Epiphany

We commemorate today the journey of the three wise men to where the infant Jesus lay. They brought him gifts of frankincense and myrrh. Through a dream, they were advised not to return to Herod and they went back to their respective homes through separate ways. Epiphany is from the greek word for "manifestation". And it is easy to understand why the wise men could no longer simply return to their previous lives after witnessing a manifestation of such profound magnitude.

The call to change ourselves is an ancient one. Through the secularization of the democratic processes, we have become thoroughly wary of mixing religion with politics. In the US, ever conscious of the separation between church and state, school prayer, celebration of religious holidays, symbols such as the ten commandments have become proscribed.

But do these various religions have proprietary rights over truth, justice, preferential assistance to the poor and weak, dignity of labor?

Good news, sort of

The government recently announced that it was paying off the rest of its debts to the IMF early. The Philippine peso has not been stronger in many years, inflation is down and the treasury has never been more flushed with foreign currency. But at what cost?

Record remittances from overseas workers approaching $15 billion coupled with hefty cuts in education and infrastructure budgets are responsible for the unprecedented surplus. There is nothing inherently evil in this arrangement but it does reveal the government's priorities.

Take a chance in not investing in building roads and bridges and power lines and telecommunications for a few years. Keep the teachers underpaid and the students undereducated for a spell while we look good to our foreign creditors. Spend billions modernizing the armed forces without clearly determining who our enemies are and why these elements are so violently opposed to the dispensation.

The Asian Development Bank commissioned a report on the prevalence of corruption. As expected, the report detailed that even when it comes to the distribution of aid and assistance, the system appears to be hopelessly corrupted.

This blog is almost one year old and looking back, I have written regularly regarding the perspective of a native son gone back home. The topics are disturbingly similar. There is a theme that we can synthesize from all the troubles outlined. My version of the way out continues to evolve. Today is traditionally the Feast of the Three Kings, the Day of Epiphany. I will tell you about an Epiphany soon.

Back to Basics

There was a big flood that inundated Bacolod before Christmas that totally submerged the one family car we have that we use to bring the kids to school. The "ECU" or the computer that serves as the vehicle's brains was rendered inoperable. While that vehicle is being repaired, we decided to buy a car that hearkens back to the very first car we ever bought in the US, a Hyundai Excel GL 1990 model that we christened "Charlie" after the salesman who sold the car to us in upstate NY. Back then, everyone told us to stay away from Hyundais. We used it for 6 years and drove it to Texas, Georgia, Arkansas and many other places and the car never gave us one bit of trouble.

I find it auspicious to own an itty-bitty 1.1 liter Hyundai Getz, as our first car in the Philippines. After all the gas guzzlers that we drove in the US, it is comforting to go back to a simple environmentally-friendly Hyundai.

2007

First entry for the New Year. Continued to spend much time with family. The vacation will be ending soon. We will shortly have to make decisions which will certainly disrupt our idyllic existence, intrude into our privacy and breach our security.

There is a very promising political party that is aspiring to become a political force. It is completely against the grain of traditional Philippine politics. It emphasizes change that needs to begin within every single one of us. Most of the leaders are elderly people without the usual agenda that is taken for granted among the dynastic powers that have controlled our country from the beginning. I am seriously studying this party's platform.