Philippine Presidential candidates 2010

Selection process for the Philippine presidency has begun.  Philippine Presidential candidate are busy positioning themselves to get the nod from major political parties to become their standard bearer.  Administration's Gilbert Teodoro, Philippine Secretary of National Defense, We have Noli de Castro, current Philippine Vice president we also have Bayani Fernando Philippines Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman, Manny Villar Philippine Senate President  and many more.  These are the people whom they think the Philippines need to be the next Philippine President in 2010 Presidential Election.

The opposition is also posturing their own standard Philippine president bearer.  There is no united opposition that really stands out this time, but we have Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay who has declared his desire to be the next Philippine President. We have also former Philippine President (disgraced)Joseph Estrada, whom if he is able to circumvent the constitution, is willing to run again as PhilippinePresidential candidate. The opposition still couldn't unit themselves to select who would be their next Philippine president be, so therefore it is still a wait and see situation.  We cannot discount the possibility also that Philippine Presidential Candidate turncoats from the administration will join the opposition.

If these Philippine Presidential Candidates are not selected, they set up their own political party, hence, there are plenty of Presidential Candidates to choose come election time.  This is where the difficulty arises.  The process of selection will be left for the people to decide.  These political pundits justifies that it is better to have several political parties so that there will be several Philippine presidential candidates to select from.  I fully agree with them, that we should not limit the opportunity to serve the country as president to only a chosen few.  What I doubt however is the ability of the people of the Philippines to select who really is the best Philippine presidential candidate from among these guys.

The constitution does not limit anybody from creating his/her own political party for just as long as he has the capability to put it up.  I heard that they say the constitution doesn't, and I that transpired, so I believe it to be true that it is not a constitutional taboo to set up one's own political party. anytime 

Philippine politics have this mindset that nobody loses the election, but only cheated. They don't accept defeat. This is precisely the reason why the constitution came to be what is it is now because of the same paradigm, the paradigm of "never accepting no for an answer".  If you get "no" to become the political party standard bearer, then, shift to "yes": I can create my own political party.  How is that?

Now we have several political parties existing.  We have Kampi, Lakas, CMD, laban, nacionalista and many more, and all these parties can field in there own Philippine Presidential candidate if they feel they need to.  But IT is almost always that they really feel they need to when the election comes.  The Philippines is just one of the few countries, if not the only one, which fields plenty of presidential candidates during election time, as if it were just a simple city councilor post.

Wouldn't you think it to be a lot betterr when they preselect first the Presidential candidate before they can be fielded out to run and gets our valued votes?  It will be a dilemma on the part of the people of the Philippines to select because they don't have valid information about the presidential candidate other than what they hear about these candidates popularity depicted trimedia.  Usually, the people would just select whoever is most popular. There are more than 85 million people in the Philippines, and  many of them don't really investigate who among these presidenatiables is most reliable.  Even if they do, they can only know so much about the person.  

Often, the winner is the one who is most packaged well on media.  Their win ability is more often attributed to their ability to manipulate the print,  TV and radio media.  You know what media can do!  It can sell to the market any poison and the people will be clueless to buy it until one is dead.  Presidential advertisement is not covered by truth in advertising act that covers advertised products.  So, we are left to trust our gut feel in selecting who will lead our country for the next 4 years.

What I am driving at is that if we can only set up a 2 party system for the Philippine presidential election, then we can give the people the better choices.  We are presenting to them the cream of the crop, not the residue.  Those who can do less are those who exposes themselves most in the campaign...and we have many of this type in the government today.  Shallow politicians!

ALEC BALDWIN FILIPINA BRIDE. JOKE!

I am a fan of Alec Baldwin. I know that when he makes a movie, it is really worth watching. There is no particular characteristic that I can figure why I like this actor, it is perhaps a typical first impression which lasted. I must have watched an Alec Baldwin movie in the past (which title I could not even recall) that stuck in to my mind. I am not an avid movie follower, so you can't expect me to guess. I can not even recall titles of movies except for some which are really block busters. I haven't watched any Alec Baldwin movie lately and never heard of him for a while until the “Filipino mail order bride” he joked on David Lettermen show.

Alec Baldwin has already apologized to the Philippines, the government and the people as a whole, about the joke he made. It was in David Letterman show where he said that He need a "mail-order bride" to achieve the goal of having more children in my life. He mentioned Filipino mail order bride and they laughed. I know that that was only a joke and nothing really personal.

