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| ON THE OTHER HAND |
| Self-Promotion
By Antonio C. Abaya Written on June 18, 2008 For the Standard Today, June 19 issue It was Metro Manila Development Authority chair Bayani Fernando, a self-declared presidential candidate for 2010, who started it all several months ago. He had giant tarp billboards of himself, arms crossed, staring sternly down from the columns of the MRT on Edsa on hapless motorists and commuters stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic. He had a one-ward message: Kaayusan or Order. When questioned by media on the propriety of promoting himself and his presidential ambitions, using government money and government-owned infrastructure, Bayani cheekily retorted, �Wait till I start smiling in these billboards.� If Bayani had commissioned a survey on his popularity, before and after he put up those billboards, he may have found out that his popularity, which was never high to begin with, has dipped and that he has nothing to smile about, judging from the reaction of media and the public at large. People have the gut feel that what he did was wrong. Not only because it was too early to campaign for the presidential elections two years away, but also because people knew that he was spending taxpayers� money and government-owned property to promote himself and his personal ambitions. Hopefully he has learned his lesson, which may be the reason those offending billboards have been taken down. But Bayani has started a trend and other presidential aspirants � both self-proclaimed and officially proclaimed � not wanting to be left behind in the race for name and face recall and recognition, are tripping over each other to have their giant billboards - much larger than Bayani�s - put up in strategic corners of the metro as well as on prime-time national TV, in the guise of product endorsement or advocacy promotion. Vice-President Noli de Castro, who does not belong to any political party but who hopes (forlornly, if you ask me) to be nominated by the administration Lakas-Kampi coalition, is pushing housing loans, which is consistent with his being the chair of HUDCC. Senate President Manny Villar, the official candidate of the Nacionalista Party, endorses a toothpaste brand and at the sane time publicizes his assistance to overseas Filipino workers who land in trouble. Sen. Mar Roxas, the official candidate of the Liberal Party, endorses a detergent brand, capitalizing on his winning image in the 2004 senatorial elections as �Mr. Palengke.� The lovely and photogenic Sen. Loren Legarda, who hopes to be named presidential candidate of Danding Cojuangco�s Nationalist People�s Coalition (NPC) is product endorser of a skin-whitening cr�me and food supplement and at the same time promotes her tree-planting advocacy. (The thought just occurred to me: would Barack Obama endorse a skin-whitening cr�me in the current US presidential campaign?) Sen. Ping Lacson, who hopes to be presidential candidate of the PDP-Laban, promotes a facial care center, while Sen. Francis Pangilinan, who hopes to be the vice-presidential candidate of some as yet indeterminate party, is selling a brand of instant noodles. Sen. Richard Gordon, who is aiming for the vice-presidential slot of Lakas-Kampi, endorses a brand of bath soap, while Sen. Francis Escudero, a potential VP for the NPC, is promoting a brand of food supplement. With so many senators suddenly and shamelessly endorsing commercial products, for the sole purpose of exponentially increasing their public exposure (and being paid for it, in the process), the Senate is fast becoming a talent agency for the advertising industry. And the senators obviously do not feel any loss in dignity for the crass commercialization of their official personae. Onli in da Pilipins. When this issue was brought up in the ANC program Talkback, Sen. Lacson, facing negative reactions from the three other guests and from the TV audience as well, was game enough to admit that he was prepared to have second thoughts about his (and the other senators�) controversial gimmicks. But Sen. Lacson was not as gracious when fellow senator, Miriam Defensor-Santiago, bared her fangs on the matter. �I see some faces plastered in huge billboards all around Metro Manila, in effect constituting an election offense of premature campaigning,� complained Miriam, citing the bad example set by politicians aspiring for higher national office. �Nakakasuka na ang mga tagagawa ng batas ay siya ring unang lalabag nito, umaasaw lamang sa isang teknikalidad.� (�I find it revolting that the lawmakers themselves are the lawbreakers, relying only on a technicality.�) Replied Lacson sarcastically: �I hope and pray that some crazy companies will risk losing some money on certain products and get her as endorser so she would stop sour-graping on our ads.� (Standard Today, June 18). Sen. Santiago is not a presidential or vice-presidential candidate in 2010. But if she were, as a reputed sharp-shooter, she could endorse a revolver. ***** THE YUPPY glossy magazine Rogue asked me to write an article on how I learned to love classical music. This article appears in its May 2008 issue, available at National Bookstore and other outlets. My original (admittedly staid) title was �Learning to Love Classical Music,� which was understandably changed to �Live in Concerto.