow pad paper not long before she died at the age of 81 on October 16, 1990 - and belatedly, we had published it last year. Astoundingly, it had been a runaway bestseller, without publicity, and had sold out in the National Bookstores.
My sister, Mrs. Mercy S. David messaged me when she arrived from New York that the Japanese were now planning to transcribe the autobiography into Japanese and publish it in Tokyo, as a chronicle of what happened to a Filipino family in the war years (and during Japanese military occupation). The proposed Japanese title, "A Valiant Mother and Her Nine Children."
But that's another story, far removed from today's inspiring tale about Alex Lacson's Christian spirit and generosity. One thing Alex said demonstrated he had really read Mom's book. He remarked that the thing he vividly remembered in Mama's memoirs was that, in spite of our poverty, she had determined: "I don't want my children to feel poor." Thus, one of us or two
of us in turn had been taken by her, on her meager earnings as a seamstress, to eat at a good restaurant. The "classy" restaurant of the time, Alex recalled from its mention in mama's book, was The Aristocrat. How lives intersect in this spinning world.
To get to the end of the "rescue" saga, Alex Lacson drove me to my home in Greenhills, and I noticed he never broke a traffic rule. I was tempted, in my selfish agitation to get home and get my tuxedo for the State dinner in the Palace, then dash over to Malacañang, to cut corners, such as push into the opposite lane when stuck not far from the Buchanan Gate, in order to sneak into the Gate. But Lacson calmly awaited his turn in traffic. Obey the law and obey the rules were obviously the bedrock of his "12 Things" credo.
In any event, getting to Malacañang in the end was only the bonus. Meeting someone like Alex Lacson was the real miracle.
* * *
Alexander Ledesma Lacson, it turned out, modest as he was in bearing, was a graduate of the University of the Philippines College of Law, 1996, and took up graduate studies at the Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Mass. (Good old Harvard Yard, by gosh). His wife, Pia Peña - it turned out even more amazingly - is the daughter of an old friend, Teddy Peña from Palawan! She,
too, is a lawyer - U.P. 1993 - a legal counsel for Citibank. They established a foundation together to help underprivileged children through school, and are now subsidizing 27 young scholars in different public schools in Alex's native Negros Occidental.
The reason Alex had been headed for Wack-Wack was the fact that the officers and employees of a company named Resins Inc., after buying 1,000 copies of his book had invited him to give the "homily" at their Christmas party. This was not a small group - the company had 600 employees, waiting for his
"word" that night.
Alex, it struck me from our conversation, is an eloquent and devout Catholic. He believes God must have destined our people for some great role - why, in all history, he reasoned, were we Filipinos the "only Christian nation in Asia?" One thing is certain: He and his wife Pia practice their Christianity - and live it.
Four years ago, he and his wife had a serious discussion about migrating to the US or Canada because the Philippines, as a country appeared hopeless since things only got worse year after year. They wanted to know if their children (they have three, one boy and two girls) would be better off staying in our country or abroad in the next 20 years.
Pia and Alex had asked themselves the question: "Is there hope for the Philippines to progress in the next 20 years?"
They reasoned: If the answer is Yes, then they would stay. If it was No, they would leave and relocate abroad while they were still young and energetic. There were long discussions. One day, the realization, Alex recalls, struck them: the answer to that question was in themselves. The
country would improve, Pia and Alex finally understood, if they and every other Filipino did something about it. Leaving the Philippines was not the solution. As Lacson put it in his book: "The answer is in us as a people; that hope is in us as a people."
* * *
When I read the book afterwards, I discovered that many important people had endorsed it.
But these encomiums are not needed. Alex laughed when I quipped that he must be one of the wealthy Lacsons from Negros Occidental, like my classmates and schoolmates in the Ateneo. He cheerfully, and proudly, said that he was "a poor Lacson." His mother, he pointed out, had been a public school teacher in Cabangcalan.
No, he's not poor - his richness are in his friends, and in the heart.
Here are, in outline, his 12 commandments:
1) Follow traffic rules. Follow the law.
2) Whenever you buy or pay for anything, always ask for an official receipt.
3) Don't buy smuggled goods. Buy local. Buy Filipino. (Or, if you read the
book, he suggests: 50-50).
4) When you talk to others, especially foreigners speak positively about us
and our country.
5) Respect your traffic officer, policeman and soldier.
6) Do not litter. Dispose your garbage properly. Segregate. Recycle.
Conserve.
7) Support your church.
8) During elections, do your solemn duty.
9) Pay your employees well.
10) Pay your taxes.
11) Adopt a scholar or a poor child.
12) Be a good parent. Teach your kids to follow the law and love our
country.
These are the 12 things every Filipino can do to help our country. At first blush, they seem simple. When you study them more closely, they are difficult to do. But all of us, together can do them.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Keep Your Hands Clean!
Aquino III Donors Can Truly Contribute to Greatness
President-elect Benigno Aquino III released the list of donors to his campaign as required by election law. Here are among his contributors and the amounts ( in pesos) they donated:
Antonio Cojuangco 100 million
Chung Bu Hong 20 million
Martin I. Lorenzo 20 million
Fulgencio Factoran 20 million
Leonardo Javier Jr. 14 million
Cesar Purisima 10 million
Jose R. Aliling 10 million
Alex Tanwangco 10 million
Jose Mari Gamboa 10 million
David Lim 10 million
Elena Lim 10 million
Abeto Uy 10 million
Felix Ang 10 million
Felipe Diego 10 million
Felix Chung 10 million
Jose A. Larrauri 10 million
Gerardo Esquivel 10 million
Did they contribute to the campaign for altruistic reasons? Did they part with some of their wealth to help elect the right candidate? Have they truly boarded the Aquino III anti-corruption bandwagon? Money talks, it is said, and by contributing to the campaign they have certainly “talked the talk”, but will they “walk the walk” by staying true to the Aquino III vow to have a clean and corruption free government for the next six years?
