Victory for Pacquiao

Victory for Pacquiao

For several hours yesterday, lawless elements took a break, the military unilaterally observed an informal truce and politicians paused from their endless brawls as Filipinos, in a rare show of unity, rooted for one of the nation’s own. It seemed for some moments that the nation was in for a big disappointment, as the prospect of a draw loomed in the match between boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao and Mexico’s Juan Manuel Marquez. But in the end the judges, by a split decision, gave the World Boxing Council superfeatherweight crown to Pacquiao.

Several police commands happily reported zero crime rates throughout the match, broadcast live from Las Vegas. For the Filipino, Pacquiao has come to symbolize rare achievement in sports, a field where the nation is sorely lacking in international recognition.

Later this year the Olympic Games will be held in Beijing. The Games are a reminder of what the Philippines has not yet achieved: the highest honor in the world of sports, an Olympic gold medal. Pacquiao’s many feats show what is needed to excel in sports: disciplined development of natural talent, adequate facilities for rigorous training, and sufficient support from both the government and interested parties in the private sector.

Proper training in athletics, which ideally should start at a young age, does not come cheap. Many promising athletes are from poor families, and development of their athletic skills is often set aside because of the demands of day-to-day survival. Often, Filipino athletes who excel in regional games are members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, which has a special program for personnel with sports potential. Military discipline no doubt helps in turning these athletes into winners. But budding athletes who are too young for the AFP must look elsewhere for support in developing their skills. The nation’s jubilation over Pacquiao’s latest victory should encourage concerned sectors to provide that kind of support.

Moving on

Moving on

MOVING on” or “let’s move on” is the catch-phrase of the season.

The phrase has dripped from the mouth of politicians, columnists, editorial writers, broadcast journalists, Palace officials, the President and everyone wishing to sweep a nightmare away.

We are advised to move on after the resolution of a big political scandal, a messy business scam, an ugly congressional investigation or an unsuccessful attempt to destabilize the government.

It means that Filipinos should keep moving, get the nightmare behind them and just push on. Get a life, please!

We should move on after the trial of President Estrada, which consumed us for more than six years. We heard that advice after the nursing exam scandal, the May 14 election anomalies, the military boo-boos in Sulu, the attempts at government destabilization and poor government response to natural disasters.

Manfully, we collected ourselves, shook off the scary headlines and the TV news, and told ourselves we were flexible and strong, and that we have survived.

Filipinos, after all, are a forgiving and a forgetful people. We have a short memory for national troubles, sensational crimes and man-size scandals. We have a very high threshold for patience and leniency.

OK, we promise to move on. We close the book on the Estrada case. It’s time to resume our normal life. We have other important things to do.

Besides, look at the bright side. The peso is strong. OFW deployment will hit one million in less than a year. Remittances are up 16% in seven months.

S&P has reaffirmed its “BB+B” (plus or minus) for foreign and local currency issuer credit ratings on the Philippines, meaning the outlook is stable. Employment has risen as of July. Foreign investments are pouring in. Our ‘economic fundamentals’ are very strong.

Of course there are other worries on the horizon. The government has a hard time selling the national broadband network project. The Department of Education’s cyber-education program smells like a fake diploma. The Commission on Higher Education has discovered a suspicious P500-million campus-based call-center project on its backyard. The customs bureau and the BIR have not met their collection targets. It’s 2007 but we have not automated the voting system. We need to address the long-playing MILF secessionism and the NPA insurgency that are hindering development in the regions.

But what the heck—let’s move on.

Let’s book that trip to Macau next week. Order the Wagyu beef from TriNoMa. Let’s wake up late today, Sunday, and pretend nothing bad happened. Join the barkada for gin and coke. Rent the new Angel Locsin DVD. Take the family to Luneta. We will move on. We will not be defeated by the system. We will help the nation survive.

Gross national joy

IT would not be a bad idea if President Arroyo creates a National Commission on National Happiness to determine the level of our well-being and satisfaction.

The thought came to mind after reading that the World Database of Happiness, which lists 95 countries, has determined that Denmark (with a rating of 8.2), Switzerland, Austria, Iceland and Finland, all with high per capita income, are the “happiest” countries.

But wealth is not only the gauge of the Database, the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Institute and the Cambridge Institute of Well-Being, all doing research on what makes races and nations happy. Their yardsticks include education, nutrition, freedom from fear and violence, gender equality, mental health and having choices.

The United States makes it to the top 15 with a 7.4 index rating. In the middle range are the Philippines (6.4), Indonesia (6.2) and Iran (6). At the bottom are Tanzania (3.2), Zimbabwe (3.3) and Moldova (3.5).

The small kingdom of Bhutan said goodbye to gross national product a long time ago and said Bhutans should aspire to Gross National Happiness. Bhutan’s idea of collective happiness is based on equitable development, environmental conservation, cultural heritage and good government.

Today think tanks and research institutes are working on development models for methods to find out what makes peoples happy and why.

Filipinos are generally a happy people. Our sense of humor does not fail us even during national tragedies. Martial law and the Aquino assassination inspired many jokes, some still circulating today. OFW jokes about life in the US, Japan and the Middle East are plentiful. The only people who do not appreciate humor—especially jokes at their expense—are government officials.

We have a popular observation about Filipinos: Mababaw ang kaligayan (easy to please). We make do with the basics: three meals a day. A roof over one’s head. A good job. Family and friends. We are a hospitable people. We make friends easily. Pakikisama (the ability to get along) and utang na loob (returning a favor) are national virtues.

But the Presidential Commission on National Happiness could raise our level of well-being. It could look into quality-of-life issues, such as having clean air and water, less public noise, building more parks, making traffic more tolerable, building an efficient public-transportation system, insuring prompt trash collection, making medicine cheaper and making the neighborhood safer for children.

