2009 - A Retrospective

2009 ends in a few days and with this year-end the first decade of the 21st century ends. In all the years I have been privileged to exist on this planet - or anywhere, as far as I know - there has never been a year when so many have disappointed nearly all of us.

If you are a thinking man with blood pressure problems, don't live in the Philippines for surely your elevated blood pressure will rocket through the ceiling. Don't live in the U.S. either, where the Lords of Chutzpah held a never-ending Shriners-style convention all year. Don't live anywhere in the world, except perhaps Australia, Switzerland and Canada, where people seemed to get most things right.

I am creating year-end awards this year that I hope to keep up over the years. Luckily, there are some "points of light" in the heavenly darkness which leads one to conclude that there may be hope yet.

The Nykos2 Person of the Year: The deposed governor of Isabela province, Philippines -

Maria Gracia Cielo "Grace" Magno Padaca

The 46-year-old Grace Padaca, a recipient of the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay award for public service in 2008 and the International Women of Courage Award in 2007, was stripped of her governorship after the Philippines' Commission on Elections held a "recount" of votes that found Benjamin Dy had actually won the 2007 election for governor of Isabela. More than 17,000 votes previously counted for Governor Grace were invalidated by the Commission on Elections, First District, because Governor Padaca's name had been mis-spelled, yada-yada-yada.

The shenanigans employed by her opponents in the Comelec were reminiscent of the "hanging chads" controversy in the U.S. Presidential election (Gore vs. Bush) in 2000.

In the U.S. election, the question of voter intent was paramount, according to the Florida Supreme Court. If there was a clear indication that voters had selected either Bush or Gore, the votes should be counted even if the chads were hanging, indented, etc.

In the case of Benjamin Dy vs. Padaca in the Philippines, voters had clearly voted for Governor Padaca even though those voters had mis-spelled her name. Mystifyingly, the Comelec, First District, invalidated those ballots and thus awarded the governorship to Benjamin Dy.

Mr. Dy apparently does not think that if there is a rematch he will prevail over Governor Grace, which is why he is running for mayor of his hometown instead of governor next year. Governor Grace will again run for governor and will probably win by a landslide. The Dy in the Dy dynasty who will be Governor Grace's opponent is the one who defeated her in 2001 for Congress, Faustino "Bojie" Dy. Ms. Padaca initially won that election, but her win was overturned by the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal after votes marked only with "Grace" were invalidated even though no other person going by the name of "Grace" had run in that election.

Governor Grace Padaca, or simply "Grace" to her supporters, was a green revolutionist who stopped all the illegal logging that was going on in her province. She was a fighter for good governance and a passionate advocate of true democracy, which abhors dynasties. She openly campaigned against the dynastic stranglehold of Isabela politics by the Dy clan.

This created for her some very powerful enemies which eventually led to her downfall. She is an environmental and good governance martyr.

Courage and Conscience Awards

1. Governor Ed Panlilio of Pampanga, Philippines - a potential martyr for the cause of good governance. His election in 2007 is also under protest and may be overturned by the Commission on Elections. There is widespread apprehension that the Comelec may yet find a way to "sell" their looming decision to the public.

2. Naga City, Philippines Mayor Jesse Robredo - a good governance advocate allied with Governors Grace Padaca and Ed Panilio.

3. San Isidro, Nueva Ecija, Philippines Mayor Sonia Lorenzo - a good governance ally of Panilio, Padaca and Robredo.

4. Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, U.S.A. - once he had his jaws locked on health care reform in the U.S., he would not let go. His advocacy of the health care reform issue may yet turn out to be the final straw that will cost him his job as U.S. Senator in 2010. This was a sacrifice that he was obviously willing to make.

5. President Barack Obama - He used all of his political capital, and then some, to push through the unpopular stimulus package, the bailout of banks and the U.S. automobile industry, caps and trade, climate change and the health reform package in the U.S. Congress. All this at the risk of becoming a one-term President. A real stand-up "Profiles in Courage" guy.

6. The Christian Brothers (De La Salle Brothers) in the Philippines - They were the first mainstream religious group to condemn the Maguindanao massacre and to lay the blame at the feet of President Gloria Arroyo for coddling the alleged perpetrators, the Ampatuans. No other major religious group in the Philippines has had the courage to point out what is obvious to a lot of Filipinos, that the close ties between President Arroyo and the Ampatuans were partly responsible for the heinous crimes allegedly committed by the Ampatuans.

And now for the sad stories of 2009:

Sons and Daughters of Beelzebub Awards

1. Andal Ampatuan, Sr., Governor of Maguindanao Province, Philippines. While the guilt of his son Andal Ampatuan, Jr. is yet to be proved in court, the Sr. Ampatuan's complicity in the crime of the 21st century (so far) is obvious to many because the backhoe that was used to move the dirt that covered the bodies of the 57 murdered Maguindanaoans and journalists was property of Maguindanao province. It is inconceivable to many that the provincial property could have been used for the purpose without the governor's approval.

2. The Ampatuan brothers, scions of Andal Ampatuan, Sr., who have been identified by eyewitnesses as having participated in the murder of the 57 Maguindanaoans and journalists. The brothers are a long way from being convicted of anything, of course, but then again...there are witnesses.

3. The Ayatollahs of Iran, who brutally quashed the Iranian students and freedom fighters who were agitating for electoral reforms.

4. The Pakistani-led mass murderers who went on a rampage in the streets of Bombay, India.

The Lords of Chutzpah (Filipino translation - Ang Kapal ng Mga Mukha)

1. Former Philippine President Joseph Estrada, who is running for President - again - after serving time in prison and house arrest following his conviction for the crime of plunder of the Philippine treasury.

2. The Philippine Commission on Elections, for allowing Estrada to run for President again and for its egregiously one-sided decision in the Dy vs. Padaca electoral complaint.

3. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and the Arroyo clan, for filing candidacies for Congress despite their dismally low approval ratings and despite questions about the legitimacy of the Arroyo presidency and the widespread allegations that the family is corrupt to the core. Also, for her decision to attend a conference in Asia while half a million Filipinos remained homeless as Typhoon Ondoy floodwaters continued to threaten their lives.

4. Former First Lady Imelda Marcos, for thinking that she deserves to be elected Congresswoman from an Ilocos Norte, Philippines district being vacated by her son, who is running for governor of the province.

5. U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, for opposing the expansion of Medicare which he previously championed as a candidate for President in 2004, presumably as a vindictive attempt to plunge a stick in the eye of U.S. progressives.

6. Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, for suggesting that the health reform bill was establishing "death panels" that would decide on which old people lived, and which ones died to save government money.

7. "President" Ahmadinejad of Iran, for claiming that he won the Iranian election "fair and square."

8. Senator Panfilo Lacson of the Philippines, for fingering Estrada as the mastermind in the Bobby Dacer murder, despite the fact that everyone in the Philippines - all 90 million of them - know that Estrada's henchman during the two's glory days was none other than Panfilo Lacson.

9. Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina and U.S. Senator John Ensign of Nevada, for refusing to resign after being exposed for marital infidelity and probable ethical misconduct in the use of public funds and in the case of Ensign, the alleged use of campaign funds to silence the husband in his adulterous menage a trois.

10. Former U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney, for suggesting that President Obama is neglecting Afghanistan, after he and former President George Bush neglected Afghanistan from 2003 through 2008.

11. The U.S. banks that were "too big to fail," for refusing to grant small business loans after the U.S. government bailed them out from near-certain bankruptcy. Instead, the banks invested the bail-out money in the fast-recovering stock and financial instruments markets and made record profits.

The Worst Persons in the World (apologies to Keith Olbermann)

1. Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh of Fox News. Beck for calling African-American President Obama a racist and Limbaugh for wishing that the economy stays bad so the American people will turn on Obama and the Democrats.

2. President Gloria M. Arroyo for declaring martial law in Maguindanao, apparently to protect the Ampatuans, after doing nothing to prevent the slaughter of the Ampatuans' political enemies and independent journalists.

3. Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme ruler of Iran, for allowing the murder, rape and torture of Iranian electoral protesters in the aftermath of the disputed Presidential election in that country.

There you go, folks. Comments and suggestions for additional award recipients and citations are welcome.

Noynoy Aquino must offer a full slate of candidates

Spencer Haywood was a basketball star in the U.S. in the mid 1960s and, though a mere sophomore in college, he led the U.S. to an Olympics basketball championship in the 1968 Olympiad.

