I couldn't remember the word "scold"

I woke up this morning fumbling around for a word. I couldn't think of the word if my son's future depended on it and nearly gave up, reminded of the fact that those days when I could recall words from my vast storage bin in a flash were long gone. Then, as I stepped from the new Stearns and Foster pillow-bed down to the carpet (my wife and I invested a fortune on our new S & F bed on the theory that after more than 40 years slaving in America I deserved an S & F bed) I suddenly remembered the word.

It is "scold."

I worried over the last couple of days that I might have become' a scold to my friends and people I communicate with on the Internet. I've had this tendency to look at the glass as half-empty rather than half-full. And I suspect that I may have been a stern taskmaster, trying to win people over to my point of view.

While nobody I was aware of among La Salle alumni was worked up over the fact that La Salle is now in fourth place among the four Philippine universities that made the Top 200 list of Asian universities, I decided last week to be that lone voice protesting La Salle's relative dismal showing.

My recently launched book, "Out of the Misty Sea We Must...Blueprint for a New Philippines" has strong words against the establishment in the Philippines. I recently lambasted the Philippine Senate as a useless institution that must be abolished. I've been a harsh critic. I worry that I have become a scold.

It doesn't matter if a scold is right or makes a lot of sense. People simply tune him out because he is a scold.

It's like a priest-retreat master sermonizing a flock of Catholic faithful who are on holiday in Las Vegas. They are in Church because it's Sunday. They're not there to listen to a guy talking about the fires of hell and eternal damnation.

When I opened my email this morning, lo and behold I found an email from one of the more revered professors at La Salle informing me that he is forwarding my latest rant to the highest officials of the school.

Now we're talking. I'm not a scold after all.

The first order of business is to make sure that the people assigned to fill out the forms for the THES - QS survey of Asian universities are well trained. They must be sent to the headquarters of THES (Times Higher Education Supplement) to pick the brains of the executives there. I believe THES is a supplement of the London Times, but I cannot get confirmation of this. The La Salle Brothers, however, are surely aware of all the beans on THES.

Meanwhile, the alumni associations worldwide should be commissioned to conduct an inventory of accomplishments of La Salle alumni. What is the contribution of La Salle alumni to the Philippines, Asia and the world? This inventory process will answer that question.

If the school can come up with a list of outstanding and near-outstanding Lasallians in various fields, this list can be one of the focal points of the centennial celebrations next year. It can also be used as an argument for ranking La Salle ahead of Ateneo, or even U.P. and U.S.T.

Most people in the Philippines are probably aware that La Salle alumni occupy dominant positions in business and commerce there. How extensive that control is probably is not known to them.

Most people are probably unaware that past and present La Salle alumni have excelled in public service.

There are highly accomplished writers and artists among La Salle's graduates. There are famous lawyers and bar top-notchers who grew up in La Salle. There are top entertainers and actors among La Salle alumni.

It's important that La Salle the institution takes an inventory of its graduates. A university's raison d'etre is to educate students to become leaders and nation-builders. After 99 years in business in the Philippines, what are the kinds of men and women that La Salle has graduated? That is the question that must be answered by tihis inventory of La Salle graduates.

Our approach will be two-pronged: we will prove that we have some of the best resources, facilities, staff and faculty in the Philippines and in Asia; we also will prove that the school produces many of the outstanding people in the Philippines and Asia, ergo it must be one of the truly outstanding universities in Asia and may be the top university in the Philippines.

We have one year to get this done. The alumni office on Taft Avenue should be put in charge of this massive project. They can break down the job among the various alumni chapters around the world. Each chapter will be assigned the task of compiling a list of its members and those members' life accomplishments.

We know that many of the truly outstanding people and some of the richest in the Philippines grew up in the La Salle system. Many are probably unaware that Lasallians who chose to live abroad have also made a name for themselves and are considered pillars in their professions.

It is easy to explain the success of La Salle alumni in the Philippines. La Salle is to the Philippines what University of Southern California (USC) is to the U.S. West Coast. USC graduates take care of each other. If given a choice, they will hire other USC graduates. No questions asked.

La Salle alumni are also like that. They hire other La Sallians, no questions asked. That explains why La Salle graduates in the Philippines are doing so well financially and career-wise. This, however, tells only a part of the story. Connections can get you in the door, but what you make of the opportunity is the true test of your talents. La Salle graduates have excelled not only in entry-level positions but all the way to the top and beyond.

Having said this, a truer measure of the success of the Lasallian educational system is how La Salle graduates have done in foreign countries. I believe that when all is said and done, we will think more highly of La Salle because many of our graduates rose to the pinnacle of their professions and were highly successful in business even without the benefit of a protective and nurturing alumni association.

If La Salle the institution conducts this inventory, it can alert the THES people that we have launched such a project and are prepared to argue that the accomplishments of La Salle alumni in the Philippines and abroad must be given more weight than it probably is in developing THES rankings. We have everything to gain, nothing to lose.

For what good is a school that has the best celebrated professors, the most modern equipment, the most published dissertations, etc. yet produce fewer truly outstanding graduates than other universities that produce more? And I'm not even throwing in the concept of holding a school accountable for the scoundrels, thieves and corrupt public officials that some school systems produce.

La Salle must take the lead in seeking a change in the way universities are ranked. It must argue that the quality of graduates should be given more weight than it probably is being accorded.

There must not be a one-size-fits-all approach in the THES rankings. In the Philippines, where the biggest headache is finding jobs for its exploding population, the schools that produce the most businessmen and entrepreneurs who employ the greatest number must get a special bonus that figures in the rankings.

Philosophically, if a university in a country where job-creation is the biggest challenge is producing the most number of job creators, isn't that university more important to that country's society and the region than a university that has the most Ramon Magsaysay awardees and PhD dissertations?

La Salle must be prepared to argue with the THES - QS people. Those people did not start out by being infallible. They are learning as they go along. That is why the rankings of some universities such as La Salle and U.P. are all over the map from year to year. La Salle can take a leadership position by arguing for a change in the way the universities are ranked.

