Batman for Philippine President in 2010?

Electing a superhero as Pinoy president sure sounds like a lame-ass joke...then again, if we take a closer look at the true-life aspirants for this same office come election time next year, one is more than half-inclined to believe that the joke would be on us, the electorate.

At least one of those guys figuring prominently among pre-election surveys as "most likely to win" is a former television news celebrity anchor whose authoritative voice and photogenic appeal seems to charm the hearts so many Pinoys. In fact, he is now Vice-President. Sure, he used to deliver us the news--every evening at prime time, in fact. Trouble is, he doesn't seem to be making much news lately, even in his crucial role as second-in-command. Dang, he's supposed to be taking significant steps right now in his present circumstances to get this country out of its desperate straits...and yet he always seems to be absent. It's a lot harder for a newscaster to do much of anything else, after all, if he's not, well...reading any script perhaps! Trust me, with the way he's conducting himself right now, chances are that should he become President he'll be acting much the same way any news anchor would without a script to read--scamper for the next thing to do, adlib his way through and signal for a commercial break. Now, that would look real funny! Except that the joke would be, again, at our expense.

Then there's a willy-nilly bunch of other personalities even funnier to mention, kind of like looking at a bunch of rookie clowns. One of them is the former Pinoy President, who's been convicted in court for wholesale corruption and plunder ( like what the Vikings were notorious for? ). Who the hell would vote a criminal as President again? The rest of the other possible candidates allegedly don't pull enough support from the majority of Pinoys to win, so there's no need to mention them...maybe because the way they've been flaunting and themselves and taunting the others lately makes them resemble Neanderthals beating their chests and clubbing each other down to see who's mightiest of all. Yeah, they all sure do look funny. Anyone of them would look funnier as President than a superhero in a batsuit.

Batman would be better as Pinoy president and I say that without any hesitation. I've watched "The Dark Knight" plenty of times and it never fails to inspire the thought that we need Batman to redeem this country from all the problems plaguing it, the same way he tries to do so for his own Gotham City. Yeah, it's a bit like daydreaming, too, but heck, all Pinoys should think out of the box if we still desire to carve a good future for ourselves. In any case, Batman would have the right credentials. Just take a look at the list below.

1. He's incredibly rich. Bruce Wayne is far richer than any presidential candidate. He can buy all the malls in the Philippines if he wants to. He doesn't have to raise funds from other people for campaign spending, which is a practice that breeds "blood debts" that many candidates have to settle when they come to office, and which leads to rampant corruption among the winner's inner circle of associates.

2. He can blend in with the Pinoy body politic by day and play by their rules and then get down and dirty at night to do what needs to be done. Politicians like to argue and talk. They speak about all sorts of gracious ideals and laudable targets. Problem is, almost all of them simply talk the talk but don't walk the walk. Good suggestions and good proposals on proper governance are already overflowing and yet after being committed to paper they are rarely carried out on the street.

With Batman at the helm, he could smoothly resolve the issue and not ruffle any feathers at the same time. He can easily learn that age-old Pinoy method of pakikisama with fellow politicians--i.e., hobnob, cozy up to them, get to know them better, secure concessions from them, etc., and get things done at night beyond the public view. Taking an example from "The Dark Knight": The Gotham police were urgently seeking the criminal accountant and bookkeeper Lao in order to deliver a crucial blow to the criminal establishment, except that Lao had already escaped to Hong Kong and could not be extradited. Solution: Batman swoops down to Hong Kong, beats the hell out of Lao's guards and flies Lao back to the Gotham police. End of story. Nobody suspected rich and debonaire Bruce Wayne of having a hand in any part of it.

There are similar problems that exist in real life in our country. Not too long ago a Pinay was raped by four American GI's in their van. It was a humiliating experience for the Pinay, and should be a proper cause of concern among all of us. Problem is, three of the four GI's were extradited to the U.S., and the lone remaining American still in our shores receives better treatment and attention than the Pinay they ravaged. Solution? Batman. No contest.

3. Batman dismantles mafia-type gangs. One of the worst things to impact our politics has been the perpetuation of political dynasties. These dynasties rooted in blood ties operate much in the same way Italian mafia families do, which is that all the benefits of money and power are primarily for the use of the family instead of the greater good. Politicians get involved in legitimate businesses and illegal enterprises for the sake of their families. Whatever riches they accumulate from these activities are channeled to efforts at influencing the electorate into putting more of their family members into various political offices, thus securing for their families a more impregnable hold on power. This is all too clearly evident every time one would draw up a list of people in political office at any time. The same last names keep appearing as mayor, former mayor, governor, ex-governor, president...whatever.

These families always maintain that all their income and business interests are legitimate and are no cause for rampant crime and corruption in the realm of mainstream Pinoy life. And yet no matter how much these same people try to appear upstanding and unblemished, scandalous insinuations keep springing up and are later on proved to be true. Even the convicted former Pinoy president alluded to above wasn't spared. If a President can be guilty of it, who else might not be?

Bruce Wayne also engages in less than purely aboveboard activities. Fortunately, these same activities would be targeted at dismantling crime families ( which masquerade as political families, by the way ) which have infiltrated all levels of society. Having no family of his own to speak of, he has practically no undue interest in perpetuating anything except the rule of law.