After a brief glorious career at the defunct American Basketball Association, he was drafted by the Seattle Supersonics in 1970 and went on to star for that team. Though he did not deliver an NBA championship, he made the Sonics a perennial contender. Eventually, the relationship between Haywood and the Sonics soured and he was dispatched to the New York Knicks. The Sonics replaced Haywood with a heralded legitimate star of the Denver Nuggets, Marvin "The Human Eraser" Webster.

The New York Knicks were in unfamiliar doldrums after their championship runs in the late 60s and early 70s, and Haywood was the hired gun to put the team back on track to another championship season.

The New York press was unimpressed and asked him (my paraphrase), "You are being hailed as the savior of this franchise, do you think it's the position you want to be in?"

Haywood replied, "If they want me to be the savior, then I will be their savior."

Haywood flopped as a New York Knick, just like Bob McAdoo before him, who had earlier been hailed as the Knicks' savior. Marvin Webster turned out to be the Sonics' savior and put the team in the NBA championship in 1978. The Sonics team lost in the 7th and final game against the Washington Bullets.

One of the lessons we can perhaps learn from this is that quite often the "savior" that we all seem to be looking for turns out to be a dud, while the one we never ever thought could be any help turns out to be the savior who comes in from the cold.

I have been tossing in my head this "savior" notion over the past few days because of an emerging phenomenon in the Philippine political scene that seems to put the country inexorably in the path of a Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino, III presidency.

The country seems to have coalesced behind the son of the late Benigno and Cory Aquino tandem that ended the brutal and corrupt dictatorship of the Marcoses' self-proclaimed royalty.

The "savior" that the country was looking for until lately appeared to be Senate President Manny Villar. His rags-to-riches story resonated with the people, and with his enormous riches fueling his television campaign, Manny was the odds-on favorite to nail the presidential election in May, 2010.

Then Cory died and the country's focus was, as if by magic, redirected to a search for an uncorrupt and incorruptible man in the mold of the late Cory Aquino. The new "savior" is now the late Aquino's son, Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aguino, III. This savior seems to have come in from the cold.

Nobody expected anything from Noynoy. A confirmed bachelor more interested in beauty queens than the country's welfare and much less charismatic than his sister Kris Aquino who many were projecting as presidential material in the not-too-distant future, Noynoy was a political afterthought.

Then the late revered Cory dies and BAM! the country turns to the un-charismatic Noynoy.

Why do people consider him their next "savior"? First, he is an Aquino, a thoroughbred issue from the latest heroic Filipino historical figures in a long list of Filipino tragic historical figures. Second, because there is no record or accusation of Noynoy Aquino being a corrupt politician, the voters assume that once in power Noynoy will be an uncorrupt and incorruptible President.

While there is always a chance that Noynoy will turn out to be the exact opposite of his current image once in power, it's a safe bet that he will not tarnish the memory of both his parents by governing as a mere trapo (traditional politician).

If I were a betting man, I would bet that "corrupt" would not be an adjective that we all will be using to describe Noynoy as a President. What he actually accomplishes as a President, by way of infrastructure projects, attraction of foreign investors, helping millions of Filipinos escape the clutches of poverty - all remain question marks for this relatively old bachelor.

The country is poised to elect a man President on the basis of one issue: he is not corrupt. What that signals is that the Filipinos are ready to slay the dragon that guards the castle and has imprisoned the fair Princess Fiona. They are seeking to slay the single, most fearsome creature that is preventing Filipinos from dreaming that any positive changes can take place in the Philippines: corruption in the highest levels of government.

To this writer, it is reminiscent of the Obama phenomenon. Americans wanted Change, and they were betting that Change was what they would get from Obama.

Filipinos want change to an uncorrupt Presidency and by extension an uncorrupt government, and they feel that this change is what they will get from Noynoy.

I would rank corruption in government as the most important problem confronting Filipinos. Many have correctly pointed out that a lot of other countries, including the U.S., are plagued with official corruption also, but corruption does not seem to be a barrier to economic development and continued prosperity.

Yet, while other countries have never rid themselves of corruption, it was only after corruption was minimized and controlled that such countries actually took off economically.

We all know about North Korea. The leaders and well-connected live lavish lifestyles, while peasants have either died from famines or are in danger of being the next ones to die. North Korea is a classic case of the egregiously unbalanced distribution of scarce resources and wealth through official government corruption, resulting in periodic famines.

Afghanistan is feeding in the trough of U.S. largess, but it seems that only those well-connected have a place in the pigs' dining tables, while the rest of the country must resort to growing poppies and distributing the derived heroin to survive.

In addition to the uneven distribution of wealth in the Philippines, any 6th grader in the Philippines knows that the reason a lot of people make it big there and a whole lot more people live their lives in quiet desperation is not because of a meritocratic distribution of wealth and opportunity, but because in Darwinian Philippines, the survivors are often the corrupt, the corruptors, smugglers, jueteng entrepreneurs and other law-breakers.

Too harsh? Visit the Philippines and talk to the urban middle class, the taxi drivers, the legions of men and women who earn less than $3 a day and have trouble feeding and housing their families.

Filipinos are telling us loud and clear that they do not want a continuation of the status quo. They want a new leader, one who will break down the culture of corruption, one who will end the tradition of Presidents using the Philippine treasury as their personal bank account.

Filipinos want a clean government, a level playing field. They want to wake up one day and find that the deserving and the entrepreneurial, not the well-connected, have the corner on the scarce wealth and resources. They dream of a rags-to-riches storybook ending, like the two Manny (Pacquiao and Villar) stories.

But they are not turning to either man, they are turning to Noynoy.

Therein lies the danger. If Noynoy wins the Presidency in May, 2010, which he seems poised to do at this stage of the campaign, the expectations will be very high on three fronts:

1. He is expected to end the corruption at the highest levels which the Arroyos are perceived to be engaged in and for which similar corruption Arroyo's predecessor had been convicted of plunder.

2. His style of governance is expected to inspire lower-level government officials to focus on good governance and not on self-aggrandizement.

3. He is expected to have a love affair with the people the way his mother, Cory, had such a love affair and to the extent that his father had been inspired to surrender his life to benefit his countrymen.

People don't seem to care that Noynoy is not known as an economic development type. The recent SWS (Social Weather Service) survey seems to correlate support for Noynoy with the anti-corruption issue, while support for Manny Villar, who comes in a distant second, appears to correlate with the preference for someone who emerged from poverty to become one of the richest men in the Philippines.

The perceived ability to lift the country economically is second only to honesty as a trait people are looking for in the current presidential race, based on the same survey.

The danger in all this is that if Noynoy fails to deliver, that is, if no measurable progress is made in the country's fight against corruption and he is perceived as not one who champions the causes of the people, it may be the end of the line for the Filipino nation as we know it.

Filipinos have tried perceived intellectuals, actors, economists, revolutionaries (Cory Aquino and Marcos), technocrats, military heroes, lawyers. Nothing has worked.

The only solutions that Filipinos have not tried are the rule of a military junta and a Mao Zedong-style revolution, both extreme and scary scenarios.

Tony Abaya seems to think that a short-lived military junta that will quickly clean up society and turn over the reins to a civilian government staffed by patriots is the only solution left. Some have championed a Chinese "cultural revolution," complete with the tarring, parading and quickie trials of reputed corrupt government officials and bureaucrats.

I don't think Filipinos are that desperate. With the election of Noynoy Aquino, coupled with a revolution in the ballot box that I have been advocating, we have a unique opportunity to install a President that a huge segment of the population loves dearly and has great hopes for. We can also hand him a clean slate of government officials who will owe their election to a Filipino people dreaming of and clamoring for a new kind of leadership that focuses on good governance and the fight against poverty.

What are the chances that this scenario will unfold past May, 2010? The election of Noynoy is eminently doable because all that has to happen is for the people who are leaning towards Noynoy go to the polls.

The second part, the revolution in the ballot box, is problematical right now because it will require that Filipinos realize that Noynoy must be given a great supporting cast to succeed. Assuming Noynoy tries to govern as a clean and effective politician, his efforts will likely be thwarted if most of the lower-level officials, especially senators and congressmen, govern like the pigs-in-the-trough party never ended.

We must drain the swamp. Then we will fill it up with new water and put in only the fish that we want to live and propagate in that swamp.

Short of a true revolution, the only way this can be done is by voting down most politicians who are running for re-election in May, 2010. Noynoy is the key. He must offer a new slate of politicians - from town mayors all the way up to senators, Vice-President and President. The slate must consist of his personal selections, not those handed him by his political party, the Liberal Party. His choices will give the people an indication of whether he is serious about reforming the country, that he is the change agent Filipinos are looking for.

He must have a long coat-tail. As he ascends into power, he must take with him his hand-picked running mates - from senators and congressmen, all the way down to local offices that are holding elections in 2010. And in elections beyond 2010, he must also offer his slate of candidates.

The country is eager to turn the country over to Noynoy and his team of similar-minded and dedicated political allies.

Vote for change, vote for new leadership. We do not have to be married to the trapos who run the government now. We can replace most of them, especially the ones who are thumbing their noses at us as we beg them to put country first and their relatives, cronies and hangers-on second.

If we do this - if we trade the bums for new blood and new leadership, the country can be saved and put on the right path to economic, cultural and ethical development. The country must insist on a "savior," not just a new President.

China's Cultural Revolution vs. Marcos' New Society

When Brother Peter FSC, the dean of the College of Commerce at De La Salle in late 50's and early 60's called me to his office one morning, I knew I was in very, very deep.

I had rounded up a few schoolmates and made them contributors to an alternate campus newspaper that I published by using a mimeograph machine in the school's business office. I had quit from the official campus paper and had set up my own. The theme of the initial and only issue of the renegade paper was the youth's disaffection with our parents' generation.

Brother Peter was not amused. He considered expelling me. But then there were others, what to do with them? He knew he couldn't expel them all. There was also this additional factor in my favor: Brother Peter and I got along very well in those days. I worked on campus - in the Library and the Business Office - during my vacant hours.

So we publishers of the renegade newspaper were given a warning, never missed a day in school. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief - except the faculty moderator of the legitimate campus paper. He quietly steamed; he thought we got off easy.

I did not know it then, but my open defiance of the older generation - the generation of my parents - would turn out to be a part of the opening salvo in a worldwide societal realignment and upheaval that would span nearly two decades, the 60s and the 70s.

The Filipinos were just then waking up to the realization that not everything the U.S. did was righteous and just. The opposition to the Vietnam war was starting to build momentum. I was one of the marchers in the very first peaceful demonstration against the Vietnam War in front of the U.S. Embassy in 1964. I was scared, did not know what to expect. There were police cordons in spots along the road. I did not want to be billy-clubbed to death, which was all I could think about as I marched with candlelight along with all the others to the end.

In San Francisco, Seattle and other cities across the U.S., a new alternate culture was being invented by kids in their late teens and early twenties, all rejecting the wisdom of their elders. They were rebelling against the older generations' predilection for waging war that young people must fight and die at, but which the oldies had never adequately explained was a necessary war. They also rebelled against what they perceived to be the hypocritical culture of their parents' generation.

In Europe, the anti-American sentiment had metamorphosed into an open rebellion against the institutions, the established order, the enablers of American policies in Vietnam.

No one could explain China's rampaging youths breaking down doors in people's houses, seizing the old people living in those houses and parading them through the streets, branding them dunces, corrupt and reactionary.

The Cultural Revolution in China, which started in 1966, exposed the soft underbelly of Chinese society. That closed society - the one that developed out of sight from the rest of the world, behind the Bamboo Curtain - was being exposed by China's youth. The news that reached the world's press was grim: China was imploding. The youth everywhere were leaving school to spend a year, two years to cleanse China's society of its unwanted elements, mainly the older, corrupt generations that stifled economic growth.

Mao Zedong, the sublime Machiavellian, observed what was happening in the free world, saw the potential of tapping into the restlessness of the Chinese youth, and launched a movement that he knew would cleanse the country of the remnants of the old, pre-Communist order. The ideologically impure, the corrupt, the holdovers from the Kuomintang regime, Mao knew could be swept from positions of authority and prestige and ridiculed before the whole nation. It was also a way for Mao to get rid of his rivals.

Mao stoked the anger of the Chinese youth at their elders whom they perceived to be suffocating the growth of the Chinese revolution through corrupt practices and gross incompetence.

By the end of the Cultural Revolution in the late 60s, Chinese society had rid itself of corrupt, incompetent and reactionary elements, and Mao Zedong's victory over his enemies was complete.

China, the Sleeping Giant, was lean and ready to do battle in the global world of commerce and industry.

It would take the passing of Mao Zedong and the ascension of new technocratic leaders to launch China, finally, into the developing high-tech infrastructure that was being erected by IBM, Xerox, Bell Labs, Sony, Panasonic and their European and Japanese competitors.

China had its Cultural Revolution, the U.S. had its counter-culture that changed its music, its ideology, its racial and gender politics, its business culture, its military. Europe finally emerged from under the thumb of the U.S. and became a powerful counterweight to the domineering U.S. influence.

Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union saw their young people challenging the elders and demanding a better life and toned-down militarism. Much later, Soviet leader Gorbachev saw the handwriting long before everyone in the world did and allowed the European youth movement to tear down the Berlin wall, whose twentieth anniversary was observed this past week.

Japan and the rest of Asia flourished when the rules were changed from the pursuit of security and military muscle to the pursuit of exports.

In the Philippines, the youth did not prevail. They were crushed by the Marcos forces, specifically in the Battle of Mendiola, when demonstrators against the Marcos administration were routed by the police and military. After the declaration of martial law in 1972, the leaders of the youth movement were rounded up and incarcerated, some disappearing completely.

While China and the rest of the world was cleansed, made better, became responsive to the aspirations of their people, especially the youth, the Philippines only saw the brutal suppression of the people's fervor for social change.

Marcos initially promised the founding of a new nation steeped in the ideals of good governance, societal discipline and economic bonanza. What Marcos delivered was years of centralized corruption. Only Marcos and his cronies were allowed to be corrupt, to form armies, to exploit the country. The rest - those who lacked connections, who quietly toiled for an honest living - never even saw the crumbs. Even the crumbs belonged to those who curried favor.

While China got rid of its corrupt class, the Philippines merely changed the face of corruption in the Philippines. Just as old money is often overshadowed by new money, the old corrupt were merely bested by the new corrupt.

There was no Cultural Revolution to speak of. The Philippines remained the same, stayed in place, in fact, in many respects regressed, while the rest of Asia continued its march towards economic deliverance and eventually ascendancy. In the case of Japan, the ultimate reward was a GDP that rivaled even that of the U.S. by the late 1970s.

The other countries had their cultural revolutions, their societal realignments and cleansing. The Philippines had Marcos and Imelda and Supreme Court justices in a country where there was no justice.

This was why the incipient Cory revolution was doubly significant. It was a chance to get rid of the Marcos machinery and to remake Philippine society. Cory never saw it that way. She saw an opportunity to be Christ-like: to forgive one's enemies, including those who had killed her husband, and the communist insurgents. The country, especially elements in the military, saw this as weakness and after six years of the Cory presidency all that the country could show for its mini revolution was 7 military coups, brownouts galore and flights of capital.

It would be wrong to say that Cory did not finish the revolution because it never really started. In contrast, while Marcos snuffed the life out of the Filipino youth's idealism, he unleashed his army of Marcosites on the country to cleanse it of presumed corrupt and criminal elements, and of course his rivals.

In the early days and months of the 1972 martial law Philippines, there was an unmistakable flavor of a revolutionary regime. Marcos was a revolutionary in the mold of Mao Zedong, the difference was that Mao used the idealism of Chinese youth to advance his goals, while Marcos used the military. Mao worked to improve the lot of the Chinese people; Marcos stole from the people.

If Noynoy Aquino ascends to the Presidency next year, he must know that he has to do the exact opposite to what his mother did. Do not be too quick to forgive the corrupt, the incompetent, the enemies of the state. There must be justice from the top, there must also be clarity. Noynoy must instill a sense that it is not OK to be corrupt, to be incompetent, to rebel against the central authority, and there's hell to pay for the transgressors.

If Noynoy is destined for greatness, he must do so on the wings of the concept of accountability. The transgressors must be punished, so the average Filipino knows that society is changing.

Is a Cultural Revolution similar to China's or the United States' 60s and 70s possible in the Philippines? I doubt it. The Church would never allow it. We are also masters of the Erap and Pandak jokes. We even smile all the way to the gallows.