I grew up in La Salle being brainwashed by the Brothers that we can change the world. If we can do that, it would be child's play trying to change the way THES - QS rankings are done.

ERRATUM: In my previous post, I stated that Augusto Syjuco, Jr., father of celebrated Filipino novelist Miguel Syjuco, grew up with me in La Salle. This was wrong. Augusto attended La Salle college but did not graduate. He transferred to University of the East midway thru college and earned his B.S. in Commerce degree from that school. Augusto graduated from Ateneo High School and probably went to Ateneo grade school as well.

As my school counts down to its centennial

OK, boys and girls, let's pull our heads from the sand this morning. Let's un-stick our necks from the mud and see the world for what it is, not for what we wish it were. Here's shocking news from GMA News:

Four Philippine universities made it again to the Top 200 Asian universities list of consultancy Quacquarelli Symonds Ltd. (QS) for 2010, even as this is not really a cause for celebration in a country with about 2,000 institutions of higher education.

Leading the Philippine schools is the Jesuit-run Ateneo de Manila University, which tied Taiwan’s National Central University at the 58th spot. Ateneo rose from the 84th spot it occupied last year.

State-run University of the Philippines’ rank fell from 63 to 78, while University of Santo Tomas ranked 101st, an advance from its former 144th spot.

De la Salle University suffered the worst blow among the four Philippine universities, falling from the 76th spot to land at 106th.

In measuring quality, QS used the following criteria: Asian academic peers (30 percent), papers per faculty (15 percent), citations per paper (15 percent), student-faculty ratio (20 percent), Asian employer review (10 percent), international faculty (2.5 percent), international students (2.5 percent), inbound exchange students (2.5 percent), and outbound exchange students (2.5 percent). – (GMA News)


We Lasallians know in our hearts that La Salle is an excellent school, perhaps even the best educational institution in the Philippines. Not long ago, there were suggestions that La Salle was the best school in the Philippines, better even than U.P. Yet, as we count down to our centennial celebrations next year, we are besieged by reports that Asian academics no longer think highly of our school and, conversely, those same academics are becoming enamored of the Jesuit institution which is bent on throwing sand in our face.

What happened?

The report reprinted above presumably provides an explanation for why La Salle no longer scores as well as Ateneo in university rankings. Yet, from my perspective, the criteria used probably should favor La Salle. What is really going on?

I think there is widespread perception out there that La Salle does not produce the kind of graduates that Ateneo does. If you want to know about a school's quality, look at the graduates. This is how schools are generally rated. Harvard is considered the top school in the U.S. because its graduates are the leaders in most fields. Princeton graduates, Yale graduates, Columbia graduates, Stanford graduates, UC-Berkely graduates, etc. manage to rise to the top. Ergo, those are great schools.

Ateneo produces many of the country's leaders. Look at the Presidency. The last three Philippine presidents are products of Ateneo. National conversations and discourse are often led by graduates of Ateneo. The school is heavily and prominently represented in culture, science and - now - even in business. Lasallians have always been in command of the commercial world and this has become a problem. There is widespread perception that Lsallians are one-dimensional. That we are good business people and nothing much else. We are too busy making money or are just not interested in anything else - least of all being leaders in the country's drive to economic ascendancy.

We have ceded the high ground to Ateneo and U.P. And now, apparently, to U.S.T.

In La Salle's Internet circles the moderators have adopted the policy of non-engagement. If it's serious stuff, or controversial stuff, or politics, we are cautioned to stay away. We're just not interested. We will talk about the birthday parties we are going to attend, the chicks we will surround ourselves with, but we will not be caught commenting on the sad state of our country. We abhor serious topics, they are too "heavy" for our taste.

We do not want to speak out against the country's elite, who have mismanaged the country for close to a century, partly because we are the elite and partly because most of us are marketing men and women and therefore take pains to avoid the prospect of displeasing anyone.

People take potshots at us as society boys, gay boys, China, Inc. or conyo boys. If not for our women graduates, people would have an even lower opinion of us.

I am in the process of reading the celebrated novel, Ilustrado, by Miguel Syjuco. Miguel is a son of one of my classmates in La Salle-Taft, Augusto Syjuco, Jr. I think it's reasonable to assume that Miguel would speak of La Salle, his dad's alma mater, more favorably than he would of Ateneo. Never mind that Miguel actually grew up in Canada, where his family elected to wait out the Marcos years.

I was taken aback by a passage in Ilustrado:


And so it became a habit for Crispin and me to trade these well-worn classics, particularly the ones about our distinguished alma mater, writing them on slips of paper to pass like shibboleths when next we'd meet.

"These male students loiter around Shoe Mart Megamall," one note said. "One is from the exclusive Ateneo de Manila University. One from the rival De La Salle University. The third, named Erning Isip, is from the populist AMA Computer College. The three students spot a very pretty light skinned girl. Each of the boys takes a turn at trying to woo her. The Atenean says: 'Why, hello there. Perhaps I should text my driver to bring my BMW around to chauffeur us to the Polo Club so we can get some gindara?' The Lasallista says: 'Wow, you're so talagang pretty, as in totally ganda gorgeous. Are you hungry at all? Let's ride my CRV and I'll make libre fried chicken skin and Cuba libres at Dencio's bar and grill.' Erning Isip, the AMA Computer College student, timidly approaches the girl. Scratching the back of his head, he says: 'Miss, please, miss, give me autograph?' "


It is clear that Miguel has a low opinion of the school that his dad attended and grew up in.

I know the characterization of the Lasallista in Syjuco's Ilustrado is a stereotype and perhaps unfair. The problem I have, though, is that I've heard Lasallians (people from La Salle are no longer called Lasallistas) talk in Taglish. Whether most Lasallians talk in Taglish is not a conclusion I'm prepared to concede. But clearly Syjuco seems to think that at the very least Lasallians are less educated than Ateneans.

It is this widespread perception that we are fighting. It's an uphill climb. Ateneo has managed to convince Asian academics that it is far superior to La Salle and it will take years before La Salle can reclaim the top spotlight from its much-ballyhooed rival.

