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| Honest-ness is the best foolishness? |
| (2nd of Two Parts) Corruption thrives in a society where people act like monkeys. Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil. If you listen to the conversations in the Metro Manila coffee shops, frequented by media’s leading lights and the government’s most prominent officials, you will note that everyone in this town knows who’s stealing what and from where. But the coffee shops are Old Boys’ clubs where self-preservation is the rule. Thus, while everyone is plugged into the grapevine, publicly, the habitués play the monkeys. They hear no evil, see no evil and speak no evil. In sum, they don’t tell on each other. In his first SONA, President Noynoy Aquino urged Congress to pass the Whistleblower’s Bill "to eradicate the prevalent culture of fear that has hounded our system." He was, of course, referring to the Jun Lozadas of the country who fear that blowing the whistle on crooks will land them in jail - if they’re lucky. More likely, they’ll end up in the cemetery. Who’s willing to bet that P-Noy’s appeal fell on deaf ears? Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño pointed out that the bill was "waylaid by the previous Congress." He attributed this to the fact that many solons were allied with the previous Arroyo administration. Casiño was being naïve, of course. He should know that members of Congress don’t necessarily have to be Arroyo allies to want to waylay a bill that would allow militant citizens to lift the lid on their thieving ways. The fact is that even Aquino allies would rather not have that bill passed. Can you imagine their having to account for every cent of their pork barrel? Can you imagine their having to come up with genuinely intelligent explanations for how they use their "intelligence funds"? |
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| Honest-ness is the best foolishness? |
(First of two parts)
“Kung walang kurap, walang mahirap!” If no one is corrupt, no one will be poor.
I like the campaign slogan of President Noynoy Aquino. It helped make him win and it rhymes. Now, all it needs is to have reason.
To talk the talk of the economists, “at the macro level” the slogan makes sense. We know that a huge percentage of the national budget is stolen by public officials who are kurap. Which means that if the stealing were to be significantly reduced, if not totally stopped, there would be money for services and utilities, as well as for economic programs that can translate into jobs. Which would then translate into income for the hitherto unemployed, etc. etc. etc. Ergo, “walang mahirap.”
But at the “micro level” or, in plain language, at the level of the microbe – which is what most of the Filipino masses feel they are: no better and no more significant than microbes – the slogan needs a reality check.
In the Philippines, he who is not kurap is the one who is naghihirap. Let me relate four true stories, to make my point.
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| Recasting our eroded values |
I had an interesting email exchange with a British national who commented on my piece on the need to refurbish the image of the Philippines overseas. The fellow said he had been to our country twice, because his girlfriend is half-Filipino. While he told me that he “enjoyed” reading my piece, he had a lot of unflattering things to say about the Philippines.
“It is not a particularly attractive tourist destination for ‘finicky’ Westerners,” he wrote, “because they have standards that are not properly accommodated for by the Philippines. Europeans are familiar with European hotel standards – flushing toilets, food made with quality ingredients and clean swimming pools. These are just some of the things that were missing in a hotel I visited in the Philippines and I draw your attention to this for a reason. The hotel lobby was very nice. There was a concierge and a lovely leaflet in the lobby but when you entered the hotel, the truth became more apparent.
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| P-Noy and communications management |
One of the news stories over the weekend that caused me to raise my eyebrows was the one about President Noynoy Aquino announcing that members of his official family will “undergo a seminar to better meet an emerging challenge: how to deal with media.”
The news item implied that the planned seminar had been prompted by “abrasive encounters between the press and two cabinet members.”
Apparently, this was also how presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda understood P-Noy’s announcement. Asked to explain the objective of the seminar, he said that it was about “how to answer questions, how to phrase your answer, and how to comport yourself, especially when confronted with difficult questions.”
In sum, he said, “It’s the typical ‘how to handle, how to deal with media.’”
Lacierda apparently based his view on his recent experience with the Malacañang press corps over Memorandum Circular Number One, and Education Secretary Armin Luistro’s comment on media treatment of the issue of sex education, which elicited a negative reaction from the press.
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A large delegation of overseas Filipinos, mostly from America, attended the inauguration of President Noynoy Aquino (I still have to get used to referring to him as P-Noy, but then, I never referred to Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as GMA). These were the same people who organized a volunteer group called US Pinoys for Noynoy-Mar or USP4NM, and actively campaigned for the LP team, raising funds, holding town hall meetings, calling up relatives in the Philippines, getting out the overseas votes and watching the canvassing at their respective Philippine consulates to ensure an honest count.
Having helped Noynoy win, these Pinoys, spurred mainly by love for the Motherland, want to help him succeed. For this reason, they decided to transform their informal group into an instrument for good governance. In Manila, they converted USP4NM into an organization called Overseas Filipinos for Good Governance.
The sparkplugs of this idealistic undertaking are former chair of TLC Beatrice International, Loida Nicolas-Lewis; San Francisco community leaders Rodel Rodis, Ted Laguatan and Charito Benipayo; Northern California businessmen Rolland Baldo and Mike Macapagal; and Southern California USP4NM convenors, Wally Reyes and Rocio Nuyda. There are many other formidable personalities in the delegation: Dr. Philip Chua of Chicago, Gus and Ethel Mercado of Texas, Ninoy Aquino Movement originals Gloria Navarrete and Fred Aquitania; Professor Gil Ramos of New Jersey; and delegates from the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and Saipan.
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