Children

"Every single decision I make about what material I do, what I'm putting out in the world, is because of my children," Meryl Streep once said.  She recently won her third Oscar and has been nominated seventeen times.  Would it not be apropos to say that her formula for such a sustainable excellence should be our example?

 

Philippines After 26 Years: Still Camping in the Desert

It was not too long ago when I contributed an article - Standard & Poor's Downgrade: U.S. Going the Wrong Way - to Blogcritics, a seemingly American Conservative group.  It solicited a response from one American who turned out to have ties to the Philippines, by way of his Filipino wife.  I decided to share it now after reading a few articles that tackled several issues that continue to frustrate Filipinos, 26 years after a peaceful revolution that earned us our freedom. Here is what he wrote:


Hello, Cordi -

Great article, and sure to be panned by the BC conservatives since you lay the blame where it belongs.

But I wanted to mention an observation - I'll be moving to Quezon City in a few months (my oldest son is teaching college and my youngest son is in fourth-year high school, both in Q.C.) for the reasons I listed in this article. It is as I've heard a few Pinoy say, America's a great place to make money, but it's better to grow old in the Philippines.

But back to the observation - when I visited my wife's family there while we were in the middle of the Great Recession here stateside, I traveled from Taguig (which is a modern and beautiful place even by western standards - Google "Serendra") to Baguio to La Union and back to Q.C., and I saw nary a sign of the Great Recession that the U.S. and Europe were going through. I figured this was because of the Pinoy attitude: if you don't have a job, don't sit around waiting for one but go out and make one - start a business, even if it's selling taho in the iskinita. I think that's why most Pinoy stateside are either professionals or businesspeople, or are trying to start businesses of their own.

But that's the difference between America and the Philippines - America has a reliable way to collect taxes, whereas the Philippines doesn't, and so they have to rely greatly on import duties and fees to help finance their government (which is why electronics is so much more expensive there). America, OTOH, reliably and automatically collects taxes, and so can afford the wealth of social programs we have here (not to mention our hideously-expensive military (I'm retired Navy)). If the Philippines had a better system of collecting income and business taxes, they'd be able to afford so much more and provide an actual social safety net.

But I suspect that will not happen in my lifetime...and even though I'm a dyed-in-the-wool bleeding-heart liberal, I sometimes wonder if it's better that it doesn't. Why? Because without the social safety net, the Pinoys are forced to strive harder - witness the bookstores where the fiction books take up less than a quarter of the space, but nearly half consists of professional certification and qualification manuals!

And because they've had to strive harder, they've excelled in much of the world, as is evinced by the fact that one-third of ALL crewmembers on the world's merchant marine ships are Pinoy. It helps that most Pinoy are intelligent - indeed, can America produce an example of a polymath like Jose Rizal who, by the age of 32 when he was martyred, had become a practicing eye surgeon, had published two books of national importance, had traveled the world, and knew twenty-two languages? Perhaps Benjamin Franklin comes close, but that's about it.

Don't get me wrong - I'm no Filipinophile, for there's many problems there that we would not abide here stateside (again, see the article I referenced above). But there's a lot of lessons we could learn from the Philippines. Problem is, America's got this attitude that if the idea didn't come from America, then it must not be a good idea. That attitude is IMO America's greatest shortcoming - the unwillingness of Americans to learn from other nations or cultures...which is probably the same obstacle faced by every nation in history that has stood unchallenged.

Sorry for the rambling comment - it's just that I'm glad to see someone lay the blame where it belongs, and that the same someone can understand and appreciate the observations I've made over the years.

My reply:

Hi Glenn,

I agree with you on your observations about the Philippines. We lost our way a long time ago and have been so far out that we decided to camp. Haha!

Enrile: Road to Redemption or Perdition

The impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona remains as enigmatic as the man tasked to lead the panel of its judges, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile.

Recently, Esquire Magazine banked on the trend and published an interesting article, What I've Learned: Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile.  Although he spoke with the wisdom of a man who was "not fortunate enough to be born in a soft bed," one cannot tell at his age of 92 years if he is on the road to redemption or perdition.