And so we've gone full circle. When La Salle started in 1911 with a little school in Paco, Manila, the high-flying Ateneo de Manila was already one of two premier educational institutions in the country, along with University of Santo Tomas. La Salle was just a dream, a gleam in the eyes of the Christian Brothers who first ventured in the only American colony in Asia. The University of the Philippines was only two years old.

Now, nearly 100 years later, La Salle is taking the back seat to the venerable Ateneo. While La Salle is going-away the better commercial success than Ateneo - we have 19 campuses nationwide, Ateneo has a mere handful - it is Ateneo that has claimed the highest rock in the country's academic circles. We are somewhere down below, on a lower rock, in the shadow of that big rock where the Lion King rests and roars and stares with bored eyes at the moon.

That La Salle has added a Law School is welcome news. The institution must produce lawyers who will someday lead the country. We must at some point produce a President or Prime Minister of the Philippines. We must graduate people who will someday have major roles in the country's nation-building.

Asian academics must become aware that we are not just a Computer Science School, or an engineering school, or an accounting, marketing, advertising or salesmanship school or a finishing school for call-center employees. They must perceive us as present and future leaders of the country.

Someday, we will retake the glory from our fierce rival. We are capable of doing that, I know, because we did it in the past. Not too long ago Asian academics - in fact, academics around the world - thought of La Salle as one of the top two schools in the country, along with the University of the Philippines. We did it before, we can do it again.

It's just sad that as we start the countdown to our centennial celebrations in June, 2011 we are playing second fiddle to the school that is making fun of the way we use the English language.

They also make fun of us in Latin.

His school looks like a Home Depot

"No wonder Paul is depressed," my daughter Natasha exclaimed, "his school looks like a Home Depot!"

Natasha was in the car when I took Paul to his then new school in Las Vegas in 2007 - the Forbuss Elementary School - shortly after our family's move from New Jersey to Nevada. From the red brick and ivy school buildings in New Jersey to the ground-hugging school building in Las Vegas that looked more like a light-industrial pre-fab building.

But no, Paul was not depressed because his school looked like Home Depot. He missed the friends he had left behind in New Jersey and vowed never to forgive me for moving him away from his friends.

I did not like the house in Jersey even though our family received a lot of congratulatory winks for having restored that all-brick English Tudor house and its 100% gleaming hardwood floors. It was an old house, built in 1931, and my repair and maintenance bills each year were atrociously high. The property tax was way too much - New Jersey has some of the highest property tax rates in the country.

Some who visited the house commented that we had a nice house but people had to drive through hell (Newark, New Jersey) to get to it.

I had retired and didn't want to pay the high maintenance expenses and the property tax. I knew, however, that I would be abandoning that slice of heaven - from son Paul's perspective. South Orange, New Jersey is made up of professionals, business people, educators, artists, actors, writers, government officials and the like. Their children are some of the most cosmopolitan and smartest in the country.

A few of those were kids Paul was growing up with.

We snatched Paul away from that environment and placed him right smack in the Las Vegas desert, where people have no sense of neighborhood. People in Vegas come from everywhere. None of us know our next-door neighbors. We don't know their backgrounds, whether they are good or bad people, whether they have good personal histories, whether they've ever been arrested, whether they are registered sex offenders, whether they are running from a criminal record in their previous home towns. The net result is we are very stingy with the smiles we flash at our next-door neighbors.

Paul still blames me for bringing him to Las Vegas.

Not so much lately, because he belongs to a school "gang" and one senses that he has forged a deep friendship with his gang-mates. They are on the verge of graduating from elementary school and entering middle school - grades 6, 7 and 8 - and he and his friends have sworn to stay together at that next level.

Paulita wants to put Paul in a Catholic school next year but I don't think it's going to happen because Paul threatens to jump from the car if we do not enroll him at the middle school that all his friends will go to next school year, which starts in late August.

"Well, OK," Paulita bargains with Paul, "but you have to go to Komun on Saturdays for extra math and English training." Paul agrees.

I had no idea it was going to be like this. My plan all along was for our whole family to live my retirement years in the Philippines and for Paul to go to La Salle, or Xavier, or the International School and then eventually to La Salle, Xavier or U.P. Prep for high school. He would then be attending a top-notch school where children of the most prosperous and influential people in the country study.

It was not meant to be. Natasha, who is still in college in Los Angeles, is not as independent as Paulita and I had hoped she would be, so it looks like we're stuck in the U.S. for a while. This is why we moved to Las Vegas in 2007, when we could have moved to the Philippines after we sold our house in South Orange, New Jersey.

I love Las Vegas. The sun always shines in Vegas. It's impossible to be depressed in Vegas. There are so many things to do if you're retired. There are the casinos, the shows, the dance academies, the people who come from all over the world to play and cavort. There are the beautiful people who descend on the Wynn, the Palms, the Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, City Center's Aria and the other 5-star hotel-casinos on the Strip. There is the constant stream of out-of-town visitors who call you to say that they will be visiting Vegas and they'd like to get together with you.

But Paul is too young to appreciate all the fun places and activities here. And he knows how to exact revenge on me for uprooting him from South Orange. He reminds me from time to time that it was because of me that he was forced to abandon his New Jersey friends. He's got me by the balls.

He decides what schools he will go to from now on. He has the final word on the subject. I sometimes wonder if Paul is a prototype for American kids, that the kids born in the U.S. in the future will all be like Paul. I wonder if kids will all feel that they must make the decisions that will affect their lives and not their parents, who may not have their interests in mind.

This may be an important logical development because parents here in the U.S. have often made decisions - divorce, separation, new surroundings, new digs - that impact their children's lives greatly without consulting their children. Future American children may be rebelling and telling their parents that from now on they will make the important decisions that affect their lives and demand that their parents set aside money to sustain them at the place of their choice.

I have not had a bloody-nose nightmare with such a scenario, but it may be just a matter of time before I do.