I raise these questions because the common assumption is that they donated these funds and expect a quid pro quo that could pay them back ten or even a hundred fold. The Marcos cronies and family reaped billions of dollars worth of plunder by using their influence in the 1970’s thru 1986 when the dictator was overthrown. The Macapagal-Arroyos had nine years of a luxurious drive on board the gravy train and some quarters are claiming that they looted even more than the Marcoses ( hard to believe but the rumor continues to float). So the expectation among many is, why would these friends and family of Aquino III be any different?
In light of our history, it certainly is a fair question. Yet, what I see here is a clear seminal moment for our country and nation. Here is a great and unusual opportunity to break the old mold and begin shaping a new one. These friends who contributed to the President-elect can reverse the trend; they can debunk the dreary expectations of “business as usual”; they can indeed be the ground breaking pioneers of a new tomorrow by staying “clean” for the next 6 years.
They can profoundly change the trajectory of our country by not using their “influence” with the new administration to enrich themselves or their friends and families further. If they are currently in business they should continue running those businesses without engaging in any shady deals. If there are contracts they bid on they should do so on a fair playing field. If they win a contract for construction, as an example, the funds should all go to creating a quality product that will redound to the government’s, and by extension to the people’s, benefit. They should not engage in any shortcuts nor avoid nor thwart safety and quality inspections; they should not succumb to the lure to use cheap, low quality parts or supplies; they can, slowly but surely, begin to help the government win the people’s trust and in the process infuse it with a much needed breath of integrity. They should insist on exceeding the government’s and the people’s expectations.
If the President-elect’s close friends and relatives cannot and will not “benefit” from their access to the corridors of power, one can hope to expect that no one else will.This will in turn strengthen the new administration’s hand in pursuing the corrupt acts of others. It will surely increase the likelihood that our people will begin to trust their government. It is definitely a long, hard and challenging road to take, yet, as that venerable old Chinese proverb puts it, “…the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”.
In one of my earlier columns “Breaking the Cycle of Corruption” I averred that this can happen when we do not become active participants in the process. These friends of Aquino III can take a strong and visible leadership role in breaking the back of corruption, and if they do, their money which helped elect a new president, will have indeed been very well spent.
President-elect Benigno Aquino III released the list of donors to his campaign as required by election law. Here are among his contributors and the amounts ( in pesos) they donated:
Antonio Cojuangco 100 million
Chung Bu Hong 20 million
Martin I. Lorenzo 20 million
Fulgencio Factoran 20 million
Leonardo Javier Jr. 14 million
Cesar Purisima 10 million
Jose R. Aliling 10 million
Alex Tanwangco 10 million
Jose Mari Gamboa 10 million
David Lim 10 million
Elena Lim 10 million
Abeto Uy 10 million
Felix Ang 10 million
Felipe Diego 10 million
Felix Chung 10 million
Jose A. Larrauri 10 million
Gerardo Esquivel 10 million
Did they contribute to the campaign for altruistic reasons? Did they part with some of their wealth to help elect the right candidate? Have they truly boarded the Aquino III anti-corruption bandwagon? Money talks, it is said, and by contributing to the campaign they have certainly “talked the talk”, but will they “walk the walk” by staying true to the Aquino III vow to have a clean and corruption free government for the next six years?
I raise these questions because the common assumption is that they donated these funds and expect a quid pro quo that could pay them back ten or even a hundred fold. The Marcos cronies and family reaped billions of dollars worth of plunder by using their influence in the 1970’s thru 1986 when the dictator was overthrown. The Macapagal-Arroyos had nine years of a luxurious drive on board the gravy train and some quarters are claiming that they looted even more than the Marcoses ( hard to believe but the rumor continues to float). So the expectation among many is, why would these friends and family of Aquino III be any different?
In light of our history, it certainly is a fair question. Yet, what I see here is a clear seminal moment for our country and nation. Here is a great and unusual opportunity to break the old mold and begin shaping a new one. These friends who contributed to the President-elect can reverse the trend; they can debunk the dreary expectations of “business as usual”; they can indeed be the ground breaking pioneers of a new tomorrow by staying “clean” for the next 6 years.
They can profoundly change the trajectory of our country by not using their “influence” with the new administration to enrich themselves or their friends and families further. If they are currently in business they should continue running those businesses without engaging in any shady deals. If there are contracts they bid on they should do so on a fair playing field. If they win a contract for construction, as an example, the funds should all go to creating a quality product that will redound to the government’s, and by extension to the people’s, benefit. They should not engage in any shortcuts nor avoid nor thwart safety and quality inspections; they should not succumb to the lure to use cheap, low quality parts or supplies; they can, slowly but surely, begin to help the government win the people’s trust and in the process infuse it with a much needed breath of integrity. They should insist on exceeding the government’s and the people’s expectations.
If the President-elect’s close friends and relatives cannot and will not “benefit” from their access to the corridors of power, one can hope to expect that no one else will.This will in turn strengthen the new administration’s hand in pursuing the corrupt acts of others. It will surely increase the likelihood that our people will begin to trust their government. It is definitely a long, hard and challenging road to take, yet, as that venerable old Chinese proverb puts it, “…the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”.
In one of my earlier columns “Breaking the Cycle of Corruption” I averred that this can happen when we do not become active participants in the process. These friends of Aquino III can take a strong and visible leadership role in breaking the back of corruption, and if they do, their money which helped elect a new president, will have indeed been very well spent.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Time for the Jeepney to Go?