If we cannot become a First-World country, we could at least expand our national smile.

Grace period

Grace period

THROWING MONEY AT A PROBLEM WON’T SOLVE it. President Macapagal-Arroyo says the government has the cash to automate elections. Clearly, she has the upcoming barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections in mind.

We believe pursuing automation in a rush would be counterproductive. The Commission on Elections, in particular as it is presently constituted under the beleaguered leadership of Benjamin Abalos, shouldn’t be entrusted with the authority to shortcut bidding processes in the rush to automate the barangay elections. Instead of modernizing our electoral system, this would only open up another opportunity for a controversial purchase of equipment, which could then put every subsequent electoral exercise under a cloud of doubt. Our political skies are too overcast for this at the moment.

What would a rushed automation of barangay elections next month achieve? An army of dubiously elected ward leaders eager to do the President’s bidding in 2010.

If we are to automate, let’s do it right, under a Comelec untainted by the most disgraceful set of commissioners since the Marcos years. If we are to automate, let’s give a sector that’s pretty much more respected and distinguished than our election officials—the IT sector—a chance to arrive at a consensus on the best form of automation to undertake. If we are to automate, and if we are (sensibly) to use the barangay elections as a laboratory to debug an automated system for voting, then let’s not rush into it pell-mell; let’s give it a year, no more, no less.

A happier confluence of events is possible. The President has a chance to fill the vacancy in the Comelec chairmanship that will occur in February next year—and other vacancies that may perhaps come up (we can only earnestly hope that the current Comelec commissioners see the light and resign en masse, together with their disgraced and disgraceful chairman)—with a credible appointment.

Electoral watchdog groups and the IT sector have a chance to show they can do more than make noise, they can achieve a consensus on solutions and, who knows, even on possible Comelec appointments. Our legislature can institute much-needed reforms, not on the basis of partisanship, but in acknowledgment of the public’s yearning for cleaner elections. There is an obvious opportunity here, for the executive and legislative branches to achieve a kind of redemption—or, at least, recovery of their standing—before the people.

While we’re at it, postponing the barangay elections by a year would also allow Congress to consider a much-needed reform. We endorse the manifesto signed on Sept. 5, in Baguio City, by educators and students calling for the abolition of the SK. The manifesto, signed during the annual training convention of student council leaders in public schools, proposes that the current revenue allotment for the SK—10 percent of every barangay’s budget—be re-channelled to public education instead.

The student-educator manifesto points out that all the SK has achieved is to put in the hands of young people large sums of money that they are not prepared to handle; and to serve as a take-off point for dynastic control of local politics. Money is power; and young people all over the country are getting a corrupt and corrupting introduction into power politics by means of the SK. In contrast, student governments represent a more integrated approach to representative government, without the tempting access to large sums.

Sleight of hand or mechanical glitch?

Sleight of hand or mechanical glitch?

Insinuations that a game in the popular noontime show Wowowee was rigged spread via text messages last week. A video clip of the supposed sleight of hand was posted on YouTube, further fanning speculations. In the clip, show host Willie Revillame pulled out a box that supposedly contained the number 2, which represents the P2-million grand prize a contestant had failed to win. What appeared, however, was the number 0. Realizing that the number was the wrong one, the host promptly pulled out of the same box the number 2.

Not surprisingly, the gaffe was played up by Joey de Leon, one of the hosts in the noontime show on a rival network. Revillame was compelled to issue a rebuttal, and a full-blown word war was on.

Like a typhoon drawing energy from the high seas, the controversy has since grown in size and intensity. Sen. Mar Roxas feels the issue merits a congressional inquiry. Roxas said there is a need to determine if the Consumer Protection Act has to be amended as it pertains to game shows.

De Leon himself has volunteered, along with his longtime show-biz buddies, former senator Tito Sotto and Vic Sotto, to explain the workings of a game show if an investigation is called.

Some might scoff at the idea of the Senate spending its time and resources on a hearing to find out if deception was committed during a TV game show, when other, more pressing issues cry for its attention. We think such an inquiry is in order. If there has been an attempt to deceive not only game show contestants but television viewers, it becomes a consumer concern that is worth investigating.

In the 1950s, several celebrity contestants in an American TV quiz show, Twenty One, admitted during a congressional probe they were coached by the show’s producers. As a result, the US Congress passed a law banning fixing in game shows.

More recently, scandal tainted the British version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. In September 2001 a contestant won the show’s grand prize of 1 million pounds. When the tape of the episode was reviewed by the producers, they found that the contestant was being helped along by an accomplice in the studio audience who was using coughs as cues. The prize was withheld, and Scotland Yard was summoned to investigate.

In the end, the contestant, his wife and his prompter, a college lecturer, were charged with deception and conspiracy.

ABS-CBN has attributed the Revillame’s faux pas to a “mechanical glitch.” The network, however, did not explain in detail what the problem was. It should have, if only to quell speculations that it was covering up for its high-rating show.

We would also like to hear from the Department of Trade of Industry, which monitors game shows, and the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas, the organization to which ABS-CBN belongs. They should have been the first to react to the allegations of deception. In the Wowowee issue, their silence is deafening.

Broadening the Filipino investing class

Broadening the Filipino investing class

THE growing number of people falling for investment scams underscores the inaccessibility of the country’s financial markets to ordinary savers. That otherwise educated people would risk losing their hard-earned savings to any of a growing number of illegitimate get rich-quick schemes says a lot about how far removed higher-yielding investment instruments are from the average Filipino’s life.

The blowout in the preneed industry is partly to blame, as it eroded trust in what were supposed to be legitimate investments. But there are structural reasons as well.