The only way we can remake society is by changing leaders through the democratic process - through the ballot box.

Filipinos intuitively know this. First, they responded by electing actors and famous personalities, hoping for good results. Now that experiment may be coming to an end.

What class or genre of leaders will Filipinos elect next? There are snippets of evidence that the quality of those presenting themselves to the electorate for consideration is swinging in the other direction.

It will take years, not just one election. But the May, 2010 elections are critical. If Filipinos do not start the cleanup next year, they will have to wait another six years to get started. A lot can happen in six years.

2010 is the key. Filipinos must indict most incumbents who are seeking reelection by voting them down. Start anew with a fresh slate of alternative candidates. Elect the best qualified candidates who are just coming onto the scene.

Keep doing this, until most of our leaders are clean and competent.

This is how a new nation is forged without resorting to arms and the kind of Cultural Revolution that Mao Zedong unleashed in 1966.

The Coming Revolution in the Ballot Box

My friends inform me that any attempt to cause a change in the way Filipinos elect their leaders is doomed from the start.

"Filipinos will always elect those who give them the most money, who promise them jobs, who spring for that goiter surgery that some voters need from time to time," my friends tell me, "even - and perhaps especially - if the candidates they elect are corrupt and routinely send out their goons to force their will on the public."

It's just the way it is, my friends tell me.

And, my friends are right. Philippine democracy is a big joke. People do not embrace the concept of the greater good. There's only the personal good, or the welfare of the extended family to think of. The country be damned, it's damned anyway already.

Why is Philippine culture so everyone-to-himself, the-country-be-damned? There are several theories about this. One theory is that the Philippines is made up of 7100 islands and each large island or island chain developed over time into a separate nation. The provincial, or the parochial psyche developed and went into full bloom, while the nation remained an elusive ideal, a chimera.

The second theory is poli-cultural, i.e., both political and cultural. In Nick Joaquin's famous essay, he bemoans the fact that the country's culture is a culture of exploitation. One is either an exploiter or the exploited. One's job and lifetime preoccupation is to remain an exploiter if already one, or become an exploiter if not one already. Those in government exploit the citizens and do not serve them.

The third may be the explanation for the second. The landed gentry in the Philippines, which became the aristocracy in the vastly agricultural Philippines during the Spanish era, were installed by the Spanish crown, notoriously by Queen Isabela, who granted her favorites large tracts of land in the Philippines. These royal grants created a European-style feudal system that forced the native populations into a position of servility vis-a-vis the feudal lords who were supported by the Spanish crown through the dreaded Guardia Civil.

Unlike in the wild west of the United States, where adventurous Americans acquired properties through homesteading and commercial acumen, the native inhabitants of what would eventually become the Philippines almost suddenly woke up to find that large tracts of land that they might have hunted on and might have cultivated now belonged to powerful feudal lords, as mandated by the Spanish monarchs. The distinction between the Philippine experience and the American West experience is, of course, an oversimplification. The native Americans (Indians) were in fact deprived of their hunting lands by the hordes of frontiersmen and women looking for land and gold, with the U.S. Federal government serving as brutal enablers.

Over nearly 400 years of Spanish colonial times, the native populations in the Philippines became wards of the owners of the big plantations and eventually became so dependent on those owners that they surrendered even their thinking processes to them.

The natives learned not to think for themselves; they depended on the big bosses, the big landowners to think for them.

By late 19th century, the winds of change were already howling, and a new intelligentsia class had begun to challenge the social order. This intelligentsia class, schooled in Spain and trained in the intellectual concepts of European Masonry - most of the Philippine revolutionaries were Masons - rebelled from the Spanish-installed aristocracy and friars and successfully erected the first Philippine Republic on June 12, 1898.

The new revolutionary government, however, never actually sat in power. The emerging interventionist global American power intervened and the Philippine-American war of attrition began.

Much of the Philippines was unaffected by what was going on in Manila. Much of the Philippines was still feudal, exploitative, provincial, parochial and clannish. Throughout the rest of the Philippines, the Manila government - now run by Americans - was for the most part a foreign power.

The Americans introduced Filipinos to American-style democracy, but it seems that they were content to democratize only those in Manila and the surrounding areas. The rest of the country remained feudal. Examples of American modus operandi are today's Afghanistan, where the Americans have democratized Kabul and other important cities, but not the great Afghan countryside, which is ruled by warlords and the Taliban.

These were the conditions that were present at the time of the Philippine independence from the U.S. in 1946. Not much has changed. People in the provinces still vote for the candidates who can give them the most money, who can promise jobs for relatives, who come with medicines in times of need.

The idea that people should vote for those candidates who are projected to do good for the country is still alien to them. Their likely reply to entreaties from people like me is: "Define what's good for the country" or "Define country."

This may no longer be true in the not-too-distant future, however. In many cities and towns of the Philippines, local leaders and intellectuals schooled in Manila, Cebu, Davao and other major cities, are already trained - have long been trained - in thinking in terms of what's good for the country.

The recent voters' revolt in Pampanga, which installed a lowly and most unlikely priest as governor, is the strongest hint yet that Filipinos are waking up to the need for good leaders. Before that, the election of Estrada demonstrated that the common tao - the drivers, maids, sidewalk vendors, farmers and slum dwellers - would buck their masters to embrace a politician who vowed to fight for the welfare of the downtrodden and dispossessed.

While nothing seems to ever change in the Philippines, there are strong hints that the country is on the cusp of revolutionary upheavals in its electoral process. The groundwork has been set for a coming revolution in the ballot box.

While the intelligentsia and patriots never win elections, there is evidence that someday they will be racking up big, important wins. This despite contraindications in many small towns and municipalities, where people are still falling in love with the most popular and highly-visible personalities such as actors, TV hosts and boxers like Manny Pacquiao.

What this all means is that the electorate is becoming neurotic. Changes are happening quickly, unexpectedly. Voters are telling their political bosses that they themselves must determine the leaders who will receive their votes. Unfortunately, their choices have made things worse for the country and not a whit of difference for them. They are still dirt poor and their only salvation now is a one-way ticket out of the country. People do not understand why.

People are conflicted over the presidential election of 2004, when the clearly superior candidate Gloria Arroyo may have lost to the clearly inferior but supremely popular candidate, Fernando Poe, Jr., but allegedly resorted to widespread cheating to emerge the "victor."

Mrs. Arroyo, apparently stung by accusations of electoral fraud, seemingly lost all interest in appearing virtuous and is allegedly ruling as a corrupt and ruthless tyrant whose political moves consist of laying the groundwork for escaping prosecution once out of office.

First there was complete surrender of their democracy to the whims and caprices of their masters. Now, Filipino voters are beginning to break loose from their masters' hold and asserting their right to choose their destiny. Unfortunately, they are exercising this right by choosing the most inept, corrupt and unqualified candidates.

Philippine elections have become, for the most part, a joke. So why do I assume that it is possible to convince Filipinos to suddenly adopt a concept that is completely foreign to them: the idea that the public officials they elect are responsible to them, and that if those public officials do not do a good job, they - the people - must fire those officials?

I do not know that the coming Revolution in the Ballot Box is real or an illusion. I do not know that any efforts on my part to help this coming revolution along would yield any actual benefits. What I do know is that if not enough people pool their energies to help it along and focus that energy, it could fizzle, die on the vine.

Over the years a lot of Filipinos in the intellectual and elite classes have tried to educate Filipino voters to vote for the most qualified, not the most popular or the most generous with their ill-gotten wealth.

Most have failed. There is a very strong possibility that I will fail and others will fail. I'm in the bettors' paradise of Las Vegas, and I know that the odds for this coming Revolution in the Ballot Box that I'm talking about are in million to one territory.

But what if the idea of the Revolution in the Ballot Box catches fire on the Internet? What if enough people forward it and it makes the rounds in the Philippines and in the diaspora several times over? What if people actually take this call to arms seriously?

It is a simple concept. Do not vote for a re-electionist candidate. Vote for the most qualified opponent. Do it in protest. Scream from the rooftops that you are tired of incompetent and corrupt officials. You want justice, you want a future for your children. You want to live in the Philippines and not have to work as a maid or day laborer in some foreign land. You want to be safe from floods, from mudslides, from the rubble of buildings that collapse because they are not built to withstand medium-strength earthquakes.

You don't have to go through hoops or take extraordinary measures. Just don't vote for the incumbent public officials in your town, in your province, in the national government. Vote for their opponents.

