Maximum impact

President Aquino obviously wanted maximum impact by delivering his SONA in Tagalog specifically addressing the majority of Filipinos. But to many local and foreign businessmen, the promised streamlining of procedures or in other words, the cutting down of bureaucratic red tape buoyed up their hopes for a new start in doing business in the Philippines. President Noy’s emphasis on public-private partnerships is definitely the way to go for a government that has been perennially cash strapped and corruption prone. Big business will however dominate these partnerships. Young business tycoon Andrew Tan has reportedly made an offer of $100 million to lease the Navy headquarters in Roxas Boulevard and hopes to include the Manila Yacht Club to turn it into a first class marina with mixed use residential, commercial and top-of-the-line yacht club. Andrew Tan is also very interested in leasing the 30-hectare navy property in Fort Bonifacio. On the other hand, both PLDT’s Manny Pangilinan and San Miguel Corp.’s Ramon Ang are also interested in the expressway project that would connect NLEX and SLEX. Obviously, this public-private partnership is a good initiative. The challenge now for the Aquino government is – how do you level the playing field?

‘To err is human’

While the President did not give a specific and customary “road map” to where the country is going, one sector that has a lot of promise is medical tourism, from which the country stands to gain as much as $2 billion in five years. One great showcase for high end, state-of-the-art medical facilities is the St. Luke’s Medical Center at the Fort. They undoubtedly have the best top-of-the-line medical equipment plus first class room accommodations. You would think one is checking into a six star hotel. The Philippines produces one of the best doctors and nurses in the world. Filipino nurses and doctors have a natural caring attitude towards their patients, which is what St. Luke’s boasts about. But bad publicity about botched medical procedures, wrongful deaths and other unfortunate incidents are looked upon with great horror. According to St. Luke’s vice president for communications Marilen Tronqued Lagniton, “to err is human” but at St. Luke’s, “this is totally unacceptable and inexcusable.”

‘It’s a bit crowded’

It’s clear President Noy wants to attract a number of bright, young and accomplished professionals like Ricky Carandang to join Malacañang’s Communications group. But international broadcast journalist Rico Hizon has declined the offer to join the President’s PR team, ostensibly because he still has a one-year contract with the British Broadcasting Corp. where he serves as anchor for Asia Business Report and Asia Today, watched by over 300 million households all over the world. However, I suspect Rico Hizon was not too keen in joining PNoy’s team at this time because it was unclear who would head what, and there seem to be too many bosses. Rico has become used to the British type of organization, and as the Brits would say, “it’s a bit crowded.”

Mark Francisco killing politically motivated

 Our parish priest, Fr. Arnold Eramiz, came to me with distressing news about his nephew Mark Francisco whose death hogged newspaper front pages two weeks ago. Mark was a seminarian but left and has since dedicated his life to becoming a teacher in Palanas, Masbate. Contrary to claims by militant organizations, Mark was not an activist and had never joined any militant organization, said Fr. Arnold. Apparently, some groups want to capitalize on the young man’s death by saying he was killed by the military – something which the family finds preposterous, being totally convinced that Mark’s death was politically motivated since he was a close ally and adviser of Palanas mayor Rudy Alvarez. Palanas folks said a series of killings involving known supporters of Alvarez and a political rival started right after the May 10 elections. The Francisco family is appealing to authorities to get to the bottom of Mark’s murder and not be misled by claims from leftist groups that it was part of a so-called military operation.

We need more women justices

Some people may want to take a break from women presidents but one thing is clear – people want more women justices because they are highly respected in this country. One prominent justice people will always remember is Justice Cecilia Muñoz Palma who was in fact the first woman to be appointed as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. She headed the 1986 Constitutional Commission that drafted the 1987 Constitution, and though she was close to the late president Cory Aquino, Justice Palma condemned the removal of former president Erap Estrada from office and called it “unconstitutional.” She was an outspoken lady who called a spade a spade. This week the Judicial Bar Council will be recommending candidates for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, among them former UP Law professor Ma. Lourdes Sereno, the lady lawyer who argued that the controversial Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain should be invalidated. In fact, her argument was even commended by former Chief Justice Art Panganiban in his newspaper column. Sulu-born Prof. Sereno graduated class valedictorian and cum laude from the UP College of Law and was top 14 during the 1984 Bar Exams. She has since distinguished herself in the field of judicial reform, constitutional law, international and domestic law, among others. Since 1973, only 12 women have been appointed as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, among them Ameurfina Melencio-Herrera, Flerida Ruth Romero, Minita Chico-Nazario and the two current Associate Justices Conchita Carpio-Morales and Teresita Leonardo-de Castro. We need more women in the Supreme Court, and Sereno shows a lot of promise. If given the opportunity to serve she may just become the country’s first female Chief Justice.

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