A house united

Why challenge critics of the MLSA agreement to go to the Supreme Court? For me, the question is not the legality of the MLSA but the cavalier attitude of Americans as far as our institutions are concerned. If the MLSA were truly routinary, then there was no need to offend members of the Senate by not giving them copies of what was after all merely routinary while details were being discussed between the US and RP panels. The problem is more of attitude and Americans might need a nudge to remind them this is a sovereign country. As the sole superpower of the world, the Americans may need lessons in public relations especially with weaker countries. As far as other countries are concerned who signed their own logistics agreements, these did not have the same colonial experience we had under the Americans and understandably would not have the same emotional baggage If Americans had been sensitive to this historical nuance, they might have behaved differently. As for their Filipino defenders they should not add more fuel to the arrogance borne by American superiority complex.

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Will you go abroad? Well into the Cory term after the 1986 revolution, I had the occasion to talk to a bank president who said he could not understand why with all the favorable figures on fundamentals – GNP, GDP, inflation rates etc. – there was a prevailing pessimism. He said he thought about it and came up with an answer to the puzzle. The public drive to entice investors was just one factor, there were others and he suspected that those who have come ahead found the Philippines a haven and did not really want more competitors to come in and ruin their good fortune. They were selfish about what they discovered here about the good life. At the same time that newspaper stories were full of gory details of crime and uncollected garbage, for expatriates, the Philippines ranked on top of preferred places to live in Asia. The natives despite their poverty were considered top of the league in a survey of happiness/contentment among the peoples of the region. I think that the surveys will still hold true today. It may be that at least as far as the natives are concerned, they are satisfied with so little and happiness is not measured only by material success. In more successful societies like Singapore, they would naturally be more demanding materially and are harder to satisfy.

I was reminded of the bank president during the taping of Jarius Bondoc’s Linawan Natin for Channel 13 with Dodie Limcaoco and Boo Chanco. The same question came up again. Why is there so much despondency and pessimism despite the good economic figures – low inflation, respectable growth etc. etc. Where is it coming from? I have a theory where. It comes from the accumulated momentum of the long drawn fight against the Marcos dictatorship. Such emotions and discontent are not easily gone. Even when things are better, like an individual, a body politic continues to express itself with the emotions experienced in traumatic conditions until time heals it or a more compelling event subsumes it. That is why it is important to change our system of government. That would make it easier to turn a new leaf, learn new ways of seeing and doing things. On a different level, changing to a parliamentary system would be akin to moving house after a death in the family. It will be an attempt to begin a new political life.

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The organizers of a Democracy Forum taking place this morning at the Sulo Hotel on the shift to a parliamentary government did well in calling it: A House United: Shifting from a Presidential to a Parliamentary form of government and from a bicameral to a unicameral legislature. Although most newspapers have resisted publishing it or maybe unaware of the groundswell, constitutional reform is slowly gaining ground as the alternative to politics as usual. "In the hope of generating more light and less heat on these issues, we are inviting academics, leaders of basic sectors, students, legislative committee staff people, NGO development practititoners and advocates and other concerned citizens to participate in this forum," the organizers said. Those invited are Representative Florencio "Butch" Abad, Senator Francis P.N. Pangilinan, Fr.Jose Magadia, SJ, Dean Froilan Bacungan, Dr. Julio Cabral Teehankee, and myself.

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An environment secretary for our time. I was with Environment Secretary Heherson Alvarez after his sensational raid on illegal logging in Quezon . It is unfortunate that Sonny’s work is not widely appreciated. As DENR Secretary, this portfolio is so sensitive that the future and well-being of future generations will depend on how well he does his job. "Take the preservation of our forests. It is very much tied up with our water supply," Alvarez told this column. According to him, some 200 watersheds in the country fed by rain water from the mountains, need rehabilitation before they run dry. Of these, the DENR can only work on 20 watersheds. In Cebu , the water situation is desperate. Closer to home, the Umiray River, where the DENR has been conducting raids in recent months, is the source of water to Angat Dam which supplies Metro Manila’s water. But Umiray’s water has been imperiled by illegal logging in the mountains and may be good only until 2006. That’s how near we are to disaster. According to Alvarez, 40 percent of Angat’s 100,000 hectares of forests have already been logged. The situation is desperate and only an overall campaign among the citizenry can save the situation. Alvarez has proposed a program to adopt a mountain, a creek or a river and called on Ricardo Cardinal Vidal of Cebu, among others for help in the project.

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The French are here! I was at the Le Beaujolais Nouveau 2002 at the Westin Plaza the other night and had a jolly good time, as the British would say. The ballroom was transformed into a veritable French quarter where a local version of the Moulin Rouge was performed. The lighting and stage props added to the creation of Paris in Manila. Wine flowed as guests partook of a sumptuous buffet of cheeses, patés and other finger foods. Someone commented 90 percent of the guests were expatriates. Not from where I stood, I saw more or less equal ratio of foreigners and Filipinos and no one was talking about the Abu Sayyaf coming to bomb the place. Truly as my cousin-in-law, Louis Heussaf of Supply Oilfield Services, who invited us said "Come to an evening of partying French Style." But it would be true to say that those who pioneered this event nine years ago must be pretty pleased. Not only have they made Le Beaujolais Nouveau into a social event in partying Manila, they have also made trading inroads. Nine years ago, how many Manilans drank French wine? Now it’s de rigeur in most upper-class parties!

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My e-mail address: [email protected] or [email protected].