On My Way Home

Legal Opinion Regarding Open Meeting Act

2011-06-23T02:51:00.000+08:00

Monday, June 20, 2011

DA agrees meeting violations occurred but refuses to prosecute, lambasts those who filed complaint

Public bodies must identify the nature of the claim or investigation on the agenda for an executive session under the Open Meeting Act's attorney-client privilege exemption, the district attorney for the Oklahoma Panhandle recently told a hospital board.

The agenda also must identify by name or position the employee to be discussed under the personnel exemption, said James M. Boring, district attorney for Cimarron, Texas, Beaver and Harper counties.

An agenda must also identify the "potential action [to be] taken as a result of the executive session," said Boring in a June 10 letter to three doctors who filed an Open Meeting Act complaint against the board.

Boring said these required pieces of information were left off a May 24 meeting agenda for the Board of Control overseeing the Memorial Hospital of Texas County in Guymon.

Violating the Open Meeting Act is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in the county jail and a fine of up to $500. (OKLA. STAT. tit. 25, § 314)

But Boring said he won't prosecute because these omissions weren't "a willful violation of the OMA by the BOC that would support or justify criminal prosecution."

Boring blamed the violations on the "extremely short notice and time period" that the hospital's CEO had to "prepare, post and file a revised agenda in order for the BOC to be able to address" the issue that required an executive session. (Read The Oklahoman article for an explanation of the conflict over a doctor's suspension.)

"It is also worthy of noting that this complaint is the only complaint ever received by this office against the BOC of MHTC with respect to the OMA," Boring said.

However, May 24 wasn't the first time the board's agenda omitted some or all of the information that Boring said is required to conduct an executive session.

Eleven of the board's previous 15 agendas since Nov. 24, 2009, lacked the necessary information for its closed-door sessions. (Read the agendas for Jan. 25, 2011; Dec. 20, 2010; Sept. 28, 2010; Aug. 24, 2010; May 25, 2010; April 27, 2010; March 30, 2010; Feb. 23, 2010; Feb. 2, 2010; Dec. 22, 2009; and Nov. 24, 2009.)

So, a lack of time doesn't seem to have been the cause of the violations.

Perhaps the lack of complaints is because the public attending the meetings didn't know the law.

That's not an excuse for the board. As Boring pointed out, the hospital's CEO is not responsible for the Open Meeting Act violations even though he puts together the agenda.

"He is not a member of the BOC," said Boring. "The provisions of the OMA impose obligations upon the board of a public body."

The board members are Chairman Wayne Manning, Vice Chairman Dallas Mayer, Secretary/Treasurer Jim Webster, John Nye, John Board, Mary Beth Ebersole and Kelly McMurry.

Why don't they know the law? Boring's conclusions and the law he relied upon regarding what the statute requires are decades old. The Act states, "If a public body proposes to conduct an executive session, the agenda shall:

Contain sufficient information for the public to ascertain that an executive session will be proposed;
Identify the items of business and purposes of the executive session; and
State specifically the provision of Section 307 of this title authorizing the executive session." (OKLA. STAT. tit. 25, § 311(B)(2)(a-c))

A 1997 attorney general opinion says agenda items for an executive session under the personnel exemption must include either the employee's name or job title if it "is so unique as to allow adequate identification." (1997 OK AG 61, ¶ 5)

The reasoning in that opinion and the statute's language also make clear that a specific item of business must be listed under the exemption for attorney-client privilege.

Boring agreed, saying,

It is my opinion that the agenda item to consider an executive session must identify either the position or the individual who is the subject of the discussion or the nature of the investigation or claim to be discussed in the agenda that would apprise the public of the matters to be addressed in the executive session.

So what is required for a violation to be prosecuted?

Boring explained that his "office is not authorized to file criminal actions against anyone on its own initiative."

"My office files criminal actions based upon the receipt of an 'affidavit of arrest' or an 'affidavit for issuance of an arrest warrant' from a law enforcement officer," he said.

Boring said his office may "receive and gather information relating to allegations of criminal activity, especially when such activity relates to actions taken by public bodies."

"Subject to obtaining relevant facts that may indicate criminal action has occurred, this office may then submit the information to the appropriate law enforcement agency for formal investigation," he said.

Boring said it's "not unusual" for his office "to receive complaints relating to violations of the OMA." His office then attempts to obtain all the pertinent information and determines if the Open Meeting Act has been violated, he said.

"If we find a violation, we must then consider if such a violation could be deemed a 'willful violation' of the OMA before referral is made to law enforcement," Boring said.

He noted that in 1984, the state Supreme Court said that for the purposes of the Open Meeting Act:

Willfulness does not require a showing of bad faith, malice, or wantonness, but rather, encompasses conscious, purposeful violations of the law or blatant or deliberate disregard of the law by those who know, or should know the requirements of the Act. (Rogers v. Excise Bd. of Greer County, 1984 OK 95,¶ 14)

He also noted that in the same opinion, the court said, "Notice of meetings of public bodies which are deceptively vague and likely to mislead constitute a willful violation." (Id.)

Boring said that in reading the board's May 24 agenda, "It is not possible to say that it would be comprehensible to a person of ordinary intelligence what matters were proposed to be discussed in the executive session and what action, if any, was contemplated to be taken on the matters to be discussed in the executive session.

"The duty to specify on the agenda plainly and directly in language comprehensible to a person of ordinary intelligence the purpose of the executive session proposed ... was not satisfied," Boring said. "The notice provided to the public in ... the revised agenda fails to satisfy the requirements of minimum notice of the contemplated action that would be taken following the executive session."

So why isn't Boring forwarding the violations to a law enforcement agency for formal investigation and then prosecution? He explained:

It does not appear to me that there is any basis whatsoever to assert, much less establish and prove beyond a reasonable doubt in a criminal prosecution, that the BOC had any intention of acting in bad faith or with malice or wantonness to circumvent the provisions of the OMA.

There is absolutely nothing in the record that would indicate that any of the obvious hostility between the medical staff and the CEO, and perhaps any feelings the CEO might have toward members of the medical staff, were, should, or could be imputed to the individual members of the BOC.

Further, I can not conclude and certainly do not feel the facts would support a finding beyond a reasonable doubt that the actions of the BOC were taken in conscious, purposeful, blatant, or deliberate disregard of the OMA.

In addition, I do not believe or find any facts that would legitimately support a proposition that there was any intention on the part of the BOC to be deceptively vague or to mislead the public about the nature of the matters to be addressed in the executive session.

I conclude and find there was not a willful violation of the OMA by the BOC that would support or justify criminal prosecution of the BOC of MHTC.

What a steaming pile of buffalo chips.

Boring said the OMA puts the obligation on the public body, but then he excused them for being ignorant of a law that's nearly 35 years old. He's doing exactly what our Court of Civil Appeals in 1981 warned against:

If willful is narrowly interpreted, if actions taken in violation of the Act could not be set aside unless done in bad faith, maliciously, obstinately, with a premeditated evil design and intent to do wrong, then the public would be left helpless to enforce the Act most of the time and public bodies could go merrily along, in good faith, ignoring the Act.

Instead of prosecuting the Open Meeting Act violations, Boring lambasted the three doctors who filed the complaint with his office, saying:

It is the policy of this office that, to the extent possible, we will avoid being drawn into political disagreements associated with municipal and county entities, including the functioning of various boards established under municipal or county authority. This office is not willing to permit the power of the office through a threat of criminal prosecution to be used as the arbiter of such disagreements.

The complaint received by this office is laden with indications of it being instigated as the result of an internal or political disagreement or dispute between certain members of the medical staff and the CEO of MHTC.

Boring said he is relatively sure that if the board had upheld the doctor's suspension by the three doctors, they would not have filed the complaint. He doesn't explain why that should affect his decision on whether the board willfully violated the Open Meeting Act. But Boring did add:

This matter has consumed almost four full days of my time in order to sort through and determine the actual facts as well as doing the necessary legal research and drafting of this response. These four days represent four additional days of time that other criminal matters and county business requiring my attention have been placed on hold. That means victims are waiting, defendants are waiting, judges are waiting, attorneys are waiting, and county officers are waiting while I have been dealing with this complaint.

That's all he did for those four days? So much for multi-tasking. And if it's "not unusual" for Boring's office to receive Open Meeting Act complaints, shouldn't he already know the law? This is another example of why the public should be able to go to someone at the state level who specializes in open government law.

In the meantime, Boring has provided some insight into the difficulty of getting district attorneys to treat this form of public corruption seriously.

P.S. The board's agendas also routinely list items of business under "New Business." Boring should explain to the board that the Open Meeting Act defines "new business" as "any matter not known about or which could not have been reasonably foreseen prior to the time of posting." Nothing should be listed on the agenda under "new business." (OKLA. STAT. tit. 25, § 311(A)(9))

Joey Senat, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
OSU School of Media & Strategic Communications

WTF (Why The Fuss?)

2011-01-18T22:24:00.001+08:00

From where I am, miles away in geographical distance and political viewpoint from Manila media, I am appalled by the pettiness and hypocrisy of some news columnists and commentators viciously attacking PNoy for buying a used sports car with his own money.

They denounce him for "insensitivity to the poor and the hungry," an accusation which can be made against anyone who enjoys the most modest of luxuries in our present Philippine society.

In actuality, PNoy's lifestyle is closer to that of the average middle class Filipino. He dresses simply, does not entertain lavishly, is a bachelor with no extravagant wife, spoiled children, numerous in laws. Compared to all past Presidents from Aguinaldo to Gloria Arroyo, PNoy's personal expenses are measurably lower not to mention the fact that all such expenses come from his own pocket.

So why the shrill carping and caviling among self appointed media critics who themselves are leaders in conspicuous consumption?

I, as well the majority of fair, objective, open-minded Filipinos am at a loss for an answer.

My Father's Hero

2010-10-10T03:00:00.002+08:00

For the 175th Anniversary of the founding of the Ateneo de Manila, my father, among other alumni, was asked to write about his particular Ateneo hero. What follows is the article he submitted:

I am writing this to satisfy myself that at least I am speaking for a worthy Atenean who in my personal evaluation was a major contributor to the downfall of the Marcos dictatorship. He was an authentic hero of what we now know as the EDSA revolution.

So very few remember him now, especially Filipinos of the present generation who in a recent poll cited Ferdinand Marcos as second to Cory Aquino as the most beloved president of the Philippines. Hence it is appropriate to present Renato E. Tanada as one of the Unknown Soldiers of Philippine history, forgotten patriots who sacrificed their lives for us to live in freedom.

No one in my generation, the men and women who fought the dictatorship could question the courage, valor, dedication and love of country of Nats Tanada.

Jovito Salonga, Nap Rama, Jake Almeda Lopez, Lorenzo Tanada Jr., Ed Olaguer among the few I can remember still living, with whom he worked and fought and struggled against the dictatorship will testify to this fact.

Ninoy Aquino himself was well aware of Nats's heroism.

My memory has faded with the years but there is one episode I remember well.

Marcos was at the peak of his absolute power. He wanted to celebrate and display the peace and stability of the Philippines in the manner of North Korea. He invited the international diplomatic corps to Imelda's convention center. But the travesty was shattered by an explosion in the midst of his invited guests.

The dictator was livid with rage. Who had the gall to embarrass him? A full military alert was sounded and its vast intelligence network uncovered the master mind: Renato E. Tanada. An immediate shoot-to-kill order was issued.

Some nights later, a man with a heavy mustache, hair held down by thick pomade came to see me. It was Nats Tanada in disguise. I did not recognize him because the man in disguise was in no way like the Nats Tanada I had known for decades.

I knew, respected and admired him for his inner strength. Deeply principled, he never ran away from a just fight. But more than a committed man of action he was a brilliant lawyer with a wide ranging interest in the Humanities and Arts.

And there he was that night in my living room, looking like Charlie Chaplin with a glint in his eyes I had never seen before. It was a flicker of fear. For the first time, Nats was afraid. But as he explained he was afraid not for himself but for his eldest daughter Karen, a well known anti Marcos activist herself.

He had been told through the grapevine by an Imelda Blue Lady that he must surrender or face the consequences. "Surrender, apologize and make amends to Marcos or be captured, tortured, killed and your daughter abused in detention by the military."

Nats did not surrender. He went into hiding with Karen, constantly pursued by the dictator's men but but he eluded them until the people power victory at EDSA.

But personally for Nats, EDSA was a Pyrrhic victory. His long struggle against the dictatorship had taken its toll. Physically, he was a broken man. He died a few months later.

In hindsight I can say that most of the EDSA freedom fighters have been recognized and rewarded. Not so for Nats Tanada.

This is why I write about his heroism with the hope that perhaps, Nats's Alma Mater might honor his memory in a manner both fitting and enduring.

Or else just to say that there was a Renato Tanada, an Atenean.

Andres S. Bautista . ADMU : H.S. '48; Litt.B '54; LLB '55

Awakening

2010-09-07T21:27:00.000+08:00

For months I left my blog page dormant, until the gunfire of August 23d woke me up and I received this e-mail.

The Filipino today

By Alex Lacson

After the August 23 hostage drama, there is just too much negativity about and against the Filipino.

“It is difficult to be a Filipino these days”, says a friend who works in Hongkong. “Nakakahiya tayo”, “Only in the Philippines” were some of the comments lawyer Trixie Cruz-Angeles received in her Facebook. There is this email supposedly written by a Dutch married to a Filipina, with 2 kids, making a litany of the supposed stupidity or idiocy of Filipinos in general. There was also this statement by Fermi Wong, founder of Unison HongKong, where she said – “Filipino maids have a very low status in our city”. Then there is this article from a certain Daniel Wagner of Huffington Post, wherein he said he sees nothing good in our country’s future.

Clearly, the hostage crisis has spawned another crisis – a crisis of faith in the Filipino, one that exists in the minds of a significant number of Filipinos and some quarters in the world.

It is important for us Filipinos to take stock of ourselves as a people – of who we truly are as a people. It is important that we remind ourselves who the Filipino really is, before our young children believe all this negativity that they hear and read about the Filipino.

We have to protect and defend the Filipino in each one of us.

The August 23 hostage fiasco is now part of us as Filipinos, it being part now of our country’s and world’s history. But that is not all that there is to the Filipino. Yes, we accept it as a failure on our part, a disappointment to HongKong, China and to the whole world.

But there is so much more about the Filipino.

In 1945, at the end of World War II, Hitler and his Nazi had killed more than 6 million Jews in Europe. But in 1939, when the Jews and their families were fleeing Europe at a time when several countries refused to open their doors to them, our Philippines did the highly risky and the unlikely –thru President Manuel L Quezon, we opened our country’s doors and our nation’s heart to the fleeing and persecuted Jews. Eventually, some 1,200 Jews and their families made it to Manila. Last 21 June 2010, or 70 years later, the first ever monument honoring Quezon and the Filipino nation for this “open door policy” was inaugurated on Israeli soil, at the 65-hectare Holocaust Memorial Park in Rishon LeZion, Israel.

The Filipino heart is one of history’s biggest, one of the world’s rare jewels, and one of humanity’s greatest treasures.

In 2007, Baldomero M. Olivera, a Filipino, was chosen and awarded as the Scientist for the Year 2007 by Harvard University Foundation, for his work in neurotoxins which is produced by venomous cone snails commonly found in the tropical waters of Philippines. Olivera is a distinguished professor of biology at University of Utah, USA. The Scientist for the Year 2007 award was given to him in recognition to his outstanding contribution to science, particularly to molecular biology and groundbreaking work with conotoxins. The research conducted by Olivera’s group became the basis for the production of commercial drug called Prialt (generic name – Ziconotide), which is considered more effective than morphine and does not result in addiction.
The Filipino mind is one of the world’s best, one of humanity’s great assets.

The Filipino is capable of greatness, of making great sacrifices for the greater good of the least of our people. Josette Biyo is an example of this. Biyo has masteral and doctoral degress from one of the top universities in the Philippines – the De La Salle University (Taft, Manila) – where she used to teach rich college students and was paid well for it. But Dr Biyo left all that and all the glamour of Manila, and chose to teach in a far-away public school in a rural area in the province, receiving the salary of less than US$ 300 a month. When asked why she did that, she replied “but who will teach our children?” In recognition of the rarity of her kind, the world-famous Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States honoured Dr Biyo a very rare honor – by naming a small and new-discovered planet in our galaxy as “Biyo”.

The Filipino is one of humanity’s best examples on the greatness of human spirit!

Efren Penaflorida was born to a father who worked as a tricycle driver and a mother who worked as laundrywoman. Through sheer determination and the help of other people, Penaflorida finished college. In 1997, Penaflorida and his friends formed a group that made pushcarts (kariton) and loaded them with books, pens, crayons, blackboard, clothes, jugs of water, and a Philippine flag. Then he and his group would go to the public cemetery, market and garbage dump sites in Cavite City – to teach street children with reading, math, basic literacy skills and values, to save them from illegal drugs and prevent them from joining gangs. Penaflorida and his group have been doing this for more than a decade. Last year, Penaflorida was chosen and awarded as CNN Hero for 2009.

Efren Penaflorida is one of the great human beings alive today. And he is a Filipino!

Nestor Suplico is yet another example of the Filipino’s nobility of spirit. Suplico was a taxi driver In New York. On 17 July 2004, Suplico drove 43 miles from New York City to Connecticut, USA to return the US$80,000 worth of jewelry (rare black pearls) to his passenger who forgot it at the back seat of his taxi. When his passenger offered to give him a reward, Suplico even refused the reward. He just asked to be reimbursed for his taxi fuel for his travel to Connecticut. At the time, Suplico was just earning $80 a day as a taxi driver. What do you call that? That’s honesty in its purest sense. That is decency most sublime. And it occurred in New York, the Big Apple City, where all kinds of snakes and sinners abound, and a place where – according to American novelist Sydney Sheldon – angels no longer descend. No wonder all New York newspapers called him “New York’s Most Honest Taxi Driver”. The New York City Government also held a ceremony to officially acknowledge his noble deed. The Philippine Senate passed a Resolution for giving honors to the Filipino people and our country.

In Singapore, Filipina Marites Perez-Galam, 33, a mother of four, found a wallet in a public toilet near the restaurant where she works as the head waitress found a wallet containing 16,000 Singaporean dollars (US $11,000). Maritess immediately handed the wallet to the restaurant manager of Imperial Herbal restaurant where she worked located in Vivo City Mall. The manager in turn reported the lost money to the mall’s management. It took the Indonesian woman less than two hours to claim her lost wallet intended for her son’s ear surgery that she and her husband saved for the medical treatment. Maritess refused the reward offered by the grateful owner and said it was the right thing to do.

The Filipina, in features and physical beauty, is one of the world’s most beautiful creatures! Look at this list – Gemma Cruz became the first Filipina to win Miss International in 1964; Gloria Diaz won as Miss Universe in 1969; Aurora Pijuan won Miss International in 1970; Margie Moran won Miss Universe in 1973; Evangeline Pascual was 1st runner up in Miss World 1974; Melanie Marquez was Miss International in 1979; Ruffa Gutierrez was 2nd runner up in Miss World 1993; Charlene Gonzalez was Miss Universe finalist in 1994; Mirriam Quiambao was Miss Universe 1st runner up in 1999; and last week, Venus Raj was 4th runner up in Miss Universe pageant.

I can cite more great Filipinos like Ramon Magsaysay, Ninoy Aquino, Leah Salonga, Manny Pacquaio, Paeng Nepomuceno, Tony Meloto, Joey Velasco, Juan Luna and Jose Rizal. For truly, there are many more great Filipinos who define who we are as a people and as a nation – each one of them is part of each one of us, for they are Filipinos like us, for they are part of our history as a people.

What we see and hear of the Filipino today is not all that there is about the Filipino. I believe that the Filipino is higher and greater than all these that we see and hear about the Filipino. God has a beautiful story for us as a people. And the story that we see today is but a fleeting portion of that beautiful story that is yet to fully unfold before the eyes of our world.

So let’s rise as one people. Let’s pick up the pieces. Let’s ask for understanding and forgiveness for our failure. Let us also ask for space and time to correct our mistakes, so we can improve our system.

To all of you my fellow Filipinos, let’s keep on building the Filipino great and respectable in the eyes of our world – one story, two stories, three stories at a time – by your story, by my story, by your child’s story, by your story of excellence at work, by another Filipino’s honesty in dealing with others, by another Pinoy’s example of extreme sacrifice, by the faith in God we Filipinos are known for.

Every Filipino, wherever he or she maybe in the world today, is part of the solution. Each one of us is part of the answer. Every one of us is part of the hope we seek for our country. The Filipino will not become a world-class citizen unless we are able to build a world-class homeland in our Philippines.

We are a beautiful people. Let no one in the world take that beauty away from you. Let no one in the world take away that beauty away from any of your children! We just have to learn – very soon – to build a beautiful country for ourselves, with an honest and competent government in our midst.

Mga kababayan, after reading this, I ask you to do two things.

First, defend and protect the Filipino whenever you can, especially among your children. Fight all this negativity about the Filipino that is circulating in many parts of the world. Let us not allow this single incident define who the Filipino is, and who we are as a people. And second, demand for good leadership and good government from our leaders. Question both their actions and inaction; expose the follies of their policies and decisions. The only way we can perfect our system is by engaging it. The only way we can solve our problem, is by facing it, head on.

We are all builders of the beauty and greatness of the Filipino. We are the architects of our nation’s success.

To all the people of HK and China, especially the relatives of the victims, my family and I deeply mourn with the loss of your loved ones. Every life is precious. My family and I humbly ask for your understanding and forgiveness.

Alex Lacson wrote an article titled The Filipino Today. It is a well meaning, carefully researched piece but it is flawed on many levels.

1. He says we must accept the Luneta incident " as part of us Filipinos.. a failure on our part, a disappointment to the whole world.." It is not so.

The Luneta incident was a result of the ineptitude and insensitivity of the police force and officials of the present administration. I and more than ninety million Filipinos here and abroad had nothing to do with it. We refuse to be identified with the dullness of mind and spirit of a handful of policemen and politicians.

2. He says we must protect and defend the Filipino and hence he makes no explicit condemnation of the character of the hostage taker, the conduct of the negotiators, the blind, unthinking carelessness of the government authorities with human life. But there is nothing Filipino in violence and irrational recklessness.

3. Instead he implies that the persons responsible for the death of the hostages may not be judged too harshly because after all there are heroes like Jose Rizal, celebrities like Ruffa Gutierrez, athletes like Manny Pacquiao and singers like Lea Salonga.

This is absurdly irrelevant. The nobility of Dr. Rizal, the looks of Ms Gutierrez, the strength of Mr. Paquiao and the talent of Ms Salonga belong to them alone.

4. If Alex Lacson claims kinship to Rizal, and a connection to Gutierrez, Pacquiao and Salonga, then he must admit complicity to the cupidity and cruelty of the Marcos dictatorship, the cases of corruption in the Aquino, Ramos, Estrada, and Macapagal regimes, the lawlessness of the NPA, the malevolence of the Abu Sayaf. I am not prepared to do that.

5. The point is this: Filipinos should not be burdened by collective guilt anymore than they can justifiably claim credit for individual endeavor and achievement. Each of us must account for himself and receive praise or blame as he deserves. Misconduct and merit are non transferable. Neither can truly be shared. In a social context the doctrine of Original Sin does not apply and Redemption by association is not possible.

I must say I agree with the writer and I apologize to my friend Alex Lacson who perhaps, if he had enough time, would have taken a more nuanced position.

So it seems ludicrous to me that members of the administration who are actually culpable for the mishandling of the hostage crisis should announce to media that "they would not abandon the President."

One of them said, "I am willing to take a bullet for him."

Needless to say none of them has admitted any blunder or negligence on their part.

My question is: Why would anyone need to defend or shield the president ? He is not to blame. It is he who at an enormous personal sacrifice is assuming responsibility for the incompetence of his men. He is helping those who are supposed to help him. And this is where I agree with the writer. The President's generosity, his willingness to protect his people can only go so far. The President's men must show individual capability, resourcefulness, drive and intelligence to meet the challenges which the Aquino administration will surely meet in the days to come.

Much is expected from the President and he has the mind, heart and spirit to live up to the people's expectations.

But those around him should not only avoid being part of a problem but devise their own solution to a bad situation of their own making.

There is no need to take a bullet for the President. No one is shooting at him. He is blameless. But it may be time for some of the President's men to bite the bullet, acknowledge the fault that is theirs alone and face the inevitable consequences.

Maraming Salamat

2010-05-11T17:31:00.002+08:00

The Philippine election is over. I have returned to Guymon, Oklahoma where I have spent much of the last twenty years of my life. I left in winter--in my heart, many more seasons ago--to join the campaign of Noynoy Aquino to transform the future of our country.

It has been an intense, bruising, bewildering hundred-twenty days, marked by hours of confusion, stress, frustration, and also by special moments of excitement, passion, kinship, hope and inexplicable joy.

I did not lack energy or enthusiasm. I immersed myself completely in the campaign, fully involved in town meetings, debates, media engagements. I spoke, attacked, parried, promoted, persuaded, and in the end, I placed 35th in the senate race.

What did I accomplish?

Looking back now, in the placid Oklahoma spring, I have a simple answer: I helped.

True to my code as a physician and my values as a Filipino, I answered the call of Noynoy Aquino as he reached out, and Filipinos at home and abroad responded, and now we have a new President Aquino. This was not an exercise in nostalgia. It was a collective expression of hope.

Hope shared by millions that government corruption would be stanched, as indeed it will be; that new men in office would try harder, as indeed they will; that the burden of Filipino families would be lighter, and life, somehow, would be better, as indeed it will.

It is why I am happy and gratified, without a Senate seat, but with the knowledge that I have been of help, if only in a small personal way, to President Noynoy, and in the final analysis, to the Filipino people whom he will serve honestly and well.

A few words of sincere gratitude to all the men and women of goodwill ( many more than I had expected) who gave the campaign material and moral support. In behalf of Noynoy Aquino and in my own behalf, let me say, thank you. Maraming, maraming salamat. All of us can say together, with one voice, in this proud moment of history: I helped.

Yet the struggle is not over. The work is not done. Actually it begins now and will continue with every passing day. President Noynoy will continue to need us, each one of us ("Kayo ang Aking Lakas"). Let us be unselfish in our assistance, unstinting in our cooperation and unwavering in our dedication to help him recover and restore the hope of a nation which seemed to have been irretrievably lost.

Rejoinder to Antonio Montalvan

2010-04-27T14:14:00.002+08:00

Antonio Montalvan in his column "Junking Noynoy" presents a strident defense of the status quo. He calls "Anti Life" those seeking solutions to urgent social problems: Widespread ignorance, dismal maternal mortality rates and 750,000 annual abortions.

These are facts, as distinguished from the fears peddled by Mr. Montalvan. Regrettably he exploits these unfounded fears not for his avowed purpose of protecting human life but for a less noble political reason: to attack Noynoy Aquino and help elect his perceived exemplars of moral probity such as Juan Ponce Enrile and Francisco Tatad.

In the process he makes more than a few assertions that can hardly be taken seriously:
1. "Abortion and contraception are Siamese twins." (Both concept and metaphor are demonstrably absurd.)
2. "There is no such thing as overpopulation." (The mathematical relationship between amounts of food, water and living spaces and the number of human bodies is lost on him.)
3. "Abortion has risen in countries that have made contraception the norm." (Naturally he fails to specify the countries. Neither does he establish a causal connection between access to means of contraception and incidence of abortion simply because there is none.)

Perhaps it is time to leave Mr. Montalvan's world of delusion and deception and engage in a balanced, realistic and reasonable presentation of perspectives.

It boils down to faith. The first of 7 themes of Catholic Social Teaching enumerated by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops is the sanctity of human life and dignity of the person. There is a tendency to overlook the second component.