� Suffice it is to mention here that I fell in love with classical music when I was about 14 or 15, when my principal hobby was shortwave radio, a rather improbable route to what has become a lifelong passion. But it does illustrate the truism that culture is a matter of exposure, and shortwave radio did expose me to classical music at an early age. Get your copy of Rogue if you want to learn the sordid details.(This is also about self-promotion.) I have their permission to load the article in my website www.tapatt.org sometime in July, together with an addendum for which there was no space in the magazine: a list of composers and compositions which I consider basic for a classical music library. Abangan. ***** Reactions to [email protected]. More articles in www.tapatt.org and in acabaya.blogspot.com. . To subscribe, send as blank email with the subject heading Subscribe. To unsubscribe, send a blank email with the subject heading Unsubscribe. Transmissions to yahoo.com, mydestiny.net and aol.com addressess are sometimes blocked or delayed by the servers for reasons of their own. If you are experiencing these blockings, we suggest you move t a gmail or a hotmail address. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Reactions to "Self-Promotion" More Reactions to "Get out of the country!" More Reactions to "The Hydrogen Future" 'My First Letter to You' Like Senator Miriam Defensor, I am ready to puke at the faces of these senators and for that matter other politicians who continue to insult the intelligence of the public by appearing in advertisements and commercials. They have brought themselves so low - nawala na ang kanilang dignity at delicadeza. Wala na rin ang respeto sa institution na kinabibilangan nila..For as long as we have people like them in the Senate, there seem to be no bright future for the Philippines. Lacson's response to Senator Defensor was a nitwit response coming from someone who is shamelessly aspiring to be president. Josie Banaag, (by email), June 19, 2008 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Mr. Abaya, Everybody should be clear about the objective of self-promotion gimmicks resorted to by political aspirants contemplating to run in the scheduled MAY 2010 elections. Considering the business or NGO angles being used, there is no way that charges of electioneering will prosper. Notwithstanding the baring of fangs done by Miriam Defensor - Santiago, she can easily be relegated to the ranks of those who are merely sour-graping! It can be expected that the moment there might be a product or service provider willing to tap her as an advertising talent, it is guaranteed that she will be singing a different tune. That lady political aspirant Presidential wannabe is already branded as "Brenda", which you must know for sure what it really means, and has earned the pity for having lost her mind over the tragic death of one of her children. It will be too mean for one to suggest to Miriam Defensor - Santiago to be open as an endorser for one of the memorial service plans or parks! The bottom line is that the political game is just like any business game. Unless that is recognized, acknowledged and accepted by Filipino voters, then only illusions about how the level of political games can be upgraded will also be perceived as hypocritical, while at the same time playing the business game of selling newspaper columns. I would like to believe that you will take that line as just a factual description of where you are coming from. But even if, in the remotest possiblity, that you will not, the bottom line will remain inarguable: everybody is a "seller" for something, which can always include oneself, as an inescapable element of the "selling process". JMC Nepomuceno, (by email), June 19, 2008 (In this context, "selling oneself" is also known as prostitution. ACA) wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Tony Looking forward to reading your article re: Classical Music. I want my grandchildren to do the same. Happy Weekend, dear friend. JayJay Calero, (by email), June 20, 2008 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Mr. Abaya, Yes, right on ! It's true, culture is just a matter of exposure via the short wave radio. In the mid-60s, I also got exposed to jazz rhythms via THE VOICE OF AMERICA, JAZZ HOUR. It was actually a battle of short wave radio broadcast. RADIO PEKING was also doing its stuff, in pure TAGALOG ! while VOA was doing its counter- propaganda through music. I was hooked by the sound of this jazz deejay, enunciating the virtues of jazz like a college professor. Whenever I hear the theme song of the program, TAKE THE A TRAIN, by Duke Ellington, my ears were already glued to the radio. I was exposed to the great artists of the genre :Miles, 'Trane, Duke, Count, Ella, Sarah, Billie, Mingus etc....and just like you it has become a lifelong passion. Hurray for the wonders of short wave radio ! Sincerely, Auggie Surtida, (by email), Tigbauan, Iloilo, June 20, 2008 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Mr. Abaya: We should encourage or even force political parties to merge, like banks, so there will eventually be only two or three. Let