| (Forwarded) Dear Rose, Regarding Tony Abaya, he was my "favorite" when he used to write for the Star. Too bad he was eased out by Max Soliven who I heard Tony offended for reasons I dont recall now. But I think Max was actually becoming insecure because Tony was getting more fan mails than his "manufactured" ones. I read about his interesting trans European journey via a Vespa scooter (which was popular during the 60s) when he first wrote it in his column decades ago. I remember as I wrote him my comments particularly about an epitaph he came across in his journey and which was familiar to me. It goes like this: "Remember man that passeth by; As thou art now so once was I; And as I am so thou must be; Prepare thyself to follow me". I supplied what was supposed to have been the reply of a philosopher who came by : "To follow thee is not my intent; Unless I know which way thou went!" Like Abaya (whom I have not met in person) I too was attracted to Joma Sison's book Kabataang Makabayan. I remember keeping it hidden in my room fearing somebody might report me as a leftist which I was not. That was way before the First Quarter Storm in the reign of the conjugal dictators: si Malakas at si Maganda. I like Abaya because he was the only journalist who was brave enough to condemn the disastrious capers of Honasan and company while others (Max Soliven. Dong Puno, Ninez Cacho O, etc) were even lionizing them (for health reasons?)! I think he is one of the more objective observers of our recent political history. While I may not have agreed with some of his commentaries I gave him the benefit of the doubt with the thought that he probably knew more than I did on what he wrote about. Not long ago I came across a foreign article about the ten best places on earth to live in. I think Norway was one of those listed among the Scandinavian countries. Also, apparently there is a correlation between how media or journalism is practiced in the places listed distinct from countries far from the list. The indication seems that values have a direct impact on the over-all quality of life of the populace. It should be an interesting subject for research. Mabuhay! Ed [email protected] July 31, 2004 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO |
| Ten Best Countries By Antonio C. Abaya July 29, 2004, Manila Standard The July 26 issue of Newsweek has an interesting Special Report on The Best Countries in the World. If you�re looking for a country to migrate to, this issue is for you. If you�re a feminist, Newsweek says Poland is the place for you. The 2001 elections there dramatically increased the number of women in Parliament. There are pending bills giving women equal status to men in the workplace, setting quotas for women in the bureaucracy, legalizing abortion in the first three months of pregnancy, etc. But women still earn up to 35 percent less than men. If you�re a psychoanalyst, run � don�t walk � to Argentina. The recent hard times wiped out life savings and millions of jobs, driving people into depression and into the couches of psychoanalysts. In Buenos Aires alone, there are 15,000 psychoanalysts. But Newsweek did not say how they were being paid. With tango lessons? If you�re a refugee, crawl or swim or stow-away to Pakistan. Since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, Pakistan �has housed, fed and educated more than five million refugees, without isolating them and confining them to fetid, overcrowded camps�.refugees have been allowed to attend school or to work as day laborers�� If you�re an engineer, you can try insinuating yourself into the power elite of the People�s Republic of China. Newsweek says �nearly all 24 members of the Politburo, the country�s ruling body, have technical degrees� from engineering and technical institutes. �Each of the nine members of the Politburo�s Standing Committee is an engineer by training. And President Hu Jintao and other top pols are graduates of Beijing�s Tsinghua University, China�s MIT�� And so Newsweek had other short pieces on other �best countries� of the world: Vietnam, the Netherlands, Turkey, Finland, the US, India, Britain, Denmark, Sweden, Japan, Russia, Estonia, Germany, France, South Africa, and Canada. What? The Philippines did not make it? What an oversight! This is the most forgiving country in the world, and that should have merited some mention along with all those boringly correct places. If you are a criminal or are accused of being a criminal, this is the country of choice. Whether you blew out an Italian priest�s brains and then ate it. Or you kicked screaming women out of an airborne helicopter. Or you cheated your way to the senate or the presidency. Or you staged six or seven or eight coups d�etat against the government. Or you opened bank accounts under fictitious names to park jueteng or public works kickbacks. Or you avoided paying billions of pesos in taxes. Or you collected Kris Aquino videos. No crime in the Philippines is so heinous or monumental that it cannot be forgiven or forgotten as long as you can afford to hire the shrewdest lawyers and media manipulators, or you have the right political connections, or you become a media celebrity, or, better yet, all three at the same time. If you�re a criminal or you�re accused of being one, there is no place like home. In its Special Report, Newsweek listed down its Top 10 choices: 1. Sweden; 2. the US (naturally, Newsweek being an American publication); 3. Norway; 4. Japan; 5. Holland; 6. Australia; 7. France; 8. Ireland; 9. Singapore; 10. Canada. The Danes, the Finns, the Swiss and the New Zealanders will probably disagree with some of those choices. But the most observant piece in the Special Report is the introductory essay by Economist Jeffrey D. Sachs: ��While big countries like the US like to tout their achievements, it is the smaller nations of northern Europe that can boast the greatest success in solving the problems of balancing competition and cooperation, capitalism and social security. Consider just about any social indicator � income per capita, health, democracy, economic competitiveness, environmental consciousness, honesty � and the Nordic world of Iceland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland is sure to shine�.