Great expectations - SKETCHES by Ana Marie Pamintuan

Like other Filipino readers of Newsweek, I immediately turned to the cover story of its July 9 issue to see if the Philippines was included among the magazine’s list of the worst countries in the world. I was relieved that the Philippines was not included in any of the categories, then depressed that I felt relieved, and that I even suspected we would be included.

I know there are other Filipinos who felt the same, and it’s not a good sign during the administration of the woman who’s trying to be a good President.

Are we too harsh on ourselves? It’s hard to be optimistic when the peso keeps going down, fuel prices keep going up, and you can’t move around the country without fear of a terrorist attack. Being poor no longer makes you immune from kidnapping: those who don’t have money are the ones who get decapitated first so the rich hostages are forced to pay up.

The typhoon season can be a particularly depressing time in this country. In Metro Manila the floods are back, the traffic lights are out and traffic aides are nowhere to be seen. Garbage is everywhere. During heavy rains half-naked children vandalize car windshields with soap and dirty water to force motorists to give them P1. These days we also have to contend with the abandoned diggings of Maynilad Water. If we don’t allow Maynilad to raise its rates, those diggings will be there forever.

Baguio City, where I used to relish the scent of pine trees and dahlias and dama de noche, has just been hit by heavy landslides and flooding. I haven’t visited Baguio for many years, which is probably just as well, since many visitors to the city have told me that pollution has replaced the smell of pines and flowers, that the pine trees are disappearing at an alarming rate and shanties are being built even on dangerously steep slopes. During summer there’s no water.

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People are unhappy with the overall quality of life. We’re not even talking here of disenchantment with Philippine politics. You can’t feel good when you’re surrounded by garbage, when you need a mask to keep out air pollution, when there’s no water in your house but a lot of water flooding the streets.

Many of these sources of public discontent can be addressed at the level of local governments. But you can see the quality of many of our local officials, who assumed their posts on June 30. Even in Metro Manila, there are only a few cities and towns that can be described as well-administered by the local government. These places have good, well-lighted roads even in depressed areas, enough public schools and health centers, efficient garbage collection and enterprises that provide livelihood. Crime rates are relatively low.

Much of the National Capital Region, however, is run by clowns and gangsters who enter public service chiefly for the 10 to 40 percent commissions, the bodyguards and the six-vehicle convoys with blinkers and sirens.

The same can be said of many parts of the country. In some areas, local officials themselves are the biggest lawbreakers, involved in smuggling, illegal gambling, even drug trafficking and ransom kidnapping. How can you expect such officials to worry about garbage collection or construction of health centers for their constituents?

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Other problems are national in scope and require legislation. But look at the type of people we have elected to the Senate and the House of Representatives. What has happened to the people who elected the likes of Jovito Salonga and Lorenzo Tañada to the Senate?

Some of our new senators seem more interested in exacting revenge on their enemies than in studying the job of legislation. How can you not wonder if we were included in the list of the worst countries?

As for the executive branch, President Arroyo groused yesterday that the media kept highlighting bad news and burying all the positive developments that have happened in recent months. She was elated by the results of the latest Pulse Asia survey, which showed her approval rating going up and people feeling cautiously optimistic about the future.

Maybe we are too harsh on ourselves. Maybe we need lessons in positive thinking. Think about it: Indonesia made it to the list of the worst countries; we didn’t. The worst of the worst is from this region — North Korea — and we are so much better off than that country.

Despite rising fuel prices in the Philippines, vehicles are still running, which is why we have so much pollution. The shopping malls are full, especially during sales. Agriculture, although in urgent need of support and modernization, is fueling economic growth. And we in the media are free to call public officials clowns and gangsters.

Armed conflict is confined to Basilan and parts of Mindanao. And laughter still comes easy to us – some say too easily. Just look at those guys grinning as they pedal their pedicabs or push their vehicles through the floods.

Maybe we should stop relying on government to make our lives better. We can do our part in cleaning up, through proper garbage disposal, through regular maintenance of vehicles so their noxious emissions are reduced. We can cooperate in the maintenance of peace and order.

Sure there are reasons to be unhappy, but we can take heed of the admonition: if you’re happy and you feel no pain, you must be dead. And as long as you’re alive, you can do something to deal with the cause of your unhappiness.

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President GMA, however, should prepare to hear more grumblings in the coming days. Whether she likes it or not, expectations of her administration were unusually high when she came to power.

Due to the circumstances that brought her to Malacañang, she was expected to do much better than her predecessor. Filipinos were aware of a looming global recession and continuing rise in world crude oil prices, but she was expected to work miracles – with the economy, the oil companies, peace and order, poverty. At the same time, her administration was expected to prosecute Erap and put him behind bars.

President GMA will find herself getting the blame even for the failure of Congress and local governments to deliver the services under their jurisdiction. But don’t feel too bad, Mrs. President. Public dissatisfaction should be considered a challenge, not a setback.

We’re not among the worst, but neither are we among the best. Being in the middle, we can do worse. Or we can do better.

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ONLY IN RP: Even with Maynilad’s disappointing performance, residents of southern Metro Manila can’t wait for its service to reach them. For the second time in two months there’s no water again in BF Homes in Las Piñas, thanks to the poor services of BF Waterworks. Small water distributors are making a killing. You can’t blame residents for suspecting that the distributors are related to waterworks employees.

How can you be optimistic when there’s a typhoon but there’s no water in the shower?