We need to Breathe, We need to conserve Energy, We need to Reduce Gridlock
Converting the WWII "Eisenhower" type jeeps into a 12 passenger "jeepney" seemed both cute and practical in 1946 and its usefulness lasted thru the mid 1960's. Filipinos were so enamored with the innovation that it soon became a national "symbol", proof that we are indeed a resourceful nation.
As the population grew from 15 million after WWII to some 90 or so million today, jeepneys are no longer practical and have in fact become a hazard both to the environment and the country's energy situation, not to mention being the primary cause of massive gridlock that has made moving around Metro Manila and the cities of Cebu, Cagayan de Oro and Davao a major time consuming exercise.
The math is pretty simple. It will take about 100 or jeepney loads to move the same number of passengers on one 2 car tram. That means one engine consuming gasoline versus 100 jeepney engines which also pump out more pollutants in the air. Needless to say, a well organized, broad based light rail system in the major Philippine cities would result in lower dependence on expensive foreign oil and much cleaner air to breathe. Jeepneys are suffocating our urban populations!! It is literally unsafe to breath “city air”.
The other, perhaps not so subtle, consequence of a “jeepney based” mass transit system is the gridlock it creates all over the metropolitan areas which profoundly contributes to productivity reduction. Sitting in traffic for hours, whether in an air conditioned car or a cramply packed jeepney, renders a person economically unproductive. A sales call that should take an hour could stretch to 4 or 5 hours. The added time commuting to and from work directly reduces the amount of quality time that parents spend with their children and the devastation that is visited on the family structure is perhaps often ignored.
The incoming Aquino III administration needs to make mass transit upheaval a key element in improving the country’s neglected infrastructure. All the great plans of mice and men are for naught if we can’t get to where we’re going in a reasonable enough time. The gridlock must be unwound and addressing the jeepney caused problem is a necessary and critical first step.
I know that the very idea of contemplating the demise of the jeepney as our primary form of daily transportation raises many concerns that are political, economic and cultural.
There are hundreds of thousands of jeepney drivers all over the country and they constitute a major voting bloc hence politicians may be hesitant to displease them. Additionally there are several thousands of entrepreneurs’ who manufacture as well as operate jeepneys and they are a formidable socio-economic force. And, of course, the jeepney has become a potent and sentimental icon that, over time, has been an integral part of Philippine identity.
Yet all these concerns can be effectively addressed to the satisfaction of all parties and stake holders. What is required is a forward looking, creative and innovative approach to adequately meet our mass transit needs now and in the future. Failing to take bold and immediate steps will only exacerbate the present, serious problems that our “jeepney culture” creates.
Briefly, here are a few ideas to consider:
1. As we disengage from a jeepney based operation, begin to retrain our jeepney drivers into other trades; a large segment of them could be trained for various jobs that a new mass transit system will create. This will address the concern over the livelihoods of displaced jeepney drivers.
2. Organize jeepney owners and manufacturers into a pool of investors who will be credited with stock shares in a corporation that will run and operate the mass transit system. Machine shop operations that currently build jeep bodies can be harnessed and retooled to perhaps build some of the bodies of the cars to be used in the mass transit system. This will address the economic concerns of jeepney owners and manufacturers.
3. Do not get rid of the jeepneys completely. Jeepneys can be reconfigured so that these can be used as passenger friendly tourist vehicles plying our centers of attraction and giving foreign visitors a feel for the authentic Philippine experience. Jeepneys can continue to shine as a cultural icon.
4. Create a Mass Transit Authority composed of government and private sector members and one staffed by transportation specialists whose charter will be the complete and massive overhaul of our transportation system; a long term project that will go into the next decade and beyond.
It is doubtless a monumental challenge to transform our mass transit system and overhaul habits we have been used to. Yet the need to reduce both our energy and environmental footprints and to dramatically address our gridlocked traffic system are considerations that must be regarded with utmost seriousness.
We cannot continue wasting energy, suffocating our people and operating our businesses at the low productivity levels caused by traffic gridlock. Bold, courageous, visionary and patient leadership to pull this off is direly needed. And the sooner we take the problems that jeepneys cause seriously, the better. And yes, the tricycle issue also needs to be addressed. They are after all no more than “mini jeepneys”.
Converting the WWII "Eisenhower" type jeeps into a 12 passenger "jeepney" seemed both cute and practical in 1946 and its usefulness lasted thru the mid 1960's. Filipinos were so enamored with the innovation that it soon became a national "symbol", proof that we are indeed a resourceful nation.
As the population grew from 15 million after WWII to some 90 or so million today, jeepneys are no longer practical and have in fact become a hazard both to the environment and the country's energy situation, not to mention being the primary cause of massive gridlock that has made moving around Metro Manila and the cities of Cebu, Cagayan de Oro and Davao a major time consuming exercise.
The math is pretty simple. It will take about 100 or jeepney loads to move the same number of passengers on one 2 car tram. That means one engine consuming gasoline versus 100 jeepney engines which also pump out more pollutants in the air. Needless to say, a well organized, broad based light rail system in the major Philippine cities would result in lower dependence on expensive foreign oil and much cleaner air to breathe. Jeepneys are suffocating our urban populations!! It is literally unsafe to breath “city air”.
The other, perhaps not so subtle, consequence of a “jeepney based” mass transit system is the gridlock it creates all over the metropolitan areas which profoundly contributes to productivity reduction. Sitting in traffic for hours, whether in an air conditioned car or a cramply packed jeepney, renders a person economically unproductive. A sales call that should take an hour could stretch to 4 or 5 hours. The added time commuting to and from work directly reduces the amount of quality time that parents spend with their children and the devastation that is visited on the family structure is perhaps often ignored.
