Do we want a cordon sanitaire?

Damned if she does, and damned if she doesn’t. If President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo cloisters herself at Malacañang Palace and limits her contact with her subordinates and close friends, she will certainly be criticized for putting up a cordon sanitaire. And she will be lambasted for keeping herself away from the people, especially the masa.

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Now however much she spends her time interacting with the people, feeling the masa’s pulsebeat, conferring with the powerful and the mighty, President GMA is being accused of politicking, of campaigning for the 2004 presidential election. And her critics anchor their claim of partisan political activities on the media mileage that she is getting.

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In the entire history of our country, all presidents have been the focus of media attention. Whatever they do becomes part of the talk of the town and hog the front or major pages of the newspapers. This is the same thing that President GMA is now experiencing: A lot of media attention. And what is wrong with that?

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When I delivered some brief remarks at a Baguio City meeting of the top executives of the Alfonso Yuchengco Group of Companies, I expressed the opinion that a political figure like the President who works as though she were engaged in a political campaign is good for the country. For whatever she does, knowing that the people are watching her, will tend to be good for the country. Let her barnstorm the country, feel the pulsebeat of the people, resolve the problems of the localities, prod the bureaucracy to move faster, make good things happen. Isn’t this what good governance is all about?

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Angelito V. Belizario, an overseas contract Filipino worker of Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam, left the Philippines in 1973, months after martial law. At that time, there were no government labor agencies that looked after the OCWs’ welfare. If someone was hired to work outside the Philippines, he would immediately go.

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Eventually, someone in the Marcos administration devised the idea of controlling manpower export. Belizario suspects this was done as a legal means for extorting money from OCWs. "Up to this day, the practice continues," he said. Explaining that the Philippine Overseas Employment Authority and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration are not really there to help OCWs but to streamline the milking of funds from them.

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"I do not buy the idea of ensuring the legitimacy of leaving foreign labour by having them check with the POEA counter at NAIA. They do not help at all. They are there more to harass us if somehow one’s papers are not in order," Belizario said. This function, he added, can be most effectively dealt with by foreign missions who have registers of OCWs.

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Belizario had a valid question. "Why do I have to prove that I am an OCW every time I come home? I have practically lived my whole working life outside of the Philippines. But without those little papers, they would not let me board my plane!" he complained. "That does not justify harassing us for the few bucks we have to cough up to be allowed to leave the country again. It is legalized highway robbery."

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Belizario said that there is only one legitimate solution to solving the problem of illegal recruitment: TO GO AFTER THE HOODS WHO PERPETRATE THIS CRIME right within the Philippines. But then, he said, knowing the amount of money that may be made from the scam, corruption prevents authorities from completely or effectively eradicating the problem. Same old story.

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"It is easier to make money from the OCWs anyway. They never fail to pay. We had been —- and continue to be – the milking cows of the Philippine economy. They call us heroes and write glowing articles about our sacrifices, welcome us with rondallas and lucky draws at the airport but we remain milking cows," Belizario said.

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"The Filipino must be the smartest, most stupid people on earth. We export our better (or best) brains and many of our womenfolk in exchange for the mighty dollar. And we cover it up by saying they are following their dreams. What utter rubbish! The Marcoses stole millions from the coffers of the government that was propped in part by remittances. Subsequent administrations relied on these remittances to keep the economy going. We work for other nations making them richer while our country remains disgustingly poor, simply because thievery at all levels of government goes on unabated. Shall I simply blame the governments we had and will continue to have?" Belizario angrily stated.

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"I think the Filipino himself is to blame. He is all too ready and willing to bribe his way and benefit from such bribery if the situation exists. The Filipino is sick. Greed is his cancer. How else would anyone allow his own government to rob him blind?" he asked. As a final word, Belizario dared me to publish his thoughts about the OCWs.

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PULSEBEAT: Noel Bejasa, a concerned citizen of Manila, is happy over Mayor Lito Atienza’s efforts to keep the Manila City Hall spic and span. Apparently, he said, City Hall seems to be so different from the Department of Foreign Affairs where the public toilets are a reminder of the stinking toilets in Calcutta. Even at the DFA cafeteria, Bejasa said that flies are flying all over the place. Bejasa hopes that a special entrance be put up for foreign diplomats at the DFA, so that we will not be embarrassed . . . Former Ambassador Rodolfo A. Arizala wrote to express hope the Philippine Military Academy will return to its "old glory", like returning to the "summer capital of the Philippines", once upon a time a city with towering green pine trees when it was aptly called "the City of Pines." That was during the time of the American governor-generals and the era of the Commonwealth under  Manuel L. Quezon and Sergio Osmeña, he said.

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THOUGHTS FOR TODAY:

As we travel thru life,
pastures are not always green,
nor the waters still.
But when the storms beat the hardest,
God, in love, draws near and whispers
"I am Here".

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There is no better exercise for the heart
than reaching down and lifting people up.

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My e-mail addresses: <[email protected]>. and [email protected]