� �In the combined UN Human Development Index (which measures literacy and life expectancy alongside per capita income), Norway and Sweden ranked first and second (with Denmark, Iceland and Finland not far behind) in 2004 out of 175 countries, with the US coming in eighth, and the larger countries of continental Europe ranked in the teens�.� �Nordic health and wealth build on high quality governance. These are also the countries where corruption finds zero tolerance. The global-corruption watchdog Transparency International ranks Finland, Iceland and Denmark right at the top of the list of the world�s �cleanest� governments (with Sweden and Norway not far behind). France and Spain are tied for 23rd�.� Readers of my travel book �Europe by Scooter�(which chronicled my 18,000-km tour through Europe by Vespa scooter in 1961, across the Alps and the Pyrenees and all the way to the Arctic Circle in Finland) may recall that I included a special chapter marveling at the Nordic countries, especially Sweden. Aside from their obvious material wealth and their high levels of social health � for example, education up to university level is free � the Scandinavian countries have established egalitarian societies without going through the wrenching agonies and bloodshed of Marxist-Leninist revolution, even though their communist parties fully participate in their political debates. This was the major reason why, even though I was a charter member of Joma Sison�s Kabataang Makabayan, I was never inclined to join his Communist Party. I could not accept that the Soviet Union or Maoist China represented the best that human beings could achieve. In my book, Scandinavia held, and still holds, that distinction. Scandinavian functional, non-ideological egalitarianism is but a reflection of the people�s value systems. It is considered bad form to flaunt wealth and power. Even the richest business magnates drive their own cars. The longest-ruling prime minister of Sweden, Tage Erlander, who held office for 33 years from the 1930s to the 1960s, took public streetcars to go to and from office. At one point, Swedish university students passed the hat around and bought him a second-hand Volvo. But he politely declined it, saying that he did have a car but that his wife, a grammar-school teacher, used it to drive to her place of work. A prime minister of Norway in the 1980s was so scrupulous about not using public funds for his personal needs that, according to his secretary, even the postage on his personal letters was strictly paid for out of his own pocket and not mixed with the official mail. This value system included a bristling sense of justice. When the Nazi Germans occupied Denmark during World War II and the time came to separate the Jews from the Gentiles through the mandatory wearing of Star of David patches, as in the rest of Occupied Europe, the King announced that if Danish Jews were required to wear Star of David patches, he too would wear one. The implication was that everyone else in Denmark would follow and wear a Star of David. The Germans retreated from that order. A more recent Swedish prime minister, Olaf Palme, who drove his own car and had no bodyguards or motorcycle escorts, was shot to death in the 1980s as he and his wife walked from a theater to a carpark to get their car. To this day, no one (except the killer) knows who shot him and why. My own theory is that he was killed by an assassin hired by the CIA, as payback. During the Vietnam War in the 60s and 70s, then Education Minister Palme led street demos in Stockholm, often arm-in-arm with the North Vietnamese ambassador, to protest the US war against the Vietnamese. The ruling Social Democratic Party raised funds through the labor unions to buy medical field kits for the Viet Cong guerillas. And the Swedish Government itself built and equipped an entire hospital in Hanoi. When the US protested that Sweden should maintain its traditional policy of neutrality, the prime minister (whose name I cannot recall) defended Palme, saying that �being neutral does not mean Sweden must be silent in the face of injustice.� The Americans withdrew their ambassador. ***** My articles appear every Thursday in the Manila Standard and every Saturday in the Philippines Free Press magazine. All articles are archived in www.tapatt.org.. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Reactions to �Ten Best Countries� Hi, Tony, No, you got it a bit wrong. If you wanna be happy go to the Philippines, where the happiest people live. Aren't we the happiest race in Asia, according to a survey? It is only media that destroys our day with their negative news. But you are right about the Nordic countries. I studied my professional ship management course in Norway for about one year. Still and all I can't stand their winter which lasts until May. Thanks and best regards. Bobby Tordesillas [email protected] July 29, 2004 MY REPLY. You are right. In that survey, Filipinos came out the happiest people in Asia, the Japanese the unhappiest. Are we the happiest because we are the most forgiving, or we the most forgiving because we are the happiest? wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww I think the statement below is highly speculative. "My own theory is that he was killed by an assassin hired by the CIA, as payback. During the Vietnam War in the 60s and 70s, then Education Minister Palme led street demos in Stockholm, often arm-in-arm with the North Vietnamese ambassador, to protest the US war against the Vietnamese." Reynaldo Sarmiento [email protected] July 29, 2004 MY REPLY. By its very nature, a theory is speculative. What is your theory? wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Mr. Abaya, The picture of our country today is really distressing. It looks like Filipinos, more especially the leaders have no love for our country. I cannot sense any bit of patriotism in them. All I see is selfishness and greed. The other day, I chance upon a website maintained by the University of Michigan Library which contained a rich collection of Filipiniana. The bulk of the materials authored by Filipinos are in Spanish, while those authored by Americans and some post-revolution Filipinos are in English. A few are in Tagalog like the ones of Bonifacio and Jacinto. There is even a book written in the Pangasinan dialect by Felipe Quintos, an officer of the revolutionary army, that describes the activities of the Katipunan in Pangasinan and Zambales. Several works are in Visayan, Ilocano and Bikol. I browsed into the memoirs of Mabini, Aguinaldo and Artemio "Vibora" Ricarte, and leafed through the works of post-revolution personalities like Eufemio Alip, Isabelo de Los Reyes, Jose P. Santos, Lope K. Santos, Gregorio Aglipay, Jose Almario, Jose Balinghasay, etc. I read articles about the Pulahanes, Felizardo and Macario Sakay. A book: "The Philippine Republic" by Leandro Heriberto Fernandez, published in 1926, describes the rise and fall of the Malolos Republic. I did not know that the first republic was truly functional and commanded the loyalty of the whole archiepelago - congress passed a budget and the executive departments through its constituency in the provinces collected taxes. Among those that regularly paid berthing fees for ships that docked in Iloilo and other ports in the provinces was a British company called Smith Bell & Co. I also ran across the memoirs of Col. Frederick Funston and a few U.S. volunteer troopers who actually engaged the "gugus", as the Americans called the Tagalog soldiers, and had a vivid description of the slaughter of thousands of Filipino troops that died mostly from shrapnel wounds. I did not know that there was an American Negro named David Fagan who deserted the U.S. army to join the Filipino army. He had a price on his head and his alleged account of decapitation by a Filipino reward-seeker is still unresolved. In reflection, I grope for explanation why the fiery love of country that existed during the war of liberation is almost totally absent in the present. And one clear insight that lightens up in my mind is the shift from Spanish to the English language. Could this be the reason why our countrymen have forgotten the past and lost their bearings as a once patriotic people? Imagine what the post-revolution Filipino youth were studying? What history books were they reading? What arts and literature were they being taught? Remember that most of the translations of selected Filipino works from Spanish to English only came about after WWII and these were brought into the educational system slowly and in very little dosages. It was like completely cutting off the Filipino from his present, isolating him and thence moving him into the future completely detached from his past. It is like saying, "let's start from zero." Circa 1956, I was taught American History in second year high school. I learned to sing the Stars Spangled Banner and America the Beautiful in grade IV music class. I know more about the Four Scores and Seven Years Ago than the Kartilya ng Katipunan. I know more about the Huckleberry Finn than Banaag at Sikat. Of course, I heard about the Philippine struggle and the first republic but the impression of my innocent mind was it was like a myth, like it did not happen. Do we have the relics of this great period in our history? What place can I go, what museum is there, that displays the proclamations, orders, or uniforms or the "gulok", sabers, mausers and remingtons that the "gugus" used to fight with? I was introduced into our glorious past only sometime in 1960 when I was in U.P., after an article by a certain Rogelio Subong about the book "Little Brown Brother", which was published in the Philippine Collegian. During this time, the Dominicans refused to teach the Rizal course, and when they had to by force of law, the subject content used was very superficial. It lacked the intensity that characterized this subject as Prof. Cesar Adib Majul of U.P. would have taught it. Recto tried to rectify this language anomaly with the passing of the Spanish law. For a time, the Spanish language was brought back into the universities. I took 24 units and studied Rizal's Last Farewell in the Spanish subject class. Recto hoped that the Filipino youth will now have the ability to read the works of great Filipino writers that had been made inaccessible to them by the language barrier, and in the process be imbued with the spirit of patriotism. But no, it was not going to be. The Spanish law was repealed: the schools did not want the extra cost and the students did not want the additional load. No one wanted to learn and feel the pulse of Filipino nationhood anymore! Today, the educational system still falters in bringing the glorious heritage of our nation to our youth. The schools of the elite choose to teach what is foreign to the Filipinos, while the public schools are forced to use inane, cheap looking, newsprint-made textbooks that comes out of the vagaries of graft and corruption. With defective educational system, what kind of Filipinos will our schools produce? I think the Filipino today is an individual who does not know who he really is and this probably explains why our country is what it is now. Yours truly, Virgilio Leynes [email protected] July 29, 2004 MY REPLY. Nationalist historian Renato Constantino wrote a famous essay on this, �The Miseducation of the Filipino.