The incoming Aquino III administration needs to make mass transit upheaval a key element in improving the country’s neglected infrastructure. All the great plans of mice and men are for naught if we can’t get to where we’re going in a reasonable enough time. The gridlock must be unwound and addressing the jeepney caused problem is a necessary and critical first step.
I know that the very idea of contemplating the demise of the jeepney as our primary form of daily transportation raises many concerns that are political, economic and cultural.
There are hundreds of thousands of jeepney drivers all over the country and they constitute a major voting bloc hence politicians may be hesitant to displease them. Additionally there are several thousands of entrepreneurs’ who manufacture as well as operate jeepneys and they are a formidable socio-economic force. And, of course, the jeepney has become a potent and sentimental icon that, over time, has been an integral part of Philippine identity.
Yet all these concerns can be effectively addressed to the satisfaction of all parties and stake holders. What is required is a forward looking, creative and innovative approach to adequately meet our mass transit needs now and in the future. Failing to take bold and immediate steps will only exacerbate the present, serious problems that our “jeepney culture” creates.
Briefly, here are a few ideas to consider:
1. As we disengage from a jeepney based operation, begin to retrain our jeepney drivers into other trades; a large segment of them could be trained for various jobs that a new mass transit system will create. This will address the concern over the livelihoods of displaced jeepney drivers.
2. Organize jeepney owners and manufacturers into a pool of investors who will be credited with stock shares in a corporation that will run and operate the mass transit system. Machine shop operations that currently build jeep bodies can be harnessed and retooled to perhaps build some of the bodies of the cars to be used in the mass transit system. This will address the economic concerns of jeepney owners and manufacturers.
3. Do not get rid of the jeepneys completely. Jeepneys can be reconfigured so that these can be used as passenger friendly tourist vehicles plying our centers of attraction and giving foreign visitors a feel for the authentic Philippine experience. Jeepneys can continue to shine as a cultural icon.
4. Create a Mass Transit Authority composed of government and private sector members and one staffed by transportation specialists whose charter will be the complete and massive overhaul of our transportation system; a long term project that will go into the next decade and beyond.
It is doubtless a monumental challenge to transform our mass transit system and overhaul habits we have been used to. Yet the need to reduce both our energy and environmental footprints and to dramatically address our gridlocked traffic system are considerations that must be regarded with utmost seriousness.
We cannot continue wasting energy, suffocating our people and operating our businesses at the low productivity levels caused by traffic gridlock. Bold, courageous, visionary and patient leadership to pull this off is direly needed. And the sooner we take the problems that jeepneys cause seriously, the better. And yes, the tricycle issue also needs to be addressed. They are after all no more than “mini jeepneys”.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
The Sham and the Shame!
Arroyo’s ‘Doble Cara’
It was 1962. A new year had begun. A new president had just taken office. He would have liked to immediately address the nation’s problems, a daunting and difficult task regardless the year or era. Gloria Macapagal was a 14 year girl who had just moved into Malacanang as the only daughter of the late President Diosdado Macapagal. I’m certain that she recalls those early days of January when her father had to send a platoon of army rangers to the Central Bank office to forcefully prevent the late Dominador Aytona from assuming his post as governor.
The Aytona case has lived in infamy as the most notorious case of “midnight” appointments in Philippine history ever. Which is why I am quite shocked that Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is acting the way she does. Considering her late father’s angst and agony over the tricks of the Garcia administration, I would expect that aversion to midnight appointments would be imbedded in Madame Arroyo’s DNA. Obviously not!
Reports indicate that she has made several hundreds of midnight appointments to positions far and wide. She even appointed a new Supreme Court justice. Why? What could possibly be her intent in making these appointments? To reward faithful friends and supporters who have stuck with her and her family thru the myriad scandals and incidences of graft and corruption that have plagued and characterized her administration? Quite likely. Yet that is not the worst angle in this fiasco.
Looking at her “body of work” in the past 6 months, it is clear even to the cross-eyed and myopic among us that Arroyo is positioning herself in such a way that any legitimate attempts to take her to task for the wanton corruption in her administration can be thwarted by the use of a disputable legal “shroud” and the “actions” or decisions of her dubious “appointees” whether acting individually or in concert.
Let me explain. She has taken the unprecedented and highly unusual step of running for Congress in her home district of Pampanga. And in the process she and her family engaged in a nauseous “zarzuela” that she was merely responding to a “popular” demand from that district’s constituency. ABS-CBN reported thus:
"Madame President, I believe that the best service I can give to my constituents is urging you not to deny them the privilege of being represented by your person," the young Arroyo told his mother during a "serenade" at Malacañang. (Mike Arroyo, her son, is the current representative from that district.)
Please, pass out the barf bags!!
Even though members of Congress are not immune from prosecution for crimes, the fact that she is aligned with the party opposing Benigno Aquino III, she could, as I’m sure she would, cry “political persecution” as the motive for attempts to get her and/or her husband behind bars or have them cough up all the wealth they have accumulated since her ascendance to the presidency. She could also use the “privileged hour” in Congress to blare out outrageous allegations about the Aquino administration for which she would be cloaked with immunity.
Her hundreds ( probably thousands) of midnight appointees positioned throughout the various institutions and instruments of government could also be mobilized to slow down the Aquino administration either thru action or inaction, depending on which positions they occupy.
There is also this speculation that her primary objective is to be positioned to become the prime minister should a parliamentary type of government be adopted in the near future. I’m sure that this prospect alone would mobilize the electorate to ensure that the presidential type of a republic would be retained.