I cannot, for example, convince Paul that if he spends four years in the Philippines he will go to one of the country's best schools and learn so much more than he would if he stays on track to attend one of the public high schools in Las Vegas. The Clark County school system in Nevada has never had pretensions, but now that tax receipts are down and school boards and local governments are all scrambling to plug huge budgetary gaps, the situation has gotten worse for public school students in Vegas.

Paul doesn't care about the quality of education, he has decided that I will not separate him from his friends again. Not ever.

I did not know, when I was planning my retirement, that retirement could be as complicated as mine. I had an inkling, because I still have a daughter in college and an 11-year-old son. But I did not know it was going to be this difficult.

It's time for Plan B. Paulita and I are now convinced that Paul must attend high school in the Philippines. The quality of high school education at La Salle, Xavier, U.P. Prep - over that of Las Vegas high schools, or many of the high schools in America - is the main reason. But there's also the cultural advantage of growing up in a society where kids appreciate what their parents do for them, where kids still say "opo" when they talk to their elders, where kids look to their parents as gods.

I will know over the next three years if Paul's aversion to living in the Philippines and his phobia for losing contact with his friends will mellow enough to allow for his academic expatriation to the Philippines.

If he gets a girl friend by eighth grade, then all bets will be off.

Charice

The message I get from my son Paul these days is that I'm out of it. I like the standards, such as Sinatra, Tom Jones, Michael Buble, etc. so my radio is always on 104.7 f.m., the great Las Vegas radio station that plays "oldies but goodies" music all day, every day, including Saturdays and Sundays.

The station boasts of being the number one radio station in all of the Las Vegas valley, which is home to many senior citizens and retirees. To my son Paul and his friends who often hitch a ride with us and who along with Paul spill popcorn and soda on my rear car seat and carpet, I've got the worst musical taste in the world.

Paul and his friends take turns switching the radio dial to 94.1 f.m., the r & b station in Las Vegas that is the favorite of kids from 8 to 28. My wife, who is way past 28 (shush), also loves 94.1 f.m. I got introduced to the artists Linkin Park, Green Day and Brand New this way. I also finally put a band's name on the song that Paul belted often when he was nine years old, "In the end, it doesn't really matter..." before he would launch into an unintelligible rap that has never made sense to me.

It was also the way I was introduced to songs by Kelly Clarkson and the new rap, hip-hop and r & b artists like Usher and Lady Gaga. Being of the generation that broke away from our parents when Elvis Presley burst on the world scene and changed the world's culture in the mid-50s, I have a lot of respect for my son's culture.

I still listen to 104.7 f.m. a lot because when I'm driving I want the soothing effects of American standards on my subconscious. But I've also started to like the music in 94.1 f.m.

My wife told me this week that Charice Pempengco's American debut album, "Charice" had reached number 8 on the Billboard 200 chart, and that the album was available at Target stores. So I went to Target to get a copy.

I had a hard time finding the album in the alphabetically-arranged racks, so I asked the store clerk for help.

"You'll find it right at the very front section. It's in the very first rack as you enter the music and movies section," he said. "You can't miss it. We have lots of the album. We sold out the first batch and are working on the second batch."

So I went back to the CDs and DVDs section and sure enough, "Charice" was featured with all the hot artists. They must be selling a lot of these albums, I thought to myself, to be featured in the very first rack along with Celine Dion, Usher, Lady Gaga and other hot artists.

I had often wondered how Charice would do in the American market if she ever made an album. She was, after all, a balladeer and romantic singer - Whitney Houston's "I will always love you," the Dream Girls' "And I'm telling you I'm not going," Celine Dion's "Because I loved you" - which are throwbacks in today's fast-paced world. My skepticism was shattered by this album, appropriately titled "Charice."

The very first song, a duet with Feat Iyaz called "Pyramid," answered all my questions, allayed all my fears. Charice proved her versatility with that one song. She became Lady Gaga, Kelly Clarkson, Celine Dion, Katherine McPhee rolled into one. As I listened, I couldn't help noticing the similarity between her songs and those of Clarkson's and Gaga's.

I Googled "Charice" and found out that David Foster, her mentor and her sponsor along with Oprah, also had wondered about how Charice would transition from a straight balladeer with the huge voice to an r & b star. Foster assembled a group of young songwriters who would turn out sounds and lyrics that remind one of Clarkson's and Gaga's. The result is the hit, "Charice," the debut album that is now starting to gain some traction.

The album, released in February, did not start out strong as America was fixated on Lady Gaga and the American Idol. Besides, no one knew - least of all me - that Charice was a legitimate r & b artist. America had come to know Charice as the tiny gurl with the big voice who could reach the highest of the high notes. She was a Broadway songstress, not an r & b artist.

While nobody was paying attention, word of mouth advertising started to catch fire and by last week, mainstream America seemed to have taken notice and now Charice has a hit that is just behind Usher's "Raymond V Raymond" in Billboard's 200 and ahead of Lady Gaga's "The Fame." Charice has not broken into Billboard's Hot 100 list, but if the current buzz in the Filipino-American community is any indication, the album will break into that iconic Hot 100 list by summer.

I am no music critic but I do appreciate music, especially dancing music because I've been a member of the Delgado Dance Club and have heard a lot of good dancing music. Charice's numbers are all dance-able, but they also pack a wallop because they are good listening music.

The album consists of 12 very good songs. Each song can make it on its own as a single. I've often bought albums that contain two or three very good songs, with the rest of the songs being forgettable music. That is not the case for "Charice."

I spent $14, including tax, on the album. At that price, the album was a give-away. All the songs are well-written, pleasant sounding and beautifully arranged. They all have the today sound, the sound that I hear on my car radio when my Paul and his friends are riding my car.

If I start to hear Charice's songs on 94.1, starting with her most popular number, "Pyramid," I will know that Charice Pempengco, who stole the world's heart as a 15-year-old pre-puberty girl with the big voice from Laguna province in the Philippines, has finally arrived now that she is a sultry 18-year-old.

She's not yet the female version of Manny Pacquiao, but she has the talent to get her to that level. And if she's willing to metamorphose into a seductive siren songstress, she may be primed to take over the American youth's consciousness like Madonna before her, then Britney Speers, then Gaga.