� Problem was, Constantino was also a communist � a member of the Politburo of the Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas (PKP) � so his nationalism was just a stepping stone to his ultimate goal, a Communist Philippines. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww (Forwarded) To: [email protected] In keeping with the time-tested principle of qualifying one's source of information, I am pleased to "formally" introduce to the Archersnook newsgroup, one of the very few respectable columnist-journalist in Philippine media, and whose editorials I have had the privilege of posting here. Tony's opinions are always WELL-RESEARCHED. He writes clearly. Logically. His style is simple. And his points are ALWAYS right on. One may not agree with all of Tony's conclusions. Like me. I disagreed with his previously-held (popular) "concern" - that Poe-King's "early advantage as shown in the election surveys" had all but the formal trimmings of an inevitable coronation...of a new king of the hill. As events turned out, I was correct. It was GMA all the way, from the get-go. But that does not diminish the fact that Tony's election analyses were still RIGHT ON, based on his assumed and discovered facts. That is why, among the rest of the "political pundits" in media or in the PR-profession, Tony ranks way high in journalistic courage, honesty and credibility. He knows the facts. And does not hesitate to tell the truth drawn from these. What else can anybody expect from a journalist? As for the bleeding, diehard, self-appointed and self-proclaimed moralistic-nationalistic-patriotic pretenders-defenders of the downtrodden and the deprived (masang poor) and who foist themselves as "liberal civil advocates of human rights, freedom and sovereignty of the Philippines"...who may be inclined to assail Tony's right and authority (expertise) to be "critical", (or simply find his frank views - condescending and insulting, or tantamount to "Pinoy Bashing") let me introduce him now, to help his would-be critics with even a cursory due diligence in checking out Tony's credentials. This might help dissuade some self-centered agitators from getting carried away and persisting with their ignoble sophistries and demagogueries based on the equally self-serving "stupid is, stupid does" bleacher slogan: "If you can't say anything NICE, do not CRITICIZE." Really, now. Da Coach [email protected] July 30, 2004 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Wow, Tony, you�re so honest and straightforward, it hurts soooo gooood! Ouch. Hello, Tony. Two beautiful and timely, back-to-back articles - "Wow Philippines" (July 8, 2004) and this one on "Ten Best Countries" - July 29, 2004...hits home, where it hurts....most - a cussed sense of "false pride" or 'amor propio' among those who insist on feigning, fawning and frothing in the mouth that "...the Pilipinos and the Philippines are not that (intolerably) bad..." I anticipate you will have a fair number of those who read your latest article cantankerously challenging and objecting (or submitting indignations) to your "cutting down to size and telling it like it is....." Yes, exactly how is the Philippines viewed and the Pilipinos evaluated by the world "outside of the 7,107 islands protected peninsula/res?" The answer - which is the subject of your article - cannot put it more plainly and clearly. And there are a fair number of pretenders in the Pilipino society and its government, who thrive on taking a "defensive posture" against the factual criticisms that you have laid out in these two referenced articles. I have posted both articles in our newsgroup - exclusive to La Sallites, Men of La Salle, or controversially referred to as "La Sallians". And the topic has generated passionate responses and reactions. You are bound to get more feedbacks from both sides of the aisle. Don't blame me. Only a dead brain can resist reacting to your thought provoking critiques. As for the "dull stubborn brains", and their poorest (Gump) "Stupid is, Stupid does" denial of the facts...WELLL.... it's either really too deep a subject for them to comprehend, or it's really a problem of (bad) ATTITUDE. In either case, Tony, your points and observations, are not for the faint of heart, as these remain unassailable, regardless. Pepeton [email protected] July 30, 2004 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww You excel yourself, Tony! A fine piece. more power to you. Ding Roces [email protected] Australia July 30, 2004 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Mr. Abaya, I can't help but ask why you even attempt to be a journalist. Your articles are utterly boring and devoid of any socially redeeming factors. They are all empty barbs of commiseration that leads nowhere but greater frustration. If that is your idea of journalism, please spare me the abuse by deleting me from your mailing list. Based on what I have read from all