Take me as an example. My wife and I trained in the busiest hospital in the Philippines as well as in the busiest hospital in New York City. We were exposed to all forms of contraception including abortion. After a period of discernment, we decided on natural family planning methods. We have 5 children, the youngest of whom is 3 months old.

At 47 (my wife is 46), we had not expected to experience again the pure, joyful blessedness of a child's birth.

Pope John Paul II states that Catholic social teaching "rests on the threefold cornerstone of human dignity, solidarity and subsidiarity." (1999 Apostolic Exhortation, Ecclesia in America, 55). Solidarity, John Paul II wrote is "not a feeling of vague compassion or shallow distress at the misfortunes of others. It is a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good" (Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 38).

Complementing solidarity is subsidiarity. Pope Pius XI declared "that one should not withdraw from individuals and commit to the community what they can accomplish by their own enterprise and industry" (Quadragesimo Anno, 79).

During these partisan times when politicians pander to various interest groups in the spirit of expediency, let us not forget that each one of us possesses the capacity to prayerfully reflect upon our choices. For St Thomas Aquinas, conscience is the act of applying our knowledge of good and evil to what we do. The principle of the primacy of conscience is contingent upon education and enlightenment. John Paul II affirmed that "in order to have a 'good conscience,' (1Tim 1:5) a person must seek the truth and must make judgments in accordance with that same truth"(Veritatis Splendor, 62)

750,000 abortions each year is unacceptable (Pro-Life Philippines). In the absence of education, it is becoming the contraceptive of choice in our country. We must do something about this national tragedy. "And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them." (Luke 11:46)

While I cannot support House Bill 5043 because of its punitive provisions towards health professionals and private enterprise as well as an inadequate educational component, we must persevere in crafting guidelines which will allow every Filipino to act according to their sufficiently formed conscience. We must have faith that each one of us, properly enlightened, will do right.

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"Junking Noynoy"

THERE may be no such thing as a Catholic vote, but not for long. Notice, for example, how presidential candidates who used to be uncompromising in their stand on reproductive health have suddenly turned nuanced in their language, suddenly sounding neither here nor there whether they truly are for or against reproductive health.

The most nuanced stand on reproductive health is Noynoy Aquino's. From his "I don't care if the Catholic Church will abandon me because of my support for the reproductive health bill," his last pronouncement tried very hard to please pro-lifers. "I am against legislating the use of artificial contraception; however, contraceptives must be provided for those who ask"-meaning, he will commit public funds for its promotion.

Watching Ramon San Pascual and Sylvia Estrada Claudio, both prominent anti-life advocates (and media talk show favorites, on Cheche Lazaro's ANC talk show "The Platform"), expressing disappointment at Noynoy's nuanced stand, it was not surprising that Noynoy got low marks from them. Well, for his nuanced stand, he is also getting low marks from pro-lifers. And for a very good reason.

It is not farfetched to think that a Noynoy presidency will open the floodgates to artificial contraception. Noynoy is surrounded by senatorial candidates who hold the most radical views on reproductive health. They are Neric Acosta, Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel, Ruffy Biazon and Teofisto Guingona III. Noynoy's stand may be nuanced for now-we know that is just for election posturing-but not when he assumes the presidency. It is just all glib-tongue, campaign lingo. These days, he no longer admits that he was advised by Jesuit friends to support reproductive health. No, that would not be a vote-getting line.

But Noynoy's reproductive health stand has the liberal media and poll survey organizations on his side. Media, especially television, are mostly anti-life. In measuring the candidates' stand on reproductive health, "The Platform" never had anyone from the pro-life side on board.

Media personalities, especially those who mix inane editorial commentaries with the news, gloat over the fact that surveys have shown that the Filipino electorate will vote for a candidate who will legislate for artificial contraception.

Surveys, however, have nothing to do with measuring political correctness. Morality is not measured by popularity. Anti-life advocates obfuscate many aspects of the reproductive health issue. Survey respondents are not expected to be fully knowledgeable of the pros and cons. Much of the statistics, especially from the experience of countries that have opted for full contraceptive availability, are not being made known. That is not pro-choice.

It is absolutely not pro-choice when anti-lifers are silent on the fact that many of these contraceptives are actually abortifacients. It is not pro-choice when they give mute testimony to the fact that abortion has actually risen in countries that have made contraception the norm. Because they purposely keep quiet on the fact that contraception promotes sexual promiscuity among the young, they proclaim early on that they are against abortion. But that is a lie of the nth magnitude. Contraception and abortion, as the statistics say, are actually Siamese twins.

Survey respondents also are unaware of the demographic winter. It is only candidate Ruffy Biazon who has so far expressed publicly that he fears, however, that we may go the way of Singapore: an aging population where government has to spend exorbitantly on social welfare but is now expressing mea culpa by asking its citizens to reproduce more children. It goes without saying, of course, that basketcase Philippines can ill afford to support an aging population. But survey respondents are nowhere near those data.

The most serious charade, however, is mouthing the line of overpopulation. That is definitely a bogey. Humans are resources that governments only fail to develop because of graft and corruption and misgovernance. There is no such thing as overpopulation.

Rejoinder to Carmen N Pedrosa

2010-04-25T15:12:00.000+08:00

The April 24th column of Ms Carmen Pedrosa "Clincher" requires a direct, straightforward response if only to uphold the oft repeated principle that a columnist is entitled to her opinions but she is not entitled to her own facts. Neither is she entitled to fallacies, innuendos and contradictions.

Ms Pedrosa writes "The stories about Noynoy's mental illness...must be proved...We must look at the issue closely and not be satisfied with mere gossip but seek to establish the facts.."

Then starting with the very next paragraph she devotes her entire column to hearsay, rumors, insinuations based on no substantial or even factual basis.

Her story is this: Idle talk spun into a long, rambling defamatory anecdote resting on an alleged comment by Ninoy Aquino in the early eighties that his son is "walang ka-drive, drive." That is all.

From this single unconfirmed statement supposedly made by Ninoy more than a quarter of a century ago, Ms Pedrosa makes the incredible conclusion that "because of his mental problems.. Noynoy needs help.."

Ms Pedrosa offers no authentic evidence to support her conclusion. Her purported resource persons who will corroborate her personal judgment are unidentified, dead or incapacitated.

To put an end to this contrived issue of Noynoy Aquino's mental health, let me as a licensed physician with twenty one years of experience state, and in this case, re-state the veracity and accuracy of this medical fact:

According to the established clinical diagnostic criteria affirmed by the American Psychiatric Association in the authoritative manual DSM-IV, Noynoy Aquino suffers from no mental disease, disorder, or dysfunction. He is perfectly fit to carry out the duties of the Philippine presidency.

It is convenient for the black propagandists to pathologize normal, every day emotional reactions such as sadness, anger, shyness, annoyance, and label them as symptoms of depression or distress. But there is no medical basis or clinical justification for such labels.

They are, in a word, fallacious.

Ms Pedrosa's own half brother suffered from clear symptoms of sociophobia as a boy but he outgrew them and he developed into a reasonably normal young man.

The study of personality development is a complex discipline and false generalizations abound. More than a few members of the CCP board to which Ms Pedrosa has been recently appointed by her patron, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo believe that Ms Pedrosa may have some personality problems herself. Such suspicions however require objective proof.

I ask Ms Pedrosa to abide by her column's opening statements. Mere gossip is not enough. This should be proved.

Let me close with a verbatim quotation from the same column of Ms Pedrosa which accurately describes herself and the political interests she serves: ."We must save our country from vultures who will feast on the carcasses of a doomed country. They are willing to sacrifice everything and everyone for the sake of their ambitions."

Well said, Ms Pedrosa. It gives sanity to your opinion piece.

Noynoy Aquino is My President

2010-04-18T15:12:00.001+08:00

Early December of last year was the first time I heard Noynoy Aquino deliver his stump speech. I’ve been listening to him rather frequently since and not once have I heard him declare that he was maka-Dios (Pro God), maka-Bayan (Pro Country), or maka-Tao (Pro People). It is a testament to the integrity and honesty of this man that he will always allow the listeners to draw their own conclusions based on the example of his life.

There are no lofty promises in his speeches, no grand visions, only a simple pledge that he will remain true and honest. That through how he has lived his life, he will make us understand that it is up to you and me and the entire nation to pick ourselves up from all the injustice and poverty swirling everywhere.

I wish that one day there will be a documentary that will show the crowds, that will capture the spontaneous outpouring of love and support from Filipinos everywhere, willing to stand in the summer heat for hours just to catch a glimpse of a symbol of hope and change in a nation of fundamentally good people perpetually surviving under horrible conditions.

Last week we were in Pampanga, atop a float and for miles, people lined the path of the motorcade. Many waved yellow banners and flags, some held mangoes and other similarly colored objects like pieces of foam mattresses to signify their solidarity. Not once throughout the campaign was food distributed, money handed over or professional entertainment provided. During one particular bend, where the crowd was spectacularly thick, and hope hung especially heavy, I told Senator Aquino he couldn’t let all these people down.

His reply made me absolutely certain Senator Benigno Aquino III had become transformed into the leader our country critically needs. He said everything would pass but that he was putting his life on the line and do his best to make sure all these people would not be disappointed.

If I could put in a suggestion to the documentary, I would end with the image of the float wending its way through the multitudes and while fading, a voice recites from General Patton: "For over a thousand years Roman conquerors returning from the wars enjoyed the honor of triumph, a tumultuous parade. In the procession came trumpeteers, musicians and strange animals from conquered territories, together with carts laden with treasure and captured armaments. The conquerors rode in a triumphal chariot, the dazed prisoners walking in chains before him. Sometimes his children robed in white stood with him in the chariot or rode the trace horses. A slave stood behind the conqueror holding a golden crown and whispering in his ear a warning: that all glory is fleeting."

Senator Aquino and Hacienda Luisita

2010-04-05T21:16:00.002+08:00

To distract voters from Manny Villar's criminal complicity in the C5 scam, his camp tries to connect Noynoy Aquino to Hacienda Luisita and its various corporate activities.

No comparison can be made, legal, ethical or even logical between Villar and C5 on one hand and Noynoy Aquino and Hacienda Luisita on the other. Here's why:

1. Hacienda Luisita is an independent, autonomous corporation. Noynoy Aquino has no direct, personal or active participation in its business and agricultural operations. (Villar and his wife have had direct, personal active invovlement in the C5 scheme that cost taxpayers billions of pesos which went straight to Villar's pockets.)

2. The SCTEX project was a purely commercial transaction, completely above board between the the HL professional managers and the National goverment headed by President Ramos, and at the close of of the road program, by President Erap Estrada. (HL sold its land at 100 pesos per sq meter. Villar sold his land for 13,000 pesos per sq meter and his friend, Mike Velarde sold his land for 30,000 pesos per sq. meter.)

3. Noynoy had no knowledge, certainly no hand in the government's decision to purchase HL land. Senate records show that Villar determined, in fact changed the road blueprints to guarantee huge financial rewards for himself.

4. Noynoy is aware of HL's labor situation and has condemned the violence it has caused. But he is not in alliance with nor does he defend either side. He offers himself as a problem solver who seeks enduring harmony between HL and the farmers.

5. The SDO which appears to be at the core of the conflict is the result of a formal agreement long and painstakingly negotiated between HL and its farmers. It was voted upon and approved by the Land Reform beneficiaries and affirmed by the national government. Regardless of the merits or demerits of the SDO, Noynoy Aquino is not a party to it.

Noynoy's connection to HL is simply an accident of his birth and he has nothing to explain, nothing to justify, because at the end of the day it should be evident that he carries no burden of responsibility, no culpability. There is no need for a reply. Noynoy Aquino has nothing to answer for.

How's the Campaign Going?

2010-03-31T11:28:00.001+08:00

Whenever I am invariably asked how the campaign is going, I first remind everyone I’m not simply part of a campaign but part of a mission to take our country back. I didn’t leave my medical practice in the US, my five young children including an infant whom I got to hold for just one day, my daily round of golf with my wife and cronies Dr. Paul and Dr. Todd for a traditional Philippine electoral campaign. I resolutely put my life on hold for a noble cause much, much bigger than all of us.

Yesterday, 5 of 12 Senate candidates choppered to Victoria, Oriental Mindoro where we spoke to an audience of 250 people. You need 15 million votes to win this kind of an election but we needed to make a point to everyone assembled that we were out to change a system, to reform heavily damaged institutions and perhaps to serve as an example to a couple of children in the audience, and let them remember 40, 50 years hence that one morning, 5 national candidates descended upon their village to tell them about hope.

Winning a Senate seat has never been my principal objective. Going around the Philippines with little sleep and rest, spreading a message of transformative, peaceful revolutionary change is a dream come true. This is my generation’s last chance. In 1978, Senator Noynoy Aquino’s father participated in an election he had no chance of winning. I would have placed my life on hold for that as well but I was only 15 years old. Nobody remembers the winners in that farcical exercise, but let it be known, a few continue to honor the gallant sacrifice of those 21 men and women: Ninoy Aquino, Jerry Barican, Alex Boncayao, Felicisimo Cabigao, Juan David, Jaime Ferrer, Neptali Gonzalez, Teofisto Guingona, Trinidad Herrera, Priming de Leon, Chito Lucero, Ernesto Maceda, Antonio Martinez, Ramon Mitra, Aquilino Pimentel, Charito Planas, Napoleon Rama, Alejandro Roces, Francisco “Soc” Rodrigo, Ernesto Rondon, Emmanuel Santos.

It will always be my honor to fight alongside Noynoy Aquino and Mar Roxas, Sonia Roco, Danny Lim, Neric Acosta, Alex Lacson, TG Guingona, Yasmin Lao, Ruffy Biazon, Risa Hontiveros, Ralph Recto, Frank Drilon.

Wherever this journey takes me, I know began in a noble manner.

Why Mar Roxas Leads All Surveys

2010-03-13T18:48:00.003+08:00

It doesn't take a professional political analyst to explain why since the launch of his candidacy, Mar Roxas has led in all published and unpublished surveys without exception.

The reason is simple. Filipinos from all economic and educational strata recognize the qualities of mind and heart which anyone aspiring for public office must possess. In a word, character.

If you compare the viable vice presidential candidates with Mar Roxas, you see a stark contrast.

1. Loren Legarda is a talented woman with a great deal of energy. But her personal and political history shows that she is totally unprincipled. She turned her back on her Catholic faith and embraced Islam for a marriage of convenience. In the Senate she led the fight against President Erap, shed tears at his impeachment trial and then joined him as FPJ's vice president. Only months ago she denounced Senator Villar as a corrupt politician and is now running as his vice president. This is blatant opportunism.

2. Jejomar Binay has no moral credibility. He recalls the poverty of his boyhood, how he raised pigs in their backyard and poked for coins under the ashes of their burnt house. Now he is a multi-millionaire, which is impressive, except that he made his fortune while he and his family controlled the Makati local government. Hardly a sterling example of unselfish dedicated, service to the people.

3. Edu Manzano is a professional actor who opposes nothing and proposes nothing. He is shockingly unfamiliar with the nuances of public policy and relies chiefly on his movie star charm. It appears that in the campaign he himself is not convinced that he should be taken too seriously.

Then you have Mar Roxas. His credentials as a worthy candidate for the presidency are beyond question. Yet when faced with a crucial decision that would affect not only his future but the future of the Philippines, he distinguished himself. With a single act he demonstrated his core political beliefs- that personal aspirations must be subordinated to the needs of the nation,
that elective office no matter how high is not a business enterprise that must be gained at any price, and that an inordinate desire to win an election to public office by any means is by itself a moral disqualification to hold such an office.

This is what Mar Roxas showed the Filipino people when he gave way to Noynoy Aquino. He valued the nomination for the presidency, but not at the cost of a principle he valued even more: the opportunity to transform the political environment of our country and render authentic, effective, ethical service to the people he truly loves.

Filipino voters have seen this act of self sacrifice and partiotism and they have not forgotten. They have affirmed it in their positive response in every survey and it is not likely that they will soon forget.

Why I Can't Vote for Manny Villar

2010-03-07T14:07:00.003+08:00

Our country is in critical condition. It’s been in bad shape for many years. Most Filipinos know what the problems are but we can’t seem to try a different approach, much like treating a febrile patient in a lot of pain with the same medications again and again.

Manny Villar can only continue the status quo. It is not within his nature to change his razor-sharp business instincts. He engineered his political power similar to the methodical, ruthless and unscrupulous manner he amassed his multi-billion peso fortune.

There is no doubt about his superior business acumen and he has been slickly packaged without regard to cost.

In the US, Villar would not have lasted the first primary because of the C-5 scandal. Public service is a sacrifice. It is neither a way to make a living nor accumulate a fortune. Since 1992, when Villar first became a Congressman, his wealth has geometrically progressed. This to my mind, is singular proof that he exploited his political power towards becoming the “Brown Taipan” he proudly calls himself today.

Politics is exceedingly personal in the Philippines. The most traditional of these politicians are thoughtful, generous, caring and friendly. I know of a city Councilor who has received small Christmas and birthday gifts without fail from Villar since she was elected in 2004. There is nothing illegal here, Villar supporters call this “doing homework” and it is commendable, under different circumstances.

If 100 Filipinos do not die from TB daily, or 18 babies do not die from infectious diarrhea every day, or our best teachers, doctors, nurses have not gone to other countries because of the chronic drought of opportunities, or there is no widespread hunger and demeaning poverty, or there is no systemic corruption that has sapped our moral character as a People, then Villar’s defense of the status quo would be acceptable and he should have every right to defend and continue this form of political culture.

But not like the US and other developed nations, where there is also corruption, Philippine society today is broken. Hardly anyone cares about the welfare of other Filipinos because most of us are on survival mode. It makes perfect sense to overthrow this transactional system prevailing in our country and replace it with an order that promotes justice and genuine compassion for the poorest and weakest Filipinos.

Unlike the Count of Monte Cristo or Simoun from El Filibusterismo however, who built their fortunes in other lands to force a day of reckoning, Villar attained everything he acquired from the blood, pain, sacrifice and loneliness of his fellow Filipinos without just a little help from the established political dispensation he has learned to master.

And this is why I cannot vote for Villar, for it is in his nature to continue and even strengthen the traditional patronage politics in our country that benefits the very few and mollifies the enfeebled masses with scrap and morsel.

Philippine General Hospital Controversy

2010-03-02T09:04:00.000+08:00

The PGH Director controversy exemplifies what is wrong in our country. What should have been a simple matter of respecting the results of an election has been turned into political travesty once again. I’d like to think UP President Emerlinda Roman and CHED Chairman Angeles mean well but should they be reminded that they are answerable to the Filipino people and not to whoever appointed them?

Before the Board of Regents voted for the next PGH Director last December 18, 2009, a vote was taken to determine whether the Student Regent was qualified to participate. She was deemed qualified and the result favored Dr Jose Gonzales. Regent Abraham Sarmiento subsequently lodged a protest.

I have profound respect for Justice Sarmiento primarily because of the ultimate sacrifice his son Ditto willingly bestowed upon us fighting the corruption and cronyism during the Marcos dictatorship. We honor our Martyrs when we defend with all our might, their integrity and idealism.

Perhaps by coincidence, the battle cry of LABAN UPPGH was written by Ditto Sarmiento more than 30 years ago: Kung hindi tayo ang kikilos, sino ang kikilos? Kung hindi tayo ang kikibo, sino ang kikibo? Kung hindi ngayon, kailan pa?

I am bitterly disappointed with Dr. Roman. I expected more fairness and independence from her. Instead, she has acted just like all the other Gloria Arroyo appointees. She should resign.

Why Senator Benigno Aquino III

2010-02-26T17:26:00.000+08:00

Noynoy Aquino is the most Competent and Credible Candidate to be the Next President of the Philippines

by Wilfrido Villacorta

Dr. Wilfrido Villacorta is a Professor Emeritus of De La Salle University, former Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), and former member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission (sponsored among others, the provisions on education, rights of children, and the right to public information).

I AM FOR NOYNOY because

1. Only an incorruptible leader like Noynoy would have the determination and the daring to combat rampant corruption– the root of poverty and injustice in our country;
2. Noynoy has a legacy to protect, and this legacy has concretely manifested itself in his personal life and public-service record;
3. Noynoy’s achievements have lived up to his advocacy to serve the poor and the underprivileged; and
4. Noynoy has the competence and credibility to represent our nation in the global arena and is the best leader who can rebuild our international image.

A. State of the Land

What problems will the next President face? In order to fully appreciate what kind of leader is needed by our people at this point in our nation’s history, let us examine the present Philippine condition and its implications for the next generations:

* The Philippines is in the list of “In danger of becoming a failed state,” in the company of Bhutan, Cambodia, Togo, Bolivia, Comoros, Moldova, Angola and Azerbaijan (The Fund for Peace, 2009 Failed States Index study).

Indicators of a Failed State:

• a highly ineffective central government without full control over much of its territory and over rampant criminality and public corruption,

• inability to provide adequate public services and infrastructure,

• big numbers of economic and/or political refugees and involuntary movement of populations, and

• wide social inequality and sharp decline in economic opportunities and wealth distribution.

The Philippines risks having the highest poverty incidence in East Asia: “If our low growth rates continue into the future, the ADB projects that our poverty incidence will remain at a range of 21 to 28% by 2020—the highest in East Asia. The poverty incidence would be higher that those of Cambodia, Mongolia, Lao PDR and Viet Nam” (Dr. Fernando Aldaba, Poverty in the Philippines, Asian Development Bank, 2009).

· It is the poor children who are the primary victims of the consequences of massive poverty: malnutrition, disease and substandard education.

· Severe malnutrition, which has afflicted 24.6% of Filipino children, is linked to more than half of child deaths, poor cognitive development and low productivity. According to the Council for the Welfare of Children, malnutrition is not only the effect of inequity but it is among the factors that give rise to conditions that create inequities.

· The UNESCO’s Education-for- All Global Monitoring Report for 2010 on the Philippines: “There is a real danger that the country will fail to achieve universal primary education by 2015.” Its net enrolment ratio in 2007, where about one million children are out of school, is “comparable with countries at far lower levels of average income, such as Zambia, and below the levels attained by other countries in the region, such as Indonesia.” The gap separating the poorest 20% from the rest of society is far wider than in most countries in the region.

· It is estimated by NGOs that about 60,000–100,000 children are trafficked annually. Such trafficking cases are increasing.

· The Department of Social Welfare and Development reports that anywhere between 60,000 to 600,000 street children are victims of child prostitution. The Philippines ranks fourth among countries with the most number of prostituted children. A study by the Psychological Trauma Program of the University of the Philippines notes that prostitution may now be the country’s fourth largest source of GNP.

(http://www.unicef. org/philippines/ 8895_9845. html)

LIFE IS CHEAP IN THE PHILIPPINES

For an archipelagic nation, we have ironically one of the worst maritime transport facilities and regulation. We are notorious for having one of the highest incidence of annual maritime disasters, and one of the worst road traffic and accidents in Asia.

* The World Health Organization, whose regional HQ is in Manila, has been imploring our government to control the production of firecrackers that become more potent each year and to strictly ban the use of guns for holiday revelry. In the region, we have the highest rate of fireworks- and gun-related injuries and deaths during new-year celebrations. We are infamous for widespread electoral fraud and violence and for being the transit point for illegal drugs, gun smuggling and human trafficking.
* In last year’s first National Summit for Firearms Control, Philippine National Police chief Director General Jesus Verzosa referred to the 2005 Report of the World Health Organization and the UN Office of Drugs and Crime, which showed that the Philippines ranked 10th in the number of gun homicide rates worldwide. He revealed that the current estimate of loose firearms in the country is now at 1,110,372.
* Personal ownership of guns and carrying them in public are justified by the need for self-defense against criminals. But the PNP report in the Firearms Control Summit indicated that of the 5,752 crime incidents recorded in 2008, 6,030 involved firearms, 5,999 of which were loose firearms and only 31 licensed. In addition, the most common crimes committed with loose firearms from 2006 to 2008 consistently included murder, homicide, physical injury and robbery.

These transgressions that we see everyday are mostly due to corruption in law enforcement and the consequent impunity enjoyed by wrongdoers.

· Half of our national budget’s allocations are lost to “s.o.p.’s” or bribery. Targets for tax collection are not met and our national debt payments keep on rising because of corruption.

· Public education, health, infrastructure and financial services do not meet world standards because of corruption. It is poor governance that is behind unmitigated poverty, civil unrest and insurgency in the countryside.

· Foreign investors avoid our country because of the high cost of business rooted in corruption. Because there are not enough jobs, millions leave for overseas employment. Medicines and medical care are beyond the reach of most Filipinos. Even the magnitude of damage inflicted by natural disasters has been exacerbated by corrupt mismanagement.

The Asian Development Bank has repeatedly expressed its concern for the Philippines, a country with so much potential and yet mired in poverty and social inequality. In its study of Critical Development Constraints in the Philippines, the Philippines scored lowest among countries with similar per capita GDP levels on control of corruption, as well as on political stability and rule of law since 2002. The study indicated that the Philippines had lost momentum in controlling corruption, and had allowed Viet Nam and Indonesia to surpass it in economic performance.

In 2009 Corruption Perception Index of Transparency International, the Philippines is ranked 139th out of the 180 countries surveyed. We are way behind Singapore, which placed as the 2nd least perceived to be corrupt; South Korea, 39th; Malaysia, 56th; Thailand, 84th and Indonesia, 111th.

B. Needed: An incorruptible leader with the determination and the daring to combat corruption.

If your company is sinking because it is ridden with corruption and you are looking for a CEO, what would be the principal quality that you will look for in the candidates for the position? Wouldn’t it be good character?

Character is Noynoy’s strength. His character embodies his parents’ legacy: integrity, decency, commitment to democracy and people’s welfare, a modest lifestyle.

We all know that the main problem of our country is poverty. As we have said, the root of poverty of most Filipinos is corrupt governance. It is corruption that deprives the poor of access to essential public infrastructure, services and opportunities to improve their lives. For this reason, corruption is the worst violation of human rights in the Philippines.

In order to extricate the nation from its wretched condition, the next President must not only be incorruptible but must have the audacity to dismiss corrupt officials and file charges against them. He can have this courage and determination only if he has had an unblemished record of public service and has not violated any law. Fortunately, we have found a leader with a clear moral compass.

C. Noynoy has a legacy to protect, and this legacy has concretely manifested itself in his public-service record.

Some critics are saying that Noynoy is simply riding on the fame of his parents. They ask, how can we be sure that he will be as committed as Ninoy and Cory were to the Filipino people?

We must not forget that Noynoy, along with his sisters, experienced firsthand the ordeals that his parents courageously underwent and the sacrifices that they had to make: the persecution of his father and their family during martial law; the threats to the newly restored democracy after EDSA (he almost died when the coup plotters attacked Malacanang), the crusade of Cory for good governance. The values of Ninoy and Cory could not but have a lasting impact on Noynoy’s character formation.

On 25 August 1973, when Noynoy was only 13 years old, his father wrote him a letter—to bequeath to his only son the legacy of the Aquino family and to pass on to him the responsibility of caring for his mother and sisters and of “living with honor”: “You are my only son. You carry my name and the name of my father. I have no material wealth to leave you. I never had time to make money while I was in the hire of our people. For this I am very sorry. …The only valuable asset I can bequeath to you now is the name you carry. I have tried my best during my years of public service to keep that name untarnished and respected, unmarked by sorry compromises for expediency. I now pass it on to you, as good, I pray, as when my father, your grandfather passed it on to me. “Forgive me for passing unto your young shoulders the great responsibility for our family. I trust you will love your mother and your sisters and lavish them with the care and protection I would have given them. … “Look after your two younger sisters with understanding and affection. … Finally, stand by your mother as she stood beside me through the buffeting winds of crisis and uncertainties firm and resolute and uncowed. I pray to God, you inherit her indomitable spirit and her rare brand of silent courage. “I had hopes of introducing you to my friends, showing you the world and guide you through the maze of survival. I am afraid, you will now have to go it alone without your guide. The only advice I can give you: Live with honor and follow your conscience. “There is no greater nation on earth than our Motherland. No greater people than our own. Serve them with all your heart, with all your might and with all your strength. Son, the ball is now in your hands.”

