Election 2007 Podcast

Podcast Interview - Part 1

Podcast Interview - Part 2

Podcast Interview - Part 3

Podcast Interview - Part 4

Podcast Interview - Part 5

Podcast Interview Transcript

Let's Think

A popular online paper interviewed me and archived the interview via podcast. I received many comments and a number of them were from economist and banking industry friends who were disturbed nay flabbergasted by the mere mention of “debt cap”. I was warned it would convert us to a hermit kingdom much like North Korea and we were going to be treated like a pariah and so many other dire warnings. Told most of them to calm down, everything is negotiable at this stage. Get the pun? Our negotiating position would vastly improve if we confer to our negotiating panel the full and unrestricted support of the Filipino people.

Point is we need to engage in critical thinking here. Capping interest payments is not tantamount to heresy especially if some of the loans were secured to pay off behest loans and odious loans. How will we get out of this tragic mess if we are perpetually timid to making difficult moral choices? Renegotiating or restructuring (much more acceptable terms to the cognoscenti) our debts to our advantage needs to be considered. We aren’t getting too far with this meek and obedient pathway. The consequences will probably be not as harsh as the consequences of being a model beggar nation.

Lost Cause

In my newfound political peregrinations, I am invariably asked why I am fighting a lost cause. I always begin by asking them what's lost because I certainly don't see anything lost in my cause. And here's the time they allude to a certain amount of pity that they feel for me, a sweaty and sunburned physician asking for their vote. I still haven't paused long enough to think of a perfect response because I am treating this challenge the way I have conducted myself throughout my life. I am going to pour everything that I have into this very worthy cause. Many people seem to have no idea how many Filipinos graduate from the University of the Philippines College of Medicine, complete a specialty in Internal Medicine and a subspecialty in gastroenterology in the US, become board-certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine, build a solid and successful medical practice in the buckle of the Bible Belt...while I will appreciate pity if it comes with a vote, I hope every Filipino understands the gravity of our situation. This is without question a battle for the heart and the soul of our country. The next 6 weeks will tell us whether the 3000 Filipinos who leave for other countries daily will swell to 6000, whether we will condemn entire generations to mediocrity, whether we totally become numb to all these human rights abuses, whether we want to continue being treated like a doormat by the international community, whether we as a nation are prepared to sacrifice, to pay the steep price required to get off this deep rut of corruption, loss of identity, poverty and hopelessness.

I have said it before and I will say it again, we do not have to continue going down this well-traveled road to more failure. We need to take our country back from all these pretentious and pompous politicians because we have seen what they can do and there is no reason on earth why they will change course, why they will veer from their tried and tired formulae that has brought us to where we are--most corrupt in Asia, highest infant mortality rate, lowest life expectancy, 500,000 abortions each year.

I gotta go. There's a high school graduation nearby. When you don't have radio and tv ads and all you have are pocket calendars, you need to hustle for votes on a person-to-person basis.

Plan of Action

This has to be one of the longest periods that I have been unable to post an entry. I did expect this campaign to keep me busy but not this busy less than halfway through. I guess it is because I don't have a media rep, a PR specialist, researchers, barkers, secretary, finance expert...heck I even have to drive myself to public markets and free clinics and University symposia. I guess this is my way of testing my deep faith in my fellow Filipinos that they will know what to do on election day. They will realize that we are going nowhere and all these promises being made by all these traditional politicians will only keep our country down.

Right now, I am totally focused on my mission to convince everyone to join me in a national effort that will quickly change our national character. Once and for all, we will have to abandon our national aspiration to become known as a "model beggar" nation. Just think, 52.7% of the 2005 budget went to debt service while a little more than 1% went towards healthcare (in contrast to 21% to healthcare in the US and 8.7% to debt service in 2002). We are a nation that prefers to smell good before the international banking community instead of providing vaccinations and schoolrooms and food to our country's youth. Our priorities are all screwed-up.

I propose that we undertake an audit of all our debts including all those sovereign guarantees, odious loans like the nuclear plant that never produced any energy that we paid $2.6 billion for because of complicity between corrupt government officials and unscrupulous law firms, banks and corporate businesses. We repeal the Automatic Appropriations Act that binds us to pay all our loans no matter the consequences and then cap our debt service payments to 25%. When we go through this pathway, it will have to be understood by all that we won't be able to secure any more loans (although this did not happen with Argentina) which might be a good idea because it will lessen our dependence on perpetually taking out new loans to pay for previous loans. We will be forced to go on a national belt-tightening program that will ask for sacrifices from all sectors of society. We will ask our overseas sisters and brothers to double their remittances for a period of 5 years. For those of us remaining in the country, we collectively stop smoking, drastically reduce airconditioning, walk short distances, take cold showers, import less food.....all in the hope of uniting us towards an enormous goal that will benefit the common good.

This action will do two things: (1) free-up about PhP250 billion a year that we can plow back into education , health and infrastructure. We will be able to immediately double, even triple teacher's salaries and will increase the likelihood of recruiting the best minds to teach the next generation. We will be able to provide safe drinking water and nutritious food to millions of poor people. We will be able to build farm roads, bridges, schoolrooms, rural clinics. We will learn to become self-sufficient. (2) it will also enable a negotiating panel that we will form to discuss matters with the IMF and World Bank (25% of our loans), various other lending institutions to negotiate from a position of strength, essentially a take it or leave it situation.

One very important lesson I learned from my years in the US is that we Filipinos are equal to Americans. Sounds simplistic but I think this national insecurity we harbor is at the root of our inability to get a good deal from the international community. The American people will understand why we were forced to embark upon this perilous course if they see the terrible situation we find ourselves in, that this is basically a matter of survival.