the articles you have emailed me, you have nothing of substance to say. You simply reflect the sad state of journalism in this country. I hope you can do better to uplift the lot of your readers. Augusto M. Cosio, Jr. [email protected] July 30, 2004 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Good article ....congrats! Fyi and this is a sad fact in our country...the exodus has started... Our "Professionals and the Skilled Workers" are now trooping to Immigration Consultants who offer better opportunities & alternative countries to migrate. They don't see any hope for them here in the Philippines anymore...what with corruption, kidnappings, highcosts, irrelevant taxes.. etc I don't blame them... Most popular country today to migrate is Canada...having "520 professions" open for immigrants! (the most in the world!) All one has to do is "fit into one of those professions", have the "monetary requirement they call Settlement Fund", have the Education Attainment, The language Proficiency, Work experience (min. 4yrs) and of course be healthy to at least have a chance to qualify. Check out the website www.lofimmigration.com . They Offer: FREE DAILY Seminars & Assessments (Mon-Fri / 9:00am - 5:00) and considered the cheapest, professionals and most hands-on consultancy firm in the Philippines today. Their motto says it all: " The Best Way to Create Your Future is to Create it! ....so true today. Also, Healthcare and Education is "FREE" in Canada....... not like in the Philippines wherein its only the air (polluted), I think, that is not yet taxed. Jose Genato [email protected] July 30, 2004 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Mr. Abaya, A friend sent me your article "Ten Best Countries", and one line on Scandinavia said it all, ".... a reflection of the people�s value systems". This is totally correct. As I have personally experienced, these values are taught from infancy and reinforced in the "barnehage" (literally, child garden). A barnehage is the pre-school for children ages 3-5 where they learn through play. For over a year now, I've been trying to get some people in the Philippines interested in establishing barnehage. I have volunteered to design modules for training workshops and even to conduct these sessions for free but, so far, there are no takers. If I had the money, I would gladly spend it on pilot barnehage. Since I don't, the only hope is for me to win the Scandinavian lotto, which is not hope at all. Is there a way you can help? If you want to learn more about the barnehage, I could send you materials as well as personal accounts of barnehage. sincerely, Rose Olsen [email protected] Norway July 30, 2004 MY REPLY. A word of caution. Even if you manage to convince some people to start barnehage in the Philippines, its effect on the rest of Philippine society will be minimal. When your 3-5 yr olds leave their barnehage, they will be exposed to and overwhelmed by the prevailing cultural values of Philippine society, especially by our media: materialism, self-gratification, selfishness, me-first mentality, etc. Any social engineering must embrace the whole of society to have any lasting impact. Where is the Philippine leader who can do that? wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww It sure captures the essence of the Philippines. . Michael Dave [email protected] July 31, 2004 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww (Copy furnished) Dear Freddie, Regarding the Filipinos unhappiness in P.I.. especially those who were left behind, if you give them the choice to leave the country, I believe, in my value judgement, all the 90% of them would leave and try their luck somewhere else, preferrably in the US, Canada, Australia, Italy, Spain, Western Europe and the Middle East. It's basic human needs for a better life - economically, socially and politically. Besides, people should not forget that the English and other Europeans left the old countries precisely for the same reasons. Of course, the remaining 10% would stay and understandably so. Why shouldn't they? This 10% belongs to the A & B socio-economic class who could live in P.I. a life of pleasure and "royal" convenience and actually better lives than the comparative AB class in the US, Canada and Australia. Frank Jimenez [email protected] July 31, 2004 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Tony, As always, terrific column. I knew you could not resist writing about the Newsweek cover story. Yes, Newsweek overlooked the Philippines. How about home or training capital of maids and caregivers. Of course, the CIA can attest about terrorists training here. On the Nordic countries like Denmark, Sweden and Norway, it shows that they have evolved into a higher level of civilization unlike most of the Filipinos. My estimate is that we are 5 generations behind or about one century. What we are as a people today would be probably what they were 100 years ago. I hope I do not offend the Nordic people with I just wrote. When I was in Singapore last May, I stayed with my Filipino friend who had worked with 4 multinational companies, particularly covering the Asia-Pacific Region. I asked him what he thinks of the damaged culture of Filipinos based on his vast experience dealing with people of various nationalities. His succinct reply: "It is True." Rick B. Ramos [email protected] July 30, 2004 MY REPLY. I don�t know about Denmark and Norway, but 100 years ago Sweden was such an impoverished country one fourth of the population migrated to the US and Canada. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww |
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