all the many presidentiables fight it out in eliminations or primaries within the parties, until two or three of the best are left behind. This works very well in the US. Either McCain or Obama will make a good US president. The voters will vote depending on the ideology or platform of the candidates. The trouble is that our electorates are swayed by personalities and advertisements, not by ideologies and platforms. We not get to elect really good people like Recto, Tanada, Diokno etc. Maybe in 50 or 100 years pa mangyayari ito. Jose Dado, (by email), June 20, 2008 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Galit na galit ang mga motorista sa Commonwealth kay Bayani Fernando kasi inuubos niya ang pondo ng gobyerno sa sari-saring construction especially u-turn slots and bus loading-unloading bays eating on 2 to 3 lanes (i.e., Batasan and Ever Gotesco u-turn slots) that become bottlenecks resulting to slower traffic.. it should be noted that these these constructions lacked the proper transport studies resulting to waste of taxpayers money.. Marami diyan ang ginawa then ginigiba kasi inappropriate.. Mabilis daw mad-decide basta sa construction ang MMDA kasi ang supplier ng mga materyales ay mga kompanya ni Bayani Fernando. Dapat singilin na iyang si Bayani Fernando sa mga kapalpakan at kaduhapangan niya.. Rodrigo Galang, (by email), Filinvest, Quezon City, June 20, 2008 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Tony, The key phrase to your article is: "With so many senators suddenly and shamelessly endorsing commercial products," and my only reaction is that it is shameless indeed to a point of personal disgust. Leaders who can easily cheapen themselves exhibit not only a betrayal of their sense of integrity but also their own self worth. What this tells me about these people is if they can stoop so low to be elected, how much lower can they stoop once in office. The political bar in this country has once more been lowered. Gus Cosio, (by email), June 20, 2008 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Mr. Tony, Yes, only in the Philiipines that the Government Officials accept commercial.. For what? for extra income or for popularity that they need for the next election schedule?? For me, being a politician could be the most dirtiest career.. I hope the future children will not look into this field. I will not allow my kids to do this. I hope that soon people will be awake.. Carlito Bautista, (by email), June 20, 2008 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear ACAbaya, I have nothing to say about self-promotion of politiciana. But I admire your love for classical music. I am now 74 but got fascinated by classical music in the early 50s while still in college from that radio program of Ric Tierro, called Silahis or something. Ever since, I got hooked. Admittedly, some classical music are heavy and boring. I started collecting online, but lately, you can find almost any title you want at youtube.com, not only listening, but seeing videos. It's a giveaway! All related videos are available. Almost all operas are there . Jobo Elizes, (by email), New York, June 20, 2008 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww My idol Princess Leia errrr Mirriam Santiago's remark is worth quoting: "Gusto nilang maging commercial endorser, eh ang papangit naman nila." The problem with our politicians is that they have no concept of what is ethical or not, plus they have perfected the art of going around the rules and regulations, having no delicadeza at all, thus has no problem rationalizing their illegal acts. Our politicians are like juvenile brats. Case in point is Lacson's retort with an appeal to corporations "crazy" enough to get her as endorser or Escuderos' equally insane immature remarks: "Her opinion on that issue is not important to me, what is important is my wife disagrees with her" Is that a sign of a henpecked guy or what? He seems to forget that it is not his wife's opinion that matters but the electoral code that needs to pay attention to that only shows the wife is as ignorant as he is......... has he not heard that ignorance is not an excuse to break the law, that when you break it, you are liable? PJ, [email protected], June 20, 2008 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww You are right, but what can ordinary citizens do about it? How about a boycott on the products endorsed? (Good idea. ACA) We may not be able to reign in on the politicians (they manipulate surveys and cheat anyway), but advertisers may easily be afraid of bad publicity. If someone convincing can just sound off on this boycott, perhaps the advertisers will scamper without us having actually doing a boycott! Yes, someone convincing, hmmm, someone with some credibility, hmmm someone with access to media, hmmm... someone like, what say, you! Serafin Dudeo, (by email), California., June 20., 2008 www.alternation101.blogspot.com wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Mr. Abaya, It is indeed pathetic that Politicos have been promoting themselves this early in preparation for the 2010 elections. It is also a shame that they have been using or allowing themselves to be used in promoting commercial products just to be seen and heard on TV and radio. If these