“Son, the ball is now in your hands.” These prophetic words of Ninoy were in his letter written ten years before he was assassinated in August 1983. As the one whose destiny it was to be the people’s candidate, would Noynoy dishonor the noble legacy of his parents? Having witnessed the people’s outpouring of love and respect for his parents during their funerals, wouldn’t Noynoy reciprocate their trust by protecting the good name of his father and mother?

D. Noynoy’s achievements live up to his advocacies.

Who says that Noynoy has no advocacy and does not assert the principles he believes in? Who claims that he has no experience and achievements?

Noynoy’s advocacy is clear and uncompromising. He believes that a true working democracy provides not only political freedoms but a better life for all Filipinos. A working democracy must be able to provide jobs, education, social services and equitable economic prosperity for everyone, not just the privileged few.

In his eleven years as a Representative and a Senator, Noynoy has faithfully served the Filipino people. He is now Chair of the Senate Committee on Local Government and Co-chair of the Committee on Justice and Human Rights. He is a member of, among others, the Committees on Economic Affairs, Education, Environment and Natural Resources, Justice and Human Rights, Peace, Trade and Commerce, and Urban Planning, Housing and Development.

The following were the bills he sponsored in the Senate, which reflect his pro-poor, pro-good governance conviction:

* · Senate Bill No. 1370–granting an annual productivity incentive to all workers in the private sector;
* · Senate Bill No. 1719–limiting the re-appointment of presidential nominees by-passed by the Commission on Appointments;
* · Senate Bill No. 1710 –banning the re-appointment of a regular member of the Judicial and Bar Council who has already served the full term;
* · Senate Bill No. 2035–requiring the regular maintenance and preservation of all public infrastructures;
* · Senate Bill No. 2036–increasing the penalties for non-compliance of the prescribed increases and adjustments in the wage rates of workers, amending for the purpose Republic Act No. 6727;
* · Senate Bill 2159–adopting the doctrine of superior responsibility to all actions involving military personnel, members of the Philippine National Police and other civilians involved in law enforcement;
* · Senate Bill 2160–amending Section 4 of RA 9184, otherwise known as the Government Procurement Reform Act to further restrict exemptions to the requirement of public bidding;
* · Senate Bill 2978–amending the DILG Act to further clarify the relationship between local chief executives and their respective local police chiefs; and
* · Senate Bill 3121–the Budget Impoundment Control Act—strengthening legislative oversight over executive spending.

Before he was elected to the Senate, Noynoy served three terms as a member of the House of Representatives from 1998 to 2007. He was Deputy Speaker of the 13th Congress and was a member of the Committees of Banks & Financial Intermediaries, Energy Export Promotion, and Public Order & Safety.

One of his key legislative initiatives was to make the procurement of the petroleum, oil and lubricants requirements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines transparent by requiring public bidding.

Among his priority bills were House Bill No. 4251–granting annual productivity incentives to all workers in the private sector; House Bill No. 4397–strengthening the regulatory power of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to effectively enforce consumer laws; House Bill No. 4252–increasing the penalties for non-compliance of the prescribed increases and adjustments in the wage rates of workers; House Bill No. 3616–extending the reglementary period for the educational qualification for PNP members; and House Bill No. 1842 –providing for the codification of criminal laws.

He introduced House Resolution No. 65–inquiry in aid of legislation into the policies and processes of the Energy Regulatory Commission in granting rate increases to electric utilities, and House Resolution No. 788–creating a select Congressional Oversight Committee on intelligence funds to check and study the use of intelligence funds by government agencies to ensure that funds allocated therefore are utilized for the purpose they are intended.

He initiated an amendment to the General Appropriations Act requiring public bidding in the purchase of petroleum, oil and lubricant products for the Department of National Defense.

In 2004, he was stripped of his post as Deputy Speaker after he joined leaders of the Liberal Party in calling for the resignation of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at the height of the “Hello Garci” scandal.

A man of strong convictions, he lived up to his constitutional responsibility as an opposition Senator to fiscalize the executive branch of government. Noynoy thoroughly examined the General Appropriations Act for 2009 and proposed key amendments to the 2009 GAA that seek to tighten congressional oversight on the executive’s use of public funds.

He has consistently championed human rights and people’s participation. Noynoy has sought the proper relocation of informal settlers and the delineation of authority of parties involved in demolitions such as the MMDA.

Through his privilege speeches, Noynoy has drawn attention to the plight of desaparecidos and victims of extra-judicial killings. He is also part of the bicameral debates on the Anti-Torture Act.

He introduced substantial amendments to the Cooperative Code to make it more responsive to the needs of the marginalized sector for whom the code was enacted.

Noynoy actively participated in the hearings that investigated the alleged misuse of public funds, such as the ZTE-NBN deal, the “Euro Generals” and the Fertilizer Fund scam. These hearings highlighted the need for increased transparency and accountability in the disbursal of taxpayers’ money.

Noynoy was vigilant in the hearings regarding the sale of TRANSCO and PNOC-EDC. He questioned the sale of revenue-generating assets of these two key corporations prior to their privatization.

Noynoy has also had executive experience in the private sector. His first job, at age 23, was at the Philippine Business for Social Progress (1983). It was interrupted by the tragedy of his father’s assassination on 21 August 1983. He had always to be at the side of his mother and sisters during these difficult times. Two years later, he took up managerial and marketing positions at Nike Philippines and Mondragon Philippines (1985-1986). When his mother became President, Noynoy left Mondragon for reasons of delicadeza. He joined their family corporations: Strata Assurance Corp. as its vice-president, and the Best Security Agency Corporation as its vice-president and treasurer (1986-1993). He later worked for the Central Azucarera de Tarlac, starting out as executive assistant for administration and later, becoming field services manager (1993-1996). It was again out of delicadeza that Noynoy entered politics only in 1998, six years after the term of office of his mother. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1998 and was re-elected in 2001 and 2004.

I believe that I have provided more than sufficient evidence of Noynoy’s achievements and have amply demonstrated that his achievements have been consistent with his avowed principles.

But the greatest proof of his competence to be President is that he has upheld his integrity. He never abused his status as a member of the presidential family during and after President Cory’s term, and never took advantage of his positions as Congressman and Senator. Integrity – the proven resolve and capability to remain honest, transparent and accountable despite one’s possession of immense power and influence – is the best competency for any office, whether public or private.

E. Noynoy has the competence and credibility to represent our nation and to rebuild our international image.

Because of our dismal record in governance that has led to wretched conditions for most of our people, our international image has suffered tremendously. We are known as a nation of servants, as a laggard in economic development, as a center of crime and corruption in Asia.

Once elected, Noynoy can draw from the goodwill and good name that Cory and Ninoy Aquino had built for the Filipino people, as he strives to repair the tattered image of our country. As one retired senior diplomat pointed out, “for the Philippines, the best foreign policy is domestic reform and decisive action on national issues.” A nation is only as strong internationally as its national conditions allow it to be.

Having been exposed internationally, having been formally trained in economics at the Ateneo de Manila University, and having had extensive experience as a statesman, Noynoy is comfortable in the company of foreign leaders. I was with him when Thai Prime Minister Abhisit visited him at the Sofitel last August, to extend his condolences. I felt very proud to see Noynoy conduct himself as befits a future head of government, discussing international issues such as the global recession and the future of free trade in ASEAN with such depth and confidence.

Singapore’s Foreign Minister George Yeo met with him last November during the latter’s visit to Manila. It was a significant opportunity for the Minister to get a glimpse of Noynoy’s views on foreign relations.

I am fully convinced that it is Noynoy who can best represent our nation internationally. Under his watch, the Philippines will once more be a leading member of ASEAN. With the restoration of respect for our country and our people’s dignity, our diplomats will be more effective in advancing our national interests in negotiations with our strategic and trade partners. More investors will be attracted to come, and the rights of our overseas workers will be more protected.

Noynoy is the leader that will transform this changeless, long suffering land of ours. Ito na ang ating huling pagkakataon. Huwag nating isugal ang ating boto. Huwag nating ipagsapalaran ang ating kinabukasan sa mga napatunayang mangungurakot o sa mga konsentidor sa pangungurakot na lalong magpapalubog sa ating bayan. Ipaubaya natin ang ating bansa sa isang mapagkakatiwalaang pinuno—walang iba kundi si Noynoy Aquino!

Remaining Civil

2010-02-18T08:33:00.002+08:00

During these partisan times, we should strive to maintain our civility. In a debate, a moderator needs to check his partisanship at the door. This is simple courtesy.

Tony Lopez, moderator of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) debate, was unable to moderate his bias in favor of his benefactor, Manny Villar, an astute businessman who knows how to get value for his money.

Tony's continuing efforts to promote Villar's candidacy are less than subtle.

It would be inaccurate to call Manny Villar, the employer of Tony Lopez because Tony works on a contractual basis. From the time of his active involvement in the Marcos propaganda corps, Tony learned that being a free agent was a more profitable way to practice his kind of journalism.

It is most appropriate, though, that he performed at the PCCI debate. Tony is certainly a man of commerce, and if well paid, a man of industry as well. He was well compensated for the role he played in the debate. He earned it.

The Original Sin

2010-02-11T13:06:00.002+08:00

When we learn that 43 doctors, nurses and other health care professionals were arrested, detained and abused for taking part in a seminar where a grenade was allegedly found tucked under a pillow, we are momentarily disturbed and then we go on with our business.

Just as nobody cares that 100 Filipinos will die today from tuberculosis and the furor over the massacre of 57 women and journalists in Maguindanao has almost completely died down; only a handful remember the murder of Evelio Javier 24 years ago.

Javier had been on a study grant in Harvard when Ninoy Aquino was assassinated. He returned to the Philippines shortly and ran for a seat in Parliament against Arturo Pacificador, a close ally of Marcos. Eventually, the Supreme Court would rule that Javier won the election but only after he was brazenly gunned down in front of the Provincial Capitol.

Arturo Pacificador went into hiding for 9 years, his son fled to Canada and is still seeking asylum. Pacificador’s lawyer and 7 of his security detail were meted life sentences.

Lest we forget, the culture of impunity and death which continues to prevail today was established during the Marcos Dictatorship reaching its apogee with the murder of Senator Benigno Aquino. Let us never forget that thousands of Filipinos resisted and died during those dark days, and while we remember a few: Leandro Alejandro, Lorena Barros, William Begg, Cesar Climaco, Dr Bobby de la Paz, Demosthenes Dingcong, Dr Johnny Escandor, Edgar Jopson, Emmanuel Lacaba, Jose Lingad, Abraham Sarmiento, we also need to honor the countless, nameless martyrs who after giving their lives now only cast their perpetual silence to remind us of the steep price of freedom.

For as long as the Marcoses remain unpunished and unrepentant, for as long as we try to forget that evil period of tyranny, for as long as we accommodate the principal characters of that reprehensible regime, we will never be rid of the original sin.

That evil chapter will continue to teach a shameful lesson: murder and plunder pay.

And we will never get rid of this culture of impunity, we will never tame corruption, and our politicians will keep repeating this successful, traditional manner of holding on to power.

The Marcoses must not be allowed to use their ill-gotten wealth to finance their campaigns for public office. They should instead return whatever they stole and finally, after all these years, apologize to the Filipino people for the pestilential harm they visited upon our ruined land.

Senator Benigno C Aquino III is our Hope

2010-02-03T16:55:00.003+08:00

As a physician I know from many years of medical practice that in life threatening conditions the key element to survival is hope, the will to live, the belief that all is not lost. Hope.

Ninoy Aquino inspired it in us in the darkest days of Martial law. Cory Aquino brought it in us in the face of military attacks against democracy.

In the midst of shocking corruption and misrule, Noynoy Aquino brings hope to us now.

We see Noynoy, honest, straightforward, incorruptible and we hope that our country will not break down, will not collapse, will not be defeated by the forces of greed and deception.

With Noynoy as President we shall regain our economic, moral and political health as a nation and as a people. This is my hope. Noynoy is our hope.

Why I am for an RH Bill

2010-02-02T15:29:00.002+08:00

It boils down to faith. The first of 7 themes of Catholic Social Teaching enumerated by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops is the sanctity of human life and dignity of the person. There is a tendency to overlook the second component.

Take me as an example. My wife and I trained in the busiest hospital in the Philippines as well as in the busiest hospital in New York City. We were exposed to all forms of contraception including abortion. After a period of discernment, we decided on natural family planning methods. We have 5 children, the youngest of whom is 2 weeks old.

At 47 (my wife is 46), we had not expected to experience again the pure, joyful blessedness of a child's birth.

Pope John Paul II states that Catholic social teaching “rests on the threefold cornerstone of human dignity, solidarity and subsidiarity.” (1999 Apostolic Exhortation, Ecclesia in America, 55). Solidarity, John Paul II wrote is “not a feeling of vague compassion or shallow distress at the misfortunes of others. It is a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good” (Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 38).

Complementing solidarity is subsidiarity. Pope Pius XI declared “that one should not withdraw from individuals and commit to the community what they can accomplish by their own enterprise and industry“ (Quadragesimo Anno, 79).

During these partisan times when politicians pander to various interest groups in the spirit of expediency, let us not forget that each one of us possesses the capacity to prayerfully reflect upon our choices. For St Thomas Aquinas, conscience is the act of applying our knowledge of good and evil to what we do. The principle of the primacy of conscience is contingent upon education and enlightenment. John Paul II affirmed that “in order to have a ‘good conscience,’ (1Tim 1:5) a person must seek the truth and must make judgments in accordance with that same truth”(Veritatis Splendor, 62)

750,000 abortions each year is unacceptable (Pro-Life Philippines). In the absence of education, it is becoming the contraceptive of choice in our country. We must do something about this national tragedy. "And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.” (Luke 11:46)

While I cannot support House Bill 5043 because of its punitive provisions towards health professionals and private enterprise as well as an inadequate educational component, we must persevere in crafting guidelines which will allow every Filipino to act according to their sufficiently formed conscience. We must have faith that each one of us, properly enlightened, will do right.

My Platform, My Promise

2010-02-01T13:37:00.001+08:00

Pork Barrel is destroying our country. It feeds systemic corruption and nourishes immoral political behavior.

The Constitution assigns to Congress, the power to spend. The President may propose a budget but only Congress can appropriate the money and specify the project or activity covered by the funds. We cannot completely abolish pork barrel but we can certainly curtail the pernicious practices associated with it.

To produce Filipinos capable of competing in a 21st century world, we need to invest in health, education and infrastructure. There has been a disproportionate emphasis on infrastructure projects over the last 20 years because of the enhanced opportunities for personal profit.

I propose slashing the infrastructure budget by 90% over the next 3 years, leaving a much reduced amount to maintain existing roads and bridges. The amount saved will be applied towards doubling the salaries of teachers, physicians, nurses and other health workers, soldiers, police.

This measure will attract qualified applicants to fill these essential positions, reverse the exodus of our professionals to other countries and significantly pump-prime the economy because these public servants will increase domestic consumption.

We not only increase our investment in health, education and security, we also minimize the leakage lost to corruption.

We must also de-professionalize politics. We need to return to the days when politics was public service for the common good, when public service required personal sacrifice.

Today, politics has become too personal because many politicians make a healthy living from it. The stakes have been raised immeasurably because more and more public funds are involved. My one, single promise is I will only serve one term in the elective position that I am seeking. Six years is enough time. Nobody should be so arrogant as to think one will not get accustomed to the perks of political power, a condition directly proportional to the length of office.

The day you regard public service as your own exclusive, private domain should be your last day in politics.

HIV on the Rise

2010-01-29T12:51:00.000+08:00

There has been an alarming increase in the rate of new Human Immunodeficiency Virus cases in the Philippines. While we still have one of the lowest prevalence rates of HIV in the world, we must immediately take the necessary measures to avert a full-blown crisis.

From the time the Department of Health began tracking HIV disease in 1984, there have been 4021 cases recorded. 318 have died from the disease. The mortality rate is difficult to determine however because most of the afflicted patients go home to their provinces and spend their final days in seclusion and anonymity.

Compared to 2008, there was a three-fold rise in the incidence of HIV in 2009. The increase was largely attributed to the cohort group of men having sex with other men (MSM), differentiated from openly homosexual males. Current public health interventions do not cover the generally invisible MSM population composed of young, urban professionals in Metro Manila, Cebu and Davao.

A coordinated educational campaign through the internet, which is the preferred mode of communication among MSM groups must be immediately implemented. Widespread and frequent testing for HIV which is offered free of charge in government tertiary care hospitals should be encouraged and the principles and practices of preventive measures clearly articulated.

It would be a national tragedy to confront yet another epidemic when we haven’t even contained the scourge of tuberculosis.

Senator Noynoy Aquino is Not Autistic

2010-01-20T16:58:00.000+08:00

"Is He Autistic?" distracts us from focusing on pertinent issues and instead plays upon laymen's ignorance and fears.

Mental disorders are diagnosed and classified using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV).

Autism is an apparent, ascertainable condition subject to easy diagnosis by any physician or trained psychologist. The diagnosis of autism requires a total of 6 symptoms including at least two symptoms of qualitative impairment in social interaction, at least one symptom of qualitative impairment in communication, and at least one symptom of restricted and repetitive behavior.

In other words, autism is both observable and obvious.

From a medical standpoint, Senator Noynoy Aquino does not in any way suffer from autism.

He does suffer as a victim of inuuendo and personal attacks based on psuedo medical imaginings meant to discredit him and distract the electorate.

Not that autism automatically excludes anyone from public office. Thomas Jefferson was known to have exhibited a number of symptoms pointing to some form of autism ( Ledgin, Norm. Diagnosing Jefferson: Evidence of a Condition that Guided his Beliefs, Behavior, and Personal Associations.). President Thomas Jefferson is the principal author of the Declaration of Independence.

Autism as an issue is a sham. It is unworthy of serious discussion.

We must instead focus upon the qualities of our presidential candidates that will result in peaceful, revolutionary transformation. Former and present leaders who displayed legal brilliance, a variety of talents, and unprecedented hard work all failed to unite us Filipinos into becoming a productive force. We need an honest President with a clear mind and a clean heart who will rally us from all this hopelessness, violence and corruption.

Announcement

2009-12-02T14:36:00.003+08:00

My blog readers know who I am-a 47 year old Filipino physician who, after studying, training and running a successful medical practice for almost twenty years in the U.S. has now returned to his country. I am, and proud to be, a Balikbayan.

Friends have asked: Why?

"You have a wonderful life in America," they say. "You were featured on US national television as an outstanding Asian. You're at the top of your profession. Why become a Dr. Balikbayan?"

In my mind I have asked myself the same question. The answer is difficult to explain, and for some, more difficult to understand.

No Filipino in or out of the country is unaware of the stark reality that confronts all of us. At this time the Philippines has a higher poverty level than most countries on earth. Our government is considered to be more corrupt than even the most chaotic African nations.

But as a physician what pains me most deeply is the terrible fact that more and more Filipinos are dying for no other reason than that they lack medical care. By the thousands, mothers die at childbirth. Children die of curable infectious diseases. People are ill and they have no one to turn to.

I cannot accept this. I must do something. I owe it to myself, to my vocation as physician, and to my fellow Filipinos. This is why I left America and am now Dr. Balikbayan.

Recently I joined the brave and honorable cause of Noynoy Aquino and Mar Roxas whose aim is not only to reform but to transform the Philippines. To this I have committed myself.

I am not a politician nor do I intend ever to be one. I am an experienced physician trained to help and save lives. But rather than treat individual patients by the handful, I believe I can be more useful, do more good by extending medical care to millions of Filipinos who have neither the knowledge nor the means to fight disease and prolong life.

I realize I cannot do this alone. Neither can Noynoy Aquino and Mar Roxas. All our leaders from Lapulapu with his band of Cebuano warriors to Cory Aquino with her heroes at Edsa needed the full hearted, unsparing involvement of men and women willing to seek, struggle, and if necessary, sacrifice to attain the fulfillment of a common aspiration.

I shall do my part, play a role, perhaps a small one, in the sweeping movement that calls all Filipinos at home and abroad together, growing in strength and number, gaining momentum to turn itself into the transformative power that will change our country and generations of our countrymen.

So I move on, move forward, move toward a horizon bright with the promise of the good years to come for all Filipinos across space and time.

Dr. Balikbayan is home.

Failed Initiative

2009-11-12T21:52:00.000+08:00

Two weeks ago, the Guymon City Council deliberated on whether to approve a proposed ordinance that would have created all sorts of hurdles for anybody planning to start surgical or imaging centers. The move was widely perceived to target and prevent a local radiologist from putting up his own CT scan. The campaign to get the ordinance passed was stealthily conducted and the first time I learned about it was 2 days before the council meeting. Within 48 hours, the radiologist brought a trailer containing a CT scanner and parked it a block away from the hospital, forestalling whatever legal obstacles that were to take effect.

The City Council went ahead and discussed the merits of the ordinance. I later wrote this letter to the editor of the Guymon Daily Herald:

Recently, our hospital administration led an initiative to amend municipal rules regarding the establishment of ancillary medical services. The proposal went down in defeat because it was written in vague language that was a virtual invitation for judicial challenge. To illustrate, anyone contemplating in building a 5 square foot shed to house an ultrasound machine would be required to pay a minimum amount of $10,000 as filing fee and be subject to a “feasibility study” conducted by “a recognized health care industry consulting firm”.

A majority of the City Council members plainly saw the legal nightmare that would ensue without clear and objective parameters in measuring the “impact” that medical technology might bring. They were likewise not swayed by the scary speculation of mass layoffs that a single CT scan would potentially cause.

The administrator tried to portray the playing field as greatly disadvantageous to our hospital. This appeared incongruous however given the strong support of the 200 hospital employees behind him, the top notch legal counsel he was receiving from a prestigious law firm in Oklahoma City, and the singular advantage of not having to pay taxes because of the not for profit status of our hospital.

Among the assumptions in the proposed ordinance completely debunked was that competition would increase medical costs to the citizens of Guymon when it was shown that certain procedures cost 50% less when performed in an outpatient facility.

For close to 15 years, I have cared for patients at the Memorial Hospital of Texas County. I am proud of the people who make our hospital a center of excellence. From nursing to housekeeping, pharmacy, respiratory therapy, laboratory, medical records, home healthcare and other departments, we have deeply committed and exceptionally compassionate employees who faithfully render splendid service to the sick and dying in our community. Tammy Arnold, Christine Kirk, John Jones, Ginger Freeman, Brenda Hussey, Jackie Schupman, Kim Ware, Kim Zigler, Carla Hernandez, Jane Rivera, Audrey Vergara, Kacie Abbott, Rasonya Chadick, Mona Behne, Jill Shaw, Judy Webb, Dondie Rodgers, Marla Gordon, Jenny Carnagey, Brenda Jarrett, Andrea Upshaw, Kim Martinez, Donna Miller, Maria Puebla, Michele Reust, Maria Van Bebber, Sherry Denton, Isabel Calderon, Kim Fuentes, Bobbie Cooper, Deborah Arndt, Adrienne Geisbracht, Michelle Williamson, Megan Furnish, Rosa Reyes, Kristina Pal, Theresa Ross, Chet Oblander, Linda Barker, Kim Blevins, Tommy Romero, Jacob Tuttle, Liz Lim stand out.

To keep our hospital strong and competitive, I am confident that we simply need to continuously promote and tirelessly capitalize on the people and the wonderful work they provide. Dabbling in local politics only diminishes the luster of a polished gem.

President Obama's Speech to Students

2009-09-15T11:52:00.000+08:00

Last week, President Obama delivered a speech in some high school in Virginia that was distributed all over the country so that students would be able to listen to him speak about what most everybody thought of as uncontroversial values. Students in Guymon, OK were not able to listen to the President due to the vociferous protest of a few parents who insisted on reviewing the contents of the President’s speech. Truly a shame because the Guymon school district has become significantly infiltrated by minority students over the past 10 years, underprivileged kids who stood to benefit most from President Obama’s inspiring words. I sent this opinion to the Guymon Daily Herald.

Too bad our kids weren’t made to watch President Obama’s address to students last week. In 13 minutes, he described his origins, a black kid from a broken home who was able to become the President of the United States despite many mistakes, amid many temptations.

He reminded all of us that all the gains being made in upgrading our educational system will be wasted if a sense of personal responsibility was not ingrained upon each of our students. The raw material is out there, the pathway to developing our various talents and gifts is ready to accommodate us, we only need to appreciate the abundant advantages we have here in our very own Guymon, OK.

Our educational facilities are world-class and our teachers are dedicated professionals who view teaching as a vocation and not simply a job. We just need to be there.

Woody Allen famously said, “80% of success is showing up”. Despite much higher tuition fees, and enormous living expenses, students from all over the world descend upon our schools because they and their families are convinced that all the sacrifices necessary to acquire a superior product is completely worthwhile. Education equips us with the requisite skills necessary to compete in a world that is becoming more competitive daily.

Our children deserve all the inspiration they can get. If we don’t have to vet beforehand the contents of a Disney or a Nickelodeon television program, why deprive our children from listening to positive role models who were able to rise above circumstances that characteristically hold down the vast majority of less fortunate children. While we may personally differ with the politics of President Obama, there shouldn’t be any dispute toward the value of staying in school and working hard to exploit the academic advantages we enjoy but sometimes fail to appreciate: “At the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents and the best schools in the world--and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.”

Cory

2009-08-05T13:39:00.003+08:00

If Marcos and his thugs had not murdered Ninoy Aquino, in all likelihood, Cory would still be alive today. She would have certainly had a screening colonoscopy in Boston that would have discovered and removed those polyps before they turned malignant.

Instead, she became President of a nation with a woefully inadequate healthcare system that fails to protect even its “national treasure” from an entirely preventable disease.

So it goes back to Marcos once again, 20 years dead. Nothing personal here any longer, never really was. I never saw him in person, never had anything to do with him. He was always the person to me who chose the other side, who tried to get as many people to his side using whatever force necessary.

Seems very few remember how bad those Martial Law days were, a tightly-controlled press with Doroy Valencia, Tatad, Tuvera, Adrian Cristobal, Ronnie Nathanielsz zealously proclaiming the party line; nobody outside the New Society cordon was allowed to leave the country. There was a curfew at midnight; all firearms had to be surrendered, the penalty for noncompliance was death. There was a very effective “population control” program in place. “Secret Marshals” were deployed in public transportation: they were licensed to kill anyone they considered menacing to public safety. Students were made to sing hymns extolling “Ang Bagong Lipunan”, resort hotels were built in record time to host foreign lenders, acres upon acres of grass spray painted green to impress Pope John Paul II.

Hindsight is devastatingly 20/20. All those dreams and ambitions of a cunning man only succeeded in transforming the country into a Potemkin Village that exalted the efficiency of centralized corruption.

Before Ninoy was killed, there seemed very little hope. Reagan was closely protecting the Marcoses, friends from his days as Governor of California. Then Vice President George HW Bush had just toasted the dictatorship’s “adherence to democratic principles and democratic processes”, at a time when even mildly critical comments regarding the New Society was harshly punished. Marcos wielded absolute power. We will never fully account for the fate of thousands who simply vanished during those dark years.

A stem cell is pluripotent. It has the potential to develop into countless cell lines. Each one of us is endowed with this feature. We have the capacity to become saints and heroes, murderers and molesters. Through some immutable grace, we are drawn to one particular side or the other. Many gifted thinkers, artists, religious leaders, scientists, lawyers, teachers completely collaborated with Marcos; the kindest we can view this behavior from a distance is to confer some degree of Goebellian fanaticism to these people who must have somehow believed that liberty, freedom and respect for life could be dispensed with to achieve some shred of totalitarian heaven.

