The President’s roadshow: Where promises are made to be broken?

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s current roadshow to different provinces, cities and towns in the Philippines is an excellent way of feeling the pulsebeat of the people. And in the roadshow, the President can inform the people of her administration’s program and projects for them, thus strengthening their faith and confidence in the government.

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There is one big problem, though, with these roadshows or out-of-town trips which were done during the times of previous administrations. After the presidential meetings and consultations and dialogues with the leaders of these places, there is hardly any follow-up to implement what had been promised by the President. Thus, promises turn into nothing – and the big result is disenchantment on the part of the populace. The failure to deliver on promises has been proven, time and again, and I hope that the present roadshow of President GMA will not be the same.

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Actually, more important than the presidential meetings and dialogues in these out-of-town trips is the follow-up and follow-through. There must be determination and political will to make good on the promises made. And this job of ensuring the implementation of projects and programs promised must fall on government officials who have the ear of the President and who can make other government bureaucrats cooperate in the implementation process.

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Many Filipino expats in foreign lands must have misty eyes whenever Christmas time comes around. These recollections of Christmas in his land of birth must have turned former Ambassador Rodolfo A. Arizala misty-eyed – and his memories of Christmas time would have been appropriate to highlight during the long Christmas holiday. However, I was able to open my e-mail only on New Year’s Day, thus my failure to focus on envoy Arizala’s memories.

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But then, since many concerned Filipinos’ fervent wish is to have the spirit of Christmas all year long. I am going to give space to Ambassador Arizala’s recollections of Christmas entitled "Misty Eyes of an Expat," written in Santiago, Chile. Here it is:

In the Philippines when the early mornings become colder and the various TV and radio stations starts playing Christmas carols and music, it means that the month of December has arrived.

During my childhood in the province, mother would start buying live chickens and put them inside a long cage made of bamboo (tangkal) for fattening. She would also start collecting chicken eggs for making them into cakes, cookies, and kinakaw. In addition, mother would request one of my old aunties to make a native cake called pasingaw as big as a bilao (round-shape rice winnower made of bamboo spits).

At Noche Buena (24 December), we hear the midnight Mass, then the whole family gathers at home to partake of native delicacies and other foods such as pansit, lechon, fried chicken, ham, apples, grapes, chestnuts, queso de bola and more. All houses are decorated with paper lanterns in the shape of a star hanging from the windows with multi-colored lights, while youngsters and adults explode firecrackers and sing Christmas carols from house-to-house.

On Christmas Day (25 December) after hearing Mass, our dining table is again laden with various kinds of foods, while at the corner is a Christmas tree with glittering lights and gifts piled at the foot of the Christmas tree. Everybody who comes to the house is offered food or something to drink and eat. On that day, we also visit our relatives aunts and uncles, ninongs and ninangs, to greet them a "Merry Christmas and kiss their hands.

To expatriate Filipinos, wherever they may be, they remember their own respective hometowns or cities during Christmas and could not help feel nostalgic – their eyes becoming moist and misty. As I sit down at noche buena before a table laden with food and drinks, how could I explain to my children who grew up or were born in a foreign land with strange or different customs, why their Dad or Papa has misty eyes?

I have no heart to tell them I missed Infant’s Christmas described above when I was still a child. Be that as it may, the significance of Christmas is the same everywhere in Christendom – peace, goodwill, and love.

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Remember Lilia Pablo Amansec, the award-winning literary figure whose creative waves drew raves during the peak of her career? She is now 70 years old, walks with a limp because of an accident she met years ago, and suffers from severe arthritic pains, and has high blood pressure. Now, she badly needs help.

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Just a little background about Lilia Amansec for the information of today’s generation. She won various awards in writing, including the Avery Hopwood and Jules Hopwood for Creative Writing at the University of Michigan, the Carlos Palanca Memorial Award for Literature, and the Free Press Prize for English short story. Last year, her short story of immortal love, Loverboy, was chosen by Dr. Isagani Cruz of De La Salle University as one of the best Philippine stories written in English within the last century.

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Last December15, Amansec, described in the publicity brochure as "an old forgotten soul," was awarded the Parangal Hagbong by the UST Varsitarian during the UST Ethika Award night. For the award ceremonies, the Varsitarian and creative writing staff, led by Ferdinand Lopez, were helpful to her. They helped her choose a long gown, a pair of shoes, and a long flimsy stole at Sta Lucia. All of the clothes and things were paid for by the UST Varsitarians.

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Right now, Amansec is involved in a squabble with her German landlord and the Swiss tenant who is going to take over her present place of residence. She was told to move out immediately, but when she sued for time, the Swiss tenant cut off her electricity last December 24, the eve of Christmas Day. Amansec claims that she is continually being harassed by the Swiss tenant.

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"I am in a hurry to move out. The Swiss fellow has been breaking into my rooms whenever I am not around. I have lost a number of Grumbacher oil colors. And so I have not been able to work on or deliver the oil paintings ordered by Gilda Cordero Fernando, Kitten Alcantara, and my nephew in the States." she said. "Because of time constraint, I would like to contact through your column a private individual who can give me a P250,000 loan, and I am willing to hand it over to the lender a Madonna and child and a nude, so that he or she would have something to hold on to in case something untoward happened to me."

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For those who may take some interest in Lilia Amansec’s appeal, an additional info about the writer is that she is an outsider-naif artist. There are collectors of outsider-naif art. Mrs. Imelda Marcos bought the entire Yugoslav outsider-naif collection priced at US$10,000 and US$15,000 per piece which was later sequestered by the Philippine government after the first EDSA revolution. Amansec’s works are in the collections of Jean Louis-Levy, Amelie Brandth, Gilda Cordero Fernando, Cesar Villalon, Liza Gokongwei and many others who bought her early paintings. The most famous outsider-naif artist, of course, is Grandma Moses who, at age 75, painted the scenery outside her bedroom window.

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THOUGHTS FOR TODAY:

Work like you don’t need money,
love like you’ve never been hurt,
dance like no one is watching.

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Youth and age are not dates in time,
but states of mind.
Our duty is not to add years to our lives,
but to add life to our years.
Enjoy aging... it colors your life.

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My e-mail addresses: [email protected] and [email protected]