Politicos want to be remembered by the voting populace, they should and must promote themselves by doing their elected jobs in the first place. With all the mess the country is into at the moment, how callous can one get promoting an almost non-existent progress? All for what? Self-Promotion? Indeed they are haplessly doing just that, but I think it should be called Self-Preservation instead. It's a good thing that the MMDA Chairman decided to pull down those unsightly photoshopped billboards of himself. Yes, you were right, he did have that one-word banter KAAYUSAN , which was catchy. But he should have added DISCIPLINE which unfortunately most of our Politicos lack. How can the government promote kaayusan when most of them are out of order? Change has to come from within going out and not the other way around. If they will do even half of what they are supposed to do, the people will take notice sans all the photo ops, billboards and what have you. And please, if they did one good thing like paying for repatriation fares of unfortunate OFW's, leave it at that, we know already, but how long can he sustain it? If there was KAAYUSAN in the POEA, this shouldn't have happened in the first place. If there was ample and sustained livelihood and employment opportunities in the country, we would have less OFW's toiling abroad for survival away from their families. Now in comes promoting beauty and health care products, can the common masa afford these products while they have grumbling stomachs? Oh, one Politico is promoting instant noodles. How I wish he had seen a feature in which one family shares one packet of instant noodles for a meal with rice. On a good day, that packet of instant noodles might even have an egg added to it. If I were in that family and got a bigger share of that egg I would call myself LUCKY ME. Sometimes, I feel guilty just by looking at the fare we have on the family table and discuss this with my family members during the meal, even if we are only having pritong galunggong and itlog na maalat (salted eggs). Some days, I will only eat one light meal in a day (bread and water) especially if my mother or sister (who are fabulous cooks) prepares food in excess and then complains about the high cost of their ingredients used in their dishes. They must have taken notice of my eating habits as of late, either that, or the cost of food has really been so prohibitive that they now prepare simple meals in just the right amounts. We can make that choice on our own, why can't other families have the same opportunity to do that for themselves? It is for the simple fact that they have no choice. If given the opportunity to WORK decently and be paid EQUITABLY, they would then be able to buy more than a packet of instant noodles and an egg. Then there would be less OFW's to be used (yet again) in grandstanding for bringing them home, No need for Politicos to peddle beauty and healthcare products, no need for expensive tarpolines along major thoroughfares with smug photoshopped images of any wannabe. You won't have to be at least a college level applicant, just to be a bagger in a grocery store for only five (5) months. Now I can't blame Senator Santiago for baring her fangs, as you say, on the matter at hand. I may not agree on some if not most of Senator Santiago's views on certain issues lately, but she really hit the mark on this one: "Nakakasuka na ang mga tagagawa ng batas ay siya ring unang lalabag nito, umaasa lamang sa isang teknikalidad." ("I find it revolting that the lawmakers themselves are the lawbreakers, relying only on a technicality.") I couldn't disagree with her, in fact her acerbic statement is a breath of fresh air. I totally agree with her on her stand on the Bio-Fuels act. Why trade off fertile food producing land to produce crops for fuel. We have more than enough alternative resources to produce cheap and eco-friendly energy. We have wind, hydro, solar, geo-thermal, what more can you ask for? We have brilliant scientists that only needs the support of government to produce something for the good of Filipinos and ultimately the world. Hmmmmmm�. Come to think of it, sugarcane can be used to produce ethanol, isn't the bio-fuels proponents' family sugarcane hacienderos? Where will we get our sugar if we turn it to fuel? Import? Na naman? The elections is two years away. I hope these Politicos would get their act together and magpa-Pogi at magpa-Ganda by doing their elected jobs and not just babble nonsense on TV peddling themselves via product endorsements, or paid for achievements. Leave those to the professional models, that's their jobs. And please, no more billboards and tarpolines. The metro is already unsightly decked to the max with these health hazards already and they consume power just to light them up at night. Noi Ramirez, (by email), Makati City, June 20, 2008 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Hi Tony, The presidential race is indeed heating up and the excitement is building up likewise with the hopefuls jockeying for positions. The general electorate has smartened up that everybody realizes that being popular is no longer enough to win. From what has been happening now, it is imperative that the candidates find ways and means to connect with the voters