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s attempts to retain power and get enveloped in a cocoon of untouchability is indeed shameful. If, as she claims, she wants to serve her people further after she leaves Malacanang she should look to former American presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton as role models. They continue to use their prestige and influence as former chief executives to contribute to society and the world in many positive and admirable ways. Perhaps she realizes that, in light of her record, she carries with her neither respect nor respectability.
What is equally nauseating about Madame Arroyo’s conduct is that it belies many of her recent pronouncements. She has said that her administration will work to make the transition to the Aquino team smooth and efficient. If so she should immediately rescind all the appointments she has made in the last several months and give Aquino the opportunity to move forward with people he has selected and who enjoy his trust and confidence.
Last week she was the guest of honor of the military to mark her farewell. She spoke and among other things said that “like an old soldier” she would merely “fade away”. What a sham!
She seems not content to leave as her legacy a trail of corruption and missed opportunities for the nation. She will likely be remembered for the blatant sham with which she has behaved at the end of her term.'Doble Cara' is what our Spanish forebears would have labelled her. What a shame, indeed.
ldq44@aol.com
It was 1962. A new year had begun. A new president had just taken office. He would have liked to immediately address the nation’s problems, a daunting and difficult task regardless the year or era. Gloria Macapagal was a 14 year girl who had just moved into Malacanang as the only daughter of the late President Diosdado Macapagal. I’m certain that she recalls those early days of January when her father had to send a platoon of army rangers to the Central Bank office to forcefully prevent the late Dominador Aytona from assuming his post as governor.
The Aytona case has lived in infamy as the most notorious case of “midnight” appointments in Philippine history ever. Which is why I am quite shocked that Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is acting the way she does. Considering her late father’s angst and agony over the tricks of the Garcia administration, I would expect that aversion to midnight appointments would be imbedded in Madame Arroyo’s DNA. Obviously not!
Reports indicate that she has made several hundreds of midnight appointments to positions far and wide. She even appointed a new Supreme Court justice. Why? What could possibly be her intent in making these appointments? To reward faithful friends and supporters who have stuck with her and her family thru the myriad scandals and incidences of graft and corruption that have plagued and characterized her administration? Quite likely. Yet that is not the worst angle in this fiasco.
Looking at her “body of work” in the past 6 months, it is clear even to the cross-eyed and myopic among us that Arroyo is positioning herself in such a way that any legitimate attempts to take her to task for the wanton corruption in her administration can be thwarted by the use of a disputable legal “shroud” and the “actions” or decisions of her dubious “appointees” whether acting individually or in concert.
Let me explain. She has taken the unprecedented and highly unusual step of running for Congress in her home district of Pampanga. And in the process she and her family engaged in a nauseous “zarzuela” that she was merely responding to a “popular” demand from that district’s constituency. ABS-CBN reported thus:
"Madame President, I believe that the best service I can give to my constituents is urging you not to deny them the privilege of being represented by your person," the young Arroyo told his mother during a "serenade" at Malacañang. (Mike Arroyo, her son, is the current representative from that district.)
Please, pass out the barf bags!!
Even though members of Congress are not immune from prosecution for crimes, the fact that she is aligned with the party opposing Benigno Aquino III, she could, as I’m sure she would, cry “political persecution” as the motive for attempts to get her and/or her husband behind bars or have them cough up all the wealth they have accumulated since her ascendance to the presidency. She could also use the “privileged hour” in Congress to blare out outrageous allegations about the Aquino administration for which she would be cloaked with immunity.
Her hundreds ( probably thousands) of midnight appointees positioned throughout the various institutions and instruments of government could also be mobilized to slow down the Aquino administration either thru action or inaction, depending on which positions they occupy.
There is also this speculation that her primary objective is to be positioned to become the prime minister should a parliamentary type of government be adopted in the near future. I’m sure that this prospect alone would mobilize the electorate to ensure that the presidential type of a republic would be retained.
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s attempts to retain power and get enveloped in a cocoon of untouchability is indeed shameful. If, as she claims, she wants to serve her people further after she leaves Malacanang she should look to former American presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton as role models. They continue to use their prestige and influence as former chief executives to contribute to society and the world in many positive and admirable ways. Perhaps she realizes that, in light of her record, she carries with her neither respect nor respectability.
What is equally nauseating about Madame Arroyo’s conduct is that it belies many of her recent pronouncements. She has said that her administration will work to make the transition to the Aquino team smooth and efficient. If so she should immediately rescind all the appointments she has made in the last several months and give Aquino the opportunity to move forward with people he has selected and who enjoy his trust and confidence.
Last week she was the guest of honor of the military to mark her farewell. She spoke and among other things said that “like an old soldier” she would merely “fade away”. What a sham!
She seems not content to leave as her legacy a trail of corruption and missed opportunities for the nation. She will likely be remembered for the blatant sham with which she has behaved at the end of her term.'Doble Cara' is what our Spanish forebears would have labelled her. What a shame, indeed.
ldq44@aol.com
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Maids to the World,Saviors of Our Nation
My February 4th item titled “From Teachers to Maids, the ‘New’ Filipino Diaspora” attracted many comments sent to me via email. In the article I promised to write more follow up stories on their experiences. Here are some of them.
I was in Hong Kong in 1999 and had several ‘encounters’ with countrymen who are there as domestic help. The first one I met at a small souvenir-electronic store in Kowloon City, near the old airport. I was asking the vendor for the price of an item. The Chinese lady spoke no English. She waved at a girl dusting merchandise inside the store who then came out and spoke to me in English. She was Filipina. She did not realize I spoke Tagalog and flashed a big smile when she heard me talk. I had lost interest in the merchandise and instead started asking her questions.