I can also recall that sometime ago, in Desperate Housewives show, there was also a joke about Filipino medical practitioners. In the show it was mentioned by Teri Hatcher who plays Susan Mayer in the show that she said “Can I check those diplomas because I want to make sure that they're not from some med school in the Philippines?" I don't have to elaborate so much about this issue because all these, Alec Baldwin and Desperate Housewives slur have already been addressed. All them have apologized to all the Filipinos worldwide.

There was even this show in London where the maid was asked to dance by her employer, again, they apologized. And we have many more yet to come.

I noticed then that we as a people are so sensitive about our race. We all have the right however to declare war over those people who would trample over our dignity as a person, as people and as a nation. We have had enough of these crap for centuries under our colonizers and we don't want it to happen ever again.

The world is now very careful about human rights. We have watchers all over the world who takes charge of everybody's welfare. Colonization now comes in another form. It is now in the form of economic control, manipulation of resources where one nation cant move without the approval of the other primarily because they are under control. This is my theory, and I don't intend to discuss this thoroughly.

What I am interested to talk about now is the Filipino word (not the people) becoming a symbol of joke worldwide. It is ironic because our government is good at protesting about people all over the world who makes fun of the word Filipino, but does nothing to reverse the notion. The word Filipina (female) has even become synonymous to maid servant in one of the dictionaries, which we have also protested, by the way. And we have always been effective in our protests. It never returned to us empty.

The question of the day is, until when shall we keep protesting? Do you expect that these people who ridicules us and apologizes later would stop thinking that we are really a nation of maids, mail order brides etc just because they made an apology? I don't think so! They may stop at one point and realize that they were mistaken, but others may still retain that same thinking because that is what they see. They still see Filipinos migrating in flocks to work as maids. They still see Filipinas going abroad as ready made wives. They still see many of our women post their profiles on the net to look for husbands, and many more.

It is indeed an insult to be treated by other people as such. It comes to me as no surprise though, because it is the reality. You see our officials even promoting and marketing our workforces in foreign lands to get job offers. These jobs are mostly blue collar, but it cant be discounted that servant maids are still part of the package. Our teachers are even going abroad to apply as maids.

Our protests therefore are useless. We can protest to one but the other will sprout because we don't stop at the source. Our government is inutile about the plight of our workers here and abroad. We are stuck to the thinking that this is the farthest we can go.

We protest because we are being laughed at, but we appear to be even funnier when we cant accept our reality. It is hypocrisy. Let us protest, yes we should, but let us also act to address our issue, that is creating more jobs here in the Philippines for our people. Jobs that are real which lasts far beyond after the term of the president has expired.

One wild suggestion if I may. Congressmen have Countrywide Development Funds otherwise known as Pork Barrel. This comes in millions of pesos, Php70 Million if I am not mistaken ($3.2Millin), and if there are 288 congressmen (partylists included), this gives us Php 20 Billion ($430M), you can just imagine how many factories this can make for the people. It is suspected that 30% of these funds usually goes to corruption which gives us Php 6 Billion in corruption money. Even this corruption money alone can already create more than enough businesses for our people to work with.   

Add up to these the monies the Palace pork barrel which is 9.8 Billion and the  Senators pork barrel which is Php 200 Million each x 24 senator equals a whopping Php 4.8 Billion. there fore simple mathematics can tell us that congress, senate and palace porks equal to a gargantuan Php 34 Billion ($743 Million).  Assuming again that my suspicion is correct that 30% goes to corruption, then we should have P10 Billion for business ventures. Imagine!

Where have all the monies gone?

Manny Pacquiao is better off in thinking to put up Php 1.5 Billion for a business venture in his hometown.  Dont tell me that an ordinary boxer thinks better than our politicians?  I cant tell you either. My apoligies.

DR. HAYDEN KHO AND KATRINA HALILI VIDEO SCANDAL

Bragging about screwing a girl is a high school thing. It is in adolescent age where it is always full of fun and confusion. I remember highchool days when everyone was looking forward to that first base on a girl, but nobody could hardly pursue. I realize now that it was so foolish of us to have desired of such experience. But it was how it was then, pretending to be conquerors when we were really not. We could not even conquer ourselves in the first place. It was associating sex to manhood as a true measure of conquest of all.