and that is exactly what they are trying to do. I remember former U.S. president Jimmy Carter when he ran for the presidency, the one thing that somehow caught the attention of the electorate is the simple fact that he owned a peanut farm. This trivial thing was enough and the rest was history. It is no longer enough to have a vision. What the candidates and visionaries need today is a cause they can fight for that will revolutionize Philippine politics and the electoral system and bring prosperity to our country. So I hope, so I pray. Noe Castanos, (by email), Toronto, Ontario, Canada, June 20, 2008 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww I think Bayani has no appeal or karisma within the masa (group C D E). Is he popular within far provinces? In metro, he installed so many bus bays along EDSA, does he think it helps ease the traffic? Does he commute everyday? Does he walk so far within point a to point b, when he have his overpass so far from bus bays; his dangerous u-turns, his pink traffic color, his gray and black road barriers... etc.. As for others, kanya kanya gimik na lang yan... Eumir Cruz, (by email) June 24, 2008 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww More Reactions to "Get out of the country!" (June 10, 2008) Dear Mr. Abaya, If my grandfather had been alive today, he would have burst into his impeccable Spanish after listening to Sen. Enrile rudely berating the heads of the European chambers of commerce and would have exclaimed:"Que barbaridad! El senador Enrille es un hombre mal educado!" Su Servidor, Carlos Esteban, Jr., (by email), June 22, 2008 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww El cortez no quita la valiente! As my mother would say. Juan Ponce Enrile lost his cool, and in the process lost some points in his reputation as lawmaker - which was already tarnished with his marital breakup, etc. Many thinking Filipinos still feel that he was a Marcos lackey - starting with the "bombing" of his car just to help inveigle Macoy to declare martial law...redeemed slightly with his timely about face together with Fidel Ramos and the PMA cowboys to launch historic Edsa One. But this show of feudalistic braggadocio is definitely uncouth behavior for a senator just to earn grandstand points at the expense of hapless foreigners. Pobresita Cristina Castaner Enrile! Que barbaridad! Antonio Joaquin, (by email), Daly City, CA, June 22, 2008 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Kuya Tony C. Abaya, I read the reactions to your article "Get out of the country!". It just aggravates whatever fault we find in our own fellowman Enrile, et al., Maybe what we should do is feel sorry for whatever happened. Maybe many of us are just not having 'True Love' anymore with ourselves much less with our neighbors. What many of us have instead is 'true hatred, enmity, dislikes' call it what you may. LORD FORGIVE ME FOR WHAT I DID. I AM SORRY. I GOT CARRIED AWAY AGAIN. I WILL TRY MY BEST NOT TO DO IT AGAIN. A 'mea cupla' may be much better this time. An act of contrition they say. Thanks, Kuya Tony. God bless you and all of us. Leona Guerra, (by email), Australia, June 23, 2008 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Tony, Everything said to describe Sen Enrile fits the bill, and more. He is rude and more. He is a bully and more. People who elected him deserve him to be around - a clown is better. Juan Jose Regino, (by email), Zamboanga City, June 25, 2008 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Somebody please tell me why Enrile, that trapo of all trapos, keeps getting re-elected. At least with Miriam, we get some entertainment. Alex Menez, (by email), June 25, 2008 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww As always, the wily fox, Senator Enrile. Victor Manalac, (by email), June 25, 2008 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww More Reactions to "The Hydrogen Future" (June 12, 2008) Hi Tony, The future for hydrogen and other renewables are a must and only a matter of time. That is if we want to survive as a specie in planet earth. The entire gamut about oil has been destroying the planet since. The price and profits go to the oil companies. The 7 sisters and others. The sooner we get out of oil and other fossil fuels the better. The technology is there. Their excuse is the cost of infrastructure. Well it will only get more costly as we continue to suffer and kill the planet. They must re tool. The smart ones and the survivors have gotten into a zero carbon foot print. For homes and offices. Plant forest and be a carbon sink. Enhance biodiversity and you have ecosystem benefits, estimated to over US$47 Trillion by the UNEP. Without them we are dead and the price of oil won't matter. Just look at the recent typhoons, the floods in china and the US and droughts in other places. Global warming is here. We must move ahead and abate it. Go back to the past. Walk or use a horse. Plow with carabaos. But do not be a prisoner to Oil and be part of the destroyers. Like my late father would say" If it is possible it can be done. If it is impossible it must be done". We can do it if we try. In solidarity with the planet. Antonio M Claparols, (by email), Makati City, June 28, 2008 President, Ecological Society of the