With savings account rates dropping close to zero, it’s no wonder consumer spending has been the main engine of economic growth. Why leave your cash in the bank when it would earn less than the inflation rate.

Price increases have sunk to historic lows, pulling down interest rates, with the benchmark 91-day Treasury bill rate at one time slipping to an all-time low early this year. The government fancies that the low rates are a result of its narrowing budget deficit. So while an improving fiscal position brings down the cost of borrowing and allows government to cut its debt, the dividends of this fiscal restraint are not shared equitably by all.

Sure companies, especially big ones trading at the local bourse, have been enjoying a bonanza of fundraising. We’ve seen many of them refinancing their expensive debt with cheaper ones, while a growing number of firms are raising fresh capital by selling additional shares at the stock market. More importantly, family-held firms are braving the market, and opening ownership to the public through maiden share offerings.

All of this fundraising has attracted its share of new investors, particularly from the retail side. But we’re far from where China is, where you see ordinary people in their shorts and sandals, crowding in any of the neighborhood stock market satellite stations, watching their bets while reading the papers, gossiping, knitting, even playing cards or chess.

Local financial regulators luckily have noticed and have been going the rounds of key cities imparting the virtues of investing in the stock market. Unfortunately, we have a long way to go before we can raise our country’s domestic savings rate in a sustainable manner.

This is unfortunate because our low savings rate is a key reason why we go to great lengths, even foregoing much-needed tax revenues, to attract foreign investments to fuel our economic expansion on a more sustainable pace. Foreign money however is fickle and no serious reformer would rest his (or her) industrial policy on the lone leg of foreign investments.

Restoring confidence in the financial markets is in order. But regulators have to do more.

Low interest rates should be a boon since they bring down the cost of borrowing to build houses, buy cars and establish or expand businesses—all worthwhile activities that would create jobs and raise people’s incomes.

But financial market stakeholders should go beyond a literacy program. Pricing or the cost of investing obviously is an issue.

Regulators should take their cue from the world’s most advanced markets so we can broaden the Filipino investing class. Failing to do so would prevent our economy from really taking off.

Conscience of the nation

Conscience of the nation

Former Senate President Jovito R. Salonga, the country’s oldest living statesman and my personal guru for more than 50 years, launched last Aug. 14 another illuminating, persuasive and life-changing masterpiece. The book’s title, “Not by Power or Wealth Alone,” is its best summation. As an exemplary public servant and brilliant lawyer, he has had a generous share of power and access to wealth in this material world. But in characteristic humility, he declares them thoroughly inadequate to satisfy life and to reform society.

Practised what he preached. Dr. Salonga, a Protestant, has spoken before many congregations, Catholic and Muslim included. He was always eloquent, spoke with the tremolo of infectious conviction, and left his audience with thoughts and reflections that led to action. But that is not all. True, he preached powerfully; but equally true, he practised even more stringently what he preached.

Believing that the Marcos dictatorship plundered not only the public treasury but also the people’s values, he sponsored the enactment of the Ethical Standards Law. Remarkably, in his personal conduct, he went even beyond the requirements of this law or of any known code of ethics.

For instance, when he and his law partners, Sedfrey A. Ordoñez (who became solicitor general, secretary of justice, and ambassador to the United Nations) and Pedro L. Yap (who was elevated to be chief justice of the Philippines), were recruited to public office by President Corazon C. Aquino in 1986, he was not satisfied with taking a leave from his prestigious law firm as demanded by law and ethics; he went all the way and dissolved permanently his law partnership.

In serving a government swept to office by legendary people power, he opted to forego the luxuries that wealth could buy to be able to demonstrate the virtues that power and wealth alone could not bring. He chose to live simply so that others may simply live.

Indeed, he is a living model of his teachings. He is a dedicated husband, a caring father, a faithful friend and a devoted man of God. Never compromising his principles in exchange for friendship, kinship, relationship, power or wealth, he lives an almost ascetic life. He does not smoke, drink, or gamble. Money, worldly pleasures, titles and honors hold no fascination for him.

Outstanding and humble. To say that Dr. Salonga is outstanding is to say something ordinary about him. He topped the bar examinations, topped his doctoral class in Yale University and topped the senatorial elections three times, a record unequaled in this nation’s history. Yet he remains humble and child-like, as our Lord Jesus Christ counseled all His disciples to be. No wonder, he had been selected as one of the seven Ramon Magsaysay awardees this year.

Even when I was his assistant in his law firm in the early ’60s, he was never allured by possessions, positions or propositions. He never quibbled over attorney’s fees; did not bill even his wealthiest clients like Don Eugenio Lopez Sr., leaving to them the problem of how to compensate him. Money had very little meaning for him then, and less so now.

Many of the essays, homilies and speeches included in the book had been written some 35 years ago, after his life was almost snuffed out by that bombing in Plaza Miranda, Manila on Aug. 21, 1971. In it are chronicled his pains, struggles and hopes. But like our Lord Jesus Christ, his faith grew stronger as his physical self felt weaker.

Sprightly at 87. On June 22, 2007, Dr. Salonga celebrated his 87th birthday. Yet, despite his advanced age and despite the many tiny pieces of shrapnel that are still imbedded in his frail body as a result of that grenade blast in Plaza Miranda, he is still sprightly. More important, his intellect and his interest in public welfare are still as sharp as when he was 40. Let me give just two recent proofs of this assertion:

1. Peeved at the Commission on Elections’ refusal to reveal the names of the party-list nominees in the last elections, he sued the poll body for violating the people’s constitutional right to public information; the result: a unanimous Supreme Court decision (in Rosales vs Comelec), promptly promulgated on May 4, 2007, commanding the Comelec to follow his demand; and

2. Alarmed that President Macapagal-Arroyo violated the Constitution in appointing to the Supreme Court someone who was not a natural-born citizen, he again sued; the result: again, a unanimous Supreme Court decision (in Kilosbayan vs Ermita), promptly issued on July 3, 2007, enjoining Gregory Ong from accepting his appointment to the Supreme Court, precisely because of his lack of natural-born citizenship.