4. Batman loves Gotham and enriches it. He could do the same for us. He has all the power in the world to leave Gotham behind and settle in another, less-turbulent locale. Except he doesn't, because he believes in Gotham's destiny.

Pinoy politicians, on the contrary, would always love the chance of going out of the country. Name me anyone of them who doesn't have their American greencard ready at any time, or who wouldn't already have sanctuaries of refuge in other countries. Even Ferdinand Marcos had an easy way out of the Philippines when his downfall came along. I never believed that he wanted desperately to remain here...not unless in a casket anyways. Even all his money went with him to a foreign land. So much for being a true Pinoy.

5. Batman doesn't kill people. Yes, he has his own methods of dispensing justice on evildoers, but he lacks the capacity to kill. Even as his activities pigeonhole the underworld into more desperate tactics to outlast his reign of restitution, nobody's lives are lost because of what Batman does. On the contrary, the body count gets even smaller once Batman has his way, so much so that the criminals themselves are spared the otherwise most cruel finality.

Pinoy politicians, however, seem to draw death around them whenever they are criticized or when election season arrives, and it is all too rational to suspect that they would be responsible. The waves of murders always follow the same patterns after all. Should any political activist ( not necessarily the seditious or dissident ) call attention to any Pinoy politician's questionable policies or practices, they are instantly killed. Ditto for journalists, student protestors, and those fervent whistleblowers who fortunately are civic-minded enough to muster the courage when needed. When election season draws nigh, expect political rivals and supporters to drop like flies left and right.

Pinoy politicians also display a casual and dismissive attitude towards death. Amid reports that Pinoys working their asses off overseas are unjustly executed for crimes they did not commit, despite the continuous rise of statisically documented homicides and killings right here in our country, however more and more people are dying because of malnutrition and inadequate medical services, Pinoy politicians continue acting as if there never was any cause for urgent action right outside their offices everyday, as if their duties never included taking any concrete steps to address these concerns.

Come to think of it, most of Pinoy politicians act more like the Joker, Batman's enemy in "The Dark Knight" and the direct antithesis of all the selfless values Batman tries to propagate.

5. Batman effectively accomplishes so many things in so little time. Imagine what else he could do within the six-year period of a Pinoy presidential term. If he could dispose of crime in six months ( it took him a much shorter time to catch that homicidal maniac the Joker ), then he could devote quite a longer stretch of time to address our other problems, as well. Perhaps after his six-year term, we'd be looking at a totally different and unexpectedly progressive Philippines!

Yeah, so many Pinoys will dismiss all of these thoughts as wishful thinking. But aren't superheroes supposed to exemplify the extraordinary attributes we would wish real humans would display more often? And who's to say that other countries have never experienced having their own real-life extraordinary superhero-like people who've managed to steer whole nations towards destinies so spectacularly positive and fantastic that they would appear to be lifted straight out of movie endings? Let me give two recent examples. Deng Xiaopeng of China ruled his nation for a long time and 30 years after he laid the foundations of China's economic growth, China is still greatly improving even after his death. ( As a side note, Ferdinand Marcos was Pinoy President during much of the time when Mr. Deng was the strongman in China; both were strongmen who held their positions for more than two decades; and yet, the Philippines is much worse 30 years or so after Marcos started his term--which means Mr. Deng outshines him in every degree )

Vladimir Putin rescued a poverty-stricken Russian nation during the late 20th and early 21st centuries and has reclaimed its status as one of the strongest countries in the world.

Yes, it's a fact that Batman can never step out of his fantasy world and assume leadership over us Pinoys. But it's not farfetched to hope for someone much like him to appear and save our country from its current conditions. If that person is meant to be extraordinary in every way, then so be it. If that person has to display such uncanny resourcefulness, such absolute dedication to selfless motives, then that is surely what we deserve. If only to assure that our children and our children's children will one day have the memory not of a superhero like Batman but a Real Pinoy who did as much, or maybe did better, to become what it was meant to be--the one place which we will never leave behind, where we will prosper and be secure, the place we will always call our home.

Tagbilaran, Bohol: What They see and What This Commuter Sees

( photo courtesy of http://vincentvanderveken.com/wp-content/testphotos/bohol/Tagbilaranairview.JPG )

It was December 31, 2008, and it was the day I flew back to my hometown.

After pouring myself into work for the better part of 3 years without any substantial respite, I was finally afforded the chance to revisit Bohol, which from 32,000 feet looked like an almost mundane chunk of hills, green, white beaches and rock, hiding amongst the Visayas group of islands. It takes a 1 hour-and-30-minute plane ride from Manila, and as the pilot helpfully informs us, Bohol is situated around 120 nautical miles south of...Cebu? Something to that effect, perhaps. I was nothing short of giddy by the time the Airbus 320-200 landed on the airstrip. Yes, this was the same Bohol where both my parents were born. I felt in in the air the moment I stepped down on the tarmac. This was my home.

And the household I chose to remain in within this home was in Tagbilaran, the capital city. For a Pinoy used to the smog and ruckus and huff of Manila, Tagbilaran was, at least for me, something a bit off the beaten track, urbanