A Torch Has Been Passed

…to a new generation of Filipinos.

His stints in both chambers of Congress have been pretty unremarkable.  I do not know of any law of national significance that he has authored.  However, when Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III announced a month or so ago that he was going to run for the highest office in the land, I must say that I found my usually skeptical self quite willing to give him a chance.

Yes, he does come from the country’s landowner class and his late dear mother belonged to one of the nation’s wealthiest families.  Yes, it is true that as a politician, his leadership skills and capabilities have not been fully tested.  Yes, both his parents had the ability and gift to rally people around their cause but the same can’t be said of him YET.   But there is something in this man that somehow tells me that he may end up being a good President, if not a great one.

Unlike his late mother though, Mr. Aquino didn’t toss his hat into the ring bearing the disadvantage of political inexperience.  He has been a member of the Philippine Congress for more than a decade now, having served as a member in both its upper and lower chambers. He has run his own political campaigns for office and has witnessed first hand how Philippine party politics work.

I don’t think we can also question the man’s personal courage and moral strength.  Unlike a great many of us, he has had to deal with the prolonged absence of a jailed father during the martial law years and the unbearable pain of his father’s subsequent assassination.  He himself had been the target of an assassination attempt back in 1989 when mutinous soldiers led by former Col. Gringo Honasan launched an unsuccessful coup attempt against his mother.  He and his bodyguards were ambushed by mutinous soldiers.  He was seriously wounded and three of his four bodyguards were killed.  Fragments of those bullets are said to be still lodged within his body to this day.

Unlike a lot of his peers who harbor Presidential ambitions, Mr. Aquino’s style has been decidedly low-key.  Don’t expect to see from him any of the chest-thumping and grandstanding antics that ambitious politicians often resort to just to gain public and media attention.  I may be wrong but in the 10 plus years that he’s been a politician, I haven’t seen Mr. Aquino make outlandish statements in public or in House/Senate subcommittee hearings for the sole purpose of landing himself on the evening news.

Unlike Malacanang’s current occupant who seems to have discarded the doctrine of separation of Church and State, I view it as an encouraging sign that Mr. Aquino has chosen to stand by his support of House Bill 5043 otherwise known as the “Reproductive Health and Population Development Act” even if he risked losing the support of the Catholic Church and the so-called “pro-life” groups.  He is showing quite a bit of spine here by going against the stand of an institution that was instrumental in bringing his late mother to power.  Not all Filipinos are Roman Catholics and thus, the cause of national unity will better be served if our leaders show that not one religion is afforded preferential treatment over the others.  In my humble opinion, it’s a very smart move on his part.  Through such a move, the ball is now on the Church’s court.  It forces them to reassess their position and see whether to go for an honest politician who happens to support the reproductive health bill or to throw their support behind another politician of unproven character.

But I also have my reservations about Mr. Aquino.  Mr. Aquino is part of the country’s landed elite, part of the Filipino Establishment.  So far, I haven’t seen any legislative and/or economic proposal from him that shows a strong willingness to shake the status quo.   I don’t know if he has the character and political will to go so far as to sacrifice his family’s economic and political interests for the sake of the country’s.  I’m afraid that he might take the conservative route where radical changes are required.  He has spent many years working under his mother’ shadow and that could work either for or against him.  He has good name recognition but to be honest with you, I think he hasn’t been impressive in tv interviews.  He has been a “big picture” guy so far but in the coming months, he must provide the people with more details on how he plans to solve the country’s problems.

I don’t know if this will come to pass but in my humble opinion, it could be good for the country if the 2010 Presidential elections feature a matchup between Senators Aquino and Francis “Chiz” Escudero.   Both are decent men who deep in their hearts, truly care for the country.  I have seen Senator Escudero appear on some morning tv shows.   Unlike a lot of his peers, Sen. Escudero tries his very best to explain legal issues in words that can be easily understood by the average person.  He often speaks in the vernacular and in a very calm demeanor.  One can see that he is doing his part to educate people and to lift the national discussion of issues to a higher level.

Mr. Escudero exudes dynamism, something that Mr. Aquino does not.  Mr. Escudero is a man rich with specific, detailed ideas on how to solve a number of the nation’s problems such as poverty, government reform, and the economy.  He simply doesn’t mouth off high-level, general statements about the nation’s problems.  He provides specific, detailed answers and solutions to those issues.  By doing so, he proves to his listeners that he has a very good command of the issue(s) he speaks of.  As a result, he commands a lot of support and respect from a lot of people, especially the youth.