Many times during his prayers and moments of solitude, he has asked our Lord why his life had been spared, and why he had been gifted with longevity when he was one of the most injured during that deadly Plaza Miranda blast. I dare say that our Good Lord had granted him a long and purposeful life, because He wanted him to be the conscience of the nation; to be its fearless anchor during stormy seas of political upheavals; and to be the indefatigable teacher and model of the young and not-so-young who aspire to lead this country.

Champions

Champions

We congratulate our group of six boxers for demonstrating once again that our country is a force to be reckoned with in the lower weight classes of international boxing by winning the Boxing World Cup.

Together with the string of victories that Manny Pacquiao has been enjoying, the triumph of the Filipino boxers can be expected to trigger greater interest in boxing both as a professional and an amateur sport. Many impoverished youths will see boxing as a ticket out of the mire of poverty.

But the development of boxing should not be made at the expense of other sports in which Filipinos could excel. Baseball was one sport in which Filipinos excelled before World War II. But after Liberation, because of the heavy American influence, basketball became the most popular sport among the masses. Filipinos seem to forget that because they are a race of short people, they cannot excel at basketball, in which Caucasian giants enjoy a natural advantage. In the recent Fiba Asia Championships, for instance, not even the addition of tall Filipino-Americans to the Philippine team could win it a slot in the finals.

Soccer, the truly international sport, is another game at which Filipinos, with their speed, natural agility and balletic grace, can excel. But it is played mostly only in the provinces and as a spectator sport it draws big crowds to movie houses and sports restaurants only during the biennial World Cup. Perhaps big corporations can help popularize soccer, and revive interest in baseball by sponsoring teams.

Boxing, often called “the manly art of self-defense,” will always be seen as the poor man’s ticket to riches. Because of its violent nature (many boxers have died as a result of ring injuries) and its identification with gambling, boxing has had a controversial history. There have been periodic calls for outlawing the sport, but especially in a poor country like the Philippines, such calls cannot succeed. Meanwhile, the best that can be done would be to ensure that boxers are given enough protection in the ring and that those who are retired are assured of some means of livelihood. Many boxers have been a source of national pride but some of them have been reduced to pathetic figures by penury. They should be accorded recognition not only when they bring honor to the country, but also given support in their twilight years.

Extreme weather

The world appears to be in for a long period of extreme weather, if recent reports are to be our gauge. More than 25 million people have been affected across South Asia by massive flooding. Since the start of the monsoon in June, at least 1,120 people have been killed and 18 million affected in India. In Bangladesh, abut 250 have been killed and around 8 million stranded or displaced.

Heavy rains have doused southern China, and landslides have killed 120 people and floods have displaced 14 million people. England and Wales had their wettest May and June since 1776 and suffered $6 billion in damage from extensive flooding. Germany suffered its driest April and its wettest May since 1901. All over the world—Mozambique, Uruguay, the reports are the same: extreme weather events have been taking place.

In the Philippines we are witness to the same phenomenon of weather being turned upside down, of having a wet dry season and a dry rainy season. At one point, the situation became so alarming that the Catholic Church called for what could be the modern-day equivalent of the tribal “rain dance”: the Oratio Imperata ad Petendam Pluvium (an obligatory prayer pleading for rain). And then a storm or two brushed the northern tip of the country, bringing much needed rains that raised the water levels in dams that supply much of the water for Luzon.

While most scientists believe extreme weather events will be more frequent as heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions cause world temperatures to rise, the World Meteorological Organization says it is impossible to say with certainty what the second half of 2007 will bring. But it is best to be prepared for extreme weather occurrences. We cannot let our guard down; for instance, we still have to conserve water and prepare for the possibility that the rivers and lakes will dry up. And as a long-term measure, carry out in earnest, among other things, a project to plant 20 million trees that will help retain water and at the same time produce more life-giving oxygen.

August

August

THE Carriedo Waterworks was inaugurated on August 23, 1870. Don Francisco Carriedo, a Spanish engineer and philanthropist, was responsible for the construction of this early water system that supplied water to Manila for more than a century.

If you miss water service anytime this month owing to poor weather or poor water delivery and distribution, remember Don Francisco and his pioneering work.

August holds many memories. We have only two national holidays—Ninoy Aquino Day (August 21) and National Heroes’ Day (August 26) but the rest of the month is busy. August is National Lung Month, Sight-Saving Month and National Language Month.

There are special days and weeks. August 1 is Family Planning Day. August 18 is National Seafarers’ Day. We are exiting from Breastfeeding Week. Soon it will be National Hospital Day. Of course National Asthma Week will have its time. The third week is National Coconut Week. Don’t forget Diabetes Week.

On August 23, we remember the heresy at Pugad Lawin. Ninoy Aquino was assassinated on August 21, 1983. The infamous Plaza Miranda bombing took place on August 21, 1971. On the same day in 1901, the US transport Thomas arrived in Manila with 600 teachers. The Jones Law passed on August 29, 1916. The RP-US Mutual Defense was signed on August 30, 1951.

The first atom bomb ever used in war fell on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, followed by a second blast in Nagasaki on August 9. Japan surrendered on August 14. On August 13, 1961, the east-west border was sealed and construction began on the Berlin Wall.

