A letter from a coward, thanks!

You get interesting e-mail sometimes. I got this one regarding yesterday’s column:

"Are you comparing the US now and 1898? But Americans have advance technology now. What do you think, Mr. Soliven, if the Americans will invade the Philippines from your corrupt and inefficient government, and promise to give you better economy, will they have 130 casualties? 99 percent of the Filipinos there in your country will accept the Americans with open arms and I hate to say, open legs.

And I was surprise that you are talking always about how brave Filipinos are. Then how come you do not have good government? Good government sometimes is not won by elections alone, sometimes it is won by war. Filipinos are brave only if they are in the advantage, but if they are in the disadvantage, they are very coward (sic) enough not to make a way to fight back."

That jerk-off didn’t have the guts, of course, to reveal his own name. He simply signed his gutter-type diatribe: "FROM SOMEONE."

C’mon, Someone: Show us you’re not a coward yourself. Perhaps you’ll find a few Filipinos haven’t lost the hard steel they showed in 1898, in Bataan and Corregidor, and in the guerrilla war, with PEFTOK in Korea, where blood and guts counted, and in the battle to overcome the Huk rebellion, as well as combat current rebellions. Like every nation, we’ve got our cowards and slackers, the abusive and the corrupt. Surely, those who read this column (except for one-day browsers) know how corruption, inefficiency, and stupidity are repeatedly assailed in this corner.

Yep, we’ll probably welcome the offer of a better economy, but don’t kid yourself, kiddo; Uncle Skinflint won’t make the offer.

Bad-mouthing an entire nation like Mr. Someone tries to do in his cravenly fashion, from obscurity, just isn’t right. Some of what he whines about may be true, but he’s got to have the guts to stand up and be counted.

* * *

The global panic over SARS – do we still have to spell out "severe acute respiratory syndrome"? – has devastated the People’s Republic of China. Beijing admitted the damage by firing its Health Minister, Zhang Wenkang, and the Mayor of Beijing himself, Meng Xuenong, for the "cover-up" which helped the SARS-virus to gallop to a worldwide, life-threatening epidemic – bordering on the pandemic.

In a capital which has been bragging of its great leap forward to modernization and world-class efficiency, being forced to such an admission is a serious blow – particularly when global forums were on the calendar, not to mention, in just a few short years, the Olympic Games.

The Vice-Health Minister Gao Qiang was left to inform reporters that an inquiry as of April 15 had found 339 persons infected, 18 deaths, and 402 suspected cases of SARS in Beijing alone. (One medical source claimed sub rosa, that there are actually 700 SARS cases already diagnosed or suspected in the Chinese capital.)

A number of observers surmise that, besides, China’s new Party Leader, Hu Jintao, and Wen Jiabao, the new Premier, had made the move to limit the damage to their prestige, display a new "transparency", and probably cast blame for the Middle Kingdom’s policy and habit of state secrecy on their predecessors. (In this convoluted world, there’s always a political dimension to everything).

The statistics now extant are that there are 1,814 cases in the China mainland, another 1,380 in Hong Kong (where SARS deaths have been multiplying alarmingly), 177 in Singapore, and 132 in Canada. Worldwide, the toll of inflicted is 3,871.

Seventy-nine have died, as of 24 hours ago, in China; 88 in Hong Kong, 16 in Singapore, 14 in Canada. In sum, 203 worldwide. By the time this goes to press, the figures may, alas, have dramatically escalated.

Tourism to Hong Kong, once the mecca of shoppers and good-time vacationists, has withered – down by 80 percent. Once upmarket hotels are now moaning that they have only 20 percent occupancy. (Not to gloat over anyone’s misfortune, this past Holy Week had Philippine resorts and hotels "booming". It’s bad Joss, naturally, to celebrate such a "plus" to the misfortune of others – in Middle Eastern tradition, it attracts the Evil Eye, so the less said about it the better).

* * *

As for Beijing, yesterday’s Financial Times reported that "tourist arrivals . . . have virtually halted." This is according to tourist industry executives. ". . . hotel occupancy rates are starting to slump dramatically as not only foreign but also local businessmen cancel their trips."

In fact, the Chinese authorities also cancelled the week-long national holiday supposed to start on May 1 (Labor Day), lest hundreds of thousands of Chinese going on holiday trips might only spread SARS further.

Yet, the same newspaper noted: "At Beijing airport on Friday, there were no surgical masks on sale, no public announcement on SARS, no health inspectors looking for sufferers and no disinfectant spraying of aircraft."

There was only a small notice on some domestic check-in counters suggesting that passengers who thought they had the diseases should call a telephone number provided in the "notice".

Would anybody call? If you felt sick, would you?

Hotel occupancy, according to The New York Times, is also down to 20 percent in Singapore, while retail sales have been cut by half.

"Cathay Pacific, based in Hong Kong," NYT says, "has cancelled two-fifths of its flights, while other airlines with large Asian operations, like Singapore Airlines and some US carriers, have undertaken more modest reductions in service."

The domino-effect of the SARS crisis has affected business worldwide, make no mistake about it. In the end, its impact may prove more deadly than Saddam’s still unfound Weapons of Mass Destruction.

This just goes to show that only God is All-Powerful. A country may be mighty one day, but in a few weeks’ time may be grovelling painfully and helplessly in the dust. The Philippines "SARS-free"? No one ever knows what could happen tomorrow. One lives in hope – and is uplifted by prayer. It doesn’t hurt, though, to take sensible precautions.