Some held Mr. Escudero’s previous party affiliation as a member of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) against him due to that party’s close identification with former Marcos crony (and now GMA crony), Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco.  But aside from intelligence, Mr. Escudero’s other asset is that he has not been tainted by any corruption scandal.  The conservatives and entrenched interests in the party simply found some of his progressive ideas too radical that they decided to not support his run for the Presidency.  His proposals are just way too “people-oriented” for their comfort, short-sighted people that they are.  Now that he’s gone solo, maybe voters will give him a second look.

I say that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Filipinos (borrowing the words from JFK’s 1961 inaugural address) because for the first time, we are faced with the probability that the two leading candidates for the Presidency are men who were both born in the 1960s and who had lived through the martial law years, albeit on opposite sides of the political fence.  Both had a view of how life was like in the country during the pre-martial law, martial law, and post-martial law years.  Both saw how the country worked its way down from being Southeast Asia’s 2nd most prosperous nation (second only to Japan) in the 1960s to one of its poorest. They witnessed how the country got mired into tons of foreign debt due to the free-spending ways of the Marcoses, their cronies, and the political leaders that came after them.  They saw how the Peso lost its value from about P4 to $1 in the late 1960s to the P48 to $1 that it is today.  They saw how the population exploded out of control from a manageable 35 million in the late 1960s to a disastrous 90 million today.

The country deserves a serious Presidential contest with serious candidates to choose from.  Serious national problems require serious and thoughtful solutions.  With that view in mind, Messrs. Aquino and Escudero would be the top two candidates on my list.  No doubt that in the coming months, political opponents along with their hired guns in TV and in print will be throwing mud at these two gentlemen in an effort to undermine their character and their intentions.  But that is part of the game of Politics.  How Sens. Aquino and Escudero deal with all the accusations and attacks hurled against them will help show us either their inner strength or their inner weakness.

Photo Credit:  Keith Abongco/AKP Images

That Structure on the Roof

Across the street from the hotel where I’m staying stands an old apartment building. From its looks, I am guessing that it’s probably at least 50 years old. It stands about 10 stories high and judging from its exterior, the building obviously suffers from lack of proper maintenance. The following picture shows the sight that greets me every time I open my hotel room window:

It shows the apartment building’s 10th floor and its rooftop. Please pay close attention to the structures on the rooftop. The concrete structures house the utility stairways that lead to the rooftop and, I’m assuming, the building’s water tanks. There are also non-concrete structures present, mostly built of wood, galvanized iron, and meshed wire. You will see that all of the non-concrete structures on the rooftop are used as storage sheds except for the one at the right. The one on the right looks like someone uses it as living quarters.

The rather thin layer of iron roofing ought to provide the structure’s resident with adequate shelter from the rain.  However, the roofing becomes more of a liability during very hot and humid days because its thinness hardly provides any buffer between the resident and the sun’s rays.  In fact, the thin metal sheet could even exacerbate the heat within that structure.  As a result, the temperature inside could be much higher than what it actually is outside. 

Unlike residents of the regular apartments on the lower floors, this structure does not have the benefit of any installed airconditioning unit and the absence could be due to a number of reasons.  One reason could be that its wooden walls are probably not strong enough to support the average window-type of airconditioner;  another reason could be either the lack or absence of appropriate wiring to support the power requirements of an AC unit in that particular section of the building; and lastly, it’s also possible that the resident simply decided not to have one installed. 

Let me switch gears now by saying that when I started writing this piece, my original intent was to simply write about that rooftop structure that caught my attention and piqued my curiosity.  I was almost done with organizing my geeky thoughts for this piece when the SO informed me that there are actually two or three Filipino women living in that structure.  She knows it for a fact because she actually saw them come out of that structure one morning to retrieve some clothes that they had hung out to dry. 

Thus, from wondering about an inanimate structure, I now started wondering about the people who have made it their home.  A different set of questions now came to mind.  How long have they lived in that structure?  How long have they been away from their families?  Are they related to each other or are they friends who decided to live together in one housing unit in order to save rent money?  Do their families back home know of where they live and how they live?  Do the folks back home know of the tremendous sacrifices these women are making in the hopes of a better future for their respective families?

I hope that they all eventually do well with their lives.  I hope that they don’t get to stay in such a structure for long.  I hope that when the day comes and it’s time for these women to come home, that a loving and grateful family will welcome them back with open arms and with gratitude and positive returns to show for their sacrifices.  Given all the hardship they’ve gone through for their families, it is only fair to say that these women certainly deserve no less.

Moving East

A couple of weeks ago, a cousin flew in from California to try his luck in finding a job here in the East Coast.  He’s 27 years old and has been looking for a job since he was laid off from his last one last March.  He grew up in the Los Angeles area and prior to losing his job, never contemplated moving to the Big Apple.