She will need some facial jewelry, a trademark make-up, lots and lots of tight-fitting jeans and stiletto shoes and a tattoo. If she is willing to go through this metamorphosis, she will travel far. For her sake and for the sake of the Filipino global nation that is hungry for international heroes, I wish she would abandon the traditional Filipino virgin look and become an international woman. Her photos on the "Charice" album are just the earth-shaking move to start her transformation.

An Aquino Thoroughbred

Nothing is ever clear cut in the Philippines. The people elected a President who promises to rid the country of the unwanteds, the unwashed politicians whose hands retain the stench of unholy alliances with the corrupt, the drug lords, the jueteng lords, the murderous elements in the country's recent inglorious past.

The Maguindanao massacre, for instance, could not have happened without the culture of corruption and blatant disregard for people's welfare on the part of many in the Arroyo administration.

It was a decisive victory for the new president-elect, Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III. Unfortunately, he has no coat-tails. He couldn't get his running mate - Mar Roxas - elected. The two of them had promised to clean up the mess that the two previous administrations left and are leaving. The people seemingly rejected the idea.

Instead, Filipinos hedged their bets. They elected a President who is long on vision and heart but short on experience and expertise. They made sure that the second in command has a proven record of executive accomplishments and expertise. They turned to Jejomar Binay, the Mayor who transformed Makati into not only a gleaming metropolis but also a shining example of how a big city can take care of business and also take care of its citizens. The way Binay takes care of the city's retirees and senior citizens is generations ahead of other city mayors.

Never mind that there are rumors that Binay is not the person to turn to if one is looking for a corruption fighter.

The voters sent mixed signals with their choices for twelve senators who will join the holdover twelve senators to form the new Senate.

If the country really wants Noynoy to clean up the government - and survey after survey indicates that this is what the country wants - their senatorial choices are mystifying.

Noynoy clearly needs a supporting cast in the Senate that will introduce legislation that will make it easier for Noynoy to pursue his good governance and accountability agenda. He is not getting one, based on the top twelve finishers in the senatorial contest.

There are the usual suspects: Ramon Revilla, Miriam Santiago, Johnny Enrile, Vic Sotto, Sergio Osmena and Lito Lapid. There are the senators who seem to be on track to eventually becoming statesmen/stateswomen: Franklin Drilon, Pia Cayetao, Ralph Recto and Teofisto Guingona but who are short on charisma.

And then there are the blatantly ambitious, whose ultimate goal is to either win or buy the Presidency someday: Ferdinand (Bongbong) Marcos, Jr. and Jinggoy Estrada.

Thirteenth placer Risa Hontiveros is poised to sneak in, being the replacement for Noynoy Aquino, who is ascending to the Presidency.

The top twelve finishers and Risa Hontiveros will join the eleven holdover senators whose terms end in 2013. Edgardo Angara, Joker Arroyo, Alan Cayetano, Chiz Escudero, Gregorio Honasan, Panfilo Lacson, Loren Legarda, Francis Pangilinan, Antonio Trillanes, Manny Villar and Juan Miguel Zubiri are eagerly awaiting their new and re-elected comrades for a celebration of pork barrel riches once the complete results of the recent elections are certified.

It will be happy days are here again, or happy days once more, or happy days forever for these folks.

The composition of the Senate and the unexpected presidential Trojan Horse "gift" - Jejomar Binay - will make it very difficult for Noynoy Aquino to pursue his corruption-fighting agenda, thanks to the voters of the Philippines.

With Marcos, Estrada, Enrile, Lacson (has he come out of hiding yet?), Escudero, Pangilinan, Legarda, Villar and Honasan second-guessing him, Noynoy will find it difficult to get anything through the Senate. These folks - once and future presidentiables - are interested in burnishing their images. If they opt to go for the good of the country it will be like St. Paul embracing Jesus.

They lie in wait, anticipating that moment when they can break from the pack and put themselves on a trajectory towards the presidency in 2016.

The greatest evil in Philippine governance is the 24 senators. Most of them, sitting in their senate offices, dream of someday becoming President. Some, like Lapid, Trillanes, Honasan and Osmena probably know that the presidency is not within their grasp - not now, not ever.

But most of these senators think that maybe someday, when the stars align, they could go for the biggest office in the land.

These ambitious senators, on day one, set up a savings account - a sinking fund - for their eventual run for the roses. You know what that means. It means for some stealing the country blind. They all do it under cover of night, away from the glare of public scrutiny, with fictitious names and hidden bank accounts.

The Senate is the greatest evil in Philippine governance. It is an invention crafted in hell. And it's one reason people concerned for the welfare of the country want to abolish the Senate. They want a unicameral legislature under a parliamentary system of government.

In a parliamentary system, all members of parliament are on notice that if they screw up they can be replaced at a moment's notice. Even the Prime Minister is on notice that if there is a no-confidence vote in the Parliament, new elections will have to be called. The people will decide which MP's (members of parliament) to fire or to keep, which political party to entrust the government to, which political party shall elect the country's Prime Minister.

There will be no shadow governments consisting of senators whose primary mission is to see that the President fails in his attempt to clean up the government and drain the swamp where the jueteng lords, drug lords, 20-percenters live and propagate. These senators do not want to close down the political brothels that are their sources of funds for their eventual run for the Presidency.

In a perfect world, there will be no senatorial shadow governments because there no longer will be a Presidency to aspire for. There won't even be a Senate.

Meanwhile, Noynoy Aquino need not play the hand that he is dealt with. He must gather the country's top talents who with their record of integrity and unusual accomplishments, will lend an air of expertise and inspired leadership to his administration. He must look not only at the people in the Philippines, but also at Filipinos in the Diaspora.

Aquino's transition team must identify and entice people whose stature will lend credibility to his claim that he is a new kind of leader and corruption fighter. Number one on my list of potential cabinet members for Noynoy is Loida Nicolas Lewis. She would be an excellent choice as Trade and Industry Secretary.

Bobby de Ocampo should be cajoled out of retirement and made Secretary of Finance a second time. Secretary Romulo deserves to be retained in Foreign Affairs.