When Cory took over, the educational system was in tatters. Capital flight was unprecedented. The armed forces that had once been a professional force of fighters had become highly politicized. Easily a tenth of the population would leave for other countries in order to survive. I was among those who had to leave. There were very few opportunities then and like many others, I felt ill-prepared to contribute significantly towards rebuilding our country. Besides, a new legion of politicians, old and new seemed to crawl out from nowhere to take over the task of recovering a fictitious era of prosperity and democracy.

We mourn the death of Cory, we feel deeply the loss and the pain because she alone remained true. What has become of her old guard? Unfortunately, they and their relatives have transmogrified into another society of scions, part of a sociopolitical scheme that perpetuates poverty, suffering and ignorance.

23 years after Marcos was deposed, too many have forgotten, so many more were not even born during those tumultuous times. There are unmistakable signs of the impending restoration of the New Society. There are cocky descendants everywhere, waiting for what they consider their rightful turn to rule a materially and spiritually impoverished nation, repeatedly pillaged and perennially rocked off its moral mooring. The odds are overwhelmingly against us once more. These guys do this for a living. We have no power and we have no money. But we have the example of Cory Aquino to follow.

Our Hospital

2009-07-16T11:02:00.001+08:00

Ten years ago, our hospital consistently registered 70% capacity. Today, we are hobbling along with 15 %. Our financial reserves are rapidly becoming depleted. Before we demand the resignation of the CEO or blame the medical staff for this predicament however, it would be prudent to determine the reasons how we got to this situation.

The practice of medicine has considerably changed over the last 15 years. New drugs have been developed that are significantly more effective against a wide array of diseases. In the past, patients with bacterial infections would routinely be confined for 2 weeks. Many of those infections can now be treated with more potent oral antibiotics that can be taken at home.

Entire hospital wings were dedicated to “chronic lungers”, those with chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases. With home oxygen, nebulizers, more efficient medications and the steady decrease in tobacco use, hospital admissions of this nature have dropped considerably. Patients requiring intravenous anticoagulation would stay in the hospital for weeks. Now available are anticoagulants that can be injected once daily. Many complications arising from diabetes are being avoided with more frequent monitoring of blood sugar through the extensive availability of glucometers and regular HgBA1C testing.

Patients with chest pain used to be observed in the ICU. This is no longer considered appropriate in the majority of cases due to the wide availability of invasive tests that can promptly diagnose and treat the presence of a blockage. In addition, drugs that control blood pressure and cholesterol are far more effective in preventing coronary events.

Many malignancies are being discovered earlier forestalling prolonged and extensive hospital confinements. In the early 1980’s, gastric ulcers would merit a month-long confinement with a bland diet and often end with an operation that would remove a portion of the stomach. A class of drugs known as proton pump inhibitors have rendered this type of surgery largely as a historical curiosity.

Home health and hospice care are innovations that have largely achieved their stated goal: to reduce hospital admissions. There are new medications that slow the progression of dementia as well as osteoporosis, major morbidities that accounted for numerous admissions from nursing homes.

Preventive medicine in the US through widespread vaccinations, screening examinations, awareness programs that promote healthy lifestyle modifications is an unqualified success.

To characterize this slump as a cyclical phenomenon much as we ascribe droughts is a serious mistake. Those old days and old ways are gone for good. Instead of pining for a return to those times, obstinately adhering to obsolete strategies, our hospital must strive to re-invent itself in order to remain relevant.

As the principal stakeholders of the Memorial Hospital of Texas County, we must all get together and search for solutions that will continue to make our hospital viable. It is to everyone’s interests that we have a well-equipped and well-staffed community hospital that can provide round-the-clock care and expertise to support the dedicated efforts of our local physicians. Our hospital must strive to offer services above and beyond the reach of clinics and work in close and seamless partnership with the various healthcare workers in our area.

Hospital-supported facilities should always serve the needs of the common good; redundant positions discontinued, and a comprehensive, far-reaching business plan developed which will guarantee the stability and growth of our hospital.

There are no challenges too great to a united community, determined to preserve an essential institution.

Michael C Brillantes, MD 1962-2009

2009-06-20T20:29:00.004+08:00

The photograph was taken moments before Lito Gozum arrived with a gallon of Chivas Regal, to hastily replenish the even more hastily consumed bottle of Johnnie Walker Premiere Reserve that TG received from his boss for Christmas. Glenn composed the shot, set the automatic timer and joined the group in what turned out to be Mike’s Despedida.

There had been a comment made earlier about how these reunions typically develop--- how the same stories would be retold repeatedly as the night wore on, with the appreciation of the audience directly proportional to malt absorption.

Mike was in fine form. Robbie recounts correctly how ebullient Mike seemed to be that evening, how open he was, how invincible on that very last time we were together.

Together with Bobby Guevara and Quitos Bengzon, Mike and I were classmates in Prep B 41 years ago. During our Senior year in High School, Ron Salvador convinced me, Lito, Mike and Alan Sulit that Zoology was the most suitable pre-med course. Ray chose Biology and Ricky went via the Psychology route. Ron migrated to Canada.

Turned out Zoology didn’t “prepare” us any better for medical school but we spent the next 4 years in UP Diliman dissecting frogs, sharks and cats; snorkeling in coral reefs, collecting insects, fully engaged in the study of the animal kingdom. We had a lot of good times.

There appears to be general agreement in what we remember most about Mike: his smile and his unfailing generosity, unconditional friendship. Tolstoy claimed that the central revolutionary theme to Christianity could be found in Matthew 5:38 You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil.

It was the most unnatural prescription even then but we continue to associate good people with those who practice this philosophy, regardless or even in the absence of religion. And to those blessed enough to operate in such rarefied company, it becomes easy to identify where all the grace, faith and fearlessness arise from.

I join all of you, from Oklahoma in celebrating Mike’s well-lived life. In the spirit of full disclosure, I admit to being the 4th and final figure of the Benign Boys of Baguio Band. Mabuhay si Mike! Maraming maraming salamat sa lahat ng iyong kabutihan. Pahinga ka na.

Stand Down Erap Estrada

2009-05-22T11:41:00.000+08:00

To David Frost, Richard Nixon related his biggest regret: "I let down the country. I let down our system of government, and the dreams of all those young people that ought to get into government but now think it too corrupt.…”

In a functioning democracy, where a dishonored leader is expected to fall on his own sword, there is a requirement for all major players to work hard to secure the continued active participation from the most capable, most idealistic and most passionate members of the youth.

Not in our country. Disgraced, convicted criminals like Joseph Estrada continue to posture and act as if they have any moral credibility left to pursue once more the very highest public trust he completely wasted. And behold his large retinue of hangers-on hoping to regain a part of the glory days of plunder.

We can never hope to learn from our mistakes as a nation if we never punish criminals who directly harm the poor and powerless with their corrupt dispensations. There is too much magnanimity going around in our oligarchic society because everyone expects to get a free pass when their day of reckoning arrives, the traditional politician’s version of professional courtesy to one another.

This is the moment to call for a division of the House. Will the very True Marcos Loyalists identify themselves once and for all and proudly proclaim their allegiance to their evolved ideology of greed and selfishness. How many of this demagogic breed openly strut about in the guise of being servant-leaders? Words always come easy to these disciples and it’s fairly easy to identify them because they never seem to yield power and privilege to anyone. They are master survivalists willing to do anything, compromise on everything to maintain, at the people’s expense, their reprehensible hides.

When will our day ever arrive? It is up to you and me.

Heave Ho!

2009-05-18T08:16:00.001+08:00

Less than a year before the scheduled Presidential election, the entire country is in great need of Filipinos who are prepared to offer their lives for the implementation of peaceful revolutionary change. Above and beyond the legal requirements stipulated by our Constitution, these candidates must view public service as an absolute sacrifice within a set time frame. Public service must never become a source of livelihood. The acquisition of power and prestige must solely be used towards the promotion of the common good.

For peaceful revolutionary change to advance, four fundamental developments are required:

1. Enforce the anti-dynasty provision in the Constitution by calling for synchronized local and national elections in 2013 for ALL elective positions with each candidate limited to serving only for a single term, while disqualifying spouses, parents and children from succeeding any candidate.

2. Abolition of Pork Barrel. Legislators must focus on their principal role which is law-making. Salaries, emoluments and staff should be drastically reduced. Whatever money that is budgeted for roads and bridges (traditionally a fertile source of graft) must return to the control of the executive branch. Instead of investing inordinately in infrastructure, we must try to invest in human resources: double teacher’s salaries; which will not only attract the more qualified, it will also result in a more effective manner of pump priming the economy due to a wider, more equitable distribution of wealth.

3. Judiciary reform. These days, when even the integrity of the Court of Appeals is in great uncertainty, directly returning to the people the power to determine guilt via jury trials and Grand Jury inquests should be seriously considered. Once again, too many people in our country make a living from the prevailing judicial structure.

4. Agrarian reform. A clear example of how noble intentions may be subverted into creating an even greater disaster. In the 20 years of land reform, productivity has diminished and social inequality has only widened. The principal goal must be the maximization of productivity for the benefit of all and not just the wanton redistribution of land. Partnership over division.

We must finally liberate ourselves from the perspective that our leaders need to gain experience by gradually ascending through our completely corrupted political system that may be compared to a school that has consistently produced disastrous graduates. There are so many qualified Filipinos out there. We only need to get rid of our hopelessness and cynicism; check our petty selfish interests and egos at the door and agree upon non-negotiable core principles that will allow a critical mass of Filipinos to push, together, as one, peaceful revolutionary reform.

Jack Kemp

2009-05-04T11:06:00.001+08:00

Jack Kemp died last night, he was 73. He was a quarterback for the Buffalo Bills and he used his popularity to get elected to the US House of Representatives. At first, he was always underestimated as a “dumb jock“ but eventually got noticed when he devoted most of his prodigious energies towards reforming a “tax code that rewards consumption, leisure, debt and borrowing, and punishes savings, investment, work and production.” At that time, in the mid-70’s, I would have paid 70% of my income in taxes (versus 37% today!).

Back then, every successful businessman, doctor or lawyer had a yacht that was used primarily as a tax deduction. Supply-side economics theoretically would have worked if savings wasn’t punished and debt and borrowing weren’t rewarded (we are getting to the point today when you need to start paying the bank for your deposits). By some aberration however, most everybody started borrowing and accumulating debt. The Republican revolution mistakenly gave the go-signal for everyone who worked and felt they were working hard enough to go on a spending-spree and throw prudence to the wind and let their kids worry about who was going to pay for the bills. This was the fatal flaw. Absolutely, let the people making a lot of money pay less taxes and depend on them to make their businesses grow but never encourage everyone else to behave like Warren Buffet because the result will be a surefire recipe for what we are reaping today: a full-blown recession.

Politics is so improbable. How a football player from Occidental College (where Barack Obama spent his early college years) who devoured books by conservative authors during long trips between games would be able to leave a lasting imprint on the colossal US tax code is enough proof for all of us never to underrate the power of politics to change history.

Deprofessionalization

2009-04-28T18:40:00.001+08:00

While the planetary trend is towards professionalization, worker groups conforming to a set of rules and standards, a code of conduct, there is an urgent need to de-professionalize our failing political system. We have unfortunately in our country, a most solid example of an oligarchy, resistant to change, bent on securing their economic and political ascendancy over a cowed and cynical people. They follow their own rules and standards and without exception, everybody makes a living from politics. Just as financial wizards in Wall Street squeezed profits from complicated derivatives without adding value, our professional politicians are adept in projecting an image of working for the common good when selfish interest is the operative lingua franca that drives this totally messed-up configuration. These people will not desist from performing the most crass attention-seeking gimmicks in order to gain votes. Every day is a campaign day and the ultimate objective is the perpetuation of power and privilege. Like highly evolved parasites, they continuously exact resources from society without adding worth.

Today, 32 more people became Representatives. An added expense of at least 3 billion pesos annually. We do not need more laws nor do we need more lawmakers. There are already enough vultures happily feasting on the carrion that is our country.

No More Freebies

2009-04-27T11:30:00.002+08:00

Since January 1, 2009, US pharmaceutical representatives have been banned from giving physicians pens, table paper, toys, clocks and calculators and other related gifts. They have also been restricted in bringing doctors to fancy restaurants in order to listen to a talk expounding on the unique benefits their drugs might have and those days when we would be invited to attend a medical conference in some golf resort are over.

I admit that I’ve eaten my share of bagels, cream cheese and lox from my residency days and there were so many lunches and dinners in New York City that my wife and I were very familiar with all the trendy spots in the City during our training. We would never have had supper at the forever lost Windows of the World (at the World Trade Center) if it weren’t for the friendly medical rep who was pushing the latest acid-suppressing agent. And we’ve been to many Four Seasons, Ritz-Carltons and other fancy resort hotels all over the US courtesy of some drug company that would fly us to these meticulously choreographed scientific lectures with one single unifying purpose: to make sure we doctors had a good time and remember with fondness the awesome efficacy of their product.

I also admit I was irritated at first when I heard about the new limitations. As if my prescribing selection would be influenced by a penlight or post-it notes. But now I understand the wisdom behind all this. Never mind convention cities like Vegas and Boston and San Diego which are bound to lose business, or the damage to pen and mug and penlight advertising companies alone will be about $1.2 billion, the point is, according to the American Board of Internal Medicine, the pharmaceutical industry directs $18.9 billion towards physicians each year and this amount is simply obscene. This is one sacrifice all physicians can bear for the sake of our patients.

How could I think these billion dollar drug behemoths would take all the trouble to wine and dine me under the cover of furthering my education? It was always pure business for these guys. Ever wonder why GM, once the bluest of blue chip stocks is skirting bankruptcy while the drug companies continue to haul billions in profits year after year? Wasn’t there a figure a few years ago that if the US drug companies sold vehicles, the average car would cost $4.5 million (representing a markup of 30,000%). They would always claim that research costs were unbelievably high when in reality, the bulk of scientific breakthroughs arise from Government /taxpayer-funded institutions. There are 18.9 billion reasons for this ridiculous scheme. And the same car would cost $5000 in Mexico?

I am inclined to believe at this point why we also need to reform this widespread practice of gift-giving to doctors in the Philippines. The clear majority of Filipinos are unable to purchase the medications prescribed to them and no amount of laws that would encourage the utilization of generic drugs will hold back the excessive profits that drug companies make for as long as physicians maintain cozy relationships with their assigned reps. Who do we think end up paying for those junkets to Europe and the US anyway?

A Nation of Servants

2009-04-12T06:03:00.001+08:00

A great hullabaloo it caused when Chip Tsao’s column entitled “The War at Home” was punlished in a Hong Kong magazine. In what clearly appeared to be tongue-in-cheek to this OFW anyway, Tsao stated that the Philippines didn’t have a Chinaman’s chance in the country’s claim to a group of islands in the South China Sea so long as they could hold hostage the large number of Filipina maids in Hong Kong. “There are more than 130,000 Filipina maids working at $3,580-a-month cheap labor in Hong Kong. As a nation of servants, you don’t flex your muscles at your master, from whom you earn most of your bread and butter.”

Turned out his domestic helpers were from Indonesia but he added: “I summoned Louisa, my domestic assistant who holds a degree in international politics from the University of Manila, hung a map on the wall, and gave her a harsh lecture. I sternly warned her that if she wants her wages increased next year, she had better tell every one of her compatriots in Statue Square on Sunday that the entirety of the Spratly Islands belongs to China.”

A firestorm predictably erupted, principally arising from the very prominent political sectors responsible for transforming us into, well, a nation of servants. Nothing to be proud of but nothing to be ashamed about either. We overseas Filipinos are everywhere, scrambling to provide better futures for our families because we just have to do it. We don’t have much time for self-pity, we just suck it up and keep on serving. Back home in the Philippines, you will hear some fellow Filipinos denigrate those physicians who became nurses and how they were now reduced to wiping the posteriors of foreigners. Unfortunately, in our attempt to justify failure, we frequently console ourselves by imagining an even less desirable existence elsewhere. I’ve never been embarrassed to declare that I’ve wiped my share of foreign posteriors.

We must, as a nation accept our lot. Not unlike devastated Japan after their surrender in World War II, we need to remember Emperor Hirohito’s admonition to his country: “for all the generations to come by enduring the unavoidable and suffering what is insufferable”. “Beware most strictly of any outbursts of emotion that may engender needless complications, of any fraternal contention and strife that may create confusion, lead you astray and cause you to lose the confidence of the world.”

“Let the entire nation continue as one family from generation to generation, ever firm in its faith of the imperishableness of its divine land, and mindful of its heavy burden of responsibilities, and the long road before it. Unite your total strength to be devoted to the construction for the future. Cultivate the ways of rectitude, nobility of spirit, and work with resolution so that you may enhance the innate glory of the Imperial State and keep pace with the progress of the world.”

Dead Aid

2009-04-01T08:25:00.001+08:00

Dambisa Moyo in her book “Dead Aid” writes about what we in the perpetually developing world have known for a long time: “The notion that aid can alleviate systemic poverty…is a myth.” Dole-outs stunt productivity and stimulate corruption. Instead, she suggests that poor nations become agriculturally self-reliant and engage in trade with other countries; adapt microfinance credit schemes successfully tried in Bangladesh and attract more investment with amoral, pure-business countries like China which are concerned only with money-making opportunities and nothing much of anything else.

In reality, the US has been the most ruthlessly business-oriented nation for a long time. Most US citizens feel they have strutting rights because they think they give a whole lot of assistance worldwide when the US allocates less than 1% of its GDP to “aid” other nations. And most of this “assistance” come in the form of military hardware and farm products heavily subsidized by the US government. No wonder US citizens enjoy a quality of life that is the envy of the entire planet: the bottom line in the balance sheet reveals a huge advantage in favor of the American people.

I am personally offended whenever I meet people in the US with this patronizing attitude towards the Philippines. I try to let as many of them know that a great majority of these “donations” consisted of outdated, overvalued aircraft, ships and weapons that otherwise would have been dumped in some desert junkyard and whatever relatively small sums of money that remain are reliably exploited and treated as bribe money by corrupt politicians.

“Dead Aid” validates a lesson we should have learned a long time ago. We are out there on our own. We are going to have to depend on ourselves to make the Philippines a better place for all Filipinos.

On Elections

2009-03-25T19:03:00.001+08:00

Paul Collier is a professor of economics at Oxford. His most recent book is Wars, Guns, And Votes. Crammed with facts and statistics, the book assigns monetary values on coup costs, corruption leakage from foreign aid, per capita income threshold that provides consciousness to the masses, and a host of other political realities we all have a vague idea of but somehow never had the chance to quantify.

His research focuses on the billion poorest people on earth, hence the title of his earlier book “The Bottom Billion”. He criticizes the West’s insistence upon democratic elections when our very own Marcos discovered a long time ago that these “performances” are the easiest to achieve. Staging electoral exercises is an inexpensive method of acquiring democratic legitimacy. Even our very own middling professional politicians are very accomplished in this ritual.

He argues however that the means employed to pull off these cyclical stunts do not always redound to the common good. When you employ vote buying, violent intimidation, outright fraud towards the perpetuation of political power, poor governance invariably ensues. More attention needs to be devoted to the pillars of democracy (effective dispensation of justice, freedom of speech, respect for human rights) rather than focusing on the easily rigged electoral process.

As a captive people however, our options are very limited. The oligarchy dominating every aspect of our society is profoundly entrenched and we cling to the hope that elections might provide a sliver of opportunity from which we might be able to break away from the very same democratic institutions that have been perverted to exclusively serve the plutocracy.

The 2010 elections are crucial. If we are to aspire for peaceful, revolutionary change, we must be able to frame this exercise as a battle between professional politicians and citizen-patriots willing to sacrifice for one term only. Since tens of thousands of Filipinos thrive in this corrupt structure, revolutionary change will not come easy. More than ever, we must not break ranks, we must completely unite behind a single slate of candidates if we hope to have a fighting chance.

The immediate challenge is to hold a Congress which will establish the rules for a nominating process; create a committee that will draw an encompassing platform that respects the disparate dreams of the dispossessed and obsessively work towards the common good. When our coalition is formed, we raise funds and we raise consciousness. Critical mass will be rapidly reached. Then we will have more than just a fighting chance.

Now You Know Why We've Been Quiet

2009-03-19T13:51:00.003+08:00

We walked the straight and narrow path. We focused on our studies and we became physicians as soon as we could. We went to the US beginning in the 80’s and completed our specialty training expeditiously. Many of us served in remote areas in order to work immediately after residency training.

We paid approximately 40% of our income to various taxes, we worked hard and we scrupulously followed the law. Towards the late 90’s, we took a hit in the internet bubble. We paid our mortgages dutifully, we lived within our means. Our 401K accounts appeared to be growing steadily, our children’s educational funds, likewise. When the value of our homes appreciated, we borrowed from the equity and we invested in real estate property. It was a practical way to pay less taxes and the rental income more than covered the monthly payments. We were living the American Dream.

Now you understand why we haven’t been too visible the last 3 months. We’ve been working extra shifts in the emergency room and we’ve had to extend our office hours in order to see more patients. We had been advised to concentrate on our medical practices and leave the financials to the professionals. Our mutual funds included only the most blue chip of stocks: General Motors, Citibank, AIG, Fannie Mae. While working these extra shifts, we unhappily realize nobody really seemed to know this disaster could happen. Our retirement accounts have been reduced 65%. The children surely can’t expect a free ride through college any longer. Our homes, if we can even find a buyer, are easily 30% less than their appraised values compared to a year ago.

But this is the reason why we have been quiet. We are all hunkered down. We’re all aware more difficult days are ahead and we aren’t complaining, as if complaining would achieve anything. We are still more fortunate than the overwhelming masses of less trained, and therefore less competitive people out there. Of course we sometimes wonder what we could have done different; we could have totally ignored ALL financial advise and simply placed our earnings in FDIC guaranteed CD’s. Screw all those educational savings accounts and all those wonderful-sounding 401K plans.

With the lead story from the New York Times below, who can blame me if in my humble opinion, nobody knows jacksh*t as to what’s going on?
Fed to Buy $1 Trillion in Securities to Aid Economy
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS
The Fed dramatically increased the amount of money it will create out of thin air to thaw frozen credit markets.

Who Sang "Mr. Melody"?

2009-03-12T09:19:00.003+08:00

In the unlikely event that my friend and patient Melody Smith reads this post, I am happy to inform her that I finally have the answer to the decade-old question as to who sang “Mr. Melody”. I would always sing the first few bars of the song whenever I would see her at the clinic or in WalMart and she would always ask me who made the song popular.

Last night I watched Natalie Cole in Manila and she looked as regal as ever, never mind her well-publicized health issues emphasized by the venous access port jutting over her right chest wall. She opened with a signature song of the Chairman "Come Rain or Come Shine" and went on to sing for about an hour, intermission-free, selected favorites from her well known repertoire.

She had performed in Indonesia 3 days earlier after canceling her engagement in Thailand, presumably for reasons of health which could account for her less than sunny disposition throughout the performance. Three times, she interrupted her singing by warning some unknown persons in the vast audience in total darkness in front of her to refrain from recording the show. She acted like a Diva even if she no longer went all-out for the high, acrobatic notes that younger singers routinely go for with total abandon. Her voice is still smooth and sultry but she had to increasingly rely on phrasing and technique that only come with long experience.

Her selections were tailor-made for the Filipino audience: heavy on the sentimental love songs and easy on the R&B which can be delivered much better by legions of talented, struggling singers. When she sang “Starting Over Again”, “I Live for Your Love”, “Miss You Like Crazy”, “Someone That I Used To Love, “Inseparable”, songs she herself admitted she had not sung for some time, the audience went wild and sang with her, even if at times, Ms. Cole needed to refer to the lyric sheet.

Midway through the performance, she reprised her duet with her father, Nat King Cole “Unforgettable” complete with homemade movies and sepia stills. And then she sang the song Charlie Chaplin wrote for her father “Smile (though your heart is aching)”. My mother, next to me thought the best song of the evening was "When I Fall in Love".

She allowed only one encore, a supremely worthy one however, finishing with an over-the-top duet with her trumpeteer. Good show.

Lessons Learned

2009-02-23T15:01:00.002+08:00

There exists a state of ennui in the Philippines. People are resigned to the reality that Gloria Arroyo will remain in power through 2010. We are however not certain whether elections will proceed at that time owing to the frenetic machinations of our die-hard loyalist legislators.

Many well-meaning Filipinos have declared their utter dissatisfaction with the list of aspiring candidates, all members in good standing of Traditional Politicians Incorporated. A consequence of this revulsion with all things political is the tendency to blame the electorate, the mindless mass of gullible, star-struck idiots fighting for survival every day. There are no tyrants, where there are no slaves. People deserve their leaders. Systemic corruption is a reflection of society. We have heard them all and we reliably nod in assent.

I learned an important lesson in the 2007 election. I learned that good intentions and virtue are no match to methodical preparation and effective fundraising. Both qualities included in the realm of expertise of successful traditional politicians. Our principal disadvantage was we could only campaign in between making a living. We were ranged against colossal campaigners who campaigned for a living. In Darwinian perspective, we were up against the most evolved, the fittest.

If we hope to break away from this power lock of desperation we have to begin preparing now. We need to create alliances with other groups, agree on an inclusive platform with clear and detailed proposals for a national transformation, raise money and awareness because our only chance lies in getting the people to know about us. We understand the sacrifice demanded in serving others. We pledge to serve for one term only not just because we have our private lives and professions to return to but also to give as many Filipinos a personal stake in building our nation.

The 2010 election is ours to lose. If we stubbornly consider ourselves above the tumult and unrest; if we persist in calling the cause lost; if we don’t put our lives on the line and remain amused spectators watching and cheering the next set of suckers march into the arena bristling with lions, then we only have ourselves to blame.

In a more rational time and place, all these moneyed and formidable candidates have nothing to be proud of. They are, without exception part of why our country is so screwed-up. They have all held important and powerful positions that in retrospect mainly benefited themselves, just look around the squalor and poverty surrounding you.

When I learned how to type many years ago, speed was gauged with how rapidly and correctly we could type the phrase: now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country. That was another lesson learned.

The Silver Lining

2009-02-19T13:26:00.002+08:00

My entries have been at their lowest levels since I began 3 years ago. Perhaps I am just following the careening contraction of the world economy, some $30 trillion now. With this amount of money, nobody is unscathed. We are all embroiled in this together.

As usual, we strain to see the silver lining. Our country, lagging far behind in productivity, is faring in relatively better shape than our Tiger neighbors. Translation: we never had much to lose after all. Pathetic, but makes absolute sense.

While governments round the world scramble for emergency maneuvers, we hope remittances from overseas don’t dip too much. We aspire only to remain on survival mode and our professional, political leaders are mainly concerned in keeping the masses subdued.

This should be our chance. This can become our opportunity to gain parity with the so-called First World. What do I mean? The $30 trillion is a reflection of the extraordinary overproduction of junk, non-essential material goods that have provided comfort and diversion to billions of hard working and essentially alienated people all over the world. Think hundreds of millions of vehicles, flat screen televisions, electronic gizmos, excess clothing, overpriced homes, mindless entertainment, bottled water, yes, bottled water is emblematic of the problems confronting us today.

In the US, it isn’t at all exceptional for anyone, including children to own closets full of clothing. Cars and trucks in very good condition are regularly replaced every 2-3 years; most families, it seems, possess the latest technological devices. And in a country where fresh, safe water is in abundance, $7 billion was spent for bottled water last year. It is easy to understand why Mexico consumed about $3 billion worth of bottled water because the availability of potable water is not as widespread compared to the US; it does underscore the tremendous amount of “disposable income” Americans perceived they had before this crisis struck.

Unlike the Philippines, America has excelled in adding value to goods (industrial, agricultural, natural resources) and services (especially military services). Value results in growth and development. This disaster is a direct consequence of negligent financial players who extracted immense profits from “maximizing” value via complex transactions that was, quite simply not there. We sat around a fire, intently listening to a pipe dream, and the hit we took was a giant financial one.