Philippines (I take it you now walk or ride a horse to office, and that you now use a carabao to plow your garden in Forbes Park. Great. ACA) wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww (Copy furnished) Alfie, Nice info on hydrogen power. Harnessing ocean currents (more of "channel current") might be doable at San Bernardino and Surigao Straits, Dapa Channel, the Batanes area, and a few others but I'm not sure if there are tidal systems that can handle about a meter of tidal difference (unlike at the Bay of Fundy in Canada, with more than 50 feet). In some places in northern latitudes, especially in Europe, you see yachts and fishing boats high and dry during low tide, which means tidal differences are at least 3-4 meters. Not so in the Philippines (and as far as I have seen, in South East Asia). I like wind and solar. We have "solarized" all isolated lighthouses for the past 15 years. I still have to visit the windmill array near Laoag in Ilocos Norte. Also, the completely isolated 3 white communications buildings I saw high up on the Cordilleras some 100km north of Baguio, powered by wind energy (among others) also gives me a positive sense for the future. In 1995 I wanted wind energy for isolated ports and terminals, and provided some funds for NPC to assist with their wind energy research, but somehow the idea was not pursued by NPC (or I just do not know, if they have indeed progressed, and the Ilocos project is some indication, unless it is not an NPC project), I still think deuterium power is something we can benefit from, because of the nearby Philippine Deep, clearly under our EEZ. I think I mentioned before how I came upon an exposition on it at the London Museum of Science when I was a GSC student at RNC Greenwich in the mid-70s, where the main floor had it displayed all over as the energy of the future. That more than 30 years have passed and nothing has happened, in my opinion, only indicates that the OPEC or the big oil companies perhaps had bought the technology and keeping it under wraps until the right time. (Chuck: Deuterium is found in seawater all over the world as deuterium oxide, in concentrations of one part in 6,000. Because D20 is slightly heavier than H20, it is argued that we have tons of it in the Philippine Deep. But no one has actually gone down 10,000 meters to scoop a liter of this D20. There is actually a company in Cubao selling shares in a deuterium mining venture. But anyone with a background in physics or chemistry would see that it is only a hoax. Tony) What if we try to work on the Chico River (with 4 hydros) and the Bataan nuclear projects again? This time with CSW and with more will power, I guess. Chuck Agustin, (by email), July 02, 2008 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww My First Letter to You Dear Mr. Abaya, I am recently new to your email feed. I have been reading your emails for a couple of months or more since one of my friends, another foreigner, here in the Philippines turned me onto your email column. Funny, but I have never seen you in print; sometimes I wonder which newspaper carries your column. (The Manila Standard Today. ACA) I feel that I have the best of the Philippines here in the provinces of Northern Mindanao where I live on a small island. To give you some idea of my community, there are 220 households. We have electricity from 5 PM to midnight. The lack of electricity is a plus in that there are no loud videokes and people only have an opportunity to turn on the idiot box for a few hours of the day. You cannot imagine how peaceful it is to be someplace where there are no cars or motorcycles. I have been renting a five-bedroom house here for only a couple of months, having moved there with my wife from Dinagat Island. I trust that you are familiar with Dinagat and the Ecleo family there. I don't know what to say about them, having lived there for some two years. I still do not understand the PBMA and the power of the Ecleos and I don't know if what they have is good or bad. I suppose it is a little of both. Enough of me, I really wanted to make a comment to you. I recently saw in one of your emails comments about the form of government and whether to change it or not to a more federal style. During that argument I was amazed that no one commented on the basic issue here that it doesn't really matter what form of government is current in the Philippines.(Please reread my articles and the reactions from my readers. We have argued precisely that it does not matter what system is in place. It is the leaders and the policies that they pursue that matter. ACA). The basic fact of life here is that politicians BUY there positions. If I bought my position in the government I would expect to receive some benefit from that position. I believe that is the thinking of Filipino politicians. And who is to blame? It seems to me ALL the voters who either allow this or participate in it this farce are to blame for the state of the government in the Philippines today.. But to be honest, the problems does not end there, actually blaming politicians for the poor state of affairs of the Philippines is a national past time. The real issue goes much deeper. There is a horrible moral issue here. I can guess and discuss how it came about, but