Loida Lewis: Just What The Doctor Ordered

It takes a real Filipino to want to save the Philippines. That's exactly what Loida Nicolas Lewis is all about. Away from the motherland for over 30 years, she is back with a mission to do something to help us all move on.

I remember Loida from my college years at the State University. She was a University Councilor when I was on the Collegian staff. She and the late Violy Calvo, who was Vice Chairman of the Student Council, were inseparable. That's the Violy Calvo who later married now Senate President Frank Drilon. Her younger sister, Imelda "Mely" Nicolas of the Imelda's Monthly fame, was the one who was more or less in my batch. That's the Nicolas family behind the famous Nicfur brand of furniture.

We have all heard of Loida and how she and her late husband made it big in the Big Apple. She can pretty much rest on the fortune she now has and live the jet set lifestyle but that's not her. I remember her as someone who is always on the go, always heeding an inner voice that sets her out on some mission to make a difference.

Well, it seems she has come to the conclusion that the world is too big to conquer and not as satisfying. She is now home, to tackle the challenge of helping the country get back on its feet. It seems to me this is a more difficult task than making it in the Big Apple. Out there, everyone is busy trying to make it, you don't even get noticed. Back here, you have to deal with a bunch of envious backstabbing characters you probably thought were friends.

But I am sure Mely, her sister, has given Loida a full briefing of what to expect. Mely knows what is cooking (and how to cook) in this town. Loida should have no illusions. But on the other hand, you need to have some illusions to make the decision to come back and risk some money here. Let's just hope she doesn't get too disappointed as she learns the local facts of life.

Loida says she and a number of like-minded Filipinos who made good abroad are ready to help this country get back on its feet. I like her slogan: Balik Yaman Para sa Bayan. Who else will have the malasakit to want to help this country at this time but its sons and daughters who now have the means to do so. At a time when foreign fund managers have written off this country, we can only depend on those with, as Loida puts it, emotional ties to make up the slack.

Unfortunately, a substantial portion of the country's economic resources are in the hands of Chinese-Filipino taipans who still consider China as their motherland or are businessmen first and foremost. Hence, Lucio Tan is heavily invested in China. He even showed off his landmark building in Xiamen to President Estrada during the presidential state visit last month.

John Gokongwei still has a lot of exposure here, but has also reportedly moved out a lot of his capital to Singapore, something that makes sense from a purely business perspective. But to his credit, he still has big investment plans for this country even as he has a lot of money tied up in petrochemicals, a basic industry.

The other taipans are doing pretty much the same thing: bringing out capital they earned here. It is no secret that the taipans are a principal source of capital flight and the peso's instability.

Loida Lewis will reverse the process by bringing in capital she earned overseas to this country. We should muster the economic power of overseas Filipinos the way the overseas Chinese are helping Mother China. Just because most of us were stupid enough to elect incompetents to public office does not mean we should write off this country now. And we can't wait until 2004 to do something to save this country. That may be too late.

I am not sure investing in PNB is the best vehicle for Loida's sense of economic patriotism, but at least the thought is there. She could be throwing good money after bad. But I guess, completely privatizing PNB will be good for the taxpayer. You can't trust government to run a bank. Look at Land Bank, lending some P300 million to Urban Bank just a couple of days before the bank collapsed. Even the Ramos administration, despite its good image, apparently shamelessly raided PNB with behest loans to its cronies. PNB is too much of a temptation for Philippine Presidents.

Lest I am misunderstood, I am not being Sinophobic in criticizing the Chinese Filipino taipans for investing abroad (or back to China) the money they earned here. I only want to point out they have made it obvious they still consider China, consciously or subconsciously, their motherland. Yet, the first obligation of true Filipinos today is to support this country now when everyone else is writing us off.

I can't be Sinophobic because my family name clearly indicates that I can trace my ancestors back to China too. But my forebears long ago managed to get themselves fully integrated so that we don't think of ourselves as anything but Filipino. My point is, Chinoys must choose once and for all if they are Filipinos or if they are Chinese. Divided loyalties constitute an economic and security risk.

Not just because I am connected with them, but I am proud of the Lopez Group's corporate policy to invest only in the Philippines and mostly in capital intensive long-gestating projects with public impact. Given their experience with the Marcos dictatorship, it makes sense for them to play it safe and not put all their eggs in the Philippine basket. But the only Lopez investments abroad are in facilities that serve the Filipinos overseas. This is putting their money not only where their mouths are but where they say their hearts are.

I think that's exactly what Loida Lewis is trying to do by coming home. Seems like her heart had always been here. She deserves our full support. To Loida, welcome home and good luck.

Some of the private sector members of a trade mission led by DTI Secretary Mar Roxas have expressed disappointment over what they have experienced abroad. In a word, they were practically ignored. The grapevine story I heard is that they didn't get to see too many real top level decision makers. And when they somehow managed to get an appointment to see the Japanese Prime Minister, they couldn't find Mar Roxas anywhere.

That's hard to believe given Mar's image as one dynamic fellow. Maybe he was so downhearted with the results of his mission impossible that he just dropped out of the scene, crying his heart out. My sympathies to Mar. He has one of the most difficult jobs in government today, given that this country and his boss are a real hard sell.

Dr. Ernie Espiritu sent this one for today. It sounds like an original, you know, an out-of-experience sort of thing.

An Alaskan woodpecker and a Texan woodpecker were in Alaska arguing about which state had the toughest trees to peck.

The Alaskan woodpecker said that they had a tree that no woodpecker can peck. The Texan woodpecker challenged him and was able to peck a hole in the tree with no problem. The Alaskan woodpecker was in awe.

The Texan woodpecker challenged the Alaskan woodpecker to peck a tree in Texas that no woodpecker had been able to peck successfully. The Alaskan woodpecker accepted the challenge.

So the Alaskan woodpecker flew to Texas and successfully pecked the tree. The two woodpeckers couldn't figure out why the Texan woodpecker was able to peck the Alaskan tree and the Alaskan woodpecker was able to peck the Texan tree when neither one was able to peck the tree in their own state.

After thinking for some time they both came to the same conclusion: Your pecker is always harder when you're away from home...

(Boo Chanco's e-mail address is [email protected])