* * *

I’m somewhat puzzled over the Supreme Court’s attitude towards the so-called "Amari" deal. For instance, when Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio – newly-appointed by GMA – suddenly penned (as ponente) a High Court decision to nullify the Amended Joint Venture Agreement (AJVA) between Amari (now known as Cyber Bay) and the Public Estates Authority (PEA) – asserting it was null and void ab initio owing to possible violation of Constitutional provision that prohibits private corporations from acquiring lands of public domain, what does this mean?

I won’t comment on the issues in the case since the Supreme Court is supposed to come out with its final ruling soon. But one question nags: Does this mean that all the contracts signed by PEA since 1981 are now all null and void?

Documents obtained from the PEA indicate that all previous contracts entered into by that government entity entailed transferring to the "developer" or "private corporation" reclaimed lands as payment for undertaking the reclamation or development of these reclaimed properties. As of now, most if not all the developers of these areas already hold the titles to these reclaimed lands. Most have mortgaged themselves to the hilt to finance their projects. (This succession of contracts spans 12 years, incidentally.)

The way I see it, as a former Business Editor, an adverse High Court decision might translate into quite a number of land deals obliterated. If this happened would not a disquieting number of banks and financial institutions who anted up credit be forced to declare serious deficit, if not bankruptcy?

Would, for example, the big SM mall now being constructed along Roxas boulevard not suffer a similar fate? The list of developers who might become losers is long. The operative word is "might become". Damaged along with Cyber Bay might be the likes of Henry Sy, D. Wenceslao & Jun de Nul Consortium, Royal Asia, TOA Corp., F. F. Cruz, SEAOIL, Bacolod Real Estate Development Corp., Construction Development Corporation, and Ramon Chuanico.

Would it appear then that PD 1084, which created the PEA and tasked that agency "to develop, improve, acquire, lease and sell any and all kinds of lands" was from the start flawed as it "violates" the Philippine Constitution?

In a nation of 45,000 lawyers, most of them "heat-seeking", how could such a terrible flaw have gone undetected for a dozen years?

Yet, 13 Justices of our esteemed High Court, with Justice Carpio penning the decision, seem adamant at reducing the question into alienable lands. Lands of the public domain, it is now decreed, can only be sold to private individuals or leased to private corporations for a period of 25 years. Justice Carpio stresses that since the Amari land in question falls under this category, the deal is off. The contract, his ponencia declares, is null and void.

Okay, if the Supreme Court says so. But wasn’t the Honorable Carpio the Chief Presidential Counsel (of President Fidel V. Ramos) when the AJVA was entered into? His eagle eye ought to have perceived, one might think, that awful Constitutional "violation". Why did he allow then President FVR to sign such an unconstitutional agreement?

Just asking.

* * *

Let’s face it. The Americans and Brits will decide the fate of Iraq. Remember what China’s "Great Helmsman" Mao Zedong once said so mordantly: "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun." The Yanks and Brits have the guns – and the determination.

Sure, they’ll jolly the United Nations along; they’ll play diplomatic tag with the European Union. Ultimately, they’ll have the last say, though, as the running of "postwar" Iraq, especially the Iraqi Oil Company – which will be kicked back into production for the benefit, of course, of the Iraqi people.

Let Hans Blix back to resume his search for the still missing Weapons of Mass Destruction? No way. He couldn’t even find the pipeline pumping 180,000 barrels of oil per day illegally into Syria.

I think it won’t work for the Americans to try to establish Iraqi "exiles" in leadership positions. For instance, his glib-talker Ahmed al-Chalabi may be popular in the Pentagon, and have a high-profile, really smart take-over crew in his entourage, but remember those overseas Filipinos who tried to come back after the ejection of the late Apo Marcos and become big shots in the Cory administration? Even those who were unfairly dubbed "steak commandos" had no success establishing themselves in power, since their countrymen who had suffered two decades of Marcos dictatorship and misrule rejected "outsiders" who had, they thought, "enjoyed themselves" in exile, from taking over.

The same is surely true of the homebound Iraqis. "Outsiders keep out!" That’s their determination. Just look at that fellow Mohamed Moshen al Zubaidi, a recently returned exile, who’s now claiming to be the effective "mayor of Baghdad". Will he be able to take control? It doesn’t seem he’ll be able to hold on. He’ll shortly be assailed by angry Muslim mobs, and if this happens, will the Americans and Brits uphold him with bayonets? They may have to shop around for another . . . well "mayor".

Then there’s Fellah al-Khawaja who says he represents a so-called Coordinating Committee for the Oil Ministry. (Nobody ever heard of him, the few oil ministry employees to be found allege).

We don’t envy the Americans and the Brits their role in postwar Iraq. But they have no choice but to tough it out — otherwise, anarchy will bring a Khomeini-type Islamic, anti-Western bunch into power. The Iraqis – not grateful for being liberated – are protesting the lack of electricity, the lack of water, against George Bush, against "foreign occupation", against the US "taking our oil" (not a drop has, as yet, been taken, mind you), against 30 days without food! Sanamagan.

At some stage, the Americans might decide to give Iraq back to Saddam, or his very popular Misinformation Minister, my idol, Muhammed Saeed al-Sahaf. Sahaf was totally convincing. He was the most consistent public official we ever encountered. He lied completely and all the time. What composure. What bravura! What chutzpah! He was absolutely entertaining. And, I hate to say it – delightful.

GMA ought to hire him.