I however have no doubt the US will weather this storm and come out even stronger. This early, savings have increased and fuel consumption has significantly diminished. Not at all surprising corrective measures arising from the most productive nation on earth (in marked contrast to stagnant economies subsisting on remittances exclusively earned from services rendered to citizens of more prosperous countries).

Economic planners dread deflation but this may not necessarily be such a bad turn. The developed world can certainly do with much less. This would be a good time to fast and reflect, find meaning and redirect our lives towards less ephemeral goals. Noble pursuits all but impossible for people already fasting and desperately seeking ways to survive. This is a chance for the Philippines to pour all of its resources towards keeping the youth healthy and nourished, providing high quality education to dispel ignorance, teach values that promote mutual respect and mold responsible, globally-competitive stewards.

Human development should not be measured by the conveniences and distractions foisted by a consumerist society. We need to transform ourselves into enlightened individuals contributing considerably towards the common good.

We should strive to become productive if only to become more introspective as to what’s truly important out there.

Ruth, Randy and Pancreatic Cancer

2009-02-06T16:38:00.003+08:00

News that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had surgery for a one centimeter malignant tumor in her pancreas was particularly dismal for me. My wife and I were happy when she was named to the court close to the time when our first daughter was born in Brooklyn in 1993 because Justice Ginsburg herself is a native of the Borough. She has also been a model of what a jurist should be: firm in conviction, willing to listen, integrity beyond reproach.

Not very many pay close attention to the pancreas because it is such a quiet organ. We take for granted its endocrine and exocrine functions, responsible for the metabolism of sugar as well as having a critical role in digestion. Not to trivialize the obvious but insulin-dependent diabetics and patients with chronic pancreatitis are obliged to perform life-changing modifications if they want to continue to live. Imagine having to take 6-8 capsules with each meal for the rest of your life or strictly adhering to a meticulous diet and exercise regimen along with insulin shots and never-ending blood tests.

Pancreatic cancer is a whole different matter however. Because there are hardly any established risk factors and there are no specific signs and symptoms, the tumor is often discovered incidentally, in an advanced stage. Perhaps Justice Ginsburg’s history of colon cancer in 1999 prodded her physicians to be extra vigilant in ordering abdominal CT scans, nevertheless the over-all survival rate for 5 years is still 5%.

First time I became conscious of this cancer was when Michael Landon of Little House on the Prairie fame was stricken and died shortly. Cardinal Joseph Bernardin and Luciano Pavarotti did not last a year. Steve Jobs and Patrick Swayze are fighting for their lives.

Before Randy Pausch delivered his “last lecture” in September 2007, I had already been back in the Philippines for more than a year, partly because of what I learned from my patients with pancreatic cancer. Two were farmers, one was a veterinarian, another one was a 45 year old high school teacher. Next to this disease, all physical complaints pale. The brevity of our lives takes on an embossed and immediate character.

Pausch, 47, a professor of computer science and design at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh was invited to participate in a lecture series where top academics, usually those about to retire were asked to reflect upon what truly mattered in their lives and then deliver a “final talk”, about "what wisdom would you try to impart to the world if you knew it was your last chance?" Randy Pausch died 10 months later.

To live a more fulfilling life Pausch recommended we try our best in achieving our childhood dreams. What makes his lecture priceless though is it cogently reminds each of us that while we are not yet dying from a terminal illness we all have this incredible chance to transform our lives, find meaning, help others and leave the world a better place.

Historic

2009-01-20T16:15:00.000+08:00

A most breathtaking historic day. Simply unimaginable. From Oklahoma, where John McCain won in 77 of 77 counties, I have a clearer idea why the US is a great nation. There is nothing impossible here. When these guys go for change, they go for it all the way.

Today, we will witness a totally peaceful transfer of power in a place where the political, social and economic stakes are enormously greater than anywhere in the world. George Bush is flying back to Texas after the ceremony as a private citizen, ending what has also been an incredible journey that began when he was elected Governor of Texas in 1994.

We can learn from Texas. Their state legislature only meets in regular session on the second Tuesday in January every odd-numbered year. Each session is limited by law to 140 calendar days. This system discourages legislators from turning into professional, full-time politicians. Lawmaking is not a livelihood.

There is an anecdote of newly elected Vice President Lyndon Johnson, previously a Senator from Texas, who emerged from a meeting with the advisers of President Kennedy. Johnson was totally impressed with the breadth of intellectual firepower displayed in that gathering and he confided this to his friend House Speaker Sam Rayburn (also from Texas) who famously declared: “ They may be just as intelligent as you say. But I’d feel a helluva lot better if just one of them had ever run for sheriff.”

This is exactly the opposite of what it is in the Philippines, where politics is the ultimate occupation. Here, they may just be as experienced as they say they are, but we’d all feel a helluva lot better if most of them had succeeded in another life before traditional politics.

I Got An Idea

2009-01-12T16:04:00.000+08:00

If you don’t think that the Philippines is in a terrible situation and matters will only become worse if we don’t do anything different then you don’t have to read on.

If you share my assessment however, that our country is in very bad shape, then bear with me and think about the solution I propose.

I won’t bother enumerating our major problems because I don’t want to engender even more despair. Insurmountability has a dangerous consequence of hopeless paralysis, the exact opposite of what I intend to accomplish.

We need nothing less than a revolution. The political operating system that governs our country is irredeemably corrupted. Historically, mass purges have been the only effective way of achieving national catharsis. And there is a way for this process to occur without violence.

In 1986, we had a unique opportunity to break free from our national fears and insecurities when the entire government was essentially replaced, from the President down to the Mayor and Barangay Captain. Officers in Charge (OIC) were appointed and were given a chance to prove themselves before a general election was held a year later.

The opportunity was unique not because of the new cast of political characters but because it was a chance for all of us to look at public service in a vastly different perspective. Public service is a sacrifice committed by fellow citizens who prepare for the responsibility by becoming financially independent and thoroughly informed about the serious issues of the time. Public service is not a path to making a livelihood. Public service, being a sacrifice should be borne by as many citizens as possible as no group of family members are naturally invested with an extraordinary aptitude for public administration.

The opportunity was lost because we failed to learn the lessons.

We need to elect a President in 2010 who will implement peaceful revolution. In 2013, this President will call for synchronized local and national elections with all elective positions open (from the 24 Senators to the Kagawads). Each candidate will pledge to serve only one term and spouses, parents and children will be prohibited from succeeding any candidate. Since many dynasties exist primarily to protect tightly vested family interests, there will be a one-time general amnesty for all administrative cases filed from the 2013 elections until the commencement of the campaign period in 2016.

This President must have an unblemished record of integrity and honesty. This President needs to be completely nontraditional, not beholden to any special interests, successful in a previous occupation. This President should embody the national ideals of a true servant-leader who will not hesitate to sacrifice for the common good.

Will this revolution solve all our problems? Certainly not, but it will be a decisive step towards the redemption of the boundless promise of our nation.

Overseas Filipino Workers of the World, Unite!

2009-01-08T17:07:00.001+08:00

Smiles are abundant in the Philippines. It does not matter if the material quality of life is decidedly poorer, amid the hunger and disease and nakedness, you will find that people smile a lot more out here. And visitors from other countries never fail to remark upon the general warmth they receive from the natives.

Perhaps it is because we never need endure sub-zero winters or we can sleep outdoors the whole year round that we are so warm and hospitable. We have rain, regularly in the evenings and we have no pauses in our planting seasons. We have it very good in this country, so many of us simply take our profuse blessings for granted.

A popular folk tale is of Juan Tamad (John Lazy) who would rather wait for the crop to drop into his open mouth than summon the energy to bring his arm and hand to pluck the nearby fruit.

How do you explain our dismal productivity as a nation? The prevailing torpor that from time immemorial has kept us in the launch pad. How the over-solicitous cousin in the immigration desk can suddenly change into a tip-seeking tyrant to the next tourist in line, or how the loving family man of a cop can be capable of inflicting so much cruelty to drug-addicted minors?

No wonder powerful politicians will move mountains to help a stranded domestic helper somewhere in Saudi Arabia and rapidly turn around to collect a multi-million dollar commission in a public project. Religious leaders feed the hungry and provide shelter to the homeless with funds derived from gambling. Crusading journalists who begin as fearless tribunes until they become part of the same corrupt system no longer see a problem when they accept gifts from those they should be keeping an eye on. Teachers who patiently attend to 80-student classes make a little extra on the side selling reviewers that curiously appear like excerpts of the actual examinations. The most compassionate physicians who work brutally long hours will not think twice about splitting their fees with referring colleagues. Lawyers who consider themselves above the ethical fray routinely over-bill and further extend already drawn-out legal proceedings. The dispossessed urban poor will not hesitate to invite you to share their humble meal but will completely disregard property rights.

The miasma of corruption we all rail against is all over us. Proof of our infection is the degree of bitter cynicism we greeted the clarion call of, of all people, the former Speaker for a moral revolution, knowing each of us will be a casualty in such a revolution. How our insurmountable despair is reflected upon our forlorn hope that young, mega-traditional politicians will somehow scrupulously reform themselves in order to rescue us all.

The safe, reliable passage available all these years has been to leave the country. To stay as far away from a milieu that delayed development for most of us; a structure zealously secured by its principal beneficiaries. Jose Rizal lost his life more than a hundred years ago demanding the very same reforms that would enable us to transform ourselves into enlightened citizens with formed consciences. Then, as now, exile was the only option. Only now there are millions of us.

Can anyone be blamed for the prevailing hopelessness? We have been through a lot and still we remain mired. We need to save our country. Overseas Filipino Workers of the World, Unite! The situation in our country will become hopeless only when we stop looking back and caring for all our sisters and brothers we have left behind.

A True Year-ender

2008-12-31T16:35:00.002+08:00

I got this from Doctor Paul, arguably pound for pound the most talented doctor of good times.

The four Goldberg brothers, Lowell, Norman, Hiram, and Maxwell, invented and developed the first automobile air-conditioner. On July 17, 1946, the temperature in Detroit was 97 degrees.

The four brothers walked into old man Henry Ford's office and sweet-talked his secretary into telling him that four gentlemen were there with the most exciting innovation in the auto industry since the electric starter. Henry was curious and invited them into his office. They refused and instead asked that he come out to the parking lot to their car.

They persuaded him to get into the car, which was about 130 degrees, turned on the air conditioner, and cooled the car off immediately.

The old man got very excited and invited them back to the office, where he offered them $3 million for the patent. The brothers refused, saying they would settle for $2 million, but they wanted the recognition by having a label, 'The Goldberg Air-Conditioner,' on the dashboard of each car in which it was installed.

Now old man Ford was more than just a little anti-Semitic, and there was no way he was going to put the Goldberg's name on two million Fords. They haggled back and forth for about two hours, and finally agreed on $4 million and that just their first names would be shown.

And so to this day, all Ford air conditioners show Lo, Norm, Hi, and Max on the controls.

So, now you know...

May we all have a healthy and safe 2009!

A Good Round Spoiled

2008-12-28T19:48:00.004+08:00

Hope everyone had a Blessed Christmas. I haven’t gotten around to writing an entry lately because the extended holidays have cast a spell on many golfers out here. It’s as if every golfer in the Philippines wants to make-up for all the lost time spent at work and play as much golf in a period of 9 days, a true novena. My wife and I have played 7 rounds of golf in 8 days in 6 different courses.

In a city with 12 million people crammed in 240 square miles, every golf course is an oasis. Here, there are rules and everyone is expected to adhere to a universal code of conduct. I was deeply disturbed by this news item from the Inquirer concerning an incident that occurred the day after Christmas.

MANILA, Philippines—The son of Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman and several persons beat up a 14-year-old boy and his father at a golf course in Antipolo on Friday, the victims complained Saturday.

The alleged attackers were identified as Nasser Pangandaman Jr., mayor of Masiu, Lanao del Sur, and his golfing companions and armed bodyguards. The victims, Delfin de la Paz and his family, said the Agrarian Reform secretary witnessed the incident at the Valley Golf Club but did not stop his son and their bodyguards from attacking the victims.

De la Paz filed the complaint immediately after the incident on Friday with the Antipolo police, who said the charges, including child abuse, would be filed on Monday.

Breach of etiquette
De la Paz said the incident started when the Pangandamans broke golf etiquette by playing out of turn and over-taking the De la Paz family at the South Course of the Valley Golf and Country Club.

In an interview, De la Paz, 56, said he and his two children—daughter Bambee, 18, and son Bino, 14—were playing golf and were on Hole No. 3 when two golf carts bearing the Pangandamans and their friends overtook them.

Aside from the Pangandamans, the group also included Paysal Abdulaa, Mohammed Hussein, Abdan Pacasuna, Rene Maglaque and Arnel Astacio.

Dela Paz said he complained to the marshal and when the two groups caught up with each other at the tee house on hole No. 5, an altercation ensued.

De la Paz said that at the height of the altercation, Nasser Jr. suddenly attacked him and his son, punching and kicking them and shouting: “Hindi mo ba ako nakikilala? (Don’t you know me?)”

Bambee de la Paz, who witnessed everything, said the younger Pangandaman continued to attack even when his brother was already on his knees pleading for him to stop.

Bambee, in an e-mail to friends, said they decided to stop playing and retreated to the clubhouse to seek medical attention, but their attackers followed them there. This time joined by their bodyguards, the Pangandaman group again attacked father and son. Bambee said two of the mayor’s bodyguards even pulled out their guns.

She said that while Secretary Pangandaman did not participate in the attacks, he did not lift a finger to stop his son and his companions from beating the victims. None of the golf club’s security guards and managers tried to stop the beating.

‘Golfers are decent’
Dela Paz’s 14 year-old boy suffered various facial, head and back injuries due to the blows he received.

“This is a golf course. I have been a golfer all my life and I have never seen anything like this,” Bambee said. “And I though golfers were decent people. You would think politicians were decent people. I guess not.”

Bambee and Bino de la Paz are both outstanding junior golfers. Bambee is on vacation from the University of Cincinnati where she is a golf scholar. Bino is one of the top golfers in his age group.

Efforts to reach Secretary Pangandaman for comment yesterday proved fruitless. His cell phone was off. The public information officer of the Department of Agrarian Reform promised to call the Inquirer as soon as he got in touch with the secretary but he had not done so at press time Saturday.

Bambee De La Paz gave her own account of the horrific tale that validates the general impression of power-drunk politicians accustomed to having their way around other citizens. This episode proves the primitive conditions that continue to prevail in the Philippines. This simply does not take place in civilized societies. Even Tony Soprano would have shown more finesse.

I certainly hope that justice will prevail and the guilty will be punished. Look how many years in prison OJ Simpson will have to spend because members of his group brandished weapons.

If an investigation establishes that the cabinet secretary was indeed present while battery and assault were being committed, then Gloria Arroyo must fire this person immediately and swift justice meted out to the guilty individuals involved.

The Magnificat

2008-12-22T16:45:00.001+08:00

The historical Mary, to many remains a meek, uneducated teenager who was found to be with child. She is rarely quoted for theological insight and reformers have persistently downgraded her critical role in Christianity. The entry today is a direct quote attributed to Mary from the gospel of Saint Luke (1, 46-56) while she visited her cousin Elizabeth who at an advanced age was also carrying a child.

And Mary said: "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior. For he has looked upon his handmaid's lowliness; behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed. The Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is from age to age to those who fear him. He has shown might with his arm, dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart. He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly. The hungry he has filled with good things; the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped Israel his servant, remembering his mercy, according to his promise to our fathers, to Abraham and to his descendants forever." Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home.

The Magnificat is a sublime proclamation of humility and submission to those who believe in the existence of God. The eight sentences affirm the greatness of God with an abundance of mercy and blessings to those who acknowledge his infinite power. Within the brief paragraph is the basis for the concept of a preferential option for the poor and the powerless; finally, it is a ringing announcement that there is hope for all.

Mary withdraws to the background during the ministry of her son, making a cameo here and there, searching for her missing child, requesting her son to perform a miracle at a wedding feast but her final appearance in the Acts of the Apostles is revealing: when the apprehensive disciples are huddled around her as they await the arrival of the Holy Spirit during Pentecost.

Avery Robert Dulles, SJ 1918-2008

2008-12-13T21:47:00.002+08:00

Avery Robert Dulles was a full fledged member of the WASP Establishment. Three family members served as Secretary of State (father John Foster, grand uncle and great grandfather), his uncle Allen, guided European espionage during World War II and later became CIA Director during the beginning of the Cold War. His grandfather Allen Macy Dulles, was a renowned Presbyterian theologian, co-founder of the American Theological Society.

His unlikely conversion to Catholicism detailed in his book “A Testimonial to Grace” mirrored that of Thomas Merton‘s “The Seven Storey Mountain“. He was an agnostic when he entered Harvard in 1936 and immersing himself in the study of philosophy and art failed to dispel his doubts about God until one winter morning in 1939 when he saw a tree in bud: “The thought came to me suddenly, with all the strength and novelty of a revelation, that these little buds in their innocence and meekness followed a rule, a law of which I as yet knew nothing.” He concluded memorably: “That night, for the first time in years, I prayed.”

He became a Catholic in 1940, referring to this event as the best and most important decision of his life. After the war he entered the Society of Jesus and was ordained a priest in 1956. Dulles wrote 27 books and 800 articles, mostly theological works that defended the Catholic Church’s positions on the limits of secularization, papal infallibility, artificial birth control, abortion, women priests, religious celibacy, scientific advances and a host of other issues. Dulles often said that his duty was to honor diversity and dissent but ultimately to articulate the traditions of the church and to preserve Catholic unity. He wrote against excessive secularism and modernization and maintained that the changes brought by the Second Vatican Council should not be misconstrued as a “license” to engage in populist philosophies. “Christianity would dissolve itself if it allowed its revealed content, handed down in tradition, to be replaced by contemporary theories.”

His persistent conservatism, couched always in lucid and reflective prose made him a favorite theologian of Pope John Paul II. In 2001, he was made a Cardinal, even if at age 82 he could no longer participate in the selection of the next Pope. What made the designation largely unprecedented however was at the time of his appointment, he was not even a Bishop.

I greatly respect and admire the life and works of Cardinal Dulles; it is amazing to read his essays that freely reference scholarly thinking ranging from St. Paul to Plato, St. Anselm, St. Thomas Aquinas, Pascal, the Cappadocian Fathers, Kierkegaard, Locke, Leibniz, Malebranche, Martin Buber, Fernand Van Steenberghen, Dostoevsky, Maurice Blondel, Max Scheller, Rahner, Henri de Lubac, Jacques Maritain in a single lecture. But with all the erudition and brilliance, one cannot help but ponder if Cardinal Dulles ever truly understood the plight of millions of Catholics in South America, Asia and Africa. Was this the reason why in “The Reshaping of Catholicism” he acknowledged the possibility that the church could fall into serious error and might require reform, that the laity had a right to an active role and that the church needed to respect regional and local differences?

And while he wrote that “a measure of conservatism is inseparable from authentic Christianity”, was the careful choice of the quantifying noun “measure” meant to encourage serious and faithful Catholics to seek other solutions when the existing order was clearly failing to promote justice and uphold human dignity?

What The?

2008-12-11T18:26:00.000+08:00

The global economy is undergoing an unprecedented reconfiguration; extensive solar and wind power grids are being constructed; automobiles that do not depend on oil are being designed; democracy is being exported, using force if necessary; there is nonstop development of models to contain terrorism; dams, highways, nuclear reactors and massive bridges are being built; there is a relentless search for a cure for cancer, AIDS, Alzheimer’s; the world is a beehive of activity.

What’s going on in the Philippines? What are the burning issues of our time? In a nation desperate for heroes, Manny Pacquiao ensured the permanent retirement of De La Hoya; our local media abuzz with speculation regarding charter change (amending the constitution); we see our lawmakers hopelessly outclassed by a wily and evasive character who spent 2 years in detention in the US perfecting the art of deception; there is an internecine battle to pass a “reproductive health bill”. Side by side the great strides being accomplished everywhere else, so long as we remain distracted, we are happy to sit around and watch the world leave us behind.

When times are hard, the tough start working harder. They consume less and they produce more. There is a major increase in the acquisition of critical skills. The existing infrastructure is upgraded and over-all efficiency is enhanced.

Will amending the constitution at this time raise productivity? Or is this another ploy to perpetuate the tenure of our overstaying politicians? Is the indecent haste directly productive to the pecuniary profit some shameless traditional politicians stand to gain? Changing the Constitution now is the last thing we need.

Why go after a bit player (a former official from the Agriculture Department)
in an irredeemably corrupt order with strenuous, over-the-top histrionics when the big fish are never punished anyway? Unless all these exertions are exclusively meant to serve notice to a preoccupied public regarding the looming elections in 2010.

There has been too much talk about reproductive health. The bill proposed may be riddled with defects but we clearly need legislation to allow our people to make informed and enlightened choices. A fully formed conscience requires substantial investments in education. It is grossly insufficient to criticize and dismiss the bill without offering an alternative solution to a major problem.

There will be a flurry of political activity in 2009 that will reach a crescendo on May 2010. We need to move away from wrangling over small matters, get rid of our mendicant mentality and collectively aspire to make our country into the glorious country that our children deserve.

Immaculate Mother

2008-12-08T15:15:00.003+08:00

Catholics observe today the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. I had always been under the impression that this Holy Day of Obligation marked what the angel had told Mary, “The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” Lk 1: 35

The Immaculate Conception refers to one of the four Marian Dogmas: Mary was conceived without original sin. She didn’t have to do anything heroic, saintly, extraordinary. She was completely undeserving of the honor bestowed upon her by a God who has a master plan of salvation. “In him we were also chosen, destined in accord with the purpose of the One who accomplishes all things according to the intention of his will, so that we might exist for the praise of his glory.” Eph 1: 12

The four Marian declarations of doctrine include Mary, Mother of God (431 AD); Mary, Ever Virgin (649 AD); Immaculate Conception of Mary (1854); Assumption of Mary (1950).

After the Reformation, there was severe criticism leveled at the Church for promoting the purported worship of Mary. Until today, many protestants continue to hold onto this misconception. Catholics are taught to honor Mary because of the exceptional grace endowed to her by God, as earlier stated not because of anything she did but because she was God’s choice.

My grandfather Jose S Bautista (1894-1996) was a lifelong devotee of Mary. His mother died when he was 2 years old, photography was not yet available then so he never even had an idea of his mother’s likeness. He longed all his life for just a fleeting vision of his mother. Growing up an orphan, he understood his life could have taken many wrong turns but he always turned to Mary for guidance. He was a prosperous landowner, a respected Judge and he made it known that he attributed his blessings to the intercession of his mother Mary.

Lovely Lady Dressed in Blue
(Mary Dixon Thayer)

Lovely Lady dressed in blue -------
Teach me how to pray!
God was just your little boy,
Tell me what to say!

Did you lift Him up, sometimes, Gently on your knee?
Did you sing to Him the way Mother does to me?
Did you hold His hand at night?
Did you ever try
Telling stories of the world?
O! And did He cry?

Do you really think He cares
If I tell Him things -------Little things that happen? And
Do the Angels' wings
Make a noise?
And can He hear
Me if I speak low?
Does He understand me now?
Tell me -------for you know.

Lovely Lady dressed in blue -------
Teach me how to pray!
God was just your little boy,
And you know the way.

On Our Helplessness

2008-11-27T16:23:00.004+08:00

“On His Blindness”, by John Milton is a perennial entry in many poetry anthologies for high school students. It was never a favorite of mine because it seemed so grim and undistinguished. In our teens at the Ateneo, we planned to conquer the world.

30 years later, our ambitions slightly tempered by the passage of time, revisiting the poem written amid the progressive advance of blindness receives much more sympathy. Milton was resigned to dial down his dreams with the loss of a major faculty. Could he have foreseen (pun intended) that his greatest work (Paradise Lost) was yet to be written?

These are very uncertain times and save for a very few, there is an overwhelming sense of powerlessness. The former Speaker detailed how a great many of our lawmakers were bribed and this disclosure hardly caused a ripple. Was this because the additional confirmation of corruption no longer interested a people that considered this as common knowledge?

We are not losing our sight, we are losing our souls.

WHEN I consider how my light is spent
E're half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one Talent which is death to hide,
Lodg'd with me useless, though my Soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, least he returning chide,
Doth God exact day-labour, light deny'd,
I fondly ask; But patience to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, God doth not need
Either man's work or his own gifts, who best
Bear his milde yoak, they serve him best, his State
Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed
And post o're Land and Ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and waite.

When a Bum Stomach Turns Deadly

2008-11-23T10:18:00.002+08:00

Whenever there is scarcity there is invariably rationing. We hardly have any healthcare in the Philippines. Organize a “free clinic” and the demand is greater than the water station on the halfway point of the New York City marathon. There is a never-ending supply of poor patients and even if you can only offer them 3 days of anti-hypertensive therapy, there is overwhelming gratitude (cynical colleagues ascribe this to the small profit they will make selling these drug samples).

We were just informed that the First Gentleman (FG), pet name of the husband of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was returned to the Philippines while en route to Lima to accompany his wife listen to the Arch protectionist Bush preach about free trade and free markets. It appears that FG had gastrointestinal symptoms that required their jet to make an emergency stop in Osaka, Japan where he had an urgent MRI and his cardiothoracic surgeon had to be flown from Manila (as if they had a shortage of these specialists in way medically advanced Osaka) before he was promptly jettisoned back to where he came from. Medical opinion from his various physicians were unanimous in their diagnosis: bum stomach.

Most Filipinos who make it past the critical age of 12 months (we have one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world) still live 10 years less than their counterparts in Japan. This is because we have a silent but terrible epidemic of untreated hypertension and diabetes. The previous staple of rice and salt was bad enough but with the soaring prices of rice, there has been a major shift towards “instant noodles”, even less carbohydrates with a more potent dose of sodium. Blood pressure is a function of blood volume multiplied by peripheral resistance, the elevation being directly attributed to the intravascular shifts that take place with a salty meal. Add the burgeoning number of cigarette smokers among the poor who resort to the hunger-numbing effects of nicotine and there will be no difficulty tracing the etiology of this epidemic.

Even patients in the rapidly disappearing middle class have compliance problems on account of the expensive medications. Compliance drops to near zero for the great majority. Budgets are busted by the time provisions for medications arise.

Hence I wouldn’t even hazard a guess as to how many strokes, heart attacks, and premature deaths would have been prevented had FG just stayed at home.

In the Doldrums

2008-11-20T18:28:00.000+08:00

The Philippines is geographically close to the Doldrums, an area in the ocean close to the equator where the water is calm, punctuated by light shifting winds and occasional squalls. Figuratively, whenever there is stagnation or listlessness, the word comes to mind.

So, in the middle of a teetering global economy and swirling political realignment stirring many parts of the world our local headline is deposed leader Joseph Estrada mulling another run for the Presidency, in order to “unite the opposition”.

Such a preposterous proposition would have been drowned by universal ridicule most everywhere else except our beloved land where the possibility of our own miserable adaptation of Napoleon, returning from Elba may happen. Just look how Estrada’s musings on a mundane television interview end up on the front pages of our newspapers.

What “opposition” is Estrada referring to anyway? The same forces that opposed corruption and incompetence successfully drove him out of office, I hope he isn’t under the illusion that he has now become the titular leader of a vast, silent and suffering majority that had entrusted to him the responsibility of governing a nation, a responsibility he spectacularly squandered.

He had his chance to enact economic reform and increase revenue, instead, while he gambled with cronies way past midnight, schemes naked in their dishonesty were concocted which would shake the foundations of our stock market. It was in smoke-filled rooms, overflowing with wine and testosterone that national policies were created. Estrada may have been less malevolent than Marcos but as a direct result of his criminal irresponsibility, millions of Filipinos continue to pay for his mistakes.

