Ms. Roces shows finally what’s behind her smile

COMBATIVE STANCE: At least it is now clear that Susan Roces, widow of cinema idol Fernando Poe Jr., condones the tearing apart of the wreath sent by a condoling President Arroyo, and that she is declining state honors suggested for him.

With her taking a combative stance, Ms Roces has consented impliedly to having politics color the death, wake and funeral of the popular actor who ran for president in the last May elections and lost.

Observers, especially those perched on the Palace window, are now forewarned that behind her sweet smile, Ms. Roces has been hurting and wanting to get back at her and her husband’s tormentors.

Dropping all pretenses in a TV interview, she hit back at critics and adversaries who had questioned Poe’s citizenship and his qualifications for the exalted post of President of the Republic.

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POTSHOT AT PALACE: Asked by a TV host how she felt about the destruction by Poe’s followers of the wreath sent by the President, Ms. Roces said that while she did not agree with what they did she had no control over their actuations.

Ms Roces said: "Karamihan sa mga bulaklak na nandito ay galing sa mga tao na kakilala namin, na sincerong nagmahal kay FPJ. At yon din ang naramdaman nang mga supporter na tumatanggap. Di ako sang-ayon na hindi mabigyan galang ang mga alaala na pinaabot dito, pero hindi ko hawak ang damdamin sa mga tumatanggap nito."

She did not pass up the chance to take a potshot at Malacañang, which was reported to be amenable to declaring the popular actor a National Artist and giving him a burial plot at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

Raising questions on the motivations of such moves, she said: "Nalulungkot ako na madinig yan, pero it also reflects on the person sending it. Alam mo me atraso, dapat bumisina ka muna. Siguro dapat isipin nila ano ang atraso nila. May malaki ba silang atraso?"

She raked up opposition charges that massive cheating had robbed her husband of the presidency: "Katulad nang mga nasabi ko nuon, pag ninakawan ka ng pera, madali. Puede namang kikitain mo ulit yon. Pero pag ninakawan ka nang pangarap, di mo na maibabalik yon."

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TROUBLE AHEAD: This means that "tuloy ang laban" (the fight goes on) – with the opposition, long in search of a viable leader, probably gravitating around Poe’s widow now that she has taken on a fighting stance.

It also means more trouble for President Arroyo. She will not have the honeymoon, or at least a sporting chance, that she has been trying to work out with the opposition since she won the May elections.

With that, we can expect more turbulent days ahead – meaning more protest action and destabilization, and the attendant economic dislocation, political instability, and heightened criminality and insurgency.

At damay tayong lahat sa away nila.

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FOCUS ON JOBS: As she cast around for votes last time, candidate Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo promised among other things to produce 10 million jobs during her six-year term. That is a tough assignment.

There is a preoccupation in this country with getting a job as the key to improving one’s quality of life.

In fact, most students (with the prodding of their parents) choose a college course on the basis of what job, here or abroad, they can qualify for – not what business or profession they can engage in – after graduation.

The schools have become a giant machinery churning out thousands upon thousands of half-baked graduates looking for a job that government and industry are hard put to provide.

It is in this context that I share this item (on how to get rich) that I picked up from a Filipino discussion group in the Internet. Since I am not sure how the writer feels about discussing his case outside the group, we will just identify him as JG (no, that is not John Gokongwei) of New York.

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HOW TO GET RICH: This is JG’s posting on becoming rich, slightly edited:

Anybody starting from a farmer, to factory worker or a member of the middle class has all the chances to become rich if he wants to.

But the main reason why most Filipinos cannot do so is that our culture has taught us that the best way to earn money is to go and finish college, then find a good job – or serve other businessmen making more money.

I remember serving in the government for 10 years, but I was buried in debt. My GSIS housing loan remained unpaid for several months. But when I left the government and put up my own business, in less than three years I was able to totally payoff my GSIS housing loan, was able to buy a second house and another first class subdivision lot.

I did it all from different kinds of making money, like buying old motorcycles, repairing them and selling them at five times the original buying price. There was a time when a bank lent me P100,000 payable in one year. But after two days I paid it off, because I already earned a profit from it in 24 hours!

When I opened a tricycle business, I would get three brand-new motorcycles using as down payment the money I should have paid to fully pay for one new motorcycle. Then I let the tricycles earn day and night to pay off the balance on the three motorcycles in less than a year.

With three units, I was earning three times what I would earn from just one. In less than a year I was operating 14 tricycles, simply by using the same strategy – getting three motorcycle loans using as down payment the money to fully pay for one motorcycle.

When the "Beer na Beer" was introduced in the market, the distributor would leave piles of cases of beer in my sari-sari store to be introduced to customers. But since the customers were accustomed to San Miguel beer, "Beer na Beer" stayed in my bodega untouched.

I then thought of selling them at manufacturer’s price, with no profit for me. Then I used the proceeds from "Beer na Beer" to buy rice, charcoal, and sugar. Even if I did not make profit from "Beer na Beer," I made 5 to 10 times more profit from the rice, charcoal, and sugar that were easier to sell when I repacked them.

I used the same strategy with the chocolates, left to me by "Serg," payable in three months with post-dated checks. I would sell the chocolates at no profit, then roll the sales proceeds on other fast-selling items. For three months, I was using the money from "Serg" chocolates to make more money for my store.

How did I learn to make money or to be in business?

In my childhood (from a isang kahig-isang tuka family) I learned doing it by selling vegetables from our backyard. Out of the sales, I would buy pan de sal for breakfast of our family of 11 children, a mother, a father, a lola and a lolo. On weekends, I was selling Taliba and other newspapers, so I would have baon for my weekdays in school.

Then, when I didn’t have paper in school, I would initiate a raffle in the classroom as a game during our vacant period.

One would get a ticket number from me in exchange for one tablet paper. From a class of 20 to 30, I earned a lot of tablet papers, because the first prize was just five tablet papers, second prize was four, and third prize was three.

I kept the remaining 18 tablet papers as profit every time I held a raffle during our vacant periods. Actually, nobody minded the prize so much because everybody was having fun participating in the raffle.

In high school, I thought of making money from the abandoned pechay and other vegetables left during the summer vacation by students in their plots for the Agriculture class. The planting area was so vast that everyday I had something to sell.

From the sales, I bought Agricultural tools, and gave them to the school. But most important, I was earning money from my share of the sales – from plants that were abandoned by students. When classes reopened, I was some kind of a hero, because of the new tools I bought for the school.

But I had a lot of money left, too, for my baon!

I have more stories to tell, but the above may be too much already para buhatin ko ang sarili kong bangko. My point here is to answer the question of Mon of how a farmer, a factory worker, or a member of a middle class family could become rich.

My general answer is anybody could become so, if he is trained in his childhood to earn money or start a business. He could also learn from books and from other people.

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