On one hand, he professes to believe in a Supreme Being.  On the other, he says, "How does one get anything done in Congress? You have to have friends. You have to maintain connections with people who have the cloud."  By all indications, he is still a politician who can go either way.  There is just no way of getting a sense from him as to who this impeachment trial will end up serving-Filipinos or Corona.

After all, Enrile, who once had to learn from the "art of war" in order to survive in the "jungle" as he referred to life, might just be reserving the right to change his mind in case the fight ends up being a matter of his own survival.  Besides, history often repeats itself.

EPAL: Most Helpful in Public Toilets

Mang Juan worked in the farm owned by the governor of their town.  He smuggled some rice from work to bring home to feed his family.  He got caught and lost his job. A few days ago, he went to the town's faith healer around the corner for a tumor he had in his back. Of course, he had no health insurance. Now, he is dead.

The governor hears the news. It is a year before election. He orders his men to bring some refreshments to the wake of Mang Juan. Without further ado, they drive their black SUV to the depot where they keep all kinds of campaign materials, all printed down to the sugar sachets with the governor's name.  They say to the issuing clerk, "para sa patay."  She hands them a couple of bags and off they go to Mang Juan's wake.

Prrrt!  Stop. Hold your horses. I must admit that I have just written a likely scene for a soap opera. However, would you not agree that art often imitates life?

A politician giving alms to poor people and using it as a way to advertise himself is not only tasteless but moronic. They think they are so smart to play with emotions of those who are in their most vulnerable to remember their names. I say to them, for heaven's sake, does wisdom count in your brains?  Would you go as far as advertising your failures in coffee cups for the dead?

And by the way, I have a better idea for you guys.  EPAL will be most helpful in public toilets to help people do their business with ease.  Oh yes, on toilet paper too at all SM bathrooms.



Toilet with face photo from mummybrain.com

Mom Extraordinaire

She was born on the day Brother Moon joined Sister Sun and Mother Earth in welcoming another daughter to the Universe.  Yes, a solar eclipse was recorded to have occurred on January 24, 1925, the day Mom was born. Like how the Star of David marked Christmas, that solar eclipse signaled the beginning of an extraordinary life.

She and her family lived during the turbulent days of the Japanese Occupation.  At an age when most of us were still acting goofy,  Mom was sent away from their home in Manila to be on her own with her younger brothers and sisters. Lolo Roman was a school superintendent employed by the Americans. He saw the need for his children to hide away in Nueva Ecija, far north of Manila.

"How she worked hard to take care of us," Aunt Ligaya said.  "The only time she rested was when she would sit to mend clothes while we did our homework."

After the war, she met Dad in a blind date on a bowling alley, a short story of which I wrote in my earlier blog Always On My Father's Mind.  They married and had seven high-spirited children.

How she juggled being a wife to Dad aka James Bond of the Philippines, a mother to seven children, a university professor, and most of all, a prolific social worker is beyond me.

The last time I saw Mom alive was at the foot of the escalator at the airport when I left for the United States. I never got the chance to hug her as I yearned to during my self exile of twelve years.  I cannot help but recall her life again and again, only to find out something new every time I do.  For instance, that moon never meant to hide the light of the sun the day she was born.  As human as she was as I pictured her in my recent blog,  Mom Was from Mars and Dad Didn't Mind At All,  she managed to find her way to heaven, along the path brightened by her work marked by sacrifices for other people.

More about Mom

Mom being sworn in by President Ramos as a member of the MTRCB



Lilia Santos-Villa Memorial Endowment
Her Green Card To Heaven 
Round Goes the Lazy Susan 
Roundtrip

Winning! Agriculture=20% Tourism=5.8%

"The bus station in New York City offers a more comfortable waiting area than this,"  I told my sister, Charie, as we sat in the airport in Manila minutes before boarding the plane to Singapore to visit my niece.  She has become my best buddy in my efforts as a pundit, for lack of a better term, in matters about the Philippines.

We were all cramped in what looked like a 10' x 5' area facing the hallway to the boarding gate, on chairs made more for outdoors and not ergonomic enough for waiting rooms.  I was practically breathing down on someone's neck who was seating in front of me.  Forget about taking your book out because the lighting did not allow it.  It made me think about my old lamp beside my bed at home.

