Whispering hope

Because this is supposed to be the season of joy, no one at Malacañang wanted to be quoted last Saturday on what they thought of the mental and emotional state of Manila Rep. Mark Jimenez. The man is obviously distressed – who wouldn’t be when you face the prospect of moving from luxurious digs in Forbes Park to a jail cell? Even if the cell is in Florida and you may get steak and mashed potatoes for lunch, it’s not an inviting scenario.

Palace officials didn’t seem too surprised after MJ announced that he would rather die in the Philippines than go stateside once again (will someone put the guy out of his misery?). One official huffed (but he wouldn’t go on record) that it was impossible to get any firm commitment from a mentally unstable man.

I don’t know if Jimenez’s official custodian, Speaker Jose de Venecia, can still pull another rabbit out of his hat to resolve this case, but hope springs eternal for the irrepressible JDV, who mysteriously dropped out of circulation starting last Saturday.

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Hope springs eternal as well for the Filipino, if we are to believe that fourth quarter survey of Social Weather Stations. Filipinos are happy this Christmas, were happy the previous Christmas, and are hopeful about 2003, according to the survey. The happiness was reflected in all social classes, and Filipinos were most thankful for their health, the SWS reported.

I don’t know about you, but those survey results reflect my mood as well this Christmas 2002. During Yuletide my spirits rise as my body groans from lack of sleep and stress. The ghastly traffic has doubled my daily travel time, and between cooking and beating deadlines I’ve forgotten what rest means. Nights I spend wrapping gifts, but there always seems to be another name I’ve missed, someone I’ve forgotten.

Going home at night I love the lights, the lanterns, no matter how garish. They came out quite late this year, but better late than never. I always tell my friends abroad to visit Manila during the Christmas season, if only to see those lights.

Last week I talked with an old friend, a former editor who has moved on to a better paying job. I gave him my usual litany of complaints: about the traffic, garbage, pollution, corruption, criminality, bureaucratic inefficiency, political scandals. And he said those problems have been around since he was a young man, yet the nation has survived and even improved in ways that younger generations may not appreciate.

Of course he had no plans of leaving the country. He wanted to do his part – no matter how small the part may be – to make the country a better place, he said. @@@

I remember being interviewed at the start of 2002 by a Filipina working for a foreign news organization. She wanted to know if I was optimistic about the year ahead, considering the terrorist threat and the economic slowdown worldwide. And despite all the negative, despairing articles I had written, I found myself telling her that I remained optimistic, that I felt things would get better by and by. I told her about promising trends in business and technology, about economic indicators, about how the world would learn to live with terror.

We’ve been through worse times and survived. Maybe Filipinos are just incorrigible optimists. My friends abroad have e-mailed me news features on Filipinos being among the happiest people on this planet. We laugh our troubles away, the articles observed. We laugh — and even drink and gamble – during wakes. During Holy Week we find every excuse to be merry. Even in the face of tragedy, poverty and despair, we often see smiling Filipino faces, trying to shrug off their bad luck and hoping for better times ahead.

Some people have denigrated our easy laughter, warning that we will never go far if we don’t take life seriously. And saying that we’re happy because we are easily pleased, that we have a low threshold of satisfaction – mababaw ang kaligayahan.

But who said you have to go through life without a smile? All that frowning will make you old before your time and cost you a fortune in botox treatments and hair dye.

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I’m even willing to be optimistic about this administration, if only because 2004 is still a year away and we can’t squander 12 months whining and going after each other’s throats. As I’ve said, the opportunity for ousting Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo before the 2004 elections has passed. I’m hoping she will give us good governance in the coming year.

She still believes in divine providence, by the way. Last week she enthused about the "providential" call made to her by Transport and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza, just as she was discussing with members of the Philippine-US Business Council their proposal for open skies in cargo handling as well as additional container ports in Luzon. Mendoza, who had called regarding an entirely different subject, immediately committed to the open skies proposal, the President said.

She thinks she can still do much in one year. With private sector involvement, the President wants to create more hubs for business and industrial activity, with the necessary road network and other infrastructure. She’s looking at housing and construction to boost economic activity and generate jobs. She’s enthusiastic about Romulo Neri’s proposals on small and medium enterprises; she and Neri are on the same wavelength, she told us.

The President talked about her goals amid her falling survey ratings and the unending attacks against her husband. Many concede – often with a frustrated frown these days – that she’s still the candidate to beat in 2004. She’s still trying to be a good President, trying to do her best. Will God take care of the rest? We wish her the best. Let’s hope she gets her house in order. Her success may be bad news for her political enemies, but it should be good for the nation.

Be it ever so messed up, it’s still our country and our home. A very merry Christmas to all!