Bayani Fernando is a natural in Interior and Local Government. Richard Gordon was born to head the National Economic and Development Authority. There is ringing endorsement of Among Ed Panlilio as the next Bureau of Internal Revenue Commisioner. If that position is not open to him, the Dept. of Public Works and Highways is a good fit, considering his experience and narrative in Pampanga.

Grace Padaca's exemplary record on preserving the environment in the Cagayan Valley makes her an obvious choice for Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources.

The bulk of Noynoy's appointments must of course consist of people he absolutely trusts and who are eminently qualified.

It is important, however, that Noynoy seek out the people he defeated in the polls and others who were not in his intimate circle during the campaign to impress upon the Filipino people that he is a different kind of President. That he will strive to assemble a team based on proven records of competence and honesty.

None of the people I have recommended are perfect men and women, but that's because there are no perfect men or women in the Philippines or anywhere.

Each of his appointments, however, must strive towards perfection. Especially in the area of personal honesty and integrity. The country cannot suffer another Kamaganak, Inc. Cory Aquino presidency. It will no longer be enough that Noynoy prove to be un-corrupt and incorruptible. All the people he appoints to cabinet positions must be pro-active corruption fighters. If any of his appointees fails in this area, he must ask for their resignation. Immediately.

A lot of my friends are cynical about the country's prospects. I don't blame them. Nor do I blame the Filipino people, who have time and again been shafted by their leaders.

As long as there is a new beginning, there's always hope that things will be dramatically different around these parts.

Everyone will be watching Noynoy. His every move. His every voice inflection. To sense sincerity and honesty.

The people expect much more from Noynoy than anyone in the Philippines. They love dynasties, but they absolutely adore the Aquino dynasty because they have made the judgment that the Aquino clan are thoroughbreds.

Books, beers, boxing and elections

There are indications that there might be an upset in the making in the Philippine presidential election on Monday, May 10. My friend, Danny Gil, who has moved back to the Philippines for good after a lifetime as an engineer in the U.S., says the younger Filipinos are out in force for Gilbert Teodoro, the current fourth placer in most surveys.

Gibo Teodoro's last rally drew 130,000 people, mostly young idealistic Pinoys and Pinays, while Noynoy Aquino's could attract only 65,000 people. This, despite the fact that Noynoy's army had been deployed to haul in as many Filipinos as they could for the rally.

My friend also reports that there was not much energy in Villar's rally, which was attended by an estimated 30,000. In fact, former President Estrada's rally drew much more than Villar's. Never mind that Estrada was a convicted plunderer until pardoned by President Arroyo and is known world-wide as the tenth most corrupt political leader in the world. The poor and disenfranchised in the Philippines still want him to be their President.

There are rumors that Estrada has an agimat, or anting-anting, which allegedly has magical powers that have fixed people's fascination for this former B-movie actor for all time. I can't comment on the reliability of such reports, but I do know that if there is indeed an agimat or anting-anting it does not work on the educated and elite Filipinos. Most in the educated and elite Filipino community regard the 71-year-old former President as a clownish nuisance.

But, since a good slice of the Filipino electorate think elections are a joke and can be stolen by the rich and powerful, who knows who the people will actually vote for?

My friend Danny reminds me that former President Fidel Ramos consistently showed up in fourth place in surveys leading up to election day in 1992 but managed to pull off an upset victory.

Convicted plunderer Estrada, who is currently in second place in some surveys and fast closing in on Noynoy's lead, may win by a nose. To the consternation of the intellectuals, reformers, elitists, educators, religious leaders, and just about everyone who cares about the future of governance in the Philippines.

My friend's enthusiasm for Gilbert Teodoro is, unfortunately, unwarranted because Teodoro's appeal is with the educated elite and the idealistic youth. This appeal never translates to victory in the polls because the C, D and E classes (the poor and lower middle classes) comprise 70 to 80% of the electorate and those are not going to vote for Gibo Teodoro.

I personally would be delighted by a Teodoro victory because he is a nephew of one of the friends I grew up with in Manila. His mother used to have lunch with us guys at my friend's house, though I could never count her as my friend. She was not the overly friendly type, was apparently shy and reserved, and seemingly looked upon us friends of her brother's as a curious bunch. Nonetheless, a Teodoro victory would please me mainly because it would please my childhood friend, but I just don't think it is possible on Monday. 2016 perhaps?

The biggest surprise of the 2010 election is Senator Manny Villar, who went from number one at the start of the campaign season to his current third place in most of the pre-election surveys. This is a personal tragedy of Greek mythology proportions. A man who has never lost an election and who has built up a real estate empire from an initial shoe-string operation appears to have self-destructed in recent months.

Villar can't seem to burnish his image after a torrent of critical newspaper and Internet stories flooded Filipino consciousness. This proves that if a story is repeated over and over, pretty soon even the marginally literate and downright stupid will believe it.

Of course, since Villar appears to be the Arroyo administration's secret true ally, the voting machines could end up deciding the eventual winner of the election. Whoever controls the voting machines controls the outcome of the election. President Gloria Arroyo controls those voting machines, according to the cynics, and the result of the presidential election has already been pre-ordained.

The Filipino people, especially the so-called Yellow army of leading candidate Noynoy Aquino, are gearing up for an election night vigil and street rallies and protests. Stay tuned, the aftermath may be the most interesting.

I do not condone any kind of revolution, other than a "kick-the-bums-out" revolution in the ballot box, but I would completely understand if the Filipino people finally go out in the streets and enforce their will through bloody and noisy demonstrations, if not outright armed rebellion.

OK, snap out of it, Cesar. None of this will happen because if there are glitches in the voting machines, the Philippine Commission on Elections can still count the paper ballots that shall be cast and read by the machines. What? No paper ballots? But that's impossible. The Filipino people were promised paper ballots as back-up to the machine counts.

I don't have the Filipino channels in my DirecTV satellite subscription but I will call DirecTV this morning and subscribe to the Filipino channels. I think the days after Monday's election will test the will and character of the Filipino people and the patience of the military, which has been quietly watching recent trends and developments with eagle eyes.

