Of Goats, Guava Trees, and Paying this Country Back

By this time, we all know what transpired during the Senate hearings on the ZTE deal when Jun Lozada appeared last Friday. I may believe him. You may not believe him but I guess that is beside the point. There comes a time when circumstances may force you to do something -- not for the good of anybody else but for yourself. More than anything else, I think Jun Lozada was concerned about saving his soul. If he saves our country, the Philippines, in the process, then that would be a pretty good bonus.

I am usually amused by Tita Miriam and this case was no exception. My personal favorite was her reference to the imported goats that Jun Lozada bought while he was president at Philippine Forest. With the goat expose and the other things that she mentioned, she had meant to "test the credibility of the witness." I guess that was tit for tat. The witness, after all, was heavily testing the credibility of government and several of its institutions.

You have to hand it to Mr. Jun Lozada. He uttered a lot of memorable lines as he told his story but I particularly liked his tale (a real one) about the guava trees. He narrated that he traveled to the province once and noticed that the guava tree had plenty of fruits. He suggested to the man that he was talking to to get the guavas and sell these so that the man could earn some money. The poor man answered: "Hayaan nyo na yan sa mga ibon." (Let's leave the guavas for the birds.) It was at this point that he felt uneasy about what he had suggested initially. He found it ironic that the man that he was talking to, who did not have much could still be focused on caring for the birds while prominent, well-off people in Metro Manila were so greedy.

Asked about his motivation for doing what he did, he brought up the story of his Chinese father. His father was so poor in China and decided to come to the Philippines. After coming to the Philippines, their family's life improved and his father's businesses prospered. His father then loved the Philippines so much and would remind Jun Lozada from time to time to "pay this country back." To his mind, Jun Lozada had been paying this country back to "pay honor to his father."

That's as good a message as we will be able to get on any day. We all need to pay this country back in our own little ways. For us to pay this country back though, we must first realize just how much good we have received and appreciate just how beautiful and blessed this country is.

What will come out of this Jun Lozada incident? Not much I think. Government will probably remain the way it is and real change will not be effected. Clarissa Ocampo and Jun Lozada can probably have coffee in the near future and talk about the time when they each paid the country back. I hope that they don't need to wait too long though to see more Filipinos doing the same thing.

Of Lies and Half-Truths

Wala talaga akong masabi kay Tita Miriam. I listened intently to her this morning as she asked the all important question: "Who doublecrossed whom?"

As we listen to the Senate hearings on the NBN-ZTE deal, things just seem to get more convoluted. The picture isn't getting any clearer. What's clear is that someone is not telling the whole truth; that the process of awarding contracts is highly questionable; and that government officials need to be more careful in their words and actuations.

Where will all of this lead? I don't know. What's particularly interesting to me is when Secretary Neri said that he told GMA about the 200 bribe attempt by Abalos. He went on to say that GMA told him "not to accept it." Is that still something that has to be said or instructed?

And if that narration is true, why is Abalos still in Comelec? He is accused of offering a bribe and he can still continue as Comelec chair?

Some things don't make sense.

The New Alphabet

Philippine politics has a way of influencing every little detail of our lives. With the hearing at the Senate yesterday where Joey de Venecia was present, we now have a new alphabet, sung to the tune of your regular ABC...

"A B Z T E F G..."

That's the new joke I heard on AM radio this morning which reminded me of why I listen to AM radio (DZBB) in the first place.

The morning shows were talking about "mister ni ma'am," este mystery man pala -- given Joey de Venecia's statement that FG Mike Arroyo reportedly told him in a meeting to "back off" from the ZTE broadband deal.

Misery man (according to one radio show listener) or mystery man, am sure we all want to hear what FG has to say when he gets back from his trip to wherever.

I don't know. This looks like a "his word against mine" kind of thing -- maybe am not too trusting given that both parties in this case have political ties. Whether you are married to a powerful woman or whether you are the child of a powerful man, wouldn't it have been safer to stay away from deals that involve government? You have less headache that way. Different strokes for different folks. Oh well.