"I know, and how well we welcome those tourists we've been trying to attract," she replied.  I was thinking more about our OFW's who contribute 12% to the country's GDP.

"Remember the stink we all made about the traffic once?"  I asked.  "It remains a motley crew of jeepneys and buses in wacky races but at least authorities have been experimenting on solutions."  I was suggesting the power of yacking to get them to do something about the airport.

Well, that trip to Singapore happened during my summer vacation last year.  As we all know,  Ninoy Aquino International Airport is scheduled to have that much needed renovation.  Extreme, if you were to ask me.  Landing on the list of the world's worst airports rang loud enough.

Now, allow me to get to the point of this blog.  After seeing Pinoys in their creative pursuits busy churning out their own versions of  It's more fun in the Philippines ads (that cost the government five million pesos to think of when all they did was to change the last word of an old slogan from Switzerland to Philippines), another thought came to my mind.  You see, it has been on my wish list for a couple of years now to see our country really work on Agriculture.  Take note of the capital "A".

It all started when I met a lady who worked as a nanny to my sister's children during one of my visits. She looked very old and frail.  "Di po niyo ako kailangan i-po," she said.  "Bata pa po ako."

How right she was. Not yet thirty years old, she looked like she was seventy!  Of course I did not say that.

Being nosy, I soon found out why.  She had been working in a rice field with her family in Ilocos all her life.  Most of them had to stop working after getting sick.  Running out of money, she had to venture out into the capital, as most of them do, looking for work to feed her family.  It made me curious then to find out about what kind of help we give our farmers who actually work with their hands, on their knees, all day, in mud and crap, to produce food for all of us.  I found out, NOTHING!

Before I turn dramatic like I always do, allow me to continue in the context of national interest. According to an article in the Encyclopedia of Nations, the country's agricultural sector is made up of 4 sub-sectors: farming, fisheries, livestock, and forestry, which together employ 39.8 percent of the labor force and contribute 20 percent of GDP.  Tourism accounts only for 5.8% recently according to the National Statistical Coordination Board.

There are several underlying problems that affect Agriculture but the most immediate is what I noticed without even being there.  Seeing the aggressive campaign for tourism that our government has recently come up with worried me more. That same article above articulates it well for me.

One of the most pressing concerns of the agricultural sector is the rampant conversion of agricultural land into golf courses, residential subdivisions, and industrial parks or resorts. In 1993 the nation was losing irrigated rice lands at a rate of 2,300 hectares per year. Small land-holders find it more profitable to sell their land to developers in exchange for cash, especially since they lack capital for seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, and wages for hiring workers to plant and harvest the crops. 

You probably do not notice the long drawn effect of this on our people as a whole. My cousin, Gao Pronove, who like me, has vowed to point out things that need pointing out in our country, posted on facebook some very good observations.
  
SORRY HA!  What's wrong with our food?  They aren't healthy!  Is this why Pinoys are generally fat, under medication, and lethargic?  Where is the healthy stuff?  Think about it or just look at EDSA ads - corned beef, hotdogs, Spam, meat everywhere (drugged chickens, industrial pigs, and only tilapia in a country with a coast longer than the North American continent?).  Sorry ha but we don't have healthy food.

So there. Agriculture = 20% of GDP. Tourism = 5.8%.  I hope it would be enough to get the noise going for our farmers, fishermen, and those who really do the work to put food on our tables.

By the way, sorry to rain on your parade.

It's More Funk in the Philippines

Photo lifted from Boyet Ignacio's Yetbu Photostream on flickr


It's More Fun in the Philippines.  Yes, it's a simple slogan that tells the truth about Pinoys.  There is no doubt that we really are a bunch of exuberant and bubbly people, even in the face of poverty and blatant corruption.

Me, myself, and I get the expectation of fun as soon as I land in the worst airport in the world.  However, having lived in a land of plenty for so long, I can't help but feel uncomfortable when I have fun around poor, yet ebullient kids.  One of the conclusions I have drawn is that Filipinos are so desensitized to their environment that they can just walk past a little boy, not yet in the age of reason, selling cigarettes out in the streets at night.

UNLESS PINOYS START CARING FOR THEM, or at least show that there are things being done to help them, tourists might just find more reasons to say, "it's more funk in the Philippines."