And keep doing it until a new class of politicians emerge that serve you and serve you well, and do not have their hand in the collection box.

If the corrupt and incompetent politicians offer you money, take it but do not vote for them. They have been deceiving you all this time. Deceive them back. They are mostly Machiavellians; be a Machiavellian yourself. Deceive the deceivers.

If you keep doing this enough times, starting in May, 2010, someday - 20 to 30 years from now - you or your children will wake up and find a new Philippines being run by elected officials who serve their constituents well, who work for the public interest, who do not steal from the government.

That is what Revolution in the Ballot Box means.

A Revolution in the Ballot Box

"Heckuva job, Brownie" was an off-hand, careless comment by a careless in-over-his-head President. The comment would later define the disconnect between reality and wishful thinking in the Bush administration during and post Katrina.

The judgment of the American people was swift and brutal. Many reputations were ruined. Michael Brown (Brownie), the head of the Federal Emergency Management Authority, was finished. The governor of Louisiana at the time, Kathleen Blanco, was one of the high-profile election casualties. The Bush legacy was writ: this was either the worst President in history, or one of the top two worsts. The Moving Finger writes...

The American electorate is unforgiving. Sure they will forgive some corruption, some dalliance (as in the Monica Lewinsky saga), even some incompetence (as in the Bay of Pigs). But they will not forgive incompetence that results in the loss of American lives.

Contrast that to what is going on in the Philippines right now and you have an idea of why the Philippines is the way it is. There is no outrage. People drowned. People lost all their possessions. People are sick from the outbreak of a diarrhea epidemic. Yet, life goes on. No one, it seems, is held accountable for the inadequate, even non-existent government response to the floodings and mudslides that buried whole villages. Gossip about some people's incompetence is the only catharsis for the people because no heads are rolling.

No one is scandalized by the President of the Philippines going before the whole world begging for donations. Where did the disaster relief funds go? Wasn't there a budget for disaster relief in the President's 2008-2009 national budget?

True, some journalists are calling for accountability. But few Filipinos, apparently, are listening. Ondoy and Pepeng will soon become a distant memory, and no one will be held accountable for the wrong decisions that were made during and after Ondoy and Pepeng. No one will be held accountable for the failure of the infrastructure to keep the flooding at a minimum and keep most of Metro Manilans safe from the raging rivers which were once paved streets.

I remember studying Insurance Law in college in the Philippines. In law, natural disasters were called "Acts of God." In the U.S., of course, they are called natural disasters because that is what they are. But in the Philippines, they are known - maybe not exclusively anymore - as acts of God.

If in fact natural disasters are acts of God, then there is no defense against them. It would then be wrong to build infrastructure that works properly because that would save lives. If God intends to drown people by flooding the streets, then it would be wrong to prevent such floodings by building sewers that work properly and dredging rivers to make sure that water empties properly into the rivers and eventually out to sea. Because that would be going against the will of God.

That is the significance of the term "acts of God." Because we think of the wrath of nature as acts of God, we think that the proper response is to pray to God to keep our loved ones and ourselves safe.

It never enters our mind, or if it does, we don't dwell on the fact that catastrophic flooding occurs when the people charged with our safety do not do an adequate job. We do not entertain the thought that some of the people we voted for neglected protecting us from harm when biblical soakers like Ondoy pour billions of gallons of water on our communities.

We do not blame our elected officials because we made a compact with them. In exchange for P500 on election day, and the promise that they will give us or our relative a stand-up and flying pigeon job in government, we will continue to vote for them election after election.

The question of competence or governance never enters the equation. Politics is all local, the saying goes. I would hasten to add: in many cases, it is personal. To hell with the country, with my community, I will vote for and support whoever will give me money or a job, or will sponsor my daughter's wedding.

No one will be held accountable for the flooding of Metro Manila or the mudslides in Benguet in 2009. The Filipino Brownies, Blancos and Bushes will appear on TV and get praised for their efforts. Not the results, mind you, but the efforts.

When will Filipinos finally realize that the ballot is a sacred trust? When will they finally stop to think before committing to vote for and support the candidacy of someone who may be long on popularity but short on qualifications? Or someone who may be long on qualifications but short on genuine concern for the people they were elected to serve?

Natural disasters are not acts of God. God will never intentionally drown people, bury them in mud or the rubble of a building destroyed by an earthquake. Natural disasters happen all the time in countries like the Philippines because of their geography.

The leaders we have elected over the years, including and especially the current crop of elected public officials, have all been charged with our safety. Elected officials cannot excuse themselves by saying that flood control and emergency management are not their direct duties.

They are all at fault. All public officials who are on the take, who siphon off government funds for their personal use are all guilty in the cosmic order because they take money that could be used to finance flood control and mudslides-prevention infrastructure projects, not to mention the purchase of enough boats for rescue missions and the construction of shelters for those displaced by the rising waters.

Those who are not on the take but are silent in the face of all the theft of public funds that are going on under their noses are guilty as enablers, though some admittedly may be excused for their silence because of implicit threats to their physical well-being and their loved ones'.

In most countries, where the people expect good governance, in the aftermath of an Ondoy and Pepeng natural disaster the electorate would be in a screaming-mad mood these days. They would be demanding a complete change, a period of cleaning house. Not so in the Philippines, where people do not understand that they are the employers of the public servants that they elect every election cycle. As their employers, the Filipino people can fire these public servants on the next Election Day.

And that is what I urge every Filipino to do. Fire nearly every incumbent elected official seeking re-election in May, 2010. Fire all of them that you honestly feel have been corrupt, incompetent or both. Obviously, there are some politicians who are the exceptions. The good ones must be re-elected as a reward for their good governance and also to encourage them to do even better in their next term.

My guess is that 20% of elected public officials are probably doing a good job. Don't ask me how I came to this conclusion. The 80-20 rule has been around for a long time and is universal in its recognition and acceptance. Fact is, 20% of the people are doing 80% of the good job in society, the rest, 80%, are either doing only 20% of the work or not doing anything good or may even be doing some harm.

If we as a society clean house in May, 2010, my guess is that 20% of incumbents will be re-elected.

I appeal to every reader of this blog to spread the word: Clean house in May, 2010. Vote for the new candidates. Do not re-elect the incumbent. It is a matter of life or death.

Dance Fever

"You shake your hips too much," my wife told me. "People notice that," she continued, "so you should be careful not to overdo it when you do the cha-cha."

I get mainly praises now from people who see me dance because I've been going to dance school for close to a year. Just not from my wife, who is my harshest critic. I know, however, that she wants me to be better than I am, so I welcome her comments. The dance instructor I respect the most, out of several, does not shake his hips too much. He can make his hips glide from right to left, left to right - smoothly, effortlessly.

The guy is a lean and tall European, so he has the advantage of form. I am short by American standards, and stocky, so I can't really move like that guy. It's a good thing that I don't wear my hair shoulder-length long anymore, otherwise people might look at me and pronounce me a dancing Hobbit. (To borrow a description given by one of the Dancing with the Stars judges for the way one of this season's contestants has looked at times.)

Last year at about this time I took my son, Cesar Jr., to Dance World U.S.A., a dance school owned by Filipino acquaintances. I felt my son could benefit from formal dance schooling because of the obvious advantage of being a good male dancer in a world populated by young and eager female dancers. Cesar Jr. is still a bachelor.

After one class, Cesar decided it was not for him - because he thought straight men don't go to dance school. I immediately liked the idea of formal dance lessons, however, and I've hung around dance schools ever since. Though I remain friends with the owners of Dance World U.S.A., I have since transferred to the Tony Delgado Dance Club, a much bigger school with a huge enrollment and a lot more instructors.

Delgado dancers dominate the local dance competitions. In the latest region-wide dance contests, the Delgado dancers came in a close second to a team from California. The California team that won first place had a lot of over-50 dancers who took a lot of golds. If Delgado has a weakness, it is in the over-50 dancers category. Delgado instructors and students are for the most part young. There are few over-50 students, most of whom are in their 50s. You can count with the fingers in one hand the number of dancers who are in their 60s. Guess where you would put me.

If Delgado is to win the coveted Western U.S. region title next year, it must field more over-50 dancers. They can count on me, because I do intend to compete next year. They might also want to recruit heavily in the Filipino community that turns out regularly in Gold Coast Casino and Sun Coast Casino, where a Filipino band - the HNLV or Honolulu-Las Vegas band - plays almost nightly.

