One afternoon while I prepare the pages of our February issue, I paused for a break to rest my aching back and headed for Worldwide House. My intention? To cut the monotony of the endless workload that surrounds me everyday which makes my mind lose its creativity. A brief call to "Goodfella" Rolly Cruz of PNB did bear some fruits – he is available for a 20-minute chat before his regular “Top Brass” meetings (must be, for he was immaculately dressed)!
Over a cup of coffee, we started with the usual pleasantries while the remaining 18 minutes or so were mutually shared with our respective opinions. I like this type of exchanges for it brings out the best (or the worst) in me. And true – my thoughts came flowing like juices in my mind. That is why I like Rolly – he is a mild talker and a good listener.
Assured of a friendly audience in him, I lamented my most recent encounter with an airport official in the new Airport Terminal 3 in the Philippines on my way back to Hong Kong. I took the Cebu Pacific flight and so I had the chance to experience the newly opened Terminal. I admire its spaciousness and cleanliness compared to the other 2 airport terminals but what disappointed me in my otherwise good day is the brazen & shameless attitude displayed by one official (Gosh! This guy looks so decent) who keeps on asking me for a “lai si” repeatedly showing me a red pocket as he knows I am Hong Kong bound. To me, this is plain and simple act of extortion. Extortion is synonymous to "kikil" - gamit pangtanggal ng kalawang – or to be more specific, it falls into the now infamous 'Corruptionary' lingo.
His persistence and sarcastic laughs when I dismissed his overtures prompted me to explain while containing my temper that the giving of lai si is a very meaningful Chinese tradition. In a tempered but confident voice, I told him that first, the giving of lai si is practiced by a married man towards a single man which obviously did not qualify him. Second, it is given by the Boss to the employee and again I said he is not my employee. And third, I told him that I am not Chinese so I don’t practice it. And so I was left in peace.
This is just a tiny incident that may not be worthy of publicity but these little things, like when drivers wantonly ignore bus stops & traffic signs; or when people unashamedly urinate in city walls & corners in broad daylight and in public view; or when the simple observance of orderly queue seems alien among our people; these somehow “irrelevant events” are to me a prognosis of a very sick society.
But what do we expect from a country whose leadership grabs the most attention in terms of millions or billions worth of anomalies in a consistent fashion? I may sound boringly repetitive with my regular whining but not to Mr. Cruz who has all ears to what I’m saying. And so as a human being, I tried to find reason why the current leaders of this administration would want to amass so much wealth that they may not even spend in their lifetime? Why? Well, I think the answer is simple!
When they step down (Oh yes, they know their time will come.), they must have enough wealth and money to remain in “power” and protect themselves from every attempt of retribution. The Marcoses were able to get away with it having remained popular and influential and unaccountable to the many excesses and abuses of their time. On the other hand, I have strong reason to believe that the former President Ramos is untouchable only because of his extensive military influence while ex-president Estrada was not too fast to secure his own “loot”, hence, resulted in his incarceration.
Meanwhile, Cory Aquino is not haunted by allegations of corruption until today because there were probably none, however, her inexperience and lack of political will was her failings. Cory missed to capitalize from that popular uprising that brought her to power, the chance to repudiate our country’s external debt – bowing instead to the powers of the WB & IMF and other International Finance Institutions for debts that never benefited the common Filipino people. Because of this, it is safe to say in retrospect that the purpose of her leadership in that critical time of our history was already doomed to fail from the start.
All told in a little over 18 minutes without sipping my coffee, Mr. Rolly asked me what I think is the solution? And who do I think would best lead our country? “Good question”, I replied; “I need another cup of coffee to be able to think of an answer”. And since he no longer have the “time”, I just excused myself for the day.
Author: Tony Bartolome
*Published in TF Newsmag February 2009 Issue