Times have gone so fast. We are in a new age where technology has somehow improved a lot. Spreading acts of sexual conquest by word of mouth is a thing of the past. Boys now use a medium like portable camera or cellular phones with built in camera to prove that indeed such a conquest really took place.

The desire to show off is innate in men, specially in sexual promiscuity. We can look back to prehistoric age where savage men when determination to hunt for food and sex makes no difference. Man must have gotten this savagery from our animal nature. Conquest may also come in the form of academic excellence, sports and or by simply bullying around.

Those who have successfully manage to show excellence in one of these forms are usually those who grow up accomplished individuals. It does always follow though that those who failed are doomed to perdition. It is a question of how one overcomes these shortcomings, accepting realities and growing up mature that molds the true person as he grows. Failure to outgrow results to insecurity.

There were those who were not brave enough to have failed to prove to himself that he was a real man. Many will think that he was short of many things when sex never transpired in high school days. It leaves an empty mark in them which if never outgrown would create a psychological scar within. This failure hangs up on him which may haunt him forever until he grows up .

On the same token, I recall known child actors and actresses in the past who because of childhood show business exposure were deprived of childhood joys. They longed to play with kids of their age but instead they were in front of the camera shooting for movies or recording a song. My theory, if this is true, may have an example in the person of Michael Jackson, who at his age today built a huge playground in his home to probably patch up lost childhood days, and he called it the neverland .

Could it be that flaunting a sexual act on video is another form of hang up? could it be that during their adolescence they were deprived of such a recognition? These hang up is not only limited to adolescence but may also be extended back to childhood days.

I am writing this blog in relation to what is spreading in the net right now. the sex scandal of Dr Hayden Kho. It is shameful as it is to highest level! A professional doctor known by many, trusted by many and is looked upon in the society is involved in sexual scandals with famous actresses and commercial model. Worse is that these videos are loaded in the net for everyone to see. Hayden Kho may not be who uploaded the video, but certainly it got to the hands of somebody of whom he must have shared the experience to.

Still at fault no matter what...Pervert!

FAIR FARE FOR JEEPNEYS

Drivers and operators and petroleum providers are often in disagreement with each other.  The gas companies would almost always ask for higher pump prices and as soon as the gas prices rises up, drivers and operators will demand for increases in fare as well.  They do that because they say they are dependent on international prices and dollar exchange rates.  And when the international prices sunk really low, they reasoned that they had to recover much of their losses in the past, hence, they cant bring prices yet. 

We do not understand these things that is why we totally rely on government institution to protect us against corporate abuses. But this has been the  common scenario in the past few weeks and months. What we can rationalize is that when one thing goes up, everything linked to it goes up as well and vice versa. Thee is always a direct relation to everything.

When pump prices goes up, and the demands for these drivers to raise fares are not approved, they would go to the streets and rally  their caused.  In stalling the streets and holding the economy for a day will almost always force the government to approve their demand.  In the next day, public transportation fares are increased.

These transportation leaders will argue in front of the television that they are for the welfare of the poor drivers, operators and their respective families.  It is indeed acceptable. I fully agree with their sentiments.

What I abhor is that when the pump prices goes down the fares do not go down together with it.  These drivers and operators together with their leaders adopted the same reasoning as that of the big petroleum companies had.  Isn't that amusing?

This reminds me of the story in the Bible where there was a man who couldn't pay for the the loan he had from his Master. He begged and asked for mercy from his master who right away wrote off his debt. But this same servant couldn't do the same to his fellow servant. His master was mad at him.

Matt 18:32"Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' 34In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

CALL CENTER PHILIPPINES

There are job fairs all over.  Every time you go to a mall you will see job fairs being advertised.  There are even instances when you can witness job applicants occupying a large portion of the mall to apply for jobs.  these are the common scenes you will see in the Philippines nowadays.

Joblessness have been the perennial problem in the Philippines for the longest time.  It is an encouraging scenario though where there are a lot of job openings where everyone can apply in the Philippines today.  Having a job is one of the greatest priorities anyone can ever  have while alive.  Having no job is likened to having no life at all.  You have to have a  job today so you can live.