The over-50 Filipino dancing crowd is the dominant group in most of the dances at Gold Coast and Sun Coast. Filipinos love to dance. We are a graceful people. We are coordinated, we like to be on stage, singing or dancing. We like to entertain.

Filipinos as a group represent the biggest minority group that regularly shows up for classes at Delgado Dance Club, more than Hispanics, even though Tony Delgado and his wife are Mexicans and most of the dance instructors are Mexicans.

If more over-50 Filipinos decide that they need more formal instruction, they could take Tony Delgado to the pinnacle of dancing schools in western United States.

My goal in next year's western region competitions is not just to compete, but to win. I do the rumba and the cha-cha well, so I'll start with those two. I might compete in the tango and the fox-trot too. We'll see.

The only thing that will prevent me from competing is this damned exercise-induced asthma that I developed in July, when my wife, son Paul and I spent two days and one night at Zion National Park in Utah. I didn't know it then, but a licensed reflexologist I have consulted with has since informed me that the Utah air is one of the worst in the country because of the tiny suspended particles from all the rocks that are constantly breaking up in the mountainous regions.

For the uninitiated, a reflexologist massages the nerves that terminate at the feet. All nerves end at the feet and a trained reflexologist can tell you about the health and condition of most of your body's organs by examining the condition of the nerves that end at the feet.

The reflexologist told me about the condition of my abdomen, saw that I had had surgery in my right abdomen, informed me that I still had issues in my stomach, told me that I would soon feel pain in the back of my neck - all from merely feeling, massaging and examining the nerves in my feet.

My trip to the reflexologist sidelined me for a few days because my feet were sore from the one-hour reflexology session, plus the fact that my asthma symptoms worsened since the nerves in my lungs had somehow been disturbed rather violently from all the massaging and rubbing.

The session at the reflexologist has been for the most part beneficial because the hypochondriac me knows better what is going on in my body when the pains and aches come, linger and try to discourage me.

I'm a big believer in researching on the Internet whenever I feel pain in my body, so I have an above-average knowledge of my body to begin with. But the reflexology session confirmed much of the information that has been available to me and I have even better knowledge now.

It's full steam ahead to the western regional dance competitions in September 2010.

Lani Misalucha

The first time I saw Lani Misalucha perform on stage she was paired with Earl Turner, the master entertainer and singer with the strong, booming voice that screamed from the Shimmer Showroom's rafters.

I was, frankly, disappointed because Lani appeared over matched. She was tentative, listless and seemingly awed by her partner on stage. It was not the Lani that I had heard so much about, the Lani who had made the Society of Seven such a big hit in Las Vegas for the better part of two years, the Lani who had a long resume of triumphs in the Philippines and in many cities of the U.S.

The Society of Seven has long gone back to Honolulu and now features ex-Idol star Jasmine Trias as female soloist, and Lani Misalucha must confront her future on a Las Vegas stage that she has longed for so long to hog.

The experimental partnership with Earl Turner obviously did not work out and the Las Vegas Hilton management has obviously decided that Lani is the draw. Nearly half of the Earl-Lani audiences, after all, were Filipino and it was plain to everyone that if Lani had a solo act, the Filipinos would continue to come. The same could not be said about Earl Turner, who has very little support from the African-American community, whose attention is rightfully directed at many other African-American entertainers.

When the curtains rose last Tuesday, October 13 at Shimmer Showroom in the Las Vegas Hilton, it immediately became obvious that the Lani show was a huge improvement over the Turner-Misalucha "Voices" show. There were two dancing babes, a dancing magician, two background voices - one of whom was Lani's kid sister and look-alike - and a loud and forceful five-piece band.

Lani's introduction and entry was queenly, and it was obvious from the start who the Boss was. There was none of the tentative, the feeling-out maneuvers that Lani had been forced to do when she seemingly revolved around the world of Earl Turner.

And then she sang. This was not a petite, shy, deferential Filipina. She was the voice of Broadway, of Las Vegas in late night, of Italian opera. She was a strong voice, a coquettish voice, a rhythm and blues and a jazz voice. She was the voice of past platinum records.

Her Tina Turner impression was both comical and convincing. She was right on with her Britney Spears impression. She displayed the full range of her talents with her other impressions, especially her Celine Dion.

I sat there in awe as I recollected that hers was the voice that Las Vegans had voted second only to Celine Dion's as the 2008 female voice of the year and that the staff of the Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper had voted as female voice of the year, ahead of Celine Dion.

Imagine the pride I felt knowing that a Filipina female singer had been voted by the staff of Nevada's number one newspaper as the best female vocalist in 2008 - ahead of all the other internationally-acclaimed songstresses who had performed in Las Vegas last year.

This year, with Celine Dion's run in Mandalay Bay a recent memory, Lani Misalucha should by rights be the number one female singer in Las Vegas. This would be a monumental coup, considering that Marie Osmond has an extended run with her brother, and Bette Midler has her own a long-term gig.

I sat in awe as I tossed in my mind the possibility that Lani could actually record the old songs she sang last Tuesday. She never sings an old song the way the original artists sang them, she sings them much better. Her renditions are flawlessly different, not exact copies.

She always sings the operatic song "Nessum Dorma" in her performances, and it is obvious that if she had concentrated on opera instead of pop and rhythm and blues, she would be right up there with the Pavarottis. I would pay to hear her perform with Adrea Bocelli .

I wondered how good Charice Pempengco would become over the years as I listened to Lani's version of "Listen." Charice sings that song with passion and conviction, Lani sings it with romantic allure. I could not help connect the two performers, with Lani representing the present and Charice promising to be the glorious future.

Yes, the future for Filipino songstresses in Las Vegas - the entertainment capital of the world - is bright, and Charice promises to make it even brighter.

If we Filipinos can have a Manny Pacquiao as the pound for pound king of boxing, we certainly can have - if we don't as yet - a Filipina as the best pound for pound female singer in the world. Charice, being a shorter and lighter Filipina than Lani, would be hands down the best pound for pound female singer in the world in a few years.

Rising from the mud and muck - Part 2

The response was instantaneous. As if on cue, the global Filipino community responded with determination and zeal, with the mantra of self-sacrifice and the truly magical Filipino tradition of the bayanihan. If only Filipinos would have the same passion to change their world, nothing would be impossible for this Pearl of the Orient Sea.

Unfortunately, unless there is a calamity the magnitude of Ondoy and the resultant flooding of the heart of their country, Filipinos do not react well to the stresses of their everyday lives. They in fact do not react at all. They pretty much leave everything in the hands of God. They pray that their God would have pity on them, but if He doesn't, Filipinos would understand and simply submit to the "will of the Lord."

That is why when everything is said and done, you can bet your last nickel that Filipinos will go back to their lives - what's left of it - and become willing actors in a stage play that is being billed by their neighbors as "The Sick Man of Asia."

I hope I'm wrong. Besides, it would be a cop-out to terminate this analysis at this point. Let us dig deeper. Why do Filipinos prefer the annual ritual of making donations not only in cash and necessities, such as clothes and foodstuffs, but also of their time and their heroism? Why not spend a year, two years, ten years, to making sacrifices so that the infrastructure would function properly?

Let me explain this. Everyone knows that the esteros and rivers must be dredged. Everyone knows that the sewage systems must not be clogged up with garbage because when the rains come, deadly floods are sure to follow. Everyone also knows that whatever needs to be done will not be done.

Why are such life-saving infrastructure maintenance tasks not done? Why doesn't the government do a better job at it?

First on the government: Filipinos do not think that their government has the competence or the resources to do the right things. And it's OK with them. They know instinctively that they are electing incompetents (some are not only incompetent -shades of "Heckuva job, Brownie" - some are allegedly hopelessly corrupt) so Filipinos do not expect much from their government when it comes to building and maintaining infrastructure.

They know of the unwritten rule that if government is seen and used as a dispenser of political favors, an institution that creates make-work projects, a milking cow for powerful politicians and bosses, an enabler of tax cheats and jueteng lords, a see-no-evil-hear-no-evil-say-no-evil security guard, who in their right mind would expect that government would be there to take care of people's needs?