But the current recession and financial crisis is a different one.  Several states, California included, have unemployment rates that run in the double digits.  In fact, just last Saturday, the New York Times reported that California’s unemployment rate has shot up to 11.9%.  Given California’s population and the size of its economy, reportedly the 8th largest in the world, this is certainly a huge problem. 

My cousin told me that the job ads page of the Los Angeles Times is practically empty.   In all the months he had spent job searching there, not once had he been called in for an interview.  On the other hand, the few requests for job interviews that he had received had come from companies in New York.  A number of his friends, ones he grew up with in the Los Angeles area, have moved to New York  and into new jobs in the past few years.  My cousin came over here in June for a couple of interviews with a couple of companies and he flew back again a few weeks ago to go on three more job interviews with three other companies.  His second and current trip to New York finally bore fruit because he was able to land a job with a Madison Avenue ad agency.  He got his official job offer this past Saturday and he mailed back his acceptance early this week.

The latest report from the US Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics supports his experience.  The report said that for the month of July, New York registered an increase in employment of 62,100 jobs compared to California which lost 35,800 jobs.  Among all 50 states, New York registered the largest increase in level of employment while California was the exact opposite by registering the largest decrease in level of employment.

It certainly helps that for all its troubles, New York remains one of the anchors of the US economy.  There is a great diversity of business, industry, and people jammed into all of Manhattan’s 23 square miles of land area.  All American corporations of significance from any industry maintain an office in the island.  The borough of Manhattan is America’s most densely populated and one of its wealthiest.  As America’s business capital, it attracts a huge number of foreign companies to set up either their American headquarters or offices there.  By attracting all that wealth and investment, jobs will surely follow even in the hardest of times.  But aside from being a business center, Manhattan is also a cultural and academic center.  There are a host of theaters, art and historical museums, universities, art galleries, art districts, etc. to cater to everyone’s passions.  A highly developed and efficient mass transit system brings thousands of commuters from neighboring states of New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania to Manhattan each day either for work or entertainment.  All these combine to bring and support much needed employment into the city.

But going back to my cousin, I’m certainly very happy for him that he has found a job here.  In fact, the day after he got his job offer, I helped him and his mom do some apartment hunting on my side of the Hudson.  Even during our apartment search, the leasing agents we met with told us that there has been an influx of people from California.  Another sign of the financial crisis is that we didn’t have any trouble finding him a suitable apartment with very good amenities and at the price we wanted.  It’s a buyer’s market right now as far as buying or leasing properties is concerned.  Thus, his mom and I made sure that we got him the most advantageous deal we could get.

He’s a good, smart and frugal kid.  I wish him well in his new job and in his new life here.  Personally, I’m also happy with the fact that I now have another close relative nearby.  I’m rather close to his mother, my aunt who is my father’s youngest sibling.  She’s always been the “cool” aunt in the family.  She’s happy that her little boy has found job but I know that his moving to the East Coast will also sadden her and her husband as well.  Theirs is a tight and loving family.  Although they’ll be losing a son to the East Coast, I know they know that it is a good problem to have right now.

Downright Obscene

This brief article came out in today’s edition (August 7) of the New York Post criticizing the amount of money our dear President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) spent on a party for her entourage.  The party was held at the very upscale club called Le Cirque.  The report also said that several bottles of very expensive wine were ordered that pushed the evening’s dinner tab to around $20,000. 

This must be the President’s way of congratulating herself and her large entourage for a job very well done.  I don’t know how big her entourage was but it smacks of poor taste and judgment to host such a lavish party on a trip whose main purpose was to schmooze with a new American President in order to obtain hundreds of millions of dollars more in new economic and military aid. 

I have nothing against throwing a party for one’s staff or supporters.  Any leader is entitled to do that and a good leader should do that as a sign of his/her appreciation to his/her staff for a job well done.  It’s a morale booster.  However, the reason why GMA suffers from a serious and irreparable image problem is that she has seriously flawed political instincts.  Throwing a party at an upscale New York club shows a serious lack of sound judgment and/or gross insensitivity on her part.  In a city like New York, there are a lot of places where she could have thrown a nice party that would have cost the Filipino taxpayers a lot less.  

Even if somebody else had organized the party for her, she should have put her foot down and asked the organizers to select a more moderately priced venue instead.  She should have been extremely mindful of the negative message and image that will be sent when a leader from a poor Third World country hosts a party in a ritzy club where expensive wine was flowing like water.  This is a public relations disaster and she should have known better.   

The late Senator Jose Diokno used the word “obscene” to describe the lavish parties that the Marcoses used to throw in Malacanang back in the 1970s and early 1980s.  Such parties were held at a time when the country was up to its eyeballs in debt and millions were going hungry.  It is sad, disappointing and extremely frustrating that 30 years later, in spite of all the worsening poverty around them, our leaders still haven’t learned a damn thing.