One big shame, one big embarrassment

Today’s Commission on Appointments, particularly the Senate panel, has been truly one big embarrassment. Before the appointments body is the nomination of one of the most competent, most dedicated, most honest, and most sincere individuals in Philippine society, without any taint to his name, and yet some of the Senate members of the Commission have succeeded in denying him official confirmation. All because of pokpok and the flimsiest reasons.

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The Cabinet nominee who should have been one of the first to be confirmed by the Commission on Appointment is Jose "Lito" Isidro Camacho. Yet, because of their own selfish, personal and ugly agenda, some senators have blocked Camacho’s confirmation. This is an act of economic treason, considering that Camacho is Secretary of Finance, a fellow who holds one of the most sensitive positions in government. At a time when we are grappling hard for economic resurrection, there are so-called "national leaders"who do not give a damn and would rather bring the country down the drain, just to deny Camacho his well-deserved confirmation.

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It is hard to imagine why the Shell Group of Companies, which discovered and developed the Malampaya natural gas and oil deposits in Palawan, failed to assimilate the local folks in Palawan in its multi-billion dollar projects. Note that over three decades have passed since Shell started scouring Palawan’s resource base for black gold. That should have been more than adequate time to implement skills-enhancement or scholarship programs that would qualify Palawenos for work in the offshore oil and gas industry.

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If the social development agenda of the Shell Group was to create value in its local area of operation, Palawan, or at the very least the north portion of the island-province, should now be harnessed for oil-related endeavors. Thus, the bulk of Palawenos should now be industrial workers, ready and able to become productive participants in the biggest and most significant foreign investment in the history of the Philippines that is located right in their own backyard at Malampaya.

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Instead, Shell directed its social development agenda toward agricultural skills training and a scholarship program designed to improve farm productivity and management. Implemented through its Sanayan sa Kakayahan Agrikultura (SAKA) program, the Shell Foundation aims to mold beneficiaries into innovative, successful and well-rounded farmers.

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Thus, in Palawan, Shell boasts of having preached the methods and value of agrotechnology to 51 people in Culion as well as 75 people each in Coron and Busuanga. The awkward thing here is that Culion, Coron and Busuanga are island-municipalities and less than five percent of the population are into farming, the main livelihood being fishery.

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On the other hand, if Shell had invested a big portion to the enhancement of industrial skills, it would have improved the quality of life of underemployed workers of Palawan, which account for 65 percent of the total labor force in the province. In Coron island, close to 70 percent of the labor force is underemployed. The situation is worse in Busuanga where the ratio is 82 percent. A design to absorb local workers into the historic Malampaya project would have had substantial impact on the economy of Palawan, which is imperative because of the extraction of non-renewable resources.

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Surely, the Shell Group, with its commitment to become a leader in everything it does, must endeavor to funnel its resources to the appropriate social development agenda. After all, it cannot afford to be indifferent over a historic project that will generate a revenue stream of as much as $6 billion for the company and its partners.

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US-based Filipino expatriates from Infanta, Quezon, have organized a Foundation aimed at helping the townfolks of Infanta and its neighboring towns. "This goes to show that there is a wealth of goodwill among our people if properly nurtured and harvested and such goodwill is channeled to useful endeavor for the benefit of our less fortunate countrymen,"former Ambassador Rodolfo Arizala said. The foundation, called "Metro Infanta Foundation Inc.", (MIF for short), was organized at a small community in the US: Arvada, Colorado.

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The Foundation, endowed with the "Midas Touch", is having tremendous impact on the socio-economic life of the people in Infanta as well as in its neighboring towns of General Nakar, Real, Polillo, Burdeous and Panukulan. It is akin to a "grain of mustard seed," making it possible in that part of the Philippines a "kingdom of heaven" on earth.

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Within a short period since its establishment, the Foundation was able to raise funds from voluntary donations of more than US $100,000. This amount was distributed to various recipients ranging from religious to educational and civic organizations. Among them: scholarship funds for poor but deserving students, purchase of books, notebooks, other school supplies, teaching aids and equipment, salaries of catechism teachers, repair of classrooms and churches, and assistance in the construction of tool shops, school drinking water tank and health clinics.

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Arizala said the Foundation was able to raise huge amount of funds through the Filipino "Spirit of Bayanihan" (Mutual Cooperation and Assistance) as well as through "Balik-Handog" ("Giving Back"), which means "Stewardship" as a way of life. The Foundation was inspired and guided by the Biblical passage: "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and try me in this, says the Lord of hosts; Shall I not open for you the floodgates of heaven, to pour down blessings upon you without measure"?

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PULSEBEAT: Ella Valenzuela, whose letter of appeal for assistance I published in this column a few days ago, wrote to thank me and some Good Samaritans who went out of their way to lend her a helping hand. One gentleman who called her up in her office was Engineer Norton who gave her instructions on how to get a check from a kind donor. "I feel blessed and totoo pala talaga na "Habang may buhay,may Pag-asa," she said. . . . A person who apparently used a fake name whaled away at the brand of nationalism being shown by Senator Jovito Salonga and his companions in the anti-US presence in Mindanao and other parts of the Philippines. And how many jobs did Filipinos lose when the Americans were thrown out of Clark and Subic?, the writer said. "Stupid nationalism" was how the writer tagged Salonga et al.’s attitude towards sovereignty . . . . What’s wrong with accepting America’s help in going after the Abu Sayyaf? Don’t the anti-American protesters realize that the Philippine economy, particularly tourism, went down the drain because of the terrorist problem in Mindanao? These seem to be valid questions asked by a concerned citizen.

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THOUGHTS FOR TODAY:

A man is not finished when he is defeated.
He is finished when he quits.
Keep trying your best.

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The world may not revolve around you,
but other people’s lives do.
Take care of yourself
for a lot of people consider you their star.

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