Several notable institutions are observing their anniversaries this month. The Commission on Elections. The Philippine Normal University. The Social Weather Stations. The Supreme Court. The Land Bank of the Philippines. Bank of the Philippine Islands. The Presidential Management Staff. The Bureau of Internal Revenue. The Philippine Independent Church. El Shaddai.

Let’s offer a toast to Bolivia on its national day tomorrow. Keep the glass raised for Switzerland (August 1), Ecuador (August 10), Singapore (August 9), Indonesia (August 17), Malaysia (August 21), India (August 15) and Pakistan (August 16). We have just marked 40 years of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Yo, Elvis Presley died on August 16. Get out those costumes and guitars, guys. Don’t forget your wig, grandpa.

Iraq celebrates

IT was one of the most inspiring and unforgettable moments in sports.

THE intense gunfire that blanketed Baghdad and other parts of Iraq last Sunday was not to kill or maim but to celebrate a national holiday—Iraq’s 1-0 win over Saudi Arabia in the 2007 Asian Cup in Jakarta.

It was not an easy feat for the Iraqi national football team. The Iraqis could not train on home turf. The first three coaches who were offered the job of organizing the team declined. It was a Brazilian, Jorvan Vieira, who accepted the challenge.

The team was put together under expedient circumstances from all parts of Iraq. The team captain Younis Mahmoud is Turkman. Goalkeeper Noor Sabri is Shiite Arab. Hawar Mulla Mohammed is Kurdish. The others were Sunni Arabs.

It was Iraq’s first. The Saudis were three-time Asian Cup champions.

When the skipper scored the winning goal the stadium erupted. He ran across the field, his teammates behind, before they collapsed in a heap, flushed with their victory. The autonomous Kurdish region celebrated. Iraqi refugees and immigrants from Damascus, Syria, to Dearborn, Michigan honked horns and waved flags.

For a moment there was unity and overpowering pride in the bitterly divided nation. Hard work, patience and team play among the athletes made the victory possible. There’s a lesson there for the rest of the Iraqis.

Right place, wrong dress

CANADIAN Deputy Foreign Minister Leonard Edwards will have an amusing story to tell friends and family when he returns to Ottawa.

He was the only guest to show up Wednesday at the Malacanang state dinner wearing the Barong Tagalog; the rest of the male guests wore suits and ties.

Edwards, like all the foreign ministers and representatives to the Asean ministerial meeting and the Asean regional forum, was provided with a barong, the diaphanous, finely embellished shirt, for the traditional group picture and certain functions.

The state dinner hosted by President Arroyo called for suits and ties, the formal wear for such occasion. Edwards showed up in the elaborately woven barong. He put on a brave face and a wide smile as he greeted hosts and fellow guests. The AFP story added:

“He did not appear to be the happiest man in the room when the group’s photo was taken—and he ended up in the front row.”

Worse things could happen—such as when two or more famous ladies show up at a party wearing the same dress. At the recent Kennedy Center Honors, one of Washington’s biggest nights for celebrities and gorgeous fashion, four women, including First Lady Laura Bush, wore the exact same $8,500 Oscar de la Renta dress. The three guests could only look at each other, but Mrs. Bush took decisive action. She went upstairs and changed.

Overseas Filipino slaves in Iraq

Overseas Filipino slaves in Iraq

POSTED on YouTube last July 26 were video clips from a United States congressional hearing on the controversies spawned by the $600-million US Embassy construction in Baghdad. Two of the testimonies refer to the circumstances under which Filipino workers were brought into the work site by their employer, the First Kuwaiti Company, and the horrible conditions in which they were made to work. Filipinos who still care might want to view these testimonies, and weep in anger.

Roy Mayberry, one of the witnesses, is an American medical technician who was recruited by a US contractor and assigned to work as an emergency medic for First Kuwaiti in the US Embassy construction site. He quit his job after only five days, unable to stand seeing the sub-human conditions to which the foreign workers were subjected. His job, he said, was to provide emergency treatment to people who were injured at work. But there was no way he could function in a situation where workers were treated as dispensable labor, and made to work without basic safety equipment like shoes, gloves, hard hats and harnesses. The workers--mostly Filipinos, Indians, Pakistanis and some Africans--had to work 12 hours a day, seven days a week, with only a short break on Fridays for prayers. They were constantly on their toes to avoid being verbally and physically abused, or fined with huge wage deductions.

Mayberry recalls the day he reported to the Kuwaiti company in Kuwait city, preparatory to his being shipped out to Baghdad where he was assigned. Fifty-one Filipino nationals were in the same room with him, also waiting for their documents and identification cards. The Filipinos told him they were bound for Dubai where they expected to work in hotels. Their plane tickets clearly indicated their next stop: Dubai. To his surprise, a manager of the company told him to keep an eye on them as they were all taking the same flight to Baghdad. He told the manager that these men had tickets for Dubai. The manager first told him that the Dubai tickets were just a cover since Philippine passports banned travel to Iraq. But when Mayberry pressed that the Filipinos were expecting to work in Dubai, the manager told him to be quiet and not to tell them they were headed for Baghdad.

Sure enough, as soon as the pilot of the Baghdad-bound plane announced the flight's destination, all hell broke loose. The Pinoy passengers screamed and insisted on leaving the aircraft. They took their seats only after the security detail in the aircraft pulled out his gun. "I believe these men were kidnapped by the First Kuwaiti Company to work on the US Embassy in Baghdad," Mayberry emphatically told the congressional committee. These men could do nothing, he said, but accept their fate. Their passports had been taken away from them in Kuwait.

Mayberry's testimony was corroborated by John Owens, who was hired by the same company to work as a general foreman in the embassy construction project. Unlike Mayberry, who left after only five days, Owens stayed on the site from November 2005 to June 2006--a period of eight months. Owens recounted the abusive treatment of "third-country nationals" at the embassy work site, and wondered how slave working conditions could be allowed in what was supposed to be an American project.

