OFWs against the corrupt, the bad and the ugly

It’s been more than a week since President George "Dubya" Bush gave a state dinner for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in the White House. It was only the third one Bush hosted since he became president.

With the lavish praise and recognition accorded the Philippine President in the White House, the Filipinos in America and back home are again euphoric. President Bush with all his key cabinet members and many VIPs in the US put Pres. Arroyo in a pedestal and made her the "darling of the month" among the Coalition of the Willing. To quote STAR publisher Max V. Soliven, "The White House accolades are too lavish, which Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo does not truly deserve because of her urong-sulong (ambivalent) commitment to the so-called Coalition of the Willing in Iraq."

His description probably sums up many Fil-Am’s feelings about Pres. Arroyo’s state visit, which overshadowed the bombings in Mindanao and ephemerally buried the political drama surrounding the Con-Ass or Con-Con maneuverings in Manila.

Now, the President is back in the Philippines. And she’s determined to work harder to make the Philippines a stronger republic, which she promised in her SONA last July. Many of her opponents, however, will say that the Philippines has become a weaker republic as the socio-economic and the peace and order situation in the Philippines, especially in Mindanao, has worsened. The peso continues to depreciate. Without the billions of remittances of the overseas Filipino workers (euphemistically called "modern-day heroes"), the Philippine government will go bankrupt.

Pres. Arroyo has another year as the president. With the forthcoming May 2004 elections, unfortunately, her decisions and acts will be interpreted by Filipinos as plain "politicking" to regain her popularity as more and more people are convinced that she will reconsider her Dec. 30, 2002 decision NOT to run for re-election. Buoyed by President Bush’s unequivocal support through military and economic aid to resuscitate the economy, coupled with the fact that there’s no strong contender in her Lakas Party to succeed her, she might easily be persuaded to change her mind.

This early, Filipinos are now enjoying their number one hobby, politics, which is at par with sabong (cockfighting). Forget that we have 1,001 problems afflicting millions of our people – poverty in terms of values, of good education, of basic necessities, moral and upright leaders, of good governance amidst the gargantuan material opulence of the very few who really don’t care about our people. A lot of these so-called government or business leaders have stashed some of their unexplained wealth to other countries, and are leading the Philippines to hell. What a country!

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Can faith, hope and love survive decades of terror? This is the challenge posed by Gracia Burnham in her book In the Presence of my Enemies, which details the torturous conditions that she and her (deceased) husband Martin and 18 others suffered under the Abu Sayyaf when they were kidnapped on Memorial Day weekend two years ago. Except for Martin Burnham, Guillermo Sobero, nurse Deborah Yap, Sonny Dacquer and Armando Bayona, most of the hostages survived the ordeal and are now presumable trying to get on with their lives.

Unfortunately, the problems that gave rise to these kidnappings continue to worsen. While GMA was in the White House, a bombing in Koronadal City killed dozens. The problems of Mindanao are very complex and have existed for centuries. But I believe that the solution is not a show of military force but massive work to alleviate the conditions of residents in the areas of education, employment, integration and socio-economic conditions of the people. A culture of guns and naked force is hard to change. The Abu Sayyaf will have difficulty recruiting the youth if they become more educated, as well as have better options in life.

Gracia Burnham and her husband were active missionaries of the New Tribes Mission based in Kansas City and lived in the Philippines for over 15 years. Understandably, the book is brutally honest in detailing her captivity, which lasted exactly one year and eleven days. The mental scenarios caused by their captivity were a test of resiliency.

Not only did they face near starvation, constant physical exhaustion, frequent gun battles and cold-blooded murders around them but they also faced extraordinary test of their faith and love in a God that has seemingly abandoned them. The book is filled with human real-life drama. The reader will be touched by this ultimate triumph of faith and enduring love of an American couple. Despite the tragedy, Burnham is not bitter and remains steadfast in her faith in God and the innate goodness of the Filipino people amidst the presence of enemies.

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In our cyberspace forum called ProgressiveTimes, someone circulated some disturbing examples of corrupt BIR government officials who have suspiciously amassed great wealth – complete with names, pictures, and information about their properties. I suggested we start a fund to put these corrupt government people in jail, and the response was beyond my wildest dreams. From my initial pledge, we now have pledges amounting to $5,000. The idea is catching fire, although we still do not have the mechanics how to implement this in the Philippines and start the peaceful revolution of the OFWs against the corrupt government officials.

Paging OFWNet Foundation under Dr. Eddie "Ka Edong" del Rosario and Dr. Chee Garcia, Plunder Watch, Sen. Jovy Salonga’s Bantay Katarungan and the Center for Investigative Journalism. We must form an alliance and manifest to the world that the ordinary Filipino is sick and tired of plunderers who are worse than pulgas del tierra (fleas of the earth). This is one peaceful way that the OFW can invest in social engineering to bring back moral values.

My dream is that 7 million OFWs (contributing $10 a year) will prosecute corrupt people in all branches of government by employing young idealistic lawyers to put these plunderers in jail. Construction workers can build more jails. Police Academy grads can be security guards. Caterers can feed prisoners. Journalists can profile these economic plunderers. The possibilities are endless.

Once the OFWs and our families see that poetic justice (putting the corrupt in jail) is possible, it will motivate us to do more projects proactively. Everybody wins except the corrupt, the bad and the ugly government officials.

It can be done. Join us by subscribing to our ProgressiveTimes towards a more progressive Philippines.

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E-mail this writer at erdelusa@hotmail.com or drbannatiran@yahoo.com or join us at ProgressiveTimes-subscribe @yahoogroups.com, www.progressivetimes. org, www.katipunan-usa.org.