I asked her how she got a visa to work in a Chinese business establishment. Very carefully and in hushed tones she explained that she was here as a domestic worker. The people who owned the store had an elderly parent that needed attention when no one else in the family was available. She also did usual domestic chores like cooking, laundry and cleaning house. She said the old lady she was caring for had a small bedroom enough for one single bed and a dresser. She had to sleep on the floor.
“May unan pero walang banig,” she said amusedly. Her luck changed, she said, when her employers realized that she not only spoke English but was also good with figures, was facile with the calculator and had accounting skills. They then asked her to spend most of her time in the store, and, on her seventh day, Sunday, if she worked she would get extra pay. She was overjoyed, of course.
As it turns out she finished a 4 year business course in one of the colleges in Bicol. She said she tried to find a job at a bank or an office but could find none. She said that to get employed she needed ‘connections’ which she did not have. And the pay level at those jobs? 6,000 pesos a month to start with and maybe expect an increase of another 500 pesos after a year. So with whatever money she could raise from savings, selling the pigs and chicken her family raised, she boarded a bus to Manila and pursued a foreign job as a domestic. It took her 4 months, and a few thousand pesos which her parents had to borrow from neighbors and friends, but she finally got her paperwork and ticket for Hong Kong. She was overjoyed. She signed a contract and an agreement to pay the employment/travel agency who got her the assignment $1500.00 within 12 months, the amounts deducted each month directly from her salary. Her contract called for a salary of $500.00 a month. She was ecstatic over her new found fortune, even if her net pay was only $375.00 a month because of what she had to pay the agency. She kept $75.00 for herself and the rest went to her parents to pay off their debts and help finance the education of her siblings.
That evening, our host from Cathay Pacific, took us to the Hong Kong island side for dinner, after which we gravitated to the “La Bamba” night club. Before getting there we passed a 7-11 convenience store. I broke away from our group to buy mints and gum . My real intent was to speak to a group of Filipino men sitting, hunched on the pavement at the side of the store. I engaged them in conversation. They said they too were domestic workers hired to clean apartment buildings. It was their night off and the only entertainment they could afford was meeting friends and having beers at the 7-11.
“We work hard and this is our only way of passing the time on our night off,” one of the men said. They said they did not have money to go dancing in night clubs and even if they did they said they were “not allowed” entrance into those places.
“We are lonely and we are sad,” one of them said, “and we are treated like slaves and ‘low class’ people”, he lamented.
Inside the night club there were ‘hostesses’ and some of them were Filipinas. I spoke with a couple of them and they said they came as domestic workers and are still classified as such but they made more money working in the club.
“How would your families in the Philippines react if they knew this is where you work,” I asked. We don’t tell them, they said.
“What our families back home expect from us keeps increasing. They want shoes, appliances, clothes, cameras and at the same time want us to keep sending them money” one explained. We can’t do that on a maid’s salary, she added.
Later that year I was in Barcelona on vacation and stayed at a small hotel located in the residential area of the city. This enabled me to use public transportation and mingle with the local population, doing what they do in their daily lives. It is a great way to ‘absorb’ the local culture, so to speak. On one of these bus trips to the “Ramblas”, the blocks long central plaza lined with shops, restaurants and street vendors and artists, I sat next to a couple of Filipinas with whom I engaged in a conversation about their lives and work.
They were both happy to be working in Spain. Both worked for families with small children. One of the two had a teaching degree from a school in Cebu while the other was a history major from Cavite. They said that aside from the usual domestic work they also helped the kids with their homework in subjects such as math and English. They said their employers also liked them because they were familiar with certain Castillian words that sprinkle our Philippine dialects, making communications much easier as compared to workers from Indonesia or Sri Langka. They had a six day work week and were off on Sundays. They said they used to go meet other Filipinas on their off days but recently they had taken a “second job”. On Sundays they each go to a home and do a thorough ceiling to floor cleaning job that takes about 10 hours but allows them to earn an extra $150.00 per week. They said they now look forward to going home because they had enough money to lavish on their families. Given the experience of most overseas workers doing domestic helper work they seemed to be exception.
In 2009 the 8 million overseas workers remitted some $ 17 billion, which comes to be about 10 to 12 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, a hefty contribution indeed. Unfortunately many of the 8 million end up paying a hefty personal price as well.
The sadness, loneliness, the aches and pains of servile employment are probably not worth it but in many cases they have no choice. Families rely on their remittances and in a way they have helped to save the nation.
Ldq44@aol.com
Next issue: Some to the really painful OFW stories.
I was in Hong Kong in 1999 and had several ‘encounters’ with countrymen who are there as domestic help. The first one I met at a small souvenir-electronic store in Kowloon City, near the old airport. I was asking the vendor for the price of an item. The Chinese lady spoke no English. She waved at a girl dusting merchandise inside the store who then came out and spoke to me in English. She was Filipina. She did not realize I spoke Tagalog and flashed a big smile when she heard me talk. I had lost interest in the merchandise and instead started asking her questions.
I asked her how she got a visa to work in a Chinese business establishment. Very carefully and in hushed tones she explained that she was here as a domestic worker. The people who owned the store had an elderly parent that needed attention when no one else in the family was available. She also did usual domestic chores like cooking, laundry and cleaning house. She said the old lady she was caring for had a small bedroom enough for one single bed and a dresser. She had to sleep on the floor.
“May unan pero walang banig,” she said amusedly. Her luck changed, she said, when her employers realized that she not only spoke English but was also good with figures, was facile with the calculator and had accounting skills. They then asked her to spend most of her time in the store, and, on her seventh day, Sunday, if she worked she would get extra pay. She was overjoyed, of course.