He had a clear shot towards transforming the increasingly irrelevant educational system that is producing under-prepared, mostly clueless youth. What he saw was a way to make money from printing substandard and inaccurate textbooks. He could have paid teachers much more and prevent the best of them from seeking better opportunities abroad, instead he sustained several multi-billion peso bank accounts to maintain his many mistresses and keep his political lieutenants satisfied.

There were plans to overhaul, no, rebuild, actually establish a healthcare delivery system that would finally enable the poorest to seek capable medical care but the interest was never there, and the funding necessary to fulfill the goals did not materialize and he was overthrown before his lack of knowledge and curiosity could have done more damage. The same notable lack of knowledge and curiosity which denied the full, equitable implementation of comprehensive land reform.

Surveys reveal that Estrada remains popular among the poor, which in the Philippines is akin to conceding 75% of the population. This is ironic because Estrada has been anything but beneficial towards the poor. His slogan “Erap Para sa Masa” (“Estrada for the Masses”) while taken as gospel truth by many should have always been cynically “Erap Para kay Erap” (“Estrada for Estrada”). And this is why Estrada is such a shameful waste, a man abundantly endowed with empathy, a gifted actor; like all of us, a sinner given to moments of repentance, was given a once in a lifetime chance to do glorious good and blew it big time.

About Change and the OFW

2008-11-09T21:00:00.001+08:00

Might I have been over-reacting? America had changed overnight I felt. In Dallas, the morning after the elections, change was palpable. The unthinkable had happened. So amid historic financial meltdowns and careening violence in many parts of the earth, general uncertainty everywhere, the election of Obama heralded hope for change. Advent arrived early.

At LAX, there was not a single vacant seat aboard the newly refitted PAL 747, filled with Filipinos who waited for the outcome of the elections before returning home. The overhead bins were groaning, unequivocal evidence that our native resourcefulness was coping with the newly imposed handicap of 20 lbs less baggage allowance. This aircraft held the hopes of our nation. 10 million of us had long ago made the decision to take matters into our own hands. Change was going to begin within ourselves, we would look after those we had left behind later, whenever we could.

The news that greeted us after we crossed the Pacific was how desperate our leaders had tried contacting the President-elect, hoping for an opportunity to capture a sliver of the new hero’s glory. There was none forthcoming. Whatever disembarked from that plane constituted a portion of the foreign direct investment that was keeping our economy viable. Soon enough, our version of the White House, Malacanang, rolled out a list of possible presidential aspirants, their own pathetic version of change. This is the quandary every OFW confronts. From a distance, we see the same changeless system stunting our country, with internecine conflict raging for what relatively can be considered scraps. It’s every dynasty to itself with net production hovering close to zero. What can we do? What must we do?

Can we expect these people, top of the heap products of the changeless system to provide us with the change that we need? Who among these compromised names will have enough credibility to inspire us to work harder, become more productive, less wasteful and more patriotic?

The recently concluded elections demonstrates that in the end, what matters is not who’s got the most comprehensive health plan or the least painful financial rehabilitation proposal or who has the most realistic strategy to solve foreign conflicts. What matters is who will be able to unite the people into participating in an enterprise that will benefit the common good. Ideas, solutions, strategies and proposals are easy. The challenge is how to get people to work together to achieve these ends.

Diaspora is a Greek word that describes a “scattering of seeds”. Most of us are simply economic refugees. We are everywhere but if we share a dream of a stronger, cleaner, more productive and united Philippines, we will all have to get together for this.

Congratulations America!

2008-11-05T12:33:00.002+08:00

This is why America is a great nation. A black boy, abandoned by his African father and raised by a single mother who seemed lost and continuously looking like most of us for meaning in her life. Looks as if only in America can a black man who attended elementary school in Indonesia, partly raised by working class grandparents make his way through Columbia and Harvard.

Well done President Barack Obama. Well done noble Senator John McCain. You guys do your country a great service.

We wish America the very best.

American Stories

2008-10-30T16:46:00.000+08:00

American Stories
By ROGER COHEN

Of the countless words Barack Obama has uttered since he opened his campaign for president on an icy Illinois morning in February 2007, a handful have kept reverberating in my mind:
“For as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on earth is my story even possible.”
Perhaps the words echo because I’m a naturalized American, and I came here, like many others, seeking relief from Britain’s subtle barriers of religion and class, and possibility broader than in Europe’s confines.
Perhaps they resonate because, having South African parents, I spent part of my childhood in the land of apartheid, and so absorbed as an infant the humiliation of racial segregation, the fear and anger that are the harvest of hurt — just as they are, in Obama’s words, “the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.”
Perhaps they speak to me because I live in New York and watch every day a miracle of civility emerge from the struggles and fatigue of people drawn from every corner of the globe to the glimmer of possibility at the tapering edge of the city’s ruler-straight canyons.
Perhaps they move me because the possibility of stories has animated my life; and no nation offers a blanker page on which to write than America.
Or perhaps it’s simply because those 22 words cleave the air with the sharp blade of truth.
Nowhere else could a 47-year-old man, born, as he has written, of a father “black as pitch” and a mother “white as milk,” a generation distant from the mud shacks of western Kenya, raised for a time as Barry Soetoro (his stepfather’s family name) in Muslim Indonesia, then entrusted to his grandparents in Hawaii — nowhere else could this Barack Hussein Obama rise so far and so fast.
It’s for this sense of possibility, and not for grim-faced dread, that people look to America, which is why the Obama campaign has stirred such global passions.
Americans are decent people. They’re not interested in where you came from. They’re interested in who you are. That has not changed.
But much has in the last eight years. This is a moment of anguish. The Bush presidency has engineered the unlikely double whammy of undermining free-market capitalism and essential freedoms, the nation’s twin badges.
American luster is gone. The American idea has, in Joyce Carol Oates’s words, become a “cruel joke.” Americans are worrying and hurting.
So it is important to step back, from the last machinations of this endless campaign, and think again about what America is.
It is renewal, the place where impossible stories get written.
It is the overcoming of history, the leaving behind of war and barriers, in the name of a future freed from the cruel gyre of memory.
It is reinvention, the absorption of one identity in something larger — the notion that “out of many, we are truly one.”
It is a place better than Bush’s land of shadows where a leader entrusted with the hopes of the earth cannot find within himself a solitary phrase to uplift the soul.
Multiple polls now show Obama with a clear lead. But nobody can know the outcome and nobody should underestimate the immense psychological leap that sending a black couple to the White House would represent.
What I am sure of is this: an ever more interconnected world, where financial chain reactions spread with the virulence of plagues, thirsts for American renewal and a form of American leadership sensitive to humanity’s tied fate.
I also know that this biracial politician, the Harvard graduate who gets whites because he was raised by them, the Kenyan’s son who gets blacks because it was among them that mixed race placed him, is an emblematic figure of the border-hopping 21st century. He is the providential mestizo whose name — O-Ba-Ma — has the three-syllable universality of some child’s lullaby.
And what has he done? What does his experience amount to? Does his record not demonstrate he’s a radical? The interrogation continues. It’s true that his experience is limited.
But Americans seem to be trusting what their eyes tell them: temperament trumps experience and every instinct of this man, whose very identity represents an act of reconciliation, hones toward building change from the center.
Earlier this year, at the end of a road of reddish earth in western Kenya, I found Obama’s half-sister Auma. “He can be trusted,” she said, “to be in dialogue with the world.”
Dialogue, between Americans and beyond America, has been a constant theme. Last year, I spoke to Obama, who told me: “Part of our capacity to lead is linked to our capacity to show restraint.”
Watching the way he has allowed his opponents’ weaknesses to reveal themselves, the way he has enticed them into self-defeating exhaustion pounding against the wall of his equanimity, I have come to understand better what he meant.
Stories require restraint, too. Restraint engages the imagination, which has always been stirred by the American idea, and can be once again.

What's Going On in America

2008-10-28T12:23:00.002+08:00

What a time to be in America. Change is coming. Ted Stevens of Alaska who has been senator for almost as long as I have been alive was just convicted for lying and accepting bribes. Barack Obama, son of an African is poised to become President. The people are hurting and there is fear and there is uncertainty even in the heartland where you can easily view the horizon 50 miles away.

Fear and uncertainty trump racism that is native to each one of us. Those professional pollsters were totally wrong: given a choice between a continuation of failed policies and a young, black man who represented a new direction, Americans would overwhelmingly take a chance and break away from their deep-seated biases.

The situation had to get this bad for the majority to realize the consequences were too dire, the stakes too far-reaching to rely upon a cynical choice that was made to appeal to our baser nature. Palin, it turns out was a disastrous choice. Whatever heroism McCain had was completely canceled by whatever flippant qualities the Alaska governor had. For all her observations about Putin rearing his menace from the land mass visible from her state, Palin came woefully short in making the case that Obama was a Marxist, as if the bogus idea of trickle-down economics was somehow less dangerous to the health of the world financial system.

Oil prices are plummeting from decreased demand, less vehicles and appliances are being sold, everyone’s starting to save. Heady days are ahead.

USA

2008-10-18T09:47:00.001+08:00

I don’t think we are anywhere near the bottom yet. Houses will continue to lose value, retirement and college funds will get smaller, many more will become unemployed. But just as America led the way to this global mess I have no doubt that America will also lead the way to worldwide recovery.

Americans will spend less and work harder. Their most fearsome thought is to bequeath a less secure, less prosperous future to their children.

The military budget will be slashed. The mythical dividends that peace paradoxically brings with crushing armed superiority will give way to massive investments in science and technology which will result in energy independence, a cleaner environment, a healthier population and a vastly more efficient financial system.

Waste will be minimized. There will be a decrease in the consumption of food, fuel, electricity, clothing and recreational activities. There will follow a national belt-tightening movement that will encourage parents to focus on making their children become more competitive in the sciences and math. There will be less attention to sports.

Tobacco and alcohol consumption will decrease, there will be less obesity. The engines of production will be on full throttle. As a result, tax revenues will soar, wasteful spending will plummet; there will be an unprecedented surge in savings accounts. Critical infrastructure investments will be made.

We had to catch a glimpse of the abyss, we needed to be jolted into reforming our ways, we had to be rudely reminded that we would only be able to get out of this together. I am certain America will rise to the challenge.

Puring, 1940-2008

2008-10-13T16:03:00.004+08:00

Florencia Olino Aguimli, born October 28, 1940 in Urdaneta, Pangasinan died in her home in Quezon City on October 11, 2008. She had a cerebellar infarction 6 weeks earlier. Puring was recruited by my grandmother in 1956 and began staying with my parents shortly after they got married in 1958. She stayed with us ever since.

She met Pepito Aguimli from Abra who worked as a security guard in St. Theresa’s College during those times when she would take my sister to school. They got married and had 2 daughters Bernadette and Arlene.

Puring was the ultimate “all-around”. She wouldn’t be afraid to collect rent from tenants, pay bills, buy produce from the market, adjust waistlines and extend the hems of our trousers, accompany us to Baguio where she would cook delightful meals… had she acquired a visa to the US, she would have gladly followed us and would have taken care of us.

Margarita “Mans” Suarez who cooked for us for forty years and her husband Pepito predeceased her. Along with her daughters, and 2 grandchildren she is survived by us, my parents, my brothers and sisters, Angel “Boy” Suarez, Monina Simbahan and Irene Simbahan.

We are all a sum of the love and care given us by other people. We wouldn’t be who we are were it not for God’s grace to enable others to serve us. Puring was always there and I can’t remember a moment when she failed me or my family. Whenever I would give her a present, a token of how much I appreciated her, her tears would flow unfailingly, as if she was undeserving of gratitude.

This photo was taken when she accompanied us to a resort. So long as Puring was present, you could be assured of a smooth holiday. She was up the earliest and would go to bed last. She was tireless.

Eternal rest grant unto Puring, O Lord.

The Winner of the Debate

2008-10-03T18:30:00.001+08:00

It is not surprising to learn that 40% of registered voters believe that Sarah Palin won the debate. The election of the US President depends upon the results in a few, key states so Oklahomans for example never see political ads and presidential candidates rarely stop by because the voting pattern of the state is a foregone conclusion.

So it doesn’t matter if a candidate makes a complete fool of him/herself for roughly 40% of the electorate who can be depended upon to deliver their votes for a specific party. The 5-7% who are undecided will spell the difference.

John McCain is a hero with a long and distinguished career in public service. McCain should have been elected President in 2000 and the US would not be in such a mess right now. But because he stood against the right wing moralists of his party and refused to pander to intolerant bigots who thrived on division, the better candidate lost and we have only begun to reap the seeds of arrogance and stubbornness.

Choosing Sarah Palin as a running mate, considering melanoma can metastasize any moment is a slap to our faces. I personally expected more from a hero. To cave in at the summit of your vocation in order to keep your base happy at such a critical moment is a major, major disappointment.

Palin gives us the same, tired, dated talking points that successfully ushered a Republican era. Higher taxes from the Democrats--even if only those making more than $250,000 a year will be affected, is a bogus argument that has flown only because so many have been fooled into thinking that they belong to the upper class. Where will the bailout money come from now? Surely not from the multiple tax cuts Republicans have enacted that have benefited the wealthy. Paying taxes is an unpleasant reality but we all must do our part to maintain the bureaucracy and infrastructure which enables us to make a living.

With the extra money from taxes avoided, many of us were lulled into maxing out our credit cards and we spent and spent on SUVs, vacations, electronic appliances and luxurious homes without making ourselves more competitive, irresponsibly thinking the happy days were here forever. While we partied, foreign students took advantage of our excellent schools and lapped-up the unbelievable amount of educational opportunities that most of us took for granted.

Palin talks about the war in Iraq and deceitfully accuses Obama of surrendering to Islamic extremists. I just wonder, 20 years ago when a bomb destroyed Pan Am 103 and crashed in Lockerbie killing 270 people, what the consequences would have been if George HW Bush ordered the invasion of Libya, given that Gaddafi whom Reagan referred to as the “mad dog of the Middle East” was a Dictator-Tyrant who wantonly murdered political opponents and acknowledged he possessed weapons of mass destruction.

I wonder if 4100 American lives and a trillion dollars would have justified an invasion that satisfies the invasion-criteria that determined the Iraq invasion CONSIDERING Secretary of State Rice just visited Libya where relations have normalized.

Palin calls these times “tumultuous” and it certainly requires leaders who will not simply wink and repeat talking points in a folksy manner and instead provide replies which are the result of serious reflection.

Look Who's Arrogant Now

2008-09-25T14:23:00.002+08:00

This could be a first, watching someone on television and become infected. In this breakthrough case, George W Bush demonstrates how a tv screen is unable to stop fear from spreading rapidly. Months from now, a retrospective study should establish how many people stroked-out during that performance.

Who put that guy and Cheney up there in the first place? How they succeeded in convincing millions that a Vietnam veteran was less patriotic than somebody who used his connections to stay out of harms way or got out through multiple deferments is the great question now haunting all law-abiding taxpayers.

Bush gives a simple description of how we got to this mess but takes absolutely no responsibility for the utter failure of his administration to regulate the abuses that could occur in an environment of untrammeled capitalism. How the very wealthy and billion dollar corporations continue to benefit from inequitable tax laws. How the billion-dollar-a-day war in Iraq has siphoned off much needed capital for improvements in education, healthcare delivery and infrastructure.

He did succeed in scaring the living crap out of everybody and asked us to blindly trust him with a blank check for $700 billion. Just what is a retiree who depends on some dividends do? Or someone nearing retirement with a portfolio that is 45% smaller than what was projected? Or couples looking to secure a loan for a house, a vehicle, tuition?

This crisis should decrease the super-saturated climate of arrogance prevailing. Whenever we reduced social services because we wanted our own little tax cuts, whenever we began blaming immigrants for our societal ills and restricted them from working jobs that nobody else wanted, whenever we thought we could save entire nations by violently deposing their leaders, whenever we thought we were doing things for the very first time and putting order in the world through our measly efforts.

“What has been, that will be; what has been done, that will be done. Nothing is new under the sun. Even the thing of which we say, ‘See, this is new!‘ has already existed in the ages that preceded us. There is no remembrance of the men of old; nor of those to come will there be any remembrance among those who come after them.” Eccl 1: 9-11

Hold On A Minute

2008-09-22T16:15:00.001+08:00

Ordinary taxpayers heaved a sigh of relief when it was announced that the government was putting out $700 billion to rescue the foundering financial system. The stock market staged a furious rally and we suckers felt better when our meager investments recovered a little bit.

Those who cheered the loudest however were the financial wizards, routinely paid tens of millions of dollars in bonuses, who are specialists in crafting arcane transactions that assign value to otherwise worthless negotiable instruments.

$700 billion is plainly a lot of money. Managed properly, the sum can handle the healthcare needs of the entire planet for 50 years--I’m referring to obstetric care, vaccinations, antibiotics, screening tests, angioplasties, chemotherapy--the works. Instead, I pity the next President of the United States because he won’t have any funds left for improving education, upgrading infrastructure and increasing the efficiency of healthcare delivery.

And the din from all the cheering is deafening because the overwhelming majority of US taxpayers including all the contributions coming from outcast illegal immigrants, will be covering the ill-gotten wealth amassed by these greedy money lending criminals.

This disaster wouldn’t have happened if Reagan had not been so successful in demonizing government that resulted in massive deregulation which allowed the well-connected (read as those who lobbied through monetary contributions for favorable rules that lavished undue advantages to those who already had a lot of money to begin with) to get away with nothing less than criminal avarice. While we were tricked into believing that our tax cuts were proportionally as large as the upper echelons of society making more than half a million a year, when we were distracted by social issues that tactically divided us from collectively asserting our rights, these villains kept on piling up their profits.

We need to think long and hard before we commit this breathtaking amount of money to bail out common criminals. In a just society, they need to be punished, they need to return the loot. The collapse of the US economy is a terrifying, almost unthinkable prospect. But the destruction of the nation’s moral character will be a fatal consequence.

Meltdown

2008-09-16T17:03:00.001+08:00

Who says the China Syndrome was pure fantasy? In the event of a total meltdown, molten nuclear products from a reactor in the US would eat its way through the earth’s bedrock all the way to China.

Stock markets in Asia predictably mirrored the heavy losses sustained by the Dow. The contagion spread all over the world.

It was bound to happen. Who was going to pay for all those $100 million yearly bonuses of those executives from Lehman, Bear, Morgan, Goldman? This phenomenon has gone on for too long, a cruel caricature of capitalism gone mad. While a laborer in India or China would work under the sun for 12 hours or more and get paid $2, these hotshot moneymen would be managing all these financial transactions online, producing nothing of value and be paid very hefty commissions.

To those who were in the game, it was easy to make a lot of money. These people made it so easy for others to acquire loans with no down payments, 50 years to pay without disclosing that the money was ultimately coming from China or Saudi Arabia and other nations we had become dependent upon for “cheap” commodities and services. And that’s why a carpenter in Vermont could make $45 an hour while his counterpart in Vietnam would earn $4 a day. Because Grandpa and Grandma Vermont accumulated enough capital for their descendants to live far more prosperous lives than they ever dreamed of living.

Stewardship is all about acknowledging responsibility. When you begin feeling entitled to a different standard: working less, paying fewer taxes, going on more vacations, achieving less training and education and expect to be paid the same or even more, you are in for a meltdown surprise.

Those brokerage firms turned out to be wildly successful. They succeeded in making a lot of us broke.

Obscurantism

2008-09-11T18:51:00.001+08:00

Word for the day is Obscurantism, defined by the dictionary as opposition to the spread of knowledge: a policy of withholding knowledge from the general public (Latin obscurans, "darkening"). Plato was an early advocate of selectively restricting the propagation of knowledge, justifying the concept of a “noble lie” that a philosopher-king may sometimes commit “for the own good of the people”.

Totalitarian societies extensively depend on obscurantism whenever it allows dictators to decide on what is best for the people. Our colonial status for close to four centuries was maintained largely because of obscurantism. Because we were deemed unworthy of knowledge, we were also considered unprepared for independence. Whenever our greatest and most effective heroes saw another order when they were permitted to travel abroad was the beginning of the end of our subjugation.

Nietzsche wrote: "The essential element in the black art of obscurantism is not that it wants to darken individual understanding but that it wants to blacken our picture of the world, and darken our idea of existence.”

Obscurantism as a tool of public policy does not respect the right of individuals to make informed choices. Thomas Aquinas wrote: "...anyone upon whom the ecclesiastical authority in ignorance of true fact imposes a demand that offends against his clear conscience, should perish in excommunication rather than violate his conscience." Jose Rizal in his two novels repeatedly railed against the near absolute obscurantism reigning in his day. He ascribed most of the blame to the one sector in Philippine colonial society whose presence remained fairly constant, the various religious orders. An ironic situation, considering Matthew 10:24 “Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known”.

It's Our Turn

2008-09-06T22:04:00.003+08:00

Already, a good number of our eternal politicians have made known their intentions to seek even more political power in the elections scheduled in 2010. What dismays this observer is the seeming redundancy of the personalities vying for leadership positions. It’s as if they all want us to believe that as soon as they succeed in getting our votes, they will completely change and proceed to inform the country that very difficult times are ahead and the miserable poor will be asked to sacrifice even more for the common good.

Anyone with a modicum of perception will realize that any solution short of peaceful revolutionary change will fail to arrest the decline in our society. We are far behind because we have lamely hoped after all these years that our system of dynastic politics, depending on the wisdom and experience of our traditional politicians will finally produce a different result without changing the methodology.

All the solutions and novel ideas are out there, we only need to replace the cast and give a chance to a completely new group of Filipinos with markedly different experiences and backgrounds to implement changes that a deeply entrenched and compromised class can never be expected to apply.

An astounding majority of our people have become inured to the system-wide corruption and have begun to take this reality for granted, seeking instead to focus on other areas that would mitigate the substantial losses that result from this mindset. We do not have to accept that we are intrinsically a corrupt people. But we also cannot expect the same entrenched and compromised people to convince us otherwise.

Filipinos are neither fundamentally corrupt nor lazy. There are millions of Filipinos abroad who serve as shining examples to dispel this prospect. We can do better without any help from the entrenched and compromised. They have stunted our country enough. We need to apprehend, try and punish these criminals who have destroyed our country. The grossly unequal dispensation of justice is a direct result of the convoluted web of corruption that dynastic politics weaves.

In order to provide more healthcare and education, we urgently need to fund these investment programs with money traditionally reserved to service our huge debts. Essentially, we are at a point when we are borrowing new money so that we can pay off our old debts. This dependence on loans and importation has turned us into an unproductive force. We need to break out of this cycle that can account for the fact our neighbors have left us behind. The entrenched and the compromised are too fearful to unshackle us lest they disturb an arrangement that has traditionally benefited their narrow, selfish interests.

We need to be bold and we need to be confident that as a united country, there is no challenge we will not courageously face. This year, despite the struggling world economy, $17 billion will be remitted through official channels versus $1.5 billion in direct foreign investments. If we pull together and sacrifice side by side, this crisis will ultimately pass and we will become a stronger nation peopled by citizens working for the common good. Our nation will be lifted by our youth made more vigorous and competitive by the investments we will be making towards their health and education.

Over a period of three election cycles, every elected official will serve only one term; relatives to the first degree of consanguinity may not seek elective office simultaneously. This is to provide an opportunity for everybody to participate in the political processes of the community. This regulation will also emphasize the sacrificial aspect of public service, that political office is not a lucrative way of securing a livelihood.

Legislation is serious business and those elected to create laws must focus on crafting public policy which will be for the benefit of the common good. The pork barrel system needs to be immediately abolished.

The comprehensive agrarian reform program is not working because the entrenched and the compromised lack the credibility and moral courage to effect meaningful change. It is grossly insufficient to simply redistribute land to poor farmers without providing them with intensive support. It is also a terrible injustice to take away land that is productive and award it to someone who is incapable of acting like a responsible steward.

There is so much disease, pollution and crime because we do not sufficiently stress the concept of property rights. Squatting has always been a felony but those entrenched and compromised take continuous advantage of these unfortunate people and view them as a dependable source of votes notwithstanding their perpetual state of misery. Felons must not be allowed to vote. The government needs to embark on a program similar to Gawad Kalinga on a national scale. We must build communities that will transform apathetic dependents into productive stakeholders.

Overhaul the civil service commission. Government service is an honorable career that requires citizens who need not become afraid of politicians as long as they discharge their duties with competence and integrity. Political appointments must become restricted to senior executive positions.

Immediately double the salaries of teachers and develop a curriculum that teaches students to read early and voraciously. Students need to become proficient in Tagalog and English. Magnet schools in the sciences and in the arts should be established in all the provinces in order to identify and nurture gifted students. Vocational schools must become widely available throughout the country. We must exploit the benefits of information technology. Even students in remote areas in the country can have access to the latest news, opinions and analyses from renowned institutions.

Expand and develop the citizens military training program as an instrument to instill civic duty and commitment to the common good as well as producing more physically fit youth. This will also allow us to maintain a smaller army.

Establish nurseries and seedling banks throughout the country and aggressively plant fruit bearing trees, energy-producing flora and ornamental flowers. Reforestation must become a national priority.

Explore alternative sources of energy, specifically solar and wind. Restudy the potential yield of nuclear power as quite a number of developed nations rely on nuclear power for the generation of electricity. Heavily tax energy-inefficient vehicles and invest in a national program to develop a fuel-efficient Filipino automobile.

As in most countries, results of elections have to be determined and published within 24 hours. The shameful conduct of our electoral process has been in the stranglehold of the entrenched and the compromised because this has been the most effective scheme of staying in power. It will be the responsibility of government media outlets to provide equal time for all national candidates. Television and print advertisements will be strictly monitored and regulated. Election Code violations will be enforced.

I am opposed to abortion and various forms of birth control after a serious and thoughtful evaluation of the available methods. We must however respect the right of every person in the spirit of education and enlightenment to evaluate for themselves these available methods and allow them to follow the dictates of their conscience. There are far too many abortions occurring in our country and to be silent amid this tragedy is an immoral choice.

Gambling weakens the national spirit and prevents people from becoming optimally productive. The gaming industry should be confined to islands developed specifically for that purpose, away from the general population.

In lieu of dole-outs, the government should embark on massive work programs like dredging and cleaning the Pasig River using many thousands of laborers to demonstrate the lesson that if we act together, there is no problem too difficult to solve.

This is by no means a complete and definitive list. I did this on my own. I will get together with my friends and debate, discuss and dream unendingly. Our country deserves better. Our children are entitled to a more hopeful future. We need to take our country back.

Letter to a Cousin

2008-09-01T22:04:00.003+08:00

My support for Obama made me write a rejoinder in our family e-group in response to a post of a reprint of a Pat Buchanan article why Catholics and evangelical Christians could not vote for Obama because of his support for Roe v Wade. I received a particularly sincere message from one of my cousins that was replete with quotations from the Bible. I was tempted to mischievously engage in selective quotation by citing Mt 19: 3-7, a passage where Jesus specifically proscribes divorce: “Some Pharisees approached Jesus, and tested him, saying, “is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause whatever?” He said in reply, ”Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator made them male and female and said, For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh? Therefore, what God has joined together, man must not separate.” They said to him, “Then why did Moses command that the man give woman a bill of divorce and dismiss her?” He said to them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) and marries another commits adultery.”

Instead, I began by telling a story about a woman who had washed clothes for a living for over 50 years and who was now fighting for her life in the hospital for what appeared to be a cerebrovascular bleed.

30 years ago, this woman found out she was pregnant with what would have been her third child. In her simple heart, she knew she was never going to be able to provide for this child and so she did what millions of Filipinas to this day do when they learn they are pregnant again: no, she did not go to a clinic, for that would have meant an expense she could not pay for. She went to a bazaar in Quiapo and bought a concoction containing quinine and started engaging in heavy physical exercise. In 3 days, her period returned but that episode has haunted me since. I can’t imagine how much more that continues to haunt her still, even in the deep recesses of a coma, because I agree with you *, as a sinner, who am I to judge what goes on in our own heart of hearts?

“Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying, “The scribe and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them.” Mt 23: 1-3.

I want to assure you * that despite the dehumanizing poverty so prevalent here in the Philippines, we try to pray often and do good works and try to follow the Lord’s way but there are very practical considerations we need to understand. If we don’t teach women what forms of family planning methods are available, how do we expect to decrease these unacceptably high rates of abortion? So while I am firmly opposed to abortion, I cannot in conscience claim that I am fulfilling the second greatest commandment of loving my neighbor as myself if I choose to remain quiet and smug in my comfortable circumstances with all the material and spiritual poverty swirling around me. Help me and help others try to find answers to these complex problems. What we have right now is not working. Pray for us.

Please be patient with this Liberal sinner. There will be rejoicing when people like me are found, just as the Shepherd gladly leaves his flock of 99 sheep in order to look for the solitary castaway. “Jesus was going through a field of grain on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “See, your disciples are doing what is unlawful to do on the Sabbath.” Mt 12: 1-3 Jesus reminded them about the companions of King David, about how they ate the bread of offering at the temple. “I say to you, something greater than the temple is here. I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” Mt 12: 7-8

Shalom.

Obama-Biden

2008-08-25T18:12:00.001+08:00

It will be a matter of time before the Republicans begin highlighting the obvious wordplay that can convert the Democratic ticket to Osama Bin Laden. I hope not too many fall for this. I am not surprised that a recent poll among white voters revealed that a full 16% believed Obama was a Muslim. Not that it should make any difference but these percentages are scary because even in a thoroughly modern USA, where access to information is universally available, it is very hard to think that people essentially continue to believe what they want to believe. As they say, the hardest to wake up is the person who is awake.

Biden brings a lot of experience and Washington savvy to the ticket. While I personally would have wanted to see Hillary as the running mate, it was solely Obama’s choice and deserves our complete support.

21 years ago, Biden made an unsuccessful bid for the Presidency, brought about in part when the Dukakis campaign circulated a video of Biden delivering a stump speech which he did not properly attribute to Neil Kinnock, a Welsh politician. While it is beyond dispute that Biden did not acknowledge Kinnock in the tape, it was established that he had properly recognized Kinnock in previous renditions of his speech that he must have repeated more than 50 times. What follows is the comparison of the 2 speeches:

Kinnock: "Why am I the first Kinnock in a thousand generations to be able to get to university? ... Was it because our predecessors were thick? ... Was it because they were weak, those people who could work eight hours underground [as coal miners] and come up and play football, weak? ... It was because there was no platform upon which they could stand."

Biden: "Why is it that Joe Biden is the first in his family ever to go to a university? ... Is it because our fathers and mothers were not bright? Is it because I'm the first Biden in ... generations to get a college and a graduate degree that I was smarter than the rest? ... Was it that they didn't work hard, my ancestors who worked in the coal mines of Northeast Pennsylvania and would come up after 12 hours and play football for four hours? ... It's because they didn't have a platform upon which to stand."

This will also come up during the next 9 weeks, I just hope that everyone realizes how badly we need change in the country. How we must leave Iraq as soon as possible, how we must have a sensible energy policy, how we must return to the values that made this nation great: industry, patriotism, making sure nobody is left behind. We’ve had enough of irresponsible tax cuts and unfair policies that favor the wealthy and powerful which has the effect of promoting unbridled greed and selfishness.

We need Obama-Biden to win.

25 Years

2008-08-21T17:22:00.001+08:00

I am not going to begin with “has it been 25 years?” Benigno Aquino was murdered that long ago, his valiant widow Cory has long served her term of office and the Marcos dictatorship has been totally dismantled. Aquino’s only son and namesake is a Senator, 2 of his siblings have served in the Senate. An entire generation of Aquino political allies have controlled the political agenda of the Philippines for the last 20 years.

Yet Senator Benigno Aquino III complains that the country appears to be headed in a reverse course and Cory is exhorting the youth to snap out of their malaise. We still don’t know who shot Ninoy and our economy continues its inexorable descent. The middle class grows smaller every day with Filipinos immigrating to even pretty inhospitable places just to provide a better future for their families.

I don’t want to blame the Aquino family and I will never stop supporting Cory but what are we to do? Proof of the hopelessness is the faith and trust the public reliably bestows upon Joseph Estrada, convicted plunderer and admitted polygamist. We gave Estrada a chance and he royally blew it. He gamed the stock market and didn’t care if it ruined the economy just so he could make money. He accepted bribes that originated from the combined savings of an impoverished people hoping to win any amount in small town lotteries. And yet Estrada was there today, attending the memorial Mass and acting every inch like the Kingmaker that he actually is.

25 years and 1 day ago, could Ninoy have foreseen that his wife who unfailingly entertained his political guests in Boston, his erstwhile jailer, Fidel Ramos who was then the chief of the constabulary and this mayor of a small town in Metro Manila, an ex-actor who was never ashamed of his alliance with Marcos would attain his lifelong dream? And he had to die so that they could each become President?

Pervez Learns His Lesson, too late

2008-08-19T16:18:00.001+08:00

After an hour, I was beginning to wonder whether Pervez Musharraf was going to hunker down and fight his political opponents to the death. He was making all these long-winded accounts of his accomplishments for Pakistan and was non-stop declaring his willingness to sacrifice for the country. In the end, he did what any elementary chess player facing a checkmate would do, he resigned.

Coincidentally, the bible reading for today comes from Ezekiel who describes what happens to the King of Tyre who is acknowledged as someone who is very intelligent and highly knowledgeable with finances and affairs of state and who predictably becomes “haughty”. The King meets a gruesome end.

As a powerless nobody, do I see a lesson that all these Presidents and Prime Ministers are unable to see? Nobody is indispensable. In a country of a hundred million, there must be at least 100, 000 others qualified to lead. In the case of Musharraf, 9 years is way too long. There has to be some moment in the lives of these people when they convince themselves that they have become too important, the same moment that transforms a fairy tale into both a personal and national tragedy.

Day After

2008-08-06T02:03:00.004+08:00

Back in Guymon after the extraordinary 5 day pilgrimage to Guadalupe, I put in a full day at the clinic. My camera was bursting with photographs and I knew I needed to compose a post for each day I was in Mexico. But it was getting dark and the soft warm wind outside made the hot tub even more inviting. A jigger of Tanqueray, olive juice and a couple of onion balls-- I was set.

Mexico Pilgrimage: Day 3

2008-08-03T05:40:00.004+08:00

On our way to the Church of St James where Juan Diego was baptized in 1529, I was told about an incident that was covered up until fairly recently. Mexico City hosted the 1968 Olympics and the day before international media descended upon the city, on October 2, there was a demonstration by students seeking social justice. The government brutally clamped down and as many as 5000 people disappeared. Newspaper headlines the following day described the wonderful weather that was going to greet the opening of the Olympics. The monument at the Plaza of the Three Cultures that was unveiled in 1993, 25 years after the massacre, commemorates a few of the missing and cries out against the conspiratorial silence that quashed any meaningful inquiry concerning the terrible carnage.

The church of the fifth apparition in Tulpetlac marks the appearance of the Lady to the ailing uncle of Juan Diego. The 18th century paintings looked faded and dark with grime and dirt. The priest in his homily spoke out against the “cult of the holy death”. Many youths believe that by placing a religious object in a self-inflicted laceration in their arms would protect them from death. He spoke about 3 young men dealing in drugs who died in a shootout with the police the night before.

Teotihuacan is an impressive archaeological center that features a museum which describes the advanced civilization of pre-Hispanic America. There are 2 massive pyramids that provide an amazing view of the city that flourished 1500 years earlier.

Mexico Pilgrimage: Day 2

2008-08-02T11:33:00.005+08:00

After breakfast, we saw a procession right outside the hotel composed of indigenous people, in full native regalia from Chiapas who were walking toward the Basilica, today, July 31 being the anniversary of Juan Diego’s canonization.

We drove to the shrine of Our Lady of Ocotlan in Tlaxcala. There was a funeral going on and over here, they continue to carry the coffin as a sign of respect towards the deceased. There was a well close to the church where water issued from a cleft that the Lady had shown to Juan Diego Bernardino that healed countless natives from a plague that was decimating them in 1541.

We were shown the ornate area where the statue of the Lady was dressed. This 450 year old statue was found inside the cavity of a tree that was spared from a forest fire.

Next stop was Puebla, at the Temple of Saint Francis with an inordinate quantity of Talavera ceramic tiles, where the 400 year old uncorrupted remains of the beatified Sebastian of Apparitious was on display. Born in Spain, he settled in the newly established town of Puebla at about the time Magellan landed in the Philippines in 1521. Sebastian is credited with building 600 miles of roads and teaching the natives farming techniques. He accumulated a great amount of wealth only to give it all away at the age of 73 when he became a Franciscan monk and for the next 25 years, practiced poverty to the levels of heroism.

After a sumptuous meal of mole, we hiked to the Dominican church that had a thoroughly unprepossessing façade. The altar reminded me of the Santo Tomas church in Manila. What was most impressive was the chapel dedicated to Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary. There was a tremendous amount of gold and it was apparent that in constructing this house of worship, no expense was spared. Apparently, most of the gold mined in Mexico were shipped to Spain until a rule that made it acceptable to pour unlimited amounts of precious metals to religious shrines.

We passed through mountainous areas of great beauty. Mexico is so much larger than the Philippines with far more natural resources. Possessing a much older culture, this country has a rich history.

Parachute

2008-07-30T11:50:00.000+08:00

The mind is like a parachute, it works best when it is open.

Why We Have Been Left Behind

2008-07-28T11:24:00.008+08:00

Politically conscious Filipinos are wondering what GMA has to say when she delivers her “SONA”, the State Of the Nation Address. Peering from very far away, whatever she has to say does not matter much. We are so far behind. I spent the weekend partly in a place called Kremlin, OK, less than a thousand inhabitants. The First Bank of Kremlin has over $200 million in assets. Town was formerly called Wild Horse until the Russian Ambassador’s daughter, on a railway stopover more than a hundred years ago, commented that the place reminded her of the Kremlin back home.

Kremlin has a Case dealership, you know, like John Deere, manufacturer of farm “implements”. Had some photos taken, next to a tractor that can haul very heavy equipment:

Or a seeder that can easily scatter palay at a rate of 2500 hectares per day.

A Combine, equipped with GPS, fully airconditioned with satellite radio that with the appropriate “head” can till, plant and harvest for an entire province.

My next door neighbor, who farmed until he was 82 years old single-handedly managed 5 sections (or 1294 hectares) of land. This is how productive American farmers are, compared to their counterparts in the Philippines who manage an average of 2 hectares of land with the assistance of a water buffalo. The tractor shown above has a sticker price of $250,000 while the Combine lists at $340,000. Our government officials almost succeeded in skimming off $340 million with one broadband deal. This pathetically illustrates why we are so far behind in productivity.
So the next time some apologist starts justifying how this politician passed this bill requiring teachers to pass a certain kind of test or mandating the singing of the national anthem before the screening of the first feature film in a movie theater or to demand candidates to submit to non-random drug testing, think again, because it will take many quantum leaps for us to even catch a view of the competition pulling away at the edge of the horizon.

"The Timidity of Hope"

2008-07-23T21:41:00.001+08:00

The Inquirer editorial today took exception with the pronouncements of a young politician who got 18 million votes in the last election. Excerpts from “The Timidity of Hope”:

“With 2010—and beyond—dancing before their eyes, politicians have taken to courting the youth. No one has been better at it than Sen. Francis Escudero, who has in many ways presented himself as the incarnation of what Barack Obama has called “the audacity of hope.” But it must be asked if its Philippine version isn’t the exact opposite, for we are troubled by the mixed messages Escudero has been sending out.

Referring to the present dispensation and his political plans, Escudero has said, “We have already suffered and sacrificed for seven years, what is two years?” This is a cunning statement, at once reinforcing his opposition credentials while paving the way to give the present suspects a free pass should they relinquish power.

He laid the predicate for this some weeks back when he said: “GMA [President Arroyo] is not running in 2010, and it would be unfair to the people if presidential candidates should still use her as an issue. Any candidate who runs on an anti-GMA platform is insulting the intelligence of the people. The people will vote for a presidential candidate because of what he or she intends to do if victorious, not because he or she is against GMA.”

This is taking the high road to enable the highwaymen to escape. It ignores the demand of the studentry in recent months both for accountability and for democratic processes to function. It is being said, however, in such a seductive way as to disguise not just political pragmatism, but opportunism. Escudero has been making these statements in the context of administration coalition overtures to his party, the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), and talk of administration support for an NPC presidential and vice-presidential slate on which Escudero might possibly star.

So young—and so out of touch?”

But what do we expect to come out of a system that emphasizes superficial qualities and celebrates people who achieve their goals through sheer ambition and self-interest? Our country has come to a crossroads, those who can, flee, while those who can lord it over the unfortunate masses engage in an elaborate charade that belies a democratic form of governance.

Nothing can be further from reality. We are not talking about Republicans and Democrats here. It is every selfish interest against everyone’s else. Ideals and principles have long been cast aside. We have masters who tell us everything we want to hear.

Examine the credentials of all these poseurs. You rise when you compromise. Can we anticipate real and lasting change from a stable of non-performers? Just look at the desperate mess we find ourselves, mainly out of the faith and trust we have historically assigned to all these promising politicians. We must learn to properly evaluate results and effects.

10,000 miles away, I think of all the time and treasure spent in futile deliberation and discussion by all these powerful and potent players in ornate chambers and session halls amid a sea of squalor and poverty and yes, hopelessness.

Blog Rounds: Unsung Heroes

2008-07-14T12:07:00.002+08:00

In our country, “Hero” is an honorific title bestowed upon persons who sacrifice greatly for the common good and yet are routinely screwed by an order controlled by a small group of entrenched parasites who live off the labors of these heroes. This is how it’s been all these years, first by our benevolent colonizers and then sadly by our own fellow Filipinos.

Soldiers, members of some religious orders, farmers and lately overseas workers have been given this all-purpose label. These privileged people are free to give their lives for the sake of the common weal for as long as they don’t disrupt the parasitic lifestyle of the freeloaders.

There are hundreds of thousands of Filipinos who have been toiling all these years under very trying circumstances who have never received a smidgen of the recognition and gratitude they thoroughly deserve. These are our teachers, particularly those who taught us in grade school and in high school. They have always been poorly paid, relative to the education and preparation they have attained. They have always been convenient to blame for our many societal ills. They have always been easy to mobilize whenever elections come around. They have always made up for the enormous deficiencies brought about by poor governance. I don’t know how these people do it, every day facing impossibly long odds teaching malnourished students in cramped, stuffy ramshackle classrooms using outdated and inaccurate textbooks.

In cinema, a sure way of rousing the audience is to portray a beleaguered band of people desperately fighting a lost cause. Think 300 Spartans, Custer, Light Brigade, Bataan….there is something romantic in lost causes. Unfortunately for our teachers in the Philippines, life does not imitate art. Yet.

It is up to us to work for higher salaries for all these teachers who have dedicated their lives towards giving many of us a chance to make our contribution to our communities. It is for us to ensure that their retirement benefits are not squandered by political appointees with self-serving agendas. It is for you and me to become teachers ourselves and help guide the youth through our example.

In the end, Heroes need no songs and paeans. The knowledge of having influenced students and inspiring them to work and live for ideals bigger than themselves is more than adequate reward.

A Line Was Crossed

2008-07-13T22:18:00.001+08:00

My medical practice consists in large measure of immigrants from Mexico and Guatemala. Hardworking men and women who have left their families to perform jobs that are deemed undesirable by most people here. They contribute to the productivity of the US and a large chunk of their earnings are automatically directed towards funds (Medicare and Social Security) that they will never be able to benefit from.

We need to act less like the law-obsessed Pharisees and recognize the humanity that unites all of us.

An editorial from the New York Times:

The Shame of Postville, Iowa

Anyone who has doubts that this country is abusing and terrorizing undocumented immigrant workers should read an essay by Erik Camayd-Freixas, a professor and Spanish-language court interpreter who witnessed the aftermath of a huge immigration workplace raid at a meatpacking plant in Iowa.

The essay chillingly describes what Dr. Camayd-Freixas saw and heard as he translated for some of the nearly 400 undocumented workers who were seized by federal agents at the Agriprocessors kosher plant in Postville in May.

Under the old way of doing things, the workers, nearly all Guatemalans, would have been simply and swiftly deported. But in a twist of Dickensian cruelty, more than 260 were charged as serious criminals for using false Social Security numbers or residency papers, and most were sentenced to five months in prison.

What is worse, Dr. Camayd-Freixas wrote, is that the system was clearly rigged for the wholesale imposition of mass guilt. He said the court-appointed lawyers had little time in the raids’ hectic aftermath to meet with the workers, many of whom ended up waiving their rights and seemed not to understand the complicated charges against them.

Dr. Camayd-Freixas’s essay describes “the saddest procession I have ever witnessed, which the public would never see” — because cameras were forbidden.

“Driven single-file in groups of 10, shackled at the wrists, waist and ankles, chains dragging as they shuffled through, the slaughterhouse workers were brought in for arraignment, sat and listened through headsets to the interpreted initial appearance, before marching out again to be bused to different county jails, only to make room for the next row of 10.“

He wrote that they had waived their rights in hopes of being quickly deported, “since they had families to support back home.” He said that they did not understand the charges they faced, adding, “and, frankly, neither could I.”

No one is denying that the workers were on the wrong side of the law. But there is a profound difference between stealing people’s identities to rob them of money and property, and using false papers to merely get a job. It is a distinction that the Bush administration, goaded by immigration extremists, has willfully ignored. Deporting unauthorized workers is one thing; sending desperate breadwinners to prison, and their families deeper into poverty, is another.

Court interpreters are normally impartial participants and keep their opinions to themselves. But Dr. Camayd-Freixas, a professor of Spanish at Florida International University, said he was so offended by the cruelty of the prosecutions that he felt compelled to break his silence. “A line was crossed at Postville,” he wrote.

Still Here

2008-07-10T19:36:00.001+08:00

This must be the longest period that I haven't written an entry in this blog. It's because I've been back to tending our medical clinic since the end of last month. My wife and I are introducing our new physician to the community and we've been showing him the ropes. Right now, we are four doctors working in the clinic and we've kept busy.

America keeps you productive. We help keep other people productive by taking care of their respiratory infections, allergies, sprains, and headaches. We prevent complications arising from hypertension , diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, cigarette smoking. We see to it that their kids stay healthy so they can put in a full day at work. We try to keep them slim and trim.

Healthcare is an obviously integral component in any society that wishes to remain competitive. Healthy children learn much faster than their malnourished and unvaccinated cohorts. In the Philippines, where there is barely any healthcare I can only shudder at the staggering number of hours lost from unhealthy workers and their dependents.

When I check out the news at home and all I read about are the political ambitions of our entrenched dynastic scions amid the permanently high oil prices, the weakening peso and the looming food shortages, I wonder what role industrious, productive and overseas citizens have in all this. Must we simply remain reliable remitters sustaining a corrupt and shameful order where we have no place and no voice?

The easier option is to keep things the way they are. We stay out, comfortable and secure and regularly assuage our continued commitment to our families. But even this behavior has become a major part of the reason why our country is becoming less self-sufficient. Dependability is a virtue until it breeds weak dependents.

Essential Energy

2008-06-30T09:16:00.005+08:00

The good news is, the much vaunted Los Angeles traffic has significantly subsided, due largely to the $5 a gallon price of gasoline. Many people are taking public transportation and needless trips are being assiduously avoided. There is a glut out there of Hummers, pickups and SUVs. I hope this is the opening part of the nightmare of all those oil exporters.

We have been spoiled here in the US. Fuel has always been abundant and inexpensive. Why we have not come up with cheaper alternatives to oil is because of its widespread availability. So when oil hits $140 a barrel, the first thing George Bush does is not to call upon the American people to conserve, he makes a trip to Saudi Arabia and practically begs the Saudi rulers to increase production. The response he received was rather embarrassing even the so-called liberal media tried hard to downplay the affront to national pride.

We need to develop other energy alternatives. For a nation that was able to harness the awesome power of the atom, it is a wonder why we continue to depend on other countries for such a critical commodity as energy. Some countries use nuclear power to generate as much as 75% of their electricity. There are all these great spaces out there that could be used to utilize solar and wind energy. In Guymon, we have built quite a number of wind vanes in the last few years.

I was happy to see a wind farm close to Palm Springs, CA that was at least 500 times bigger than our modest plots.

Solar panels that are so much more efficient compared to models from 2 years ago are now available and are surely competitive next to the ridiculously high prices of oil. So instead of drilling for oil in the pristine Arctic reserves and possibly despoil the beauty of the area and since all the oil up there won’t cover for even a third of our needs anyway, and it will take at least 10 years to get that oil to our gas pumps, why don’t we apply the same national resolve to find other cleaner alternatives that are found in great supply. Energy-independence is fundamental.

Our Mother of Perpetual Help

2008-06-22T14:11:00.001+08:00

Today is a big feast in Baclaran, where the Redemptorist shrine to the image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help is venerated.

The Christ Child has run to his mother for comfort, frightened by the vision of two angels showing him the grisly manner how he was going to be killed. The specter completely terrifies him that in his haste to seek his mother, he almost loses his right sandal. See how tightly the child clings to his mother’s thumb, entirely dependent on her for protection. Mary holds him securely in her arms but her eyes are focused squarely on us, a reminder of the gravity of the sacrifice her son was performing on our behalf.

How millions of Filipinos show reverence to a 700 year old icon that purportedly originated in Crete is a mystery. Every Wednesday, the Church in Baclaran is packed, as in hundreds of other shrines all over the country where supplicants in a blighted land appeal for her perpetual help.

The icon is my reply to those who attack the Catholic Church for “worshipping” Mary. The Cretan artist successfully depicted a secular scene that does not impart any divinity towards Mary. The case rests with this image.

Congratulations

2008-06-19T20:44:00.001+08:00

Bacolod City has more than half a million inhabitants, bigger than Amarillo and Lubbock combined. I was surprised to find an ad in the community billboard of the cable channel : Congratulations Engineer So and So and Family for acquiring a work visa to Australia, Bon Voyage!

In years past, families would hang banners or take out ads in the community paper announcing a topnotcher in the medical board exam or the Bar. Either standards have fallen terribly or there are now other more practical achievements that our society chooses to recognize.

Half of the households in Bacolod City (about 40,000) are referred to as “informal settlers”, a technically accurate euphemistic term for squatters. Talk to these parents and you will hear of dreams consisting of seeing their children work aboard cruise ships, “caregivers” all over Europe, a collection of nebulous job descriptions in the deserts of the Middle East. This is where it has come to a stop, the naïve understanding that all these migratory movements were but temporary arrangements that would end when the economy would get better.

Well it’s all over, with oil at $135 a barrel and with a liberalization-crippled economy that is completely dependent on loans and importation. How can we be proud of our economy that hardly adds any value to products? It has become clear these past months that most of the trumpeted growth in the economy was brought about by overseas remittances. We will see inflation and stagnation in unprecedented numbers when those abroad will decrease their contributions from sheer economic necessity. For those in other countries, it will no longer mean postponing yet again the trip back home or holding off from purchasing a newer vehicle. Health insurance premiums, college funds and retirement are what’s at stake here.

Yet the informals seem to be happy. They complain about the government-subsidized rice that is fleetingly available and only in limited quantities, they grouse about the high cost of electricity and they grumble over the long distances they need to carry their containers of potable water but you won’t hear anything about the frightfully inadequate quality of education their children are receiving and the glaring absence of meaningful healthcare anywhere. You won’t find too many big dreamers here.

So, this is where it ends, If We let it end here and now. All those broken families, all those rapes and molestations and incest, all those executions, all those drugs and alcohol abused, all those celebrations and funerals missed, all those nights of utter desolation, loneliness and heartache.

If We let it end with the proclamation of Erap Estrada of his 2010 election candidates chosen for their integrity against the line-up of GMA that will resoundingly guarantee the continuation of our nation’s decline. Because if this is the best we can come up with, applying for that elusive visa may not be a bad idea at all.

Fruits and Orchards

2008-06-17T20:18:00.001+08:00

Verse VIII of Fruit-Gathering, written by Tagore goes like this:

Be ready to launch forth, my heart! and let those linger who must.
For your name has been called in the morning sky.
Wait for none!
The desire of the bud is for the night and dew, but the blown flower cries for the freedom of light.
Burst your sheath, my heart, and come forth!

Almost a thousand years ago, Rumi wrote:

Come to the orchard in Spring.
There is light and wine, and sweethearts
In the pomegranate flowers.

If you do not come, these do not matter.
If you do come, these do not matter.

At The Passport Office

2008-06-05T16:33:00.001+08:00

A US passport is good for a period of ten years. You have your picture taken at the post office and a postal employee will authenticate all the required documents and you mail it to the nearest processing center. The whole deal takes very little time, people have to work to make a living in this country.

In the Philippines, our passports are good for five years. This is another one of those small gestures with which we show our gratitude to the millions of our “modern heroes”, a rich source of revenue to our foreign affairs office. Applying for a passport is a big deal, be prepared to spend a few months in certain cases especially if the place where they keep a record of your birth certificate had burned down or something; and don’t get too frustrated tipping people everywhere if you want your application to prosper.

It used to be easy to renew a Philippine passport. It has become more complicated, again. We have a genius for adding layers of bureaucracy that essentially add nothing but inconvenience to a system that is groaning to be streamlined in the first place. Anyone applying for a renewal must now present oneself for a “personal appearance” at the main office in Manila in front of a clerk in a window who pastes your photograph in the form and watches you sign your name. This took place in a crowded room crawling with a cadre of “Liaison Officers” appointed expressly to facilitate the procedure. Just like in lieu of a baggage carousel, we continue to have hundreds of porters in less prosperous airports, we create livelihood opportunities for people to participate in a grossly inefficient scheme that drains productivity.

Looking at the sweating throngs of people waiting outside the building, I thought of all the lost productive hours for what was fundamentally a stupid system that was heavily unfavorable to those who didn’t have a connection to a general, a bishop, a judge, a politician. You will never see influential public servants and his extended family and friends in these premises.

And it is the same elsewhere, try getting a drivers license, police clearance, land titles, court orders, marriage license, medical attention in a government hospital--if you are poor and unconnected, and the overwhelming majority of Filipinos belong in this category, you invariably feel violated by a government that preferentially operates in a manner against the public interest.

No Smoking

2008-05-31T11:48:00.001+08:00

Here in California, there is a bill pending in the state legislature that would empower a landlord to prohibit smoking within the rental premises. Over the last 20 years, cigarette smoking has dropped drastically in the US due to higher taxes that make the product more expensive, more inconvenience as it is banned in restaurants, government offices, public transportation, zero advertising on television plus a barrage of warnings that detail the many evils the habit brings.

In the Philippines, there are four million Filipino youths who smoke fully one fifth of the total youth population. This is because many provincial governments rely on tobacco revenue for their continued existence and US producers aggressively court this giant market with free samples and clever gimmicks while making sure, of course that the traditional politicians look the other way with generous contributions.

From my perspective as a physician, there can be no filthier habit than smoking. Lung cancer, obstructive lung disease, coronary artery disease, osteoporosis, respiratory infections, oropharyngeal cancers are all directly related to smoking. While there are many who smoke in order to avail of the anorexiant properties of nicotine especially during these days of ridiculously high food prices and there quite a few who smoke to ward away the multitudes of hemorrhagic-fever-bearing mosquitoes, the adverse effects overwhelmingly negate whatever salutary benefits that smoking brings.

Let us follow California. Let us respect those who choose to smoke but let us make them bear the costs that their polluting habit brings. Raise taxes, prohibit smoking in most public venues and ban advertising. We need to plant rice, not tobacco.