I'd like to know whose side the Philippine army is on. But the army is no longer the monolithic army of bygone days. There are factions and fissures now. Which faction is more numerous and cohesive: the PMA class of 1978 who are reputed Gloria Arroyo allies, or the Magdalo faction, whose leader - Cesar Trillanes - is quietly pulling strings from behind the bars in his prison cell?

This is Philippine democracy in action. One front-row seat, please.

Too bad I can't drink beer or any kind of liquor anymore. Doctor's orders. So I'll just have to make do with the popcorn and the root beer.

I'm sure Obama's people are watching the Philippine elections, which will decide not only the next President but also half of its senators and all of its congress people. The country remains a showcase for American-style democracy. If the Philippines messes up big-time, it will be #@!%$-ing big, as Vice President Joe Biden might whisper into Obama's ear.

The IMF, the World Bank and other lenders are watching the unfolding zarzuela, ever-concerned that any kind of major political upheaval in the Philippines could damage the country's ability to service its sovereign debts. A Philippine default on its foreign loans is just what the world doesn't need, with the Greeks almost certainly eventually defaulting on their debts and the Spaniards hot on their trail.

But, should the world really worry about a Philippine default? The country owes $80 billion, but more than half of this is owed to Filipino creditors. A $40 billion default will not be seismic to a world economy that is 61.1 trillion U.S. dollars. That would put Philippine debt to the world at .00007, 7 thousandths of 1 percent.

Of course, the country could still surprise us, with the widely-expected winner - Noynoy Aquino - emerging as a clear victor. What are the odds of this happening? I'd say there's a 50-50 chance. In the Philippines, the candidate the plurality of Filipinos vote for is not always declared the winner. Not unless it is a landslide of historic proportions.

By late Tuesday or early Wednesday, the world may know who the next President of the Philippines shall be. I'm still counting on Noynoy Aquino to pull this off.

The Magdalos will just have to wait for a more opportune time to take over the reins of government in the Philippines.

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Speaking of odds, shortly after the Mayweather-Mosely fight, Vegas odds-makers installed Manny Pacquiao a -120 favorite to defeat Mayweather in what appears to be the inevitable Pacquiao-Mayweather fight late this year or early next year. I don't know what -120 favorite odds are, so someone who is familiar with betting odds will just have to educate us.

I was at a dance party last Saturday, May 1st, and wasn't interested in the Mayweather-Mosely fight. One of the guests at the party lives close by and had bought the fight's pay-per-view and invited all interested parties but I declined since I am contemptible of Mayweather, who intentionally scuttled the Pacquio fight by making impossible demands on Pacquiao.

Turns out to be a very instructive fight. Mayweather proved that he can take a punch. Mosely rocked Mayweather with a one-two combination in the second round, but the latter just shook it off and dominated the remaining rounds.

Mayweather will be a very tough fight for Pacquiao because the guy is hard to hit. He fights like a snake. He strikes, slithers away, strikes again, slithers away. This is the way Mayweather fights. Pacquiao can be frustrated by a fighter like him.

The odds-makers are right, though. It's impossible to hide from Manny. Sooner or later, Manny will tag Mayweather and then Manny's patented swarming, piranha-like feeding frenzy will take over and Mayweather will find himself sitting on the canvas.

I don't think Manny can knock Mayweather out because, let's face it, the guy is a great undefeated fighter who will find a way to survive Manny's ferocity. He will be able to run and clinch, run and clinch and throw enough rabbit punches to frustrate Manny.

Manny by decision, maybe even a split decision. The -120 odds in favor of Manny appears to be accurate, whatever that means.

I may even defy my doctors and pop open a San Miguel beer for that one.

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I always try to read David Brooks' columns in the New York Times. All NYT columnists are highly-educated and well-read, but Brooks stands half-a-head above them all. He has an amazing grasp of social issues and he can communicate his insights with crystalline clarity.

Nearly everyone in the academic circles of America knows that Asian Americans nearly always rise to the top. In fact, the joke among male high school seniors is that if they want to score high on SAT tests they have to date Asian chicks.

50% of all adult Asian Americans are college graduates, while only 31% of whites are, according to Brooks. The equivalent figures for blacks is 17% and for Hispanics it's 13%.

In terms of actual achievement, what this translates to are the following:

1. Asian Americans have a life expectancy of 87 years, compared with 79 years for whites and 73 for blacks. The more educated a person the better he takes care of himself, which is why there is some correlation between educational levels and healthy lifestyles.

2. In survey after survey, Asian Americans in the New York metropolitan region out-earn whites and all other minority classes. The correlation between educational levels and lifetime earnings is well documented, so it's not surprising that Asian Americans have risen to the top economically in the U.S. Caution: as a group, not as individuals. Whites still produce, far and away, the richest individuals in this country.

Asian Americans share the tradition of valuing education - especially college education - with the people in their home countries. They have made the judgment over the years that education transforms lives. This judgment has been proven correct in their home countries, in the U.S. and just about everywhere.

Which brings us back full circle to the Philippines. The country produces a bumper crop of engineers and other college graduates, but only in relation to available jobs. There are so few job openings for college graduates in the Philippines that even though only a small percentage of Filipinos earn college degrees, it feels like the country is producing too many.

We know, however, that globally education is the key to economic ascendancy. The Philippines must find a way to educate its masses adequately and encourage them to go for a college degree. If 50% of Filipinos eventually earn their college degree, they will not only live longer, they will become economically dominant. Just as the 50% of Asian Americans who have college degrees have become economically dominant.

College education is so cheap in the Philippines that if the government finds the will to provide a college education to a majority of college-age Filipinos it probably can be done.

My book, Out of the Misty Sea We Must (Blueprint for a New Philippines), is in the final stages of completion. Central in that book is the mandate for overhauling the public school system in the Philippines completely - turning it right side up - thereby elevating the skill levels of Filipino workers and raising the standards of all colleges and universities in the Philippines.