Second on the people: Filipinos know that they will be called on time and again to conduct food, cash and clothing drives every time a typhoon hits, or the earth shakes, or mud flows and covers whole villages. And it's OK by them: it gives them a chance to display their heroism and their charity. For politicians, it is an opportunity to stamp foodstuffs with their names - even foodstuffs that they did not personally donate - so that the people would remember them in the next election cycle.

Fine. We have an understanding of the roles of government and people in the Philippines. Or do we?

Having lived in the U.S. for many years, I also happen to know that there is a great divide here between liberals and conservatives, which divide probably explains further why Filipinos prefer private charity and heroism to government competence and relevance.

We Filipinos, because of our deep religiousness, are genetically conservative. Like conservatives in America, we believe that helping the poor, the dispossessed, those displaced by floods, earthquakes and typhoons is a great and noble private virtue. We do not believe that helping people in need is the job of government. Conservatives believe that the proper role of government is as a night watchman and enforcer of law and order, and only those. But only in theory, because in practice they know that even on that score, government is sadly lacking.

The conservatives' modern hero, Ronald Reagan, after all said that government is not the solution. Government is the problem.

Liberals, on the other hand, believe that government is an instrument of social change and social justice. Or should be. Because most of the jobs are too big in our modern world, only the government is in a position to undertake projects that would minimize the need on the public's part to do charity work, so the liberals believe.

That is why the anguished cries you are hearing about the government's unpreparedness and total lack of competence during and in the aftermath of Ondoy have generally come from the liberal media and those who want to reform the government. The conservatives are too busy packing foodstuffs, clothes and shoes.

FLOOD-PREVENTION INFRASTRUCTURE IN METRO MANILA

Because of Ondoy and predictions that there are many more Ondoys that will form in southeastern Pacific Ocean that will make a bee-line for Luzon, there is a headwind that is carrying the notion that once and for all, the infrastructure in Metro Manila must be updated to give Metro Manilans a better chance at survival should the typhoons that are sure to hit Manila and environs intensify and become more numerous in the future. Increasingly, even some conservatives have joined in the chorus.

The headwind is making Filipinos more liberal, if only in the sense that they are becoming more appreciative and more demanding of their government.

FINANCING

How the devil do we finance the massive projects that must be undertaken? In 2005, I wrote in my blog, lanzones.com, that the Philippines must consider a ten-year moratorium on interest payments on all sovereign debt. At the time, only the leftists shared that idea but now such an idea or variations have become more mainstream.

No less than one of the leading presidential candidates, Senate President Manny Villar, has recommended that the country look seriously at the Argentine blueprint for defaulting on the Philippines' sovereign debts.

One of the most respected thinkers in the Philippines, Walden Bello, makes a brilliant case for national debt default in his article published by Focus on the Global South, an NGO. Mr. Bello and others, such as Senators Manny Villar and Panfilo Lacson (I can't believe I would be citing Lacson), estimate that the total national debt is 3.8 trillion pesos and on its way to close to 7 trillion pesos within the forseeable future. At 3.8 trillion, national debt is more than 125% of GDP. AT 7 trillion, it will be in excess of 200% of GDP.

Clearly, the Philippines is in a silent fiscal crisis that puts the country in bankruptcy territory. "Debt servicing rose from 48% of national government expenditure in 2002 to 81% in 2004 and is expected to hit 89% in 2005," according to Mr. Bello.

A lot of countries, including Brazil, have had to restructure their debts and gotten discounts of 70-75% on their national debts as settlement.

Why the Philippines continues to insist on being an ideal debtor nation is beyond comprehension.

A ten-year moratorium on debt service payments on the Philippines' national debt will free up more than 300 billion pesos a year, or 3 trillion pesos in total that the country can use to dredge esteros, streams and rivers, cover the esteros with concrete, build levees and floodgates, relocate squatters, provide lifeboats and other rescue vehicles to low-lying communities.

There's the added bonus that the Philippines will have enough left-over money to build new schools, hire new teachers and improve educational standards in the public schools.

There is much that the Philippines can do with the money that will no longer be devoted to the mistaken notion that a good credit standing for the Philippines is of paramount importance, more important than the security of its people.

The Philippines is deathly afraid of being shut out of the world's credit markets should it default on its sovereign debts. Yet the experience of Argentina, Brazil and other countries suggests that the world cannot successfully take reprisal measures that will stick, especially when the debtor nations eventually end up righting their ships of state as the direct result of their loan defaults.

Besides, the winds of change are blowing across our ever-shrinking world. Many third world countries holding odious debts have been forgiven those debts by the advanced countries. At least $25 billion of the country's $70 billion in debt are odious debts, taken out during the Marcos years without the consent of the people. The classic definition of odious debts is debts taken out by a government without the consent of the people.

One may argue that because of government corruption, a good percentage of the loans taken out by the government ended up in the pockets of corrupt politicians. The $45 billion balance of the debts taken out by administrations succeeding the Marcos era, one may argue, is made up of odious debts and legitimate debts.

If the country defaults on its sovereign debts through a ten-year moratorium on interest payments, we may in fact generate more respect from the world's financial community. It will be a signal to the world that the Philippines can chart its own course, be the captain of its ship, and be perfectly willing to live without foreign loans in the future. Subject only to the caveat that the government shall work for the welfare of the Filipino people and the politicians who run the government shall not continue to line their pockets at the expense of the people's safety.

Besides, without foreign loans, the Filipino politicians will lose what has been alleged as a source of "commission" payments for securing such loans.

The way to go in the future, in that scenario of a brave new Philippine world is BOT - build operate and transfer. Foreign countries and organizations shall be invited to build infrastructure, operate the same, and transfer the infrastructure to the Philippine government after the foreign operators shall have made sufficient profits from its ownership and operation.

No monies are disbursed to the Philippine government which corrupt politicians could allegedly proceed to shave to pay themselves and their cronies "commissions."

Rising from the muck and mud: a New Metro Manila

(The pictures are from a torrent of photos posted on the Internet by unknown sources. If I knew who the sources were, I would gladly attribute the photos to them.)

NATURE'S WARNING

I can't believe a second destructive typhoon, Pepeng, hit northeastern Philippines and caused a lot of devastation there. This time, thank God, the Manila metropolitan area and the nearby provinces were spared.





At least Manila can dry out and the low-lying areas can watch the waters slowly recede and people who were rendered homeless and others who lost the contents of their homes can start rebuilding their lives.

As bad as the devastation and loss of lives were that Ondoy has wrought, it was merely a warning to all Filipinos that there may be worse times ahead.

My greatest fear is that people will go back to their daily routines, shrug off Ondoy as an act of God, pray hard that a similar calamity does not befall the Philippines in the future and do same-old, same-old. That would be a huge, unforgivable mistake.



Are there lessons to be learned from Ondoy? The obvious answer is yes. But what if there are lessons, are we as a people ever guided by lessons learned from calamities?



There is a picture that best embodies the fate of metro Manila in the foreseeable future. It is one of those pictures that have gone around the world on the Internet. It shows Manilans on top of a bridge with nothing but water ahead of them. To me, it is a metaphor for Manila's long-term destiny. Having left the great flood behind, Manilans look to a future of flooded streets, cars and houses. Manila's destiny has already been written, and it is written with an ocean of ink the color of mud and muck.


You may argue as many responsible and respected commentators have that global warming is a natural, long-term trend that is not caused by the actions of mankind. But if your sanity is intact, it will be hard to argue against the near-unanimous scientific community judgment that, caused by man or not, there is indeed global warming. The likelihood that there will be more violent, severe and record-setting storms hitting the Philippines and the Pacific rim countries has been predicted by many leading scientists in the world. We can ignore the scientific Cassandras only at our peril. Not us, perhaps, for many of us are not going to be around, but our children and their children and future generations of Filipinos not yet born.

The Philippines is in the bulls eye of every scenario created by global warming scientists. According to these scenarios, the rising oceans will sink large areas of metro Manila and many streets in the capital will look like Venetian canals. If it's any consolation to Filipinos, that will happen to some sections of lower Manhattan also.


And, if the rising ocean waters do not devastate Manila, the monster storms that are being predicted for the future will complete the job.


If the myriad of pictures posted on the Internet over the past week are enough to discourage and dishearten most Filipinos in the global community, imagine the effect of not one Ondoy a year but three or four such storms hitting Manila each year.


Filipinos cannot afford to brush off Ondoy and eventually go back to the usual hustle and bustle of their everyday lives. Ondoy must change their mindset and challenge them to confront a future that promises to be more frightening than they have ever experienced or imagined.