But they say that jobless people are still so rampant today.  Despite all these job offers in the job fairs, people still couldn't get themselves a job.  Common reasons of course is that these applicants are not qualified for the job at hand.  

The common jobs that are offered are for business process outsourcing.    BPO works are the kind of jobs where it requires an applicant to be well verse in the English language.  In the past, the Philippines used to make English as one of the major languages used in schools until just recently.  Some patriotic legislators wanted Filipino language to be the primary teaching medium.  I remember when I was still a student, where we were asked to pay if we were caught speaking our dialect while inside the school premises. I never paid any since we were so careful not to speak at all if there are teachers around.  Just imagine how quiet our school was during that time.

In a way, teaching kids with the local dialect is far more beneficial to them than pushing it hard on them to speak a foreign language which is English.  Kids from affluent families though are used to speaking the English language since many of them speak it at home. But there are only a few of them and usually, the English that they use is the known "taglish" which is a combination of tagalog and English. 

There is indeed no sweeter pill in learning than to speak and listen with your own dialect.  I also recall when we were in college when Spanish was still a prerequisite in our curriculum, it was the hardest subject to pass;  the Pilipino subject was not that easy too, I admit.  I can attest that it will be difficult to learn anything from anyone, a teacher or your parent, when you are taught using English as medium.  There will always be a glitch somewhere where the child may miss a point and might fail to learn.  And worse is when the parent or teacher is not articulate enough to explain. But this is just a very temporary thing since kids can easily adapt to its environment, specially when the parent and teacher uses the English language often as they talk to the kid.  this is somehow getting the kid used to hearing and speaking the language like in a normal conversation.  Don't laugh at mistakes too....even if its you who commits one.

I am not an advocate of the English language.  I shun speaking English.  It is difficult to organize your thought in Filipino and speak it out in English specially if you're not used to it.  Upon facing reality, it seems that we have to work double time in coping up with the situation.  World's job opportunity has flattened, meaning everybody is given equal opprotunity in finding a job whether local or abroad. Opportunities abroad are now available to us.  This is primarily the reason why almost all the opportunities around are for bpo.  Which means a hired employee reports locally and yet his/her customers are someone from abroad.  Most bpo clients are from English speaking countries, and english is after all still the most used language the world over. It is good that we are still known to be an English speaking nation until now, but not for long if we don't make up.

The onset of information age has made communication easier.  the entry of internet communities, email and voip have made communicating to someone abroad a lot cheaper.  Our legislators foresight must have failed to anticipate such a scenario.  Had we maintained English as a secondary language in school, we would have a better advantage against our foreign bpo counterparts in India or Singapore and other Asian countries offering bpo.  

The bpo which is otherwise known to be call centers are hiring graduates with university degrees probably because they are the only ones who can speak better English.  But it would have been better if it were our high school graduates who were given these opportunities to work in the call centers had they been trained to speak English well.  Our degree holders would have been more productive in pursuing other opportunities and help improve the country by their university skills rather stickng their tongue 8 hours a day to help foreigners. Call center jobs are basically routinary where anyone who understands and speaks English well, who may have the ability to understand the functionality of the tools they use to support their customers, then are good for the call  center job.

Thanks for the call center though because it has provided jobs for the many who are languishing in joblessness.  But for those who think they can do more...then let them find something else. Leave the call center to high school graduates or graduates of vocational courses.

A MILLION DOLLAR MOM

We just celebrated mother's day yesterday.  I salute all the moms all over the world!  There is no doubt that your mom, my mom is always the best mom one can ever have.  Seldom will you see that a child would fail to recognize that reality..  there may be moms out there who by circumstance have neglected there children, but these are rare instances.

This million dollar mom I am talking about is what you will see from any ordinary mom around, but she has an exceptional character.  She is the type who when ever she is around you would feel that the world is perfectly alright even though it is in turmoil.  You will hear bombs pounding in the neighborhood in times of war, but for as long as you are with this mom, it is alright. 

Her husband is fully secure and confident in all his undertakings because of her presence.  The husband may be there to protect the family and provide for their needs, but he gets his strength from his wife, who is the mother of their children.  He is proud of his accomplishments even if he has not because this mother makes him feel so. 