As it turns out she finished a 4 year business course in one of the colleges in Bicol. She said she tried to find a job at a bank or an office but could find none. She said that to get employed she needed ‘connections’ which she did not have. And the pay level at those jobs? 6,000 pesos a month to start with and maybe expect an increase of another 500 pesos after a year. So with whatever money she could raise from savings, selling the pigs and chicken her family raised, she boarded a bus to Manila and pursued a foreign job as a domestic. It took her 4 months, and a few thousand pesos which her parents had to borrow from neighbors and friends, but she finally got her paperwork and ticket for Hong Kong. She was overjoyed. She signed a contract and an agreement to pay the employment/travel agency who got her the assignment $1500.00 within 12 months, the amounts deducted each month directly from her salary. Her contract called for a salary of $500.00 a month. She was ecstatic over her new found fortune, even if her net pay was only $375.00 a month because of what she had to pay the agency. She kept $75.00 for herself and the rest went to her parents to pay off their debts and help finance the education of her siblings.
That evening, our host from Cathay Pacific, took us to the Hong Kong island side for dinner, after which we gravitated to the “La Bamba” night club. Before getting there we passed a 7-11 convenience store. I broke away from our group to buy mints and gum . My real intent was to speak to a group of Filipino men sitting, hunched on the pavement at the side of the store. I engaged them in conversation. They said they too were domestic workers hired to clean apartment buildings. It was their night off and the only entertainment they could afford was meeting friends and having beers at the 7-11.
“We work hard and this is our only way of passing the time on our night off,” one of the men said. They said they did not have money to go dancing in night clubs and even if they did they said they were “not allowed” entrance into those places.
“We are lonely and we are sad,” one of them said, “and we are treated like slaves and ‘low class’ people”, he lamented.
Inside the night club there were ‘hostesses’ and some of them were Filipinas. I spoke with a couple of them and they said they came as domestic workers and are still classified as such but they made more money working in the club.
“How would your families in the Philippines react if they knew this is where you work,” I asked. We don’t tell them, they said.
“What our families back home expect from us keeps increasing. They want shoes, appliances, clothes, cameras and at the same time want us to keep sending them money” one explained. We can’t do that on a maid’s salary, she added.
Later that year I was in Barcelona on vacation and stayed at a small hotel located in the residential area of the city. This enabled me to use public transportation and mingle with the local population, doing what they do in their daily lives. It is a great way to ‘absorb’ the local culture, so to speak. On one of these bus trips to the “Ramblas”, the blocks long central plaza lined with shops, restaurants and street vendors and artists, I sat next to a couple of Filipinas with whom I engaged in a conversation about their lives and work.
They were both happy to be working in Spain. Both worked for families with small children. One of the two had a teaching degree from a school in Cebu while the other was a history major from Cavite. They said that aside from the usual domestic work they also helped the kids with their homework in subjects such as math and English. They said their employers also liked them because they were familiar with certain Castillian words that sprinkle our Philippine dialects, making communications much easier as compared to workers from Indonesia or Sri Langka. They had a six day work week and were off on Sundays. They said they used to go meet other Filipinas on their off days but recently they had taken a “second job”. On Sundays they each go to a home and do a thorough ceiling to floor cleaning job that takes about 10 hours but allows them to earn an extra $150.00 per week. They said they now look forward to going home because they had enough money to lavish on their families. Given the experience of most overseas workers doing domestic helper work they seemed to be exception.
In 2009 the 8 million overseas workers remitted some $ 17 billion, which comes to be about 10 to 12 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, a hefty contribution indeed. Unfortunately many of the 8 million end up paying a hefty personal price as well.
The sadness, loneliness, the aches and pains of servile employment are probably not worth it but in many cases they have no choice. Families rely on their remittances and in a way they have helped to save the nation.
Ldq44@aol.com
Next issue: Some to the really painful OFW stories.
Noynoy Must Avoid Cory’s
Of Brownouts and Coups
Updated June 10,2010
Benigno Aquino III metamorphosed from “president apparent” to “president elect” and finally became “president proclaimed” at ceremonies in Congress June 9. After his forthcoming inauguration and the formal transfer of power, he will re-enter Malacanang, this time not as the young son of a people powered mother president but as a matured leader winning the office on his own. He faces a daunting task indeed.
What awaits him, and the country, is perhaps the reason why the celebration of his victory was not as euphoric and hope filled as Cory’s was in 1986. This time around people seem to be less optimistic about what could possibly happen. They have learned, bitterly to be sure, that regardless the personal honesty, integrity and piety that defined his mother as a person and as president, that did not stop relatives and friends from looting the people’s coffers. Then of course the last 2 presidents who’ve been in power over the past 10 years had administrations marred by scandals, violence, graft and gross incompetence of the highest order. Yes indeed, the regimes of Joseph Estrada and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo have obliterated whatever little faith people had in their government.
And this has made Noynoy’s task even more challenging than ever.
“We know that graft and corruption are not in Noynoy’s DNA”, is what a reader wrote explaining why she strongly advocated Aquino III’s elevation to the presidency.
So what should he do? What’s the plan? Being honest and incorruptible is a good place to start but definitely not good enough. I have a few suggestions and this very much has to do with recognizing the negative aspects of the Cory Aquino presidency.
What do we remember most about those years from 1987 on? From what I recall they were rolling blackouts or brownouts that could last all day long, and, the many attempted “coups” by several military units. The power shortages stifled and seriously undermined the local economy and the coups drove away foreign investors.