On cross-examination, Owens told the committee of the repeated attempts of the workers to escape from the site. "One night, 17 Filipinos scaled the fence and fled, hoping to find jobs elsewhere within the Green Zone (the area secured by US forces). They were soon rounded up and brought back." Apparently, the Kuwaiti company threatened to file suits against other companies that would take any of these workers whose passage to Iraq they had paid for.

The events recounted in the testimonies of Mayberry and Owens took place more than a year ago. Their story was never reported in our local papers, as far as I know. No one knows exactly what happened to the 51 Filipinos. It is likely that more Filipino workers found their way to the US Embassy construction site by the same system, their passage facilitated at every point by a network of unscrupulous recruiters, government officials, airport and immigration personnel, security forces, and layers upon layers of private contractors.

Their saga is replicated on a daily basis by hundreds of other desperate Filipinos--domestic helpers, entertainers, unskilled workers who fall victim to human trafficking syndicates. Many of them end up as indentured labor or as prostitutes in faraway lands, with neither passports nor access to any form of legal protection. Philippine authorities know about their plight, but they often choose to play blind to their predicament, mostly out of fear of creating a diplomatic issue.

In the civilized world, the first duty of a responsible nation-state is to protect the rights of its citizens wherever they are. It is a duty that has become astoundingly complex in an age of rapid global travel and migration. One might expect that a country like the Philippines, which has deployed millions of its nationals for employment in more than 190 countries, would have the basic sense to strengthen its institutional capacity to keep track of where they are and to protect their interests. But, alas, in the more than 30 years that we have been exporting our people, we have seen nothing but the government's benign neglect and insatiable greed for remittances.

Glaring

Glaring

The Philippines would reach first-world status in 20 years, so the President declared during her State-of-the-Nation Address. Income per capita would then be $20,000.

“By then, poverty shall have been marginalized; and the marginalized raised to a robust middle class,” she added.

Ambitious targets are fine. They push people to do more than what they think they can do. They paint a rosy picture of the future and offer a comforting thought that good times are forthcoming.

But many say that to be able to achieve the ideal status, the Philippines would have to grow at an unprecedented double-digit rate annually, faster even than China’s or Vietnam’s. Even the International Monetary Fund forecasts a growth of only 6 percent in 2007 and 2008.

And now, an Ibon survey says nearly eight out of 10 Filipinos consider themselves poor. This is not the kind of news that goes well with the first-world objective.

There will be, of course, the usual questions on the methodology and the motives of the think tank behind the survey. The fact, however, is that the perception—while it is precisely that—has worsened from 68 percent in January and 69 percent in the same period last year.

Lack of livelihood opportunities in the country is cited as the cause for the overall sentiment.

No survey result should be interpreted as an absolute, yet this latest one is just so glaring amid the optimistic pronouncements of recent days. At the very least, it serves as a reminder that another benchmark may have to be used to gauge—and target—economic development.

Per capita income is a convenient planning tool, but perhaps we need something else to make sure the gains of this nation are shared equitably among the population.

Pinoys abroad are abreast of local news

Pinoys abroad are abreast of local news

THANKS to satellite communications feeding live television broadcasts to major cities around the world, and the ubiquitous mobile phones (cellphones to us), Pinoys abroad are kept abreast with news at home.

In some major cities in the US and Canada I visited recently, Filipino communities were up-to-date with major developments at home.

Their main interest, as expected, is politics. For example, the SoNA of President Arroyo was well-received by Filipino-Americans in these cities. However, there are some who readily disagreed with what she enumerated as her achievements in 2006.

Next to politics, showbiz’ happenings occupy Pinoy’s leisure hours at home. Typical of Filipinos pastimes they are all in the latest gossips in the local movieland.

The Filipino Channel (TFC) appears to have more subscribers than GMA’s Channel 7. The patronage includes Willie Revillame’s noontime show, TV Patrol and ANC news programs.

I would say that Eat Bulaga and 24-Oras news hour of Channel 7 are getting an increasing number of following and subscribers (average monthly subscription is $ 30).

One advantage of ABS-CBN is that it is now offering to Pinoys who are TFC subscribers money-transfer services, with service fees much lower than bank rates. The broadcasting company is likely to hit pay dirt here.

And the ubiquitous cellphones? Believe it or not, cellphone cards are selling like the proverbial cakes in Filipino stores in major cities in the US and Canada. Texting to friends and relatives back home has become a pre-occupation of Fil-Ams.

In fact, what Pinoys are now saying is that it was they who taught Americans how to send short messages (including the use of unique abbreviations). To friends from their cellphones.

And yes, it has now become easier for Pinoys to communicate with their families here with the use of the cellphone as to when is the next Balikbayan box is to arrive here.

CELLPHONE ROAMING RIP-OFF. When Globe wireless telecom advertised in different newspapers last June about its prepaid roaming World Widest Service, I took advantage of it thinking that it would be convenient for one who was to be out of the country for more than a month. There was no such international service. Instead I was fleeced of P700.

While in the US and in Canada, I received only one call and three TXT messages from the Philippines. Worse, I could not reply either by calls or TXT.

Instead, I received nearly two dozens of "Welcome to the USA/Canada" messages and other "advisories" from Globe. Each of those meaningless messages, I understand, were charged to me.

Arriving here last Monday, I immediately dialed Globe for a de-activation of that supposedly worldwide (in 100 countries, "daw") calling and texting service. Believe it or not, this is what Globe answers:

"Sorry, your request cannot be processed. No active roaming yet."

Help, National Telecommunication Commission!