There is another picture that is going around cyberspace which is a microcosm of the dangers faced by Manilans from future floods, fierce winds and rampaging currents. It is the picture of a boy being hoisted by rescue volunteers and workers to the top of a roof. It is a metaphor for an existence where the only protection against the elements is on top of a roof. Perhaps like me, most are wondering how people were able to clamber up on the roofs of their or their neighbors' houses. Rescue volunteers hoisting people up to rooftops is one way. Another is by letting the rising waters take them up to the roofs of their homes.

WE MUST LEARN FROM THE DUTCH AND, YES, NEW ORLEANS

Filipinos must re-do the infrastructure of metro Manila in ways that as recently as September 25, people in the Philippines did not consider possible. They must do this, if today's children want to continuously live in Metro Manila and celebrate their 60th birthdays.



Something drastic must be done. Whatever the government and private industry do, if it's not drastic, it will not be enough.



A lot of recommendations have been made on how to assure proper drainage in low-lying areas of metro Manila, some dating as early as the 1970s, but Filipinos have not had the will and the funds to entertain such ideas.

The government may have the will now, but will there be funds for these most logical of all logical projects? There are some obvious "found money" lying around, but more on this later.



The obvious projects that are waiting to be matched by strong-willed Filipinos are:



1. Dredging of esteros, streams and rivers in and around Manila and topping off the esteros with concrete. This will increase the capacity of the esteros to accommodate rain water and sewage. It will also assure that people who live along such natural and man-made sewer systems are prevented from using them as garbage dumps.



2. Erection of levees along Pasig and Marikina rivers. Not the whole stretch of the rivers, but in spots where the rivers are likely to overflow their banks. We must learn from New Orleans, the Dutch and Europe's other Low Countries. It will be very expensive, but it is an expense that shall be worth the cost because such a massive undertaking will employ tens of thousands of people and the effect on local economies will be huge.



3. Creation of floodgates that will release water from Laguna de Bay to Manila Bay during heavy storms. This is another labor-intensive project that can have a huge impact on the economies of Cavite and Laguna.



4. Relocation of residents of squatter areas in low-lying communities to higher ground and dumping of dredged mud and muck to raise ground levels in those areas.



5. Pass a law requiring municipalities in low-lying areas and near rivers and streams to equip themselves with a sufficient number of lifeboats for search and rescue missions. If the municipalities are unwilling to do this, the law shall mandate that those areas must be permanently evacuated.



6. Clean up the BIR and Customs to increase tax revenues. Pass additional tax laws. Businesses and residents who operate and live in communities that stand to benefit from the new infrastructure will be assessed special taxes for as long as the new infrastructure is under construction.

7. Create government-sponsored flood insurance policies. Residences and commercial properties in municipalities that are located in the most flood-prone areas will command the steepest insurance premiums.



Now for the obvious question: Since the additional taxes and more efficient tax collections will not be enough to finance the new and renovated infrastructure, how will the Philippines finance all these ambitious projects? I will devote my next post to a discussion of how the money can be raised.

Meanwhile, we must all get used to thinking as one nation. If all Filipinos help Manila as one nation, one country, it may yet be the spark that finally starts us on the road to thinking as a country and not as families, clans, provinces and regions.



The rebuild-Manila project, if done by all Filipinos, can be the start of that change in mindset that every Filipino knows in their heart we all need but that we have assumed all along is an impossible dream. If we can only think as one nation as the Americans, the British, the French, the Germans, the Japanese, Koreans, Chinese, Sngaporeans and now the Indians do, we can start rebuilding Manila. Then we can rebuild Subic, Cebu, Zamboanga, Davao and other urban centers all around the archipelago.



We shall be able to do it because we will have the will and the mindset.

(Continued next week)

Size Matters

"What does Size Matters mean?" my 10-year-old son Paul asked me and my wife one day as I drove past a billboard on Sahara Avenue in Las Vegas. The billboard ad proclaimed the advantages of checking in hotel rooms with that extra space for relaxation, for moving about and for breathing.

Neither my wife nor I wanted to touch that one, but after wife and I looked at each other and burst out laughing, wife managed to explain to our son that there's more to hug and love in bigger things. Paul obviously just saw the Size Matters in huge, bold print and did not realize he was looking at a billboard ad for a hotel business.

Recently, I started to dwell on the obvious point of the proponents of the Size Matters philosophy of life.

I watched a couple of shows at the Las Vegas Hilton and really looked forward to using the men's restroom across the hall from the Shimmer Showroom. When you go to the john, you are greeted by pictures of gorgeous ladies with their tape measures, their smiles and WOW expressions.

Whenever I could, I chose the urinal with a picture of a lady with the You the Man! expression on her face. If life was not particularly kind to me, at least that lady surely would be.

Las Vegas is preoccupied with size. I don't know if there is a statistic for the most re-engineered boobs in the country, but if there is, Las Vegas should be number one. It must intuitively be the case. Las Vegas has showgirls aplenty, and there are thousands of scantily-clad waitresses in the casinos, all of them convinced that extra pounds or ounces in just the right places do generate better tips.

There is a show that attracts decent-sized crowds to the Night Club in Las Vegas Hilton which showcases some of the more gorgeous re-engineered boobs in the valley. The leader of the pack, who happens to be a talented singer with a huge voice, Lorena Peril aka Lorena Bobitt, is the main attraction. She doesn't take off her clothes, but she clearly is the main fare, a sexy woman with clothes on.

In New Jersey, I never saw a TV ad for a product that promises to make the male member not only stronger, but larger. In Las Vegas, you can't turn on your TV without running into this ad for ExtenZe, which promises to turn ordinary men into Big Nasty Papi. It's on every network station, and cable TV too.

Unfortunately, it's not for everyone. I did my homework, and found out that a lot of men who had tried the product reported palpitations and irregular heartbeats. Some even suspected that their hearts might have been permanently damaged.

There were of course the usual glowing and pulsating testimonials.

If in fact what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, those who live here must also believe that it will stay in Vegas only if the news is good. For if one happens to be embarrassed by boobs too tiny, or a member too puny, for sure such revelations will be heard around the world - even in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Or in Peoria, Illinois.

Size Matters in all of Vegas. Caesars Palace is not just a casino-hotel. It is also a huge upscale shopping mall. It is a sports arena and Broadway. If you want to go to the movies, or go bowling, you have to go to a casino. Most bowling lanes are at least 48 lanes across, while movies are shown in huge multiplexes.

The subdivision where I live, Rhodes Ranch, sits on a 3.77 square mile man-made oasis with a perpetually-green golf course. In contrast, the town where I used to live - South Orange, New Jersey - has a land area of only 2.8 square miles.

That's very much the story in all of Las Vegas. New Jersey and Southern California are made up of small municipalities that run into each other. Las Vegas is made up of huge master-planned communities that dwarf many of the small towns in high-density states like New Jersey and counties like Los Angeles County.

The master-planned communities do not have shopping malls inside their gated communities and this arrangement may have been a mistake. Many shopping centers have sprung up near or adjacent to the communities with the hope of servicing the needs of those communities' residents. And others from other communities who may be attracted by unique offerings of shops in those shopping centers.

The result is that few of the shopping centers or strip malls have the loyalties of residents who live close by. If those same malls had been located inside the master-planned communities, the residents there could walk to the mini shopping areas and customer loyalty would be easier to develop.

All over Las Vegas, North Vegas and Henderson, there are strip malls where there is less than 50% occupancy. As more and more businesses close, the carnage continues. Shopping and strip malls are being abandoned, perhaps at a rate nearly as fast as foreclosed houses.

It is clear that the preoccupation wth size has boomeranged on the Las Vegas valley. The huge, multiple storefront complexes must now compete for a pool of occupants that is ever shrinking as the worst economy since the Great Depression continues its Pyrrhic march across the continent.

One beneficial effect of this recession might be the thinning of the population. Literally. Las Vegas has always been known for bloated bellies and a sizable number of 300 to 400 pound men and women. Now that a lot of people have been shocked into the realization that they must go out there and pound the pavement looking for a job, the trend towards ever-bigger bellies, arms and thighs may finally be reversed.

If Vegasites come out of this recession thinner, meaner and, incidentally, healthier, it will be one good lining in the storm clouds that race past Las Vegas, not raining on the valley but holding on until they reach the Arizona mountains before dumping their precious and rare commodity.