She speaks well of her husband even in spite of his shortcomings.  We see all the mistakes any husband can commit, some wives would tend to curse their husbands because of these shortfalls.  You will see a some wives bad mouthing their husbands because he couldn't come up with how husbands should be. Some would find fault on him thinking maybe that when she tells him what he lacks or what he is not capable of doing would probably ring a bell and help him to improve.  I see some would even ridicule them in front of many people just to send the message across. Wrong! 

But this mother I am referring to doesn't have these traits.  She instead talks well about her husband.  Finds positive traits she could find in him and dwell on it and hopes to develop it more.  She kills the negative traits by bombarding with praises he finds in every little achievement he makes.  Husbands are like little children too, so to speak. They are appreciation gluttons! He builds her husband up.  Her friends knows that her husband is the best because that is what she tells them even if her husbands is otherwise.  

Household job is the most tiring of all.  The husband usually brings home the money, but it is the mother who cooks the bacon.  The husband does the hunting while the mother turns the hunted to food. The mother is tasked to prepare the food at dawn and is usually the last person to lie in bed at night to fix all the days mess.  She washes the dishes, the clothes and irons them, cleans the house, prepares the kids for school and sends off her husband to work.  Some mothers would even prepare the clothes for their husbands before he wears them to work.  She is the all time fix in the house.    

she is the all time CEO in the house.  The household is likened to a corporation where the mother is the chief executive.  Her word is everybody's command.  You can't small any mother who claims to be "just" a simple housewife because managing the house is the most taxing.  You will have to allocate the fix budget for utilities and food, salaries and wages if there are hired servants.  Try to match that and see if there is any man who can cope up with the pressure...and the budget is fixed with no rooms for additional loans like any corporation CEO would if he finds trouble. 

You will notice during wedding ceremonies when the husband symbolically turns over the wealth to the wife is  literally followed by some couples, and this mother I am talking about here is trustworthy enough to be able to manage the family finances well.  She invests their resources wisely that sometime the husband is just surprised to ask where the extra money is coming from.  

Some mothers even have a day work just to make both ends meet.  Some would even do odd jobs to add income for the family.  This is usually true when the husbands can only bring home meager income for the family. Despite all these endeavors, she still manages to take care of the family's needs effectively, not to mention the husband's needs if that is still part of the deal. 

Aside from her being the all fix solution for the family, the mother is often the range expander for the family.  A range expander is a device used to extend the wireless internet connection to reach even farther.  You can just imagine how far the family could go without the mother in the house, not an inch farther, I tell you.  

This mother is the source of wisdom in the house.  Her words are full of encouragement.  We often say that the husbands think more of rationality while the wife is more often emotional before they rationalize things.  It is true and it is even effective.  Specially if the mother is God fearing, you can always expect that her words are often an edification.  It is often said that from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.  I would not like to think couple would be discussing rationally and exchange arguments like those legislators in congress wanting to win who among them has the more logical proposition 

A woman maybe capable of multitasking everything, but until she becomes a mother will she only realize the true fulfillment of being a real woman.  A lady may be valued a thousand dollars by a bachelor, but by golly, this woman I am talking about is my wife!

Philippine national anthem by Martin Nievera

The recent Manny Pacquiao fight was an overwhelming victory for the Filipino people.  Prior to the fight were introduction to the fighters and the singing of the national anthem of their respective countries.  The singer who rendered the Philippine national anthem was no less than the concert king himself Martin Nievera.  

Martin Nievera is known to be the concert king in the Philippines because indeed he is.  He performs concerts a lot of times and he is one of the best singers n the country.  Singers in the past Manny Pacquiao fights were good singers as well, but none of them have at least come up to a career height level as that of Martin Nievera's.  His rendition to the Philippine national anthem was truly one of the greatest.  

The previous singers of Manny Pacquiao fights were equally good as well.  There was Kyla, Christian Bautista and Karyl Tatlonghari who were really excellent when they rendered the Philippine national anthem, except of course for Bautista who forgot some of the lyrics when he sang.  It was truly shameful of him to do that! He was probably very tensed as it was his first time to sing in front of the world watching. He was able to cope with words though and only the Filipinos recognized the glitch.  The World did not even understand it anyway what he was singing .

National Historical Institute (NHI) of the Philippines have often complained about how these artists rendered the Philippine national anthem.  They say that there is a way to sing the song and singing it otherwise is is punishable by law with fines and imprisonment.  The Philippine national anthem should be sung in marching mode according to NHI.