Chaos in our streets

Chaos in our streets

Reading the newspapers the past few days, I’ve noticed that calls seem to be mounting for our national and local government agencies, particularly the MMDA, LTO and PNP to put order to the worsening situation taking over our country’s main thoroughfares, especially those within Metro Manila.

I am, of course, referring to the lack of discipline that seems to be becoming the norm among the majority of our motorists. This lack of discipline is oftentimes the cause of many obstructions and accidents. These are the same problems we have been encountering for so many years, one would think our government would have formulated solutions to these already. Yet, you see the same scenarios everyday, on your way to school or office.

Too many illegal bus, jeepney and tricycle terminals situated along major road arteries, more often than not, cause major traffic jams. The drivers of these vehicles also have a bad habit of overtaking, then, indiscriminately stopping in the middle of the road to unload passengers, with nary a care if they are inconveniencing other motorists. There are many drivers too who seem to be very ignorant of traffic rules and regulations. Many times, you see drivers beating the red light, traveling without license plates, changing lanes suddenly without signaling properly and committing many other kinds of offenses. These kinds of violations clearly indicate the drivers’ lack of comprehension of road rules and regulations, you wonder why they are able to obtain licenses. These drivers have become the scourge of our streets!

And there is another kind of scourge – the motorcyclists who have sprouted like mushrooms all over the country — that is further aggravating what is already a terrible situation. These motorcyclists weave themselves through small spaces between vehicles during a stop signal, sometimes causing damage to the vehicles they are passing. They zoom along the streets, carelessly changing lanes at will, passing other vehicles, risking not only their lives but other motorists as well. These motorcyclists even use the sidewalks, unmindful of the danger they pose to pedestrians. Small wonder that road rage is fast becoming rampant.

World Health Organization studies have shown that a total of 1.2 million deaths and 50 million injuries around the world annually are attributed to road accident related incidents. The number of deaths and injuries worldwide has become so alarming that it is now considered an epidemic – comparable to malaria and tuberculosis! This has prompted the Vatican, citing the need to address these people’s pastoral needs, to come out with the “Ten Commandments” for drivers. The Vatican warned about the effects of road rage, saying driving can bring out “primitive” behavior in motorists, including impoliteness, rude gestures, cursing, blasphemy, loss of sense of responsibility or deliberate infringement of the highway code.

The problem, however, is not the lack of laws, but rather, the implementation of it. Too many times, we have heard about how these traffic offenders have not been apprehended in exchange for a measly sum or just because they have “connections.” We call on all concerned government agencies to put order to our streets. The rule of law must be enforced, otherwise, chaos and anarchy will prevail.

We’re counting on you

We’re counting on you

If there is a national activity that deserves the participation and support of every Filipino, that would be the national census.

Actually, the participation of the head of family or a responsible adult in the household would suffice for the 2005 census of population that started yesterday across the country.

The National Statistics Office shall cover all residents, Filipinos and foreigners, who have stayed or expect to stay in the country for at least a year, by province, city, town and barangay. Overseas workers shall be counted.

To ensure comprehensiveness, the census shall cover institutional populations such as those living in hospitals, sanitariums, military camps, convents and seminaries. Condominiums and exclusive villages shall also be enumerated using a self-administered questionnaire.

Census enumerators carrying pink umbrellas and wearing ID cards trimmed with pink lace will interview every household. They will gather information on the number of people in the house, their age, sex, marital status, education and other demographic, economic and social indicators.

Should you worry that the interviewer may reveal family secrets or personal information? The law says that any and all information obtained during the census, including the identities of the interviewees, are confidential. Only the statistics will be released.

The information gathered and organized helps in the formulation of development plans, policies and programs at the national and local levels, in the government and the private sectors. They are useful for national planning bodies like the NEDA or local think tanks like the one at the city hall.

The information has many uses. It serves, for example, as a basis for internal revenue allotment of local governments, apportionment of congressional seats, and the creation of new towns or new congressional districts

Big and medium industries and businesses use the information as a basis for expansion, relocation, estimating consumer demand for goods and services or determining the size of the labor supply.

National and international programs that serve the national interest—such as foreign relations, legislation, the administration of justice, national and local elections, defense and national security—are strengthened by the numbers furnished by the census.

The new census has raised concerns again on the issue of population policy. The 2000 census revealed that there were 76.5 million in the Philippines. Using this as baseline, the NSO has projected the current population at 88.7 million on a projected population growth rate of 2.36 percent.

NSO Director Carmelita Ericta said the government should aim for a two percent or lower growth rate after the head of the NSO household statistics department described the current population growth as “explosive and unacceptable.” This is debatable.

The census is considered an important human activity since the biblical times. The most famous census took place more than two thousand years ago when Joseph and Mary set out from Nazareth to register in his hometown of Bethlehem in compliance with an order by Caesar Augustus when Quirinius was governor of Syria.

Not an imperial decree but a law mandates the new census. We need not go out of the house to be enumerated, but wait we must for the enumerator who will brave rain, floods, the neighborhood toughies and dogs to interview us for a few minutes to help establish a national snapshot that tells us who we are, how big we are, where we reside, how we live, and where we are going.

We’re counting on them

AFTER ordering the merciful release of minors from the national prisons and local jails, President Arroyo has ordered Interior Secretary Rony Puno to expand and improve jails in Metro Manila.

Does she mean it? Will or can Secretary Puno carry out her order?

City, municipal and provincial jails are a national embarrassment. They treat prisoners almost like animals. If there are facilities that our government would rather not be visited by foreigners, including the delegates to the Asean meetings, that would be your local jail.

Our jails are notorious for overcrowding, fetid air, unsafe water, dirty toilets and violence. In many prisons, inmates have to take turns sleeping.

Most were built decades ago to house small prison populations. The Quezon City jail was built for 800 but houses 3,400. The Caloocan City jail takes in more prisoners than it was built for.