Road Trip

2008-05-30T09:09:00.006+08:00

Perhaps the longest period of time I was unable to post an update. Before we decided to complete the road trip across America that we began with a trip from Brooklyn to San Antonio, TX in 1991, I decided to back-up my files and photos. Found out my DVD drive was out of order so I called Dell and they sent me a replacement part in 48 hours. After the drive was reinstalled, I realized that all my files were wiped out! Whenever I would get internet access in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California, I would contact Dell but all efforts have so far proven futile. Talk about a disaster.

We’ve been on the road though. Spent one night in Flagstaff, AZ which became our staging area for our Grand Canyon expedition. I had been warned about the canyon before and I agree that it is the most impressive natural site in the United States. I don’t know of anything grander and henceforth, I will reserve the use of the adjective only to describe the canyon, it is that grand.

Spent 2 days in San Diego, attending a Filipino unity event and a Gawad Kalinga builders summit. With all the problems in the Philippines, GK remains one of the few sustainable private projects that deserves our complete commitment and support. There was GK supporter Kuh Ledesma and to prevent any conflict with the other Diva, I had my photo taken with her.

Visited classmates from Medical School who tried practicing in the Philippines before making the tough but practical decision to relocate in the US.

Gas prices rose 50 cents in a week and even food has become significantly more expensive. In Los Angeles and Orange County, home prices saw a 21.7% drop in the first quarter (Las Vegas registered a 25.9% fall). If it’s getting bad here, how much worse will it be in the Philippines? We buy oil the same way everybody buys it, at $128 a barrel. Already, the peso has fallen to 43.92 to a dollar, it was PhP40 to a dollar 2 months ago, and looking at what’s going on, the Filipinos are being distracted by a corporate power struggle over the power company, American Idol, speculation regarding the elections in 2010 while rampant smuggling and corruption and generalized low productivity prevail.

It was also with sadness that I learned about the death of longtime labor leader Crispin Beltran who must have had a CVA while repairing his leaky roof and fell on his head. And one bishop even instructed his priests not to conduct Catholic services for a man, however imperfect who spent his life for others. Sure makes your sorrow deeper.

These are not precisely hopeful times.

Blog Rounds: The Doctor's Family

2008-05-19T10:25:00.003+08:00

The Doctor’s Family is the topic for the week. This from the host:

Some guide questions as follows. Remember, you are not limited to the guide questions. These are just questions for you to ponder on. But I’m sure you have your own creative way of expressing your thoughts!

What was your family’s role in your decision to become a doctor? Did they encourage you? Did they discourage you?

Was there a doctor in your family that influenced you to take the same path?

How did your family show their support during the time that you are still pursuing your training? Did that support continue after the training and when you started your practice (knowing how little a starting doctor earns)?

For those who have shifted gears and turned to another profession, how large was the family’s influence on that decision?

If you are single, do you think that this is because of your pursuing medical studies and training?
If you are married, at what age did you get married? Did you marry a fellow doctor? Or somebody in another profession? At what stage of medicine — in school, clerkship/internship, residency/fellowship or when you were already practicing? Did medicine enhance or hinder your relationship with your spouse and children?

What family decisions have been altered because of your obligations to Medicine?

What career decisions have been altered because of your family’s needs?

What is your current priority?

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All my close friends know that the very first time I saw this classmate in Medical School who would turn out to become my best friend and wife, I went to her and told her that I was going to marry her someday. I don’t want anyone to think that I was some kind of Lothario, we went out a total of three times that first year of school. Lunch at the now defunct Cosa Nostra, supper with a group of friends before the Christmas break and one real date before we adjourned for the summer.

It was always clear to both of us that we needed to focus on our studies if we wanted a ticket to the real learning ahead. We never bothered to apply to any of the local residencies because we wanted to begin living on our own resources as soon as we could. We knew we could never be truly autonomous in the Philippines and fortunately, we matched to the same hospital in Brooklyn, NY. As soon as we had an employment contract, we got married. 18 years ago, May 26.

Many say, training in the Philippine General Hospital is toxic, with all the poverty and disease and frustration in treating patients amid rudimentary facilities. Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn was the second largest county hospital in the US with a 90% AIDS rate in the medical wards in 1990. My wife and I look back often and remember that we were very happy during all this training. All those years were very happy ones.

We decided to stay on in a sparsely populated town in the Oklahoma panhandle because we felt it was the best place to raise our children. Safe and quiet, where most everyone knows you. Our daughters would be out there playing until 9 in the evening.

It was difficult bringing our kids back to the congestion, heat, violence, corruption and mosquitoes but we felt a more important lesson was to be learned. We saw older, successful physicians and it no longer became sufficient to raise Harvard graduates, live in a gated community nestled in an exclusive golf enclave, own a Bugatti.

Family teaches you what matters. The brevity of our lives makes it vital that we begin as soon as we can to find meaning through serving the never-ending line of people in dire need.

Blog Rounds: Mentor / Tormentor

2008-05-12T06:07:00.002+08:00

“There were teachers, and there were mentors. We all knew there was a difference. Whether it was your basic medical science lab professor or it was the department chairman, we had our favorites.

On the other hand, there were those who loved to torture us. Why do they create greater impact? Deeper wounds, maybe? Or do they really?

The theme is your favorite mentor and/or tormentor during medical school and training. They may be the same person, or not. You may have several favorites. Most importantly, share your experiences with these people, and the reason why they have created an impact on you as a doctor and as a person.”

One person stands out for me. See, medical school and residency hardly even count. Much like practice and play before the real business of treating patients, committing mistakes, breaking the news of an unexpected death of a close friend and patient to a distraught family who will never understand, getting slapped with lawsuits, having to be available every hour of the day, every day of the week and spending many sleepless nights wondering if any patients will show the following morning to pay for the nurse, the receptionist, the rent, the utilities, the insurance premiums, the medical supplies, the equipment lease.

There is no practice involved in private medical practice. It is a painstaking process that requires total commitment and focus. Required anatomic equipment include nerves of steel and a cast-iron stomach. Rewards may be great but certainly no country for the faint of heart.

I was a newly-minted gastroenterologist who had to work in a medically underserved area in the Oklahoma panhandle, population of 10,000. He was a blue eyed surgeon who spoke impeccable Spanish because his father was from Puerto Rico. Even if his expertise was in laparoscopic procedures, he saw them all and did them all. He delivered babies, took care of neonates, set fractures, removed cerumen and excised ingrown toenails, circumcised, took x rays, met patients with migraine headaches at the clinic at midnight and gave them shots of nubain and promethazine. His patients loved him.

He owned two planes, one of which, the Cheyenne picked me up in Dallas for that fateful interview. His well appointed home was perched atop a cliff, his wife was strongly protective, ever-resentful of the little amount of time her husband had for his family on account of his vigorous work ethic.

He had a way with patients, he made them feel as if he spent an inordinate time with each of them even if he would get to see close to a hundred patients in a day. Naturally, others got envious. He was accused of being too aggressive, performing unnecessary procedures and downright unethical behavior. Even then, working closely with him, I found all those charges baseless. I tried hard to get him back to the local hospital where he had been barred from practicing. I drew the ire of many of the old white guard here especially since I was a young, foreign upstart but it did not matter. Here was an injustice that needed to be corrected.

After close to 10 years, he was able to perform an operation at the Guymon hospital. The clinic was doing very well, I was working seven days a week and would never complain if there was an endoscopy that needed to be done in the evenings because my salary was based upon my productivity. I don’t remember taking a day off in 2 years.

We found a discrepancy in how the collections were being tallied. The irony is, I never really got to talk to him because he became strangely defensive and hired lawyers to placate me. One of them became the head of FEMA and the other lawyer came from the firm of the Attorney General of the State of Oklahoma.

I was eventually sued for libel for a million dollars and I had to counter-sue and he ended up being ordered by the court to pay me a large amount of money, not a single cent I would get to see because he filed for bankruptcy and he left town.

Talk about pure torment--but to this day, I am grateful to him. He showed me the ingredients of a successful medical practice: availability, compassion and competent medical care.

I continue to hope that I can one day coax him out of his self-imposed exile and return to the tiny town in the panhandle where your best dreams come true.

Tita Inday

2008-05-09T13:29:00.001+08:00

My Tita Inday died today. A wonderful person who graced our lives when we lived in Brooklyn. I would pick her up in Astoria in Queens at 5 in the morning on Mondays and make our way through the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and drive her back on Friday evening. Throughout those exceedingly busy work weeks, she stayed with us and cooked unforgettably delicious meals and took excellent care of our first child.

Long before her cancer and her dying made it easy for us to gloss over her failings, I would tell my relatives that the Tita Inday I knew never uttered an unkind nor an uncharitable comment against anyone despite having endured her own share of unfaithfulness, disloyalty, ingratitude. I am grateful I had the chance to tell her last Christmas that I did not have a single unhappy memory of our time together in New York.

We would make our way to northeast Philadelphia on weekends every chance we got to scour the magnificent clearance racks in what was then the largest outlet mall in the US. Most, if not all of her salary went towards thoughtfully made purchases for her family. It made me and my wife very happy to know that she was happy to be with us. We would have been privileged to have let her continue to stay with us but taking care of her own grandson naturally took precedence. Tita Inday had a clear understanding of what duty was all about.

When she was diagnosed with colon cancer, I could not help speculate how easy it would have been for me to screen her in my clinic and how much my other children would have learned from her kindness and how obese my wife and I would have become if only she remained with us but that is the way life is. You make your choices and for the good ones among us, you live your life for others.

Tita Inday was an Assumptionista. Her father was a talented golfer from Bacolod who helped establish one of the first law schools in the Philippines and who was also a successful publisher. Her mother was a prominent leader of the Catholic Womens League in its formidable days. At her wedding, Judy Araneta and Precy Lopez were part of the entourage. My Tita Inday may never have attained the early promise of her bright social stature but at the end of our lives, who really cares?

She was gentle, she was kind, she was generous and she kept her Faith. Rest now, Tita Inday. May we meet again.

Practicing What We Preach

2008-05-05T11:02:00.000+08:00

Do we physicians practice what we preach? Do we eat little saturated fats, exercise regularly, stay away from nicotine? The average life expectancy in the US is 78 years. It is 70.5 in the Philippines. The difference is mostly due to the scandalously high infant and maternal rates prevailing in our country. In other words, a Filipino physician in his or her 40’s has roughly the same chances of living up to 80 as anyone living in the US. If we could only provide more potable water, vaccinations, inexpensive antibiotics, anti-tuberculosis medications, prenatal care, obstetric support we would be able to live as long as those who reside in Andorra.

What is my point: anyone reading this entry is statistically set to live beyond the age of 75. Of course it would help to lose a little weight, keep an eye out on our lipid profiles, glucose and PSA levels, submit to Pap smears, mammograms and colonoscopies but the important consideration remains that we live lives that are fulfilling and meaningful. How often have we seen nursing home residents with advanced dementia, abandoned by their relatives and totally oblivious to what is going on around them?

It is not simply a matter of living long. What is more important is living well and being able to share our blessings with others. Much like passing the baton in a relay, we must strive to lengthen the lead we bequeath to those who follow us.

If we should preach any particular message, it is that we neither live nor die for ourselves alone.

Why We Need To Stay

2008-04-28T04:24:00.001+08:00

The topic for the blog rounds this week is why we continue to love the Philippines and what our reasons are for staying.

From a purely material perspective, there is very little to stay behind for. Educational opportunities are dwindling, security is tenuous, wireless internet service is spotty, the cleanliness of bottled water is suspect, gasoline will only become more expensive, there is a looming rice shortage, traffic and its twin children, pollution and waste of time is ridiculous, the beaches in Thailand are less costly, shopping in Hong Kong and Singapore is infinitely better, Haagen-Dazs is more expensive in Manila compared to Tokyo!

You leave our country and find that much of the world has left us behind. You leave our country and your desensitization to poverty and bad governance disappears, you begin asking questions once again. It does not have to be this way and this is the fundamental reason why we can’t leave our country like this.

We need to love our country and give as much as we can because of those we leave behind. We become a nation only when we recognize our responsibility to help these desperate millions of Filipinos who by the looks of it, have no chance to improve their lives.

We need to keep this love for our country burning because we are the last hope, or so must we frame it in these dramatic terms because if we give up and cede our country’s future to all these politicians who have been presenting themselves all these years, then all becomes lost.

We will be telling our children we had a country once.

Injustice

2008-04-23T06:36:00.000+08:00

In a very disturbing development, the Philippine Supreme Court upheld the disqualification of an elected mayor because he is a United States permanent resident as shown by his possession of a green card. In a glaring display of ignorance, the Supreme Court ruled that US permanent residents are deemed to have abandoned and renounced their status as residents of the Philippines.

A few facts rankle. First, the disqualification emanated from resigned and disgraced elections commissioner Benjamin Abalos. While the elected mayor chose to return to his country and participate in rebuilding it, Abalos was busy sealing the deal that would have allowed him a big portion of a $135 million kickback.

Second, the Philippine government strongly encourages Filipinos in the US to send money back home, invest in real estate and business ventures and return frequently as tourists.

Finally, in order to work in the US and become productive Filipinos who can potentially contribute to our country, we need to legally adjust our status by becoming permanent residents. There is not an iota of love lost for the Philippines in this process. Every remittance reconnects us to our communities. Unless our government prefers us to hang around the corner store and drink beer and gin and sell our votes to all these traditional politicians who control the political process from whence they make their livelihoods.

In all seriousness though, I think this is the preference of the government.

Philippine Healthcare System

2008-04-21T10:23:00.001+08:00

It used to be, during the last year of medical training we would be sent to some far flung barrio and we would get “immersed” with what was truly out there. We would treat hypertension with native herbal concoctions delivered with an enormous dollop of patient education, detailing the pathophysiology of the disease and suggest numerous lifestyle modification techniques that 20 years later I now fully realize was a total waste of time.

What Filipino medical students need is a different rotation, to a healthcare system that works. We should be sent to countries like Japan, the US, Cuba, South Africa and learn about methods that work. What is happening is we are producing generations of Filipino medical doctors who are fully aware of the almost-absent healthcare system but are unable to think differently from the reliably failed nostrums of the preceding generation of public health policy makers.

Philippine healthcare system? System denotes order that promotes efficacy. We are certainly not a healthy people. We are woefully malnourished, our diets depend on sodium to acquire a semblance of palatability, clean water is hard to find and the vast majority of the poor are intentionally kept in the dark regarding their healthcare choices.

We Doctors must find it unacceptable that the government places very little importance to healthcare. And this comes about because many politically connected physicians actively co-opt this tragic lack of foresight. We must understand that there is no way for an unhealthy population to rise from dehumanizing poverty and corruption.

What can we do? We all know the situation is not getting any better. We all have our opinions and solutions, most of which will never be heard because we choose to be quiet and uninvolved. It is easier to allow all these wonderful technocrats and healthcare experts to continue charting this disastrous course while we comfort ourselves by participating in medical missions and contributing assistance towards the medical needs of a few unfortunate souls.

It is simpler and safer to be part of the problem.

Kathryn Lauren

2008-04-20T11:01:00.004+08:00

Hard to imagine that my oldest child is 15 years old today. Born in Brooklyn, NY during the final year of our residency. The baptismal grandparents, in the finest Filipino tradition are usually the closest friends and relations one can think of, who can serve as surrogate parents in the event of our untimely deaths. I am proud to say that all 4 are still very present to this day. Jeffrey Lim, my fraternity brother is an internist, responsible for recruiting us here in Oklahoma who to this day I will readily entrust my parents for all their medical problems. Ricardo Tan is an allergist based in Los Angeles, a steady presence all these years. Stella Westfield is an anesthesiologist who lives in Amarillo, TX who has always seriously taken her responsibility as Godmother as well as Susan Afan who is based in Pleasanton, CA. This photo with Ninong Jeff was taken after we had lunch underneath our wisteria-entwined pergola .

Oklahoma Magic Evenings

2008-04-19T10:14:00.007+08:00

Many have asked me why I love Guymon, a tiny town smack in the middle of nowhere. Having lived all my life in Manila (unofficial population 8 million) and New York City, I will not hesitate to state my preference to spend as much time as I can in Guymon. Tonight is an example of such a magical evening. These pictures were taken close to 8 in the evening. There is much light and the birds can be heard chirping out of control. My 2 younger daughters are posing next to the state tree of Oklahoma, the Redbud.

After a light supper of nilagang manok, Dr Todd Johnson and I have a few Tanquerays with tonic water and he lets his Chocolate Labrador Max loose and my kids have a wonderful time. They are seen enjoying ice cream from Braums, an Oklahoma dairy.

Last Summer

2008-04-15T12:16:00.001+08:00

Easy entry, this one is. Last summer, while you were all over the world visiting historic sites and gawking at national treasures, I ran for the senate. 90 intense days. I didn’t campaign for one day more, one day less than the prescribed period. I never bought a single vote and I never appeared in a paid television or radio commercial. I spent a little more than a million pesos of my own funds even if the biggest financial consideration came in the form of the lost income in the 100 days of that unforgettable experience.

Can’t say I didn’t have a good time. Went around the country, met many people. Knew it was a hopeless battle but kept on, knowing it was but a beginning.

Looking back, while working in my clinic in Oklahoma once again, there are no regrets. Did the best I could. Somebody needed to put up a fight. Worst mistake in my youth was to give Marcos, Ponce Enrile, Ver and company a free pass. Everyone was simply so afraid to resist.

Can’t say I’d do it all again. I watch my kids having a wonderful time, reconnecting with old friends. My patients are happy and I am no longer working as hard as I used to. We’ll see.

I’ll have a less exciting summer this year, that’s for sure.

The Doctor as Patient

2008-04-07T11:07:00.001+08:00

It’s close to midnight here and I am rushing this post in solidarity with my fellow Filipino physician bloggers. I guess the longer you remain in this business, the more you realize that we are able to continue practicing in fairly good health solely because of some special grace. I am not old and yet I know of quite a number of classmates and batchmates who have died, contracted metastatic cancer, undergone angioplasties and bypasses, and the like.

While I really should be more conscientious in meeting my health screening milestones (at least an annual lipid profile, diabetes screening, colonoscopy, etc) I have only become more cavalier with time because let’s face it, the time allotted us is truly very short and the more we think we can beat that aneurysm growing in our brains with a monthly cerebral CT angiogram, the less importance we give to why we are alive in the first place.

Introspection as to what this is all about needs to take precedence over finding ways of prolonging life for the hell of it. Some old folk have this nasty habit. Much like those self-important geniuses who devote countless hours musing about the existence of God.

Get over it. We are all patients. Our illness is our inability to fully appreciate the exceptional blessing bestowed to us of being able to leave this world a better place.

At A Crossroads

2008-03-31T11:25:00.001+08:00

I am writing my entry to the blog carnival from Los Angeles. My 4 children are happily visiting their birth country after staying and studying for 2 years in the Philippines. This is just one of the many crossroads in my life.

Living a full life is similar to going on a journey. Medicine was never an end for me. Early on, I didn’t decide on becoming a surgeon or an obstetrician or an infectious diseases specialist. I decided I was going to begin living an autonomous life as soon as I graduated from medical school. I never bothered to apply for residency training in the Philippines because I could not bear the thought of continuing to depend on my parents for financial assistance after going to school for 22 straight years. It was America or bust.

I have always looked at challenges and adversity as opportunities for growth. The county hospital in Brooklyn, NY where I trained had more than a 90% AIDS caseload. Because there were very few US medical graduates willing to take the risk, I was able to receive superior medical preparation that enabled me to take on future challenges with confidence and competence. I trained at a time when we had to draw blood ourselves, wheel patients to x-ray, before the famous Bell Commission reduced the working hours of resident physicians--when it wouldn’t overly bother us to admit 12 patients on a call night and work 48 hours nonstop.

I look back and I am grateful. What would now be considered illegal and cruel punishment turned out to be a very effective way to acquire skills that would be very useful later.

After Brooklyn, private medical practice was a breeze. Because I entered the US on a J visa, I was required to “serve” a medically underserved area for 2 years. Guymon, Oklahoma with a population of 10,000 became home for more than 10 years. When I began, many patients would not even consider a “foreigner” to treat them. I know this because in the course of my stay, many of my patients would confess to this initial reluctance.

I never missed a Saturday clinic in 4 years. My home number was listed in the phone book and because I was available at all times, my wife and I would see up to 130 patients each day. It didn’t bother me that all that action in New York was so far away and that the nearest mall was 2 hours by car in Amarillo, Texas because I was looking towards another crossroads.

I grew up in the traumatic period of Martial Law. I still can’t understand how some people can long for the return of those days. It was terrible because the vast majority of us were afraid to fight for our freedom and dignity as human beings. Even then, I was painfully troubled by the horrible poverty that alienated and destroyed so many Filipino lives. I always dreamt of seeking my fortune elsewhere and return like the Count of Monte Cristo, vastly more prepared and equipped to help change a hopelessly corrupt system and way of life.

We doctors see a lot of dying in our business. This comes with the territory. We are reminded too often that at the end of our lives, it won’t be the amount of money we stashed in the bank, or the number of vehicles parked in our garage, or how many kids we put through Ivy-league institutions…. We should know better, that our brief lives will be measured by the service we dispense to the less-fortunate; and without a map and without a compass, this is what should guide each one of us through these crossroads.

Fiesta Days

2008-03-26T16:45:00.000+08:00

Since the revelations regarding the almost-consummated $135 million bribery scandal, many of our traditional politicians have been in very good spirits. Each time damaging information would be divulged, their personal share in the ever-expanding largesse being freely distributed would appreciate.

Small proof of this would be the many pages of expensive paid advertisements extolling support for the way politics is conducted here, emanating from all these groups of Governors, Vice Governors, Mayors, Vice Mayors, Councilors down to the lowliest ward leaders. Money, meant for education and healthcare and food is flowing.

The rest of us are indignant. We simply want the truth. We want truthful and direct answers. But we are not getting any. The investigations will continue. Many of these solemn and self-righteous scumbags will continue posing and preening. And there will be more “Unity Walks” and photo opportunities celebrating the strength of our political caste system.

The Show will go on.

Cory's Colon Cancer

2008-03-25T13:56:00.001+08:00

Very sad news indeed that Cory Aquino has fairly advanced colon cancer. I have been screening for colon cancer since 1994 and I have been telling everyone that they need to get a colonoscopy when they hit 50. As a former president and as one of the very few living Filipino heroes, Cory should have been scoped many years ago, it would have made sound medical sense and she would have provided an example for the rest of the country to follow. But now it may be too late.

Colon cancer enabled me to return to the Philippines. More important than the income I derived from performing many thousand colonoscopies was the singular lesson I learned from the diagnosis of the disease: that we must all die sometime and that at the end of one’s life, we will measure our lives by the amount of service we were able to give others.

To me, Cory Aquino is the greatest living Filipino. She is a shining representative of the heroic possibilities that a Filipino can possess. When duty called, she did not hesitate to make the necessary sacrifices. She did her best and she remained incorruptible long after she left office. Her integrity is unquestioned.

I join everyone in praying for Cory. Not that she has anything to fear. She has lived a pious life. She has given far more than she received.

Reflection on Good Friday

2008-03-21T08:35:00.002+08:00

It is historical fact that Jesus was crucified. That he rose from the dead is based on the testimony of certain persons but there is no dramatic account of the dead and crucified Jesus stirring back to life. How did this death and seeming ignominious end begin a movement that continues to grow and change the way people of vastly different persuasions live?

It began with the example set by Jesus who proclaimed ‘Let your light shine before all’, more than a thousand years before the invention of the printing press. Jesus was sure that the singular example of his life was going to change the world. His example was not about words that would convince, inspire, motivate but rather about doing good in a visible way, ‘so that others, seeing your good works, may glorify your father in heaven’.

How could the message of his life-example change people in the Philippines, Nigeria, China, Korea, the US after 2000 years when there is not even a common language that unites all these people? Helder Camara is a Brazilian Bishop who instructs his catechists, ‘Sisters and brothers, watch how you live. Your lives may be the only gospel your neighbors will ever read.’

For the gospel of Jesus to spread, we are all called to witness every moment of our brief lives. To live in a way that our lives would not make sense if God did not exist.

My Message to the Graduates

2008-03-18T22:11:00.003+08:00

I’ve been back home just a few days when requests started to come in, asking me to speak at commencement exercises. Unfortunately, I won’t be staying long because I am bringing my whole family to the US shortly after their classes end tomorrow. My daughters are excited to return to the lives they left 2 years ago.

I have to be back in our clinic to take care of business. Working without your family nearby, regardless of the compensation is brutal. Even with Skype and inexpensive direct dialing, the sacrifice is enormous. I think of all those millions of Filipinos, stuck in the deserts of the Middle East who would look forward to a brief phone call every month or so because of the expense that could have been part of the regular remittances that their families back home had grown to rely upon.

But I would have to emphasize this to all you graduates, that all is not lost. Most of us Filipinos continue to do our duty quietly every day. We know what needs to be done, we are painfully aware of the sacrifices that have to be endured. We have to do what we have to do.

How I would personally prefer to go around the country talking to the youth, the various citizens groups just like a true, traditional politician but I wouldn’t be setting a good example to my children. I don’t want them to see me transform into one of these unproductive trapos who talk and talk and become experts in living off this abominably unfair system.

All this excitement about the economic gains that our country has achieved needs to be placed in the proper perspective. Gross domestic product is the sum of our combined personal expenditures (which accounts for 70% of the GDP), government expenditures, investments and exports minus our imports.

Since 1985, personal expenditure was estimated from the results of a survey among 50,000 families inquiring about their income and expenses. These figures would closely correlate each other until 2001 when personal expenditure estimates greatly outpaced survey results. Two possible explanations: to make our GDP look better, we fudged the numbers in the finest Filipino accounting tradition or, a more plausible explanation was that the $14.5 billion in remittances that overseas Filipinos sent last year was significantly understated.

In terms of investments, the Philippines is at the bottom of the list in attracting foreign direct investment among the 6 major economies in Southeast Asia. Singapore attracted $36.9 billion, Vietnam $11.3 billion, Thailand $10 billion, Malaysia $9.4 billion, Indonesia $5.9 billion. We got $2.5 billion.

While previous administrations had higher investments and expenditures, our economic figures are much rosier today because based on the numbers supplied by our Bureau of Customs, we are importing much less. Are we to believe that we are importing less oil, less rice, less electronic goods, less vehicles and so on? Or is it because of the phenomenon most everybody is aware of, namely rampant smuggling?

So our economy is doing better not because of the honest example and leadership of Gloria Arroyo, nor is it because of the legislative prowess of her 2 sons and brother in law. There are very few takers when it comes to investing in our country because of our reputation for unbridled corruption: the powerful can buy elections without fear and convicted plunderers are promptly pardoned. Crime and corruption pay handsomely here. Our leaders do not inspire us to become productive and industrious, law-abiding tax payers. The overseas Filipino is largely responsible for any economic growth worth mentioning.

The lesson dear graduates is one you think about every day. How to get out of this country and begin making a decent living. How to get away and begin living in a more equitable and just society. How to leave this mess behind and concretely help your family and country by remitting money.

We can easily become bogged down with dreams of a snap election or a double resignation or a mass conversion among our traditional politicians—everyone’s free to dream. The trouble with this fantasizing is that we depend on our same old tormentors to make things better for all of us.

I, myself am returning to the US in a few days. I will work hard and I will become stronger so I might come back to fight another day. In one of my favorite movies Cinema Paradiso, there is a scene where the young Salvatore leaves his hometown Giancaldo, and whereupon his blind and old mentor Alfredo throws in a final bit of advice: never to return and that holding onto the past will keep him from going forward. I am telling all of you to go and find your destiny but never forget the country you leave behind and all our unfortunate sisters and brothers who never had the chance to live their dreams. Congratulations to all you Grads!