So, if I were an adviser to Aquino III, I would strongly urge that he announce and undertake a massive physical infrastructure program that would upgrade electricity generation facilities so that power is available all over the country 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year. And pursuit of energy growth should be thru the use of new “clean energy” technologies like solar and wind power wherever it is feasible to do so. Dependence on foreign oil must be reduced.
The infrastructure project should also address, once and for all, the traffic gridlock that exists for some 16 hours a day around Metro Manila and is also becoming a growing problem for cities like Cebu, Cagayan de Oro and Davao. It is time that an intelligent, sensible and effective mass transit system take the place of today’s chaotic “jeepney based” public transportation system. Jeepneys are the most costly way of moving people around on at least three counts:
1. Their fuel cost per passenger mile is extremely high. A trolley system of ten cars that could move 1,000 passengers would require about 100 or so jeepneys to move. This heightens our oil and gasoline dependency.
2. 100 jeepneys revving engines while waiting for a “Go” signal is spewing out tons of pollutants in the air, making Metro Manila among the smoggiest cities in the world. It is literally choking the population.
3. The traffic gridlock it creates has a direct impact on productivity. How many hours a day do people spend in traffic that they could devote to productive activity?
If we are to get moving as a country desirous to become one of the “tigers” in Asia we need to be able to move around and when we get to where we’re going we need to have electric power for us to produce whatever it is we want to sell.
Concurrent with the launching of infrastructure projects Aquino III must also immediately address his relationship with the military brass. It is important for him to develop a rapport with the generals, colonels and all others in the command structure that is based on mutual trust. He must enroll the military leadership into the concept of thoroughly professionalizing the armed forces and work diligently to make them true sentinels of the nation’s continued well being.
The Benigno Aquino III administration, if it is to be successful, must be focused on addressing the country’s multitude of problems and not be distracted by the chaos and mayhem that coups and other forms of militaristic adventurism by some in the armed forces have, in the past, puerile like, engaged in. Today’s “president apparent” must truly become the country’s “Commander-in-chief”.
Ldq44@aol.com
Updated June 10,2010
Benigno Aquino III metamorphosed from “president apparent” to “president elect” and finally became “president proclaimed” at ceremonies in Congress June 9. After his forthcoming inauguration and the formal transfer of power, he will re-enter Malacanang, this time not as the young son of a people powered mother president but as a matured leader winning the office on his own. He faces a daunting task indeed.
What awaits him, and the country, is perhaps the reason why the celebration of his victory was not as euphoric and hope filled as Cory’s was in 1986. This time around people seem to be less optimistic about what could possibly happen. They have learned, bitterly to be sure, that regardless the personal honesty, integrity and piety that defined his mother as a person and as president, that did not stop relatives and friends from looting the people’s coffers. Then of course the last 2 presidents who’ve been in power over the past 10 years had administrations marred by scandals, violence, graft and gross incompetence of the highest order. Yes indeed, the regimes of Joseph Estrada and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo have obliterated whatever little faith people had in their government.
And this has made Noynoy’s task even more challenging than ever.
“We know that graft and corruption are not in Noynoy’s DNA”, is what a reader wrote explaining why she strongly advocated Aquino III’s elevation to the presidency.
So what should he do? What’s the plan? Being honest and incorruptible is a good place to start but definitely not good enough. I have a few suggestions and this very much has to do with recognizing the negative aspects of the Cory Aquino presidency.
What do we remember most about those years from 1987 on? From what I recall they were rolling blackouts or brownouts that could last all day long, and, the many attempted “coups” by several military units. The power shortages stifled and seriously undermined the local economy and the coups drove away foreign investors.
So, if I were an adviser to Aquino III, I would strongly urge that he announce and undertake a massive physical infrastructure program that would upgrade electricity generation facilities so that power is available all over the country 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year. And pursuit of energy growth should be thru the use of new “clean energy” technologies like solar and wind power wherever it is feasible to do so. Dependence on foreign oil must be reduced.
The infrastructure project should also address, once and for all, the traffic gridlock that exists for some 16 hours a day around Metro Manila and is also becoming a growing problem for cities like Cebu, Cagayan de Oro and Davao. It is time that an intelligent, sensible and effective mass transit system take the place of today’s chaotic “jeepney based” public transportation system. Jeepneys are the most costly way of moving people around on at least three counts:
1. Their fuel cost per passenger mile is extremely high. A trolley system of ten cars that could move 1,000 passengers would require about 100 or so jeepneys to move. This heightens our oil and gasoline dependency.
2. 100 jeepneys revving engines while waiting for a “Go” signal is spewing out tons of pollutants in the air, making Metro Manila among the smoggiest cities in the world. It is literally choking the population.
3. The traffic gridlock it creates has a direct impact on productivity. How many hours a day do people spend in traffic that they could devote to productive activity?
If we are to get moving as a country desirous to become one of the “tigers” in Asia we need to be able to move around and when we get to where we’re going we need to have electric power for us to produce whatever it is we want to sell.
Concurrent with the launching of infrastructure projects Aquino III must also immediately address his relationship with the military brass. It is important for him to develop a rapport with the generals, colonels and all others in the command structure that is based on mutual trust. He must enroll the military leadership into the concept of thoroughly professionalizing the armed forces and work diligently to make them true sentinels of the nation’s continued well being.
The Benigno Aquino III administration, if it is to be successful, must be focused on addressing the country’s multitude of problems and not be distracted by the chaos and mayhem that coups and other forms of militaristic adventurism by some in the armed forces have, in the past, puerile like, engaged in. Today’s “president apparent” must truly become the country’s “Commander-in-chief”.
Ldq44@aol.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
.jpg)
.jpg)