The United Nations, the European Union and the Commission on Human Rights have taken note of conditions at the prisons and have described them as deplorable.

The President should talk to Speaker Jose de Venecia whose House can increase the money for the food allowance (P30 a day) of inmates or for the improvement of jails. There is not much the DILG or the Department of Justice (which administers the national prison) can do without the money.

But it’s noteworthy that President Arroyo has cast an eye on our prisons. She should back that up by actively lobbying the House or sharing her special funds with prison administrations.

Monday and Friday

Monday and Friday

YOU'LL like this. Monday's leader opinion column (really an advert for GMA television) was an omigosh-shock-horror expose of one of Davao's girly shows. How the girls earn a peso or two by flaunting their bods.

A couple of pages further on there was a full-color, whole-page feature on the world's highest paid supermodels. Girls who earn a peso or two by - um - flaunting their bods. Hypocrisy anyone?

Monday was also Sona day which, as time goes on, seems to be less a serious statement of intent and more an honors list. No? Read the papers, watch the news - everybody and their dog have been jumping up to complain that they, dammit, didn't get a mention.

The MILF (murder and mayhem our specialty), Cebu (in the person of Representative Antonio Cuenco), and, a few evenings ago on television, Joker Arroyo were all fluffed up because he wasn't singled out for approval.

I reckon one of Davao's councilors hit the nail on the head when he pointed out that the Sona was, after all, only a speech made by a politician. And we all know what to make of those, don't we?

Moving smoothly on and dress-down days, those Friday's and Saturday's when office workers leave their uniforms at home and wear something more personal, more them. It's a ritual I've never understood - uniforms promote team spirit and, more importantly, to any visitor they give an impression of neatness and efficiency. Why throw away such advantages?

Friday last I paid a visit to Davao's legal office and after the usual gasps and oohs and ahs - undoubtedly something to do with my manly physique and rugged good looks - I was afforded every courtesy, tendered every consideration and left 30 minutes later well pleased with the information I'd called for but -it was Friday and a dress down Friday.

Now imagine me a Japanese businessman visiting the legal office to clear up a point of local law. Here's Davao City's legal office, the legal office of the premier city of Mindanao and yet some of its staff look to have been outfitted by the “ukay-ukay” store around the corner, one woman in particular wearing a denim jacket and below, a pair of ripped and torn raggedy jeans. What tales I'd take back to Japan!

Have a no-uniform day by all means but surely there must remain some sort of dress code, some benchmark of presentable appearance.

Still on governmental issues, a lot has been made this last couple of weeks of the lunatic proposal that the LTO become an insurance agency but so far every commentator has missed the point. It's nothing to do with public money finding its way into private pockets (perish the thought), nothing to do with rooting out fake agencies (just publish a list of LTO approved companies) and all to do with the government's plan to load us all down - despite GMA's promise to the contrary - with yet more bureaucratic red tape and more government employees paid for by you and me.

No gobbledegook this week. I was tempted to take the hatchet to Tek Ocampo's Monday column "Forbidden Dance," Tek writing as if shower girls hadn't been around for the last twenty-five years and, outside their clubs, advertised with twinkly sparkly lights. But I won't.

Congratulations, Pilipinas

Congratulations, Pilipinas

THE applause at the SONA was not only for President Arroyo but for the country and all its citizens. We tend to look at the glass as half empty rather than half full. There are many things for which we should be thankful to Lord and also to ourselves and our fellow citizens without whom we would not be enjoying what we have and what we are. Counting our blessings is better than self-pity or longing for what we do not have. Although we try we cannot have perfection or everything we may want here on earth. It may weaken our aspiration for heaven. No one can deny that we are in good times or even in a boom situation.

Construction is up, which for some is the bellwether of a good economy. Some immediately add the hope that we, especially politicians, do not mess it up with bickering, grandstanding, or tinkering with the economy. The President enumerated the successes of the past year and the good situation at present, while asking for cooperation and more effort. And she is right in this. She deserves congratulations but we also congratulate the ordinary citizens. While we look up to those in power and tend to expect a lot from them, we must not forget that the efforts of the ordinary citizens are just as important.

Happiness according to some is obtained not only from what we have, or have achieved, or learned but primarily in appreciation of what we are. This jibes well with the happy disposition of the Pinoy. Mababaw ang kaligayahan. Even those in poverty, which every one is helping to alleviate, seem to enjoy a disproportional amount of contentment. Foreigners often find this remarkable and also our overseas Pinoys long to return to this haven of peace and contentment. The collateral of this satisfaction or the less optimal side effect of this is the need to prod us on to greater accomplishment, greater effort at learning, greater effort at entrepreneurship, greater effort at trying to get out of poverty. We need prosperity so that we can have a surplus to share with others. We have been the recipients for too long. We need to be the giver.

Even with this good economic situation there is need for constant improvement. And to improve is to change. And in change it helps to be able to conceptualize into what, we want to change. We also need a vision. While by definition a vision is unreachable like a star, it gives us a direction for our efforts. A success scenario paints an immediate future which can be broken down into goal and objectives. We want a peaceful, prosperous community where everybody is safe and challenged to contribute our best. We want to be able to boast of a nation because we have plenty to be proud of. We have to tell everyone how wonderful it is to live in this country.

We have to tell others because as Dr. Corpus always preached, our reputation will not take care of itself. We have to be good and tell others we are good. One without the other is not good. It is a wonderful country even including the corrupt and the thieves and the violent. The success of microfinance is because our people are basically honest. We can paint a target scenario, a land of safety, abounding in opportunities for entrepreneurship, where everyone is challenged, no one is left behind, and grateful to the Almighty for the gift we are and have.