What is appalling about this issue is that this NHI people are so sensitive with how these singers sing the Philippine national anthem. I have witnessed many instances where the star spangled banner (American national anthem) is sang differently, but never heard of anyone giving any qualms about it. Strict compliance to how the song is rendered should focus on how the people receives the song at the time of singing. If the singer insults the country behind the song, then let him be an anathema. If the singer sends a negative message , makes fun of the song or insinuates rebellion then sue him. But if the singer has sung the song beautifully then appreciate at least, don't send him to court.

Do we have a recognition problem here? Are we just trying to stir the air just because it is an opportunity to show the world that such an institution exists in this corner? It is a situation similar to a child trying to show to his dad that he did something and shows it off to be recognized. Nobody knows so much what the NHI is all about. They only come out in the open every time there is a Manny Pacquiao fight and the National Anthem is sung which did not come up to their standard. Is this what the NHI all about? I am sure this is one of their mandates, but certainly there are a lot more in priority.

I am not against following the rules in singing the Philippine national anthem. Although I find the song a little drag, it could be because I have lived with it for all my life. But I love every word of it, honestly speaking. For as long as the the singer is not rapping the Philippine national anthem, I think I can live with that. Find other issue more relevant to improving the lives of the Filipino people, my message to NHI and to the unknown lawyer who sued Martin Nievera in court.

Manny Pacquiaio wins for Philippines

We have waited for months to watch Manny Pacquaio and Ricky Hatton exchange fists in the ring, and with mixed joy and disappointment, on May 2, Manny won by knock out!  It was disappointing because practically as spectators of the game, we expected adrenalin rushing on every round and yet it seemed that Ricky Hatton was caught barefooted and was finished in the 2nd round.  Joyfully of course because the Philippines is victorious again!

Manny Pacquiao has brought many good reasons for everyone to be inspired of.  It is no wonder that a lot of companies' worldwide would hire him for endorsements.  Those endorsements you would only be seeing in Michael Jordan are now seen on Manny Pacquiao.  You can just imagine how far Manny Pacquiao have conquered the hearts and mind of the people all over the world.  

The best part of Manny Pacquiao is that he brings the Philippines together with him wherever he goes. During the Manny Pacquiao and Ricky Hatton fight, the people have heard the famous Manny Pacquio rendition of the "Pilipino and lahi ko"(Filipino is my race) song he personally sang.  You have never yet seen any fighter who had this level of patriotism in him other than Manny Pacquiao.

Manny Pacquao doesn't only fight for himself alone but also for his country before God and next to himself.  This is what he always say in every press conference he attends.  A person with such a heart will not be easily conquered.  This is certainly the reason why Manny Pacquiao has gone this far - he puts himself behind in every victory he makes.  He doesn't put himself on the pedestal for everyone to see and pride himself with.

He also has all the reason to do his best every time he is on the ring, because he does not only fight for his country figuratively but he literally brought his countrymen behind as his Manny Pacquiao team.  during his fights, he had with him the speaker of the house of the congress of the Philippines and some colleagues, he had with him the governors and mayors, and not to mention the husband of the Philippine president, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.  That is indeed the entire Philippines behind him, doesn't it? and not  to mention of course the seemingly holiday scene in the Philippines since almost everyone is hooked in the boob tube to watch him fight.

The phenomenal recognition that Manny Pacquiao has brought about in his successive victories  also changed the country's political landscape.  The Philippine officials have made use of Manny Pacquiao's popularity to cascade some of their political, whether institutional or personal , agenda down to the grassroots level.
The political scene in the Philippines has never been stabler when Manny Pacquiao has a fight.  Political parties have different agenda and so with the rest of the Filipino people, and they only come together in unity when Manny Pacquiao wins the fight.  Do you see how influential this Manny Pacquiao is?

The Philippines current adminstration has made use of Manny Pacquiao's popularity in many ways than one to achieve their polical objectives.  There are always political issues, if not scandals, haunting the government all over the land. Manny Pacquiao's victories however, puts media bombardment to a halt focused on Manny Pacquiao.  It is as if he serves as a breather for the government scoundrels to recoup;and they are best at it.  Many of these government personalities swarm Manny Pacquiao for photo ops as soon as they see a glimpse of him before  or after the fight.  Well, Bill Clinton did anyway, so why couldn't they?

