Recovery, but... - Sketches

The week opened with an announcement of a lower-than-expected 3 percent inflation rate for February, which partly buoyed the scandal-ridden stock market. There's no question that the economy is improving, together with the rest of the region. The only problem is that the Philippines, which was among the least affected by the Asian crisis, is once again being left behind by its neighbors, as we were once left behind during the Marcos regime.

Just take a look at currency rates. Before the Asian crisis in July 1997, a peso was equivalent to one Thai baht. Thailand, where the Asian "virus" originated, was one of the worst hit by the crisis. Now the baht is worth 38 to the dollar while the peso hovers between 40 to 41.

South Korea, another of those worst hit by the Asian flu, grew by about 10 percent last year -- nearly triple the Philippines' growth rate.

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Okay, let's stop carping about the economy, which is recovering, and focus on other factors that matter. A report said the pollution level in Metro Manila is four times higher than the tolerable level set by the World Health Organization. The pollution partly discourages the development of more parks, and drives people to air-conditioned malls. Will the Clean Air Act help? If it can be enforced.

In other countries, riverfront properties are among the most expensive. In this country, the Pasig River is lined with shanties and factories that regularly spew black effluvia.

We're running out of forests, clean fishing grounds and landfills for our garbage.

Health care? Even medicine against ordinary fever is beyond the reach of many Filipinos. Senate Majority Leader Franklin Drilon points out that prices of medicine in the Philippines are 10 to 38 times higher than in other Asian countries. Amoxycillin, he says, costs P1.68 per tablet in Thailand, P1.78 in Malaysia, P3.42 in Japan and P6 in the Philippines. Erythromycin costs P2.42 per 250 mg in Malaysia, P2.73 in Thailand, P3.88 in Japan and P7.10 in this country. If you can't even afford medicine for tonsillitis, how can you afford a heart bypass or even an angiogram to find out if you need to be opened up? Drilon says that each day, six Filipinos die of heart attack while 1,277 children die of pneumonia.

Potable water comes only in trickles, and the water that we get we can't drink straight from the tap. So we have to set aside a substantial portion of the household budget for bottled water or a portable water filtering system.

Those who can't afford bottled water will just have to risk contracting diseases including cholera.

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In a knowledge-based global economy, we're being left way behind in science and technology. Our only hope of catching up -- our education system -- is in such bad shape it will probably take several decades to fix it.

One deeply disheartening report yesterday was that in Eastern Visayas, the shortage of teachers is so acute even school clerks and canteen cooks are being tapped to teach. Being an amateur cook and food lover (okay, a glutton), I have nothing against cooks. But they're supposed to prepare food, not teach regular courses in public schools.

But what can school administrators do when qualified teachers are abroad, working as maids, and there's no budget to hire regular teachers?

I'm only half-joking when I say that I blame my teachers for my failure to comprehend much of my lessons in algebra, trigonometry, geometry, physics and chemistry. And my teachers were professional educators, not cooks.

Most of these problems have been around for years, so those who write about them aren't out to topple the Estrada administration. All we want is government action -- not an overnight cure, but at least the groundwork for a long-term solution. The question is, can President Erap deliver?

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ONLY IN RP: When will the Videogram Regulatory Board start cracking down on pirated VCDs and DVDs? The cheap copies, which you can buy at three for P100 in Quiapo, are being passed off as originals by video stores. Pre-view the stuff you borrow, or you might end up with The Sixth Sense with Chinese subtitles, a grainy copy of Angela's Ashes, and a damaged VCD or DVD player. And report the crooks to authorities.