“He’s so busy and we’re not really that important.”
by Ducky Paredes
I hope that Gloria’s people were listening when Manila-based newsmen asked a U.S.-based Pinoy journalist why she seemed to be having such a tough time trying to get together with Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate in 2009. He said: “He’s so busy and we’re not really that important.”
That’s the truth. Neither Den. John McCain of the Republican Party or Obama are even interested to be photographed with Gloria. Do they know whether this will win any Pinoy votes? If they are not sure, it is probably better not to even meet her since meeting her may just complicate their relations with the Filipino communities, especially in some key states.
Since Barack grew up in Honolulu and worked in Chicago both of which have large Pinoy communities, it is certain that he has had Pinoy acquaintances somewhere along the line. I am sure he also knows that Pinoys can be slighted even by things that he has never understood. That is the impression we give to most Americans; thus, the safer thing to do is to avoid involvement in things Pinoy, especially when it comes to politics in the homeland.
I do not know if she will succeed in seeing both are any of these candidates; but, I truly believe that the smarter thing to do is to steer clear of them at this point. Those two will do anything to win and a visit from Gloria may not really be too welcome an even for them to do at this time.
She, and all foreigners for that matter, is just not that important for them at this time. Of course, if the meeting does push through, it will be warm and friendly. Why not? After all, all three of them are politicians first before they are anything else.
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Reading a Reuters story in yesterday’s Malaya, one realizes that the dreaded day has almost arrived. The day I dread is when Vietnam, just recently the sight of a savage war, finally overtakes the Philippines.
According to an economist employed by the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, Philip Poole, this country is the most vulnerable economy in Asia after Vietnam, as rising prices and a global slowdown threaten the country’s ability to pay for its ballooning trade deficit.
“It’s clear that the Philippines is becoming more vulnerable because the trade deficit is widening there and the ability to finance it is falling,” Poole said.
“But is it going to turn into a Vietnam? No, (I) don’t think so.”
The Philippine peso has weakened 7.9 percent against the US dollar this year after appreciating 19.2 percent since the end June 2006.
Vietnam is struggling with a trade deficit that has tripled this year, a weakening fiscal position, limited foreign exchange reserves and annual inflation at a 25-year high, leading some observers to point to a currency crisis.
According to Poole, we can also expect that remittances from OFWs will also drop because of the weakening US economy since at least 25% of all the OFW money we receive comes from the U.S.
And we all know how much our economic statistics are buoyed up by the OFWs sending money home.
The Philippines’ trade deficit this year is set to expand by a third to about $11 billion, the highest in at least nine years, due to higher fuel and rice imports and weaker exports.
Why do I say that the dreaded day is almost upon us? We are already being compared to Vietnam; the more they compare us to that country, the more they will soon discover just how much better that country’s economy has become compared to ours.
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I like the idea that the chamber of Mines has pointedly told our bishops: “The real cause of the flooding should be determined first before declaring responsibility to anyone or to any particular sector.”
The storm was still raging when the bishops backed by some self-proclaimed environmentalists hit out at mining as one of the main caused that there was flooding in Iloilo and other places.
In the old days, when God’s wrath came in the form floods and raging storms, the priests, just as witch-doctors did before the priests arrived that this was because of something that the people had done and had become that displeased God.
(When I was living in a rural area in Mindanao, the parish priest of the town used this type of reasoning in his sermons. It was very effective and generally changed the way that people thought and felt about themselves overnight.)
Perhaps, the bishops are only reverting to their witchdoctor mode from being so anti-mining. Why they seem to be almost automatically against mining I really do not understand. Mining brings in capital and will give jobs to several thousand people in the rural areas. Is mining so bad that one must be against it – it seems, on principle?
Adds the Chamber of Mines on the Iloilo flooding: “The city engineer’s report said that the city and the province has no drainage development plan and is currently encountering a serious garbage” problem.
The chamber of Mines opines that the poor drainage facilities and the creeks, rivers and esteros that have been dumped with garbage could not handle the floodwaters from the Tigum-Aganan watershed area.
Our late parish priest would have said that the chamber of Mines was wrong and that God has allowed these things to happen only because many of us his parishioners have not been coming to his masses or praying and confessing our sins to him as frequently as God wants to see us doing so.
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hvp 06.27.08)
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