attitudes

a certain news item in korea struck me deep.  students going to take the entrance exam for university need to be hauled to testing centers. what struck me was that, ordinary people, even police cars, expedite the trip. in the philippines, you could hardly see anybody offering you a ride. sometimes even neighbors shun each other.
i think there is a need to develop among filipinos a sense of national solidarity.  this means that we stop taking advantage among ourselves.  here, we are strangers in our own country. we avoid going around knowing the fact that ordinary drivers or tour operators take advantage of visitors by charging exorbitant rates for services and even of local products.

it is worse abroad.  filipinos take advantage of other filipinos by telling on those filipinos in hiding just to gain trust of the american authorities. or of denying them jobs, even if they could afford them. or of really maltreating them by promising them non-existing jobs.

we do not need to be really jubilant about manny pacquiao's victories and feel patriotic. oftentimes, these die down after a few moments seeing nothing has changed at home.  or whenever a politician promises a new covenant, a new beginning, etc, ad naseam.  we must go beyond wearing our national color in sports competitions or elsewhere.

the more important question is: are we ready to be at our fellowmen's side as the need arises?

election fever

in the philippines, elections almost never stops. you know why? while official election period starts during filing of candidacy, campaign is going on, although secretly --- mostly that is. after elections, the task of replacing people around the winning politician drags on until almost the next election period.  which means about a year before the filing of candidacy.  in the meantime, those incumbent rank and file and heads of offices, are constantly under the scrutiny of politicians. depending on whether the official is perceived to be 'friendly' or 'unsupportive', then it could merit a promotion or a demotion (floating status).  a floating status means he could be in the same position or designation, but another one is made to do his actual work.

the moment a politician comes to power, he becomes addicted to having vast powers at his behest. that's why it is hard to let go of any elective position in government.  and the more people support this kind of a set-up, the more the politicians will have a solid grasp of power in government.

politics and business

funny how some politicians go out of their way just to stay ahead.  in our small city, there is a comebacking politician who now is an admin officer and tries to dabble with so much, sometimes forgetting the bounds of his power.  even extending (albeit surreptitiously) to who gets the best stalls in the market, and condone penalties for those late stall rentals.  a politician who rode on votes of protestants stayed in power for two stints (18 years as legislator and 3 years as executive's chief of staff) and suffered a crushing defeat running in a much lower position. another politician who reviled a husband and wife team of politicians, but who ended up exactly where promised she wouldn't be.

as what my uncle once said, politics in the philippines simply means "poli-poli tikal" (a cebuano term meaning  to take turns at grandstanding).  were it not for some well-meaning academic and media and church leaders, philippine government would have collapsed under its own ills.

so much has to be done. some do more, some less, some undo what good that was done just to discredit the predecessor. some just gab their way to office. im  thankful for some of the appointive civil servants (this includes me of course) who have been doing their very best to better the city... keep the flames burning guyz!!!

kris and james

kris is a well-known TV personality, scion of prominent family, a daughter and a sister of our nation's president.  she is basking in the adulation of the filipino public. an epitome of wholesomeness, of finesse.  she has had some brief relationship with well-known personalities, until james came in.

james is a basketball superstar who has earned a following among sportsfans. soft-spoken and a shy kind of guy who shuns publicity.  he had a child of an earlier relationship. he really never made it to front page until he was linked to kris.  some even hinted that james did it to boost his career.  even some of those close to kris.


we may say their personalities are so diverse. yet their relationship flourished for some time. they now had a son. but last year just before the presidential elections, the relationship soured and eventually a petition for annulment is now in the courts.


for me, kris always hungers for attention, and failing relationships are too juicy for the tabloids always hungry for celebrity news. james may have some failings. maybe he is too young as some put it.  but maybe kris is also too conceited and just wants to be in the limelight every now and then.

countervailing power

an economics professor once told us of the potency of countervailing power.  an individual buyer is powerless against a monopolistic company, but as a consumer bloc which could organize boycotts, or lobby in congress could pressure such giant companies, or force these companies to face class-suit action. an individual worker cannot hope to have his voice heard, yet as a union, he can cause management to listen to his demands.


in our case, a cooperative has made lending companies and small retailers here to re-think their business strategies and start seriously improving their services and quality of goods to woo back their customers who have since started patronizing the cooperatives.  


the greatest come-on for members is that aside from a much lower interest charged on loans (cash or commodities), they get to receive a portion of what the cooperative earns in a year according to both the patronage and the share capital he has put into the cooperative.  many have since stopped borrowing from private moneylenders and commercial banks, and have purchased some of the commodities from the cooperative.


an ideal countervailing power for the small consumer.