the end result is the same and for the life of me, I don't have any solution. I guess that's why I'm writing. I'm at my wits end to try to fathom how one would go about correcting or addressing this moral dilemma of the Philippines. I can give you so many examples, but one of my favorites was at a Pulbic High School. I like to visit different institutions here because I learn so much. Once upon a time I was in a Plublic High School in one of the provinces. I was watching the class take a test and I noticed that many of the students were copying from one another. They were obvious in their cheating. Later I commented to the teacher about this. I'll never forget what she told me. She told me it is "natural" for students to cheat. Her expectations were incredibly low. I obviously commented that zero tolerance would lead to zero cheating, but that fell on deaf ears. I sponsored a high school student two years ago. When I sponsored this student, I went to the school and requested that the student be placed in the first section. My sponsored student managed to keep up with the class, but just barely, graduating 49th out of 55 first section students. When we spoke about the problem the student told me that first section students were not allowed to cheat and that was a completely new way of schooling for the student who had to struggle to make up for lost skills during the previous years. Skills, I may add, that the student has cheated themselves out of by not attending to business in the classroom. And of course, the teachers are complacent in this activity. I get to do a lot of reading on my quiet island. I recently picked up a World History book that someone left behind. It was an old American High School text. It pointed out that during the colonial period, the Spanish were all about sending money back to the King and Queen. I am not sure if the root of the problem stems from that period of Filipino history, but that's the best I can come up with. That the Spanish were here under the guise of a lie. Telling the people one thing, but enacting another. I read some time ago that the Spanish refused to educate the Filipinos except for special cases and those cases were usually sent to Spain to get an education. Imagine for how many hundreds of years to be told that "we are here for your benefit, to bring you the word of God" and meanwhile that was the biggest lie of all. The religious order was stuffing their pockets and leaving behind rich politicians as offspring. Meanwhile the subtle moral problem is very similar in that you and others can talk about political problems and forms of government and ignore the basic moral mess. And still I am faced with the question of how one would re-order a whole nation's moral character. Sometimes I look back on the history of the Philippines and wonder had the Japanese succeeded here, how much better off might be the Philippines? (You might as well ask if Europe would have been better off if the Nazis had succeeded. ACA) Interestingly enough, my wife and I recently did a little tour through the back door of Zamboanga to Sandakan and over to mainland Malaysia on up to Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and back to Manila. The only country that compares with the Philippines is Cambodia. The other countries are all much safer. Their governments, although corruption is an issue, still manage to do for the people. For example, gasoline is subsidized in Malaysia (because Malaysia is an oil-producing country. ACA) as are some other products. People can buy locally produced cars with low interest loans. (You can also buy locally-produced cars here, but interest rates are dictated by the market. The Proton car of Malaysia is produced by a semi-government owned corporation, hence the low, subsidized interest rate. ACA) The quality of life in those other countries, except Cambodia, is much better on most levels then here in the Philippines. Yet the people do not have the charm, nor is English spoke as it is here in the Philippines. Lest you ask why I remain here, I do keep my options open as I fear kidnapping of my soon to be born, mixed race child. (Crime rates are low in Malaysia and Vietnam largely because their governments are authoritarian. Thailand, when not under martial rule, also has high crime rates. ACA) Also, I love the provincial island culture and the sound of the waves hitting the beach, the sunsets from my porch, my rented house for 1500 pesos/month. I love the fact that when I get in my kayak and paddle to other burungays where I know no one, I know the hospitality of the local people will be such that I will be fed and if I choose to stay there, someone will accommodate me, as has happened too many times. Still, less someone tell me to leave if I don't like it here. It is not that I don't like it here, it is that any place one goes, there is always room for improvement and sometimes it takes someone from "outside" to point out what is right in front of one. Allen Moretsky, (by email), Northern Mindanao, June 25, 2008 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO All reactions to [email protected]. To subscribe, send a blank email with the subject heading Subscribe. To unsubscribe, send a blank email with the subject heading Unsubscribe. |