What the Philippine government failed to do was to maximize the use of manny Pacquiao's popularity internationally to showcase to the world the Philippines as a country.  They have focused so much on how Manny Pacauio can contribute to serve their political ends rather than towards the country's benefit as a nation.  The world knows that Manny Pacquiao is from the Philippines, but they never had an inkling what the Philippines is all about.  They could not even associate Boracay or Bohol with Manny Pacquiao. If we want to be a reknowned tourist destination, we have to think along this line. 


What the Philippine government could have done is to promote the Philippines everytime there is a manny Pacquiao fight.  Instead of these hooligans tailing the champion whenever he fights, why not send the entire Philippines marketing team instead and showcase Philippines products to the world in a separate tradeshow.  If they can set up a tadeshow inside the coliseum why not, they can surely find a way to hit the right button to capture the market through Manny Pacquiao.  If it is tourism that they want to promote, then let them promote tourism while the world is hooked in Manny Pacquiao.  There is always a way to get attention and the best time is now when everybody knows Manny Pacquiao.  

ON JEEPNEY AND TRICYCLE

It is only in the Philippines where you can find jeepneys and tricycle rides as mode of public transportation. A jeepney originated from a military jeep which was extended at the back to accommodate additional passengers to be seated side by side. A tricycle is another form of Filipino ingenuity where a motorcycle is installed with a sidecar to create a additional room for 2 more people.

The jeep which could only carry 5 people including the driver can now carry as much as 22 passengers, the motorcycle on the other hand which could carry 2 people can now carry 5 people. Isn't this amazing?

It is amazing but not so impressive. In the past, it was a real accomplishment for the pinoy to have worked around the limitations of his technology by creating the jeepney. Limited technology is the key why this jeepney concept cannot pick up international recognition in terms of vehicle standard. Although the jeepney has somehow carved an identity as originally Filipino, but it could not bring prosperity to the Philippines as a whole. It will just remain an icon for art and beauty, a thing ideal for display in showcasing Filipino art. It cannot at all become a new age help.

The Sarao jeep factory made a fortune manufacturing these simple machines until they went bankrupt a few years ago. The family enterprise which all started as a backyard activity have become a staple name for jeepney manufacturing nationwide. Came the national crisis where all major factories have struggled to survive, the Sarao company never pulled up. Realizing from the shallow foundation of the jeepney concept, it would really be difficult for the company to rise in the middle of the crisis because it could venture internationally.

Here comes the tricycle, an improvised motorcycle. Have you tried riding on an open ferry's wheel without safety feature, no belts, no locks and just plain ride? That is the tricycle! You will definitely grow goose bumps as big vehicles pass by your tricycle while your tricycle pretends to be a big vehicle when in fact it is just a motorcycle. Tricycles are advantageous to those who don't have any means of transportation at all. It is common in the Philippines that the main roads are plied by jeepneys while the small arteries are for tricycle. Arteries are small roads connecting the main roads to small villages and barangays. Just be careful however in hiring some of them, they charge exorbitant fees ( as expensive sometime to a brand new taxi ride).

While other countries are focusing on improvements, new inventions and technologies, my country is degenerating. We are growing backwards! I told you about the tricycle which evolved from a motorcycle, we have something more to share...the “padyak” (pedal), it is a pedaled tricycle. Funny as it may seem but it is true.

How can my country progress in the new millennium when until now we still patronize this primitive livelihood approach? The government even encourages our people to venture in these businesses because probably by sheer numbers, this is where incumbent officials can get their votes in the next election. Their population counts by the millions nationwide by the way. Prosperity is difficult for the tricycle drivers involved because they are settle with their meager income and waste man hours waiting for passengers in their terminals as they queue in between rush hours. Many factory workers whose hands are busy producing during the day, while these drivers lay idle to wait for the factory workers to come home and commission the idle driver to send them home.

The jeepney and tricycle drivers and operators can only see their plight, and that is the picture they see. The government could have seen the bigger picture to help these poor people improve, but they opt not to show them the better option. There is little money in tricycle business. There is little growth in the jeepney business. All it can contribute is pollution and votes...now do I now see the better light on why they continue to persist? Pollution is definitely not the reason...