It should be out soon and available at amazon.com. I hope you'll buy it. You'll be surprised at the quality of the photography. Those who know the creative photographer, Carlos Esguerra, will of course not be surprised at all. But the majority in the Philippine-American community will be pleasantly surprised.

Oh, by the way, the editorial content is not too shabby and will be worth all of the $11.95 that the book will cost. $7 for orders originating in the Philippines.

My friend, Jobo Elizes, is the publisher.

The Silly Season

This must be the silly season. During the primaries in 2008, the then candidate Obama told the nation that the months leading up to the Democratic Presidential Convention – when it was clear to the world that Obama would win the nomination – were the campaign’s "silly season."

It was that time of the year when the losing candidate – Hillary Clinton – would make silly and unsubstantiated charges against Obama as a last and final try to derail the Obama campaign.

It must be the silly season now in this country because we are being subjected to – literally – the silliest arguments by our politicians.

Having been defeated in their attempts to short-circuit the health care reform legislation passed by a Democratic-controlled Congress, Republicans are hard at work trying to salvage scraps from their train wreck.

First, they finally came out with their own health reform plan. They said people should get tax cuts so they will be able to afford to pay for health insurance.

Let’s analyze this. A family of four with a combined income of $50,000 probably pays a total of $4000 in Federal income taxes. Give that family a tax cut of 10% and at the end of the year the family will have $400 more disposable income. Let’s see... this family would be lucky to find health insurance for less than $800 per month, or $9600 per year.

The tax cut gives them $400, so where will they get the shortfall of $9400 per year?

Another idea being pushed by Republicans is health savings accounts that accumulate tax free. Assume for the same four-member family an ability to set aside $100 per month in a health savings account. After six months Papa Bear gets sick and needs surgery done. The total cost is only $15000 because it’s minor surgery and requires only a two day stay in the hospital.

The health savings account was set up six months ago, so it only has $600 accumulated in it. Where will the $14400 shortfall come from?

Now we learn that an original-thinking, out-of-the-box Republican has a great idea. She says, forget about insurance, forget about tax cuts, forget about health savings accounts. Just go to your doctor and make arrangements to pay him in kind. Pay him in chickens, for crying out loud. That’s right, she says, pay him in chickens or offer to paint his house for him, or pay him in some other kind.

This Republican thinker is Sue Lowden, the leading Republican candidate for senator of Nevada and an odds-on favorite to unseat Harry Reid, the sitting Nevada Democrat who also happens to be the U.S. Senate Majority Leader.

Sue Lowden was interviewed after she made the statement about paying doctors with chickens and instead of backtracking, she elaborated on her health care plan. In the interim, she had received support from a doctor in Henderson, Nevada, who would accept payments in chickens if the patients can’t come up with the cash.

As of this writing, a few people in Nevada are offering their services to set up a barter system that will make it easier for people with no money to see their doctors and pay them with chickens or in kind.

The rest of Nevada can no longer hold back their laughter.

Let me see. Assume that a doctor charges $75 for an office visit. At an average of 3 pounds for every dressed chicken, that’s 25 chickens that the patient must give her doctor. The chickens have to be refrigerated to prevent spoilage. That means that the patient must rent a refrigerated truck to deliver the chickens. The doctor’s office must have a huge freezer to store all the chickens he expects to receive from his patients. And his nurses and office help will need to wash their hands each time they take in a bunch of dressed chickens.

So much for the chicken idea.

Let’s explore the other idea. The patient could pay the doctor “in kind.” The patient could paint the doctor’s house. But what if the doctor’s house has just been painted, or is brand new? Hmm, let’s see. What if the patient washes the doctor’s cars? But the doctor can have his cars washed for $5 at the school where kids on a football team are washing cars to raise funds. “OK,” the patient will likely say, “I’ll charge $5 a wash, so your three cars will get 5 washes each.”

“Fine,” the doctor says, “you’ve got a deal. Now where do you propose to do the wash?”

“I’ll do it in front of your garage,” the patient offers.

“But I live in a condo high-rise and there’s no space…”

“Fine, I’ll wash your cars in front of my house,” the patient offers.

“How are we going to get my cars to your house?” the doctor asks.

“Well, you could drive the cars over. While I’m washing your cars, you could be waiting in my kitchen and drinking coffee.”

“I’ll tell you what,” the doctor finally says, “you’re an attractive young woman. Why don’t you just invite me to your house and pay me in kind in any way you want.”

The patient, a pretty 26-year-old woman, flashes her snow-white teeth.

Is this the alternative health care plan that the Republicans said they would offer if the Democrats were only willing to scrap their health care reform legislation and started from scratch? The country almost fell for the Republican promise to restart the health care debate from scratch and put the country on the right track.

What the Republicans did not tell us was that starting from scratch meant starting with chicken scratch.

Why do politicians become silly when all they want to do is be original? It’s because we don’t have an intelligent electorate in this country. The silliest arguments are advanced because they can be made easily and in the form of sound bites. The shorter the message, the easier for people to remember.

God forbid a candidate should ask his voters to think. How dare him make me think. He is out of touch. He is an elitist. He is a liberal. He is asking me to think.
People worship at the feet of Sarah Palin because she talks their language: “It's good to be among you, the real Americans,” (translation: Obama is not, he is a Kenyan); “We will re-load," in obvious reference to the Tea Party’s predilection for carrying loaded weapons to political rallies.

“This is a gangster government!” Michelle Bachman screams.

“Obama is a racist!” cries Glenn Beck.

"They're setting up "death panels," warns Sarah Palin.

Ex-convicts who are sexual deviants must not be given Viagra through the new health care plan, one Republican senator offered by way of amendment to the health care reform law.

Down with European-style socialism, screams a banner being waved by an elderly man who probably is on Medicare and receiving Social Security payments.

The leaders know that if they do not stoop to the level of their audience they will be ignored, or dismissed as elitists. Or worse, the right-wing dogs will be let loose on them.

We test our school-age children to get a snap-shot of their academic progress each year. Is there some kind of test for adults?

America is mired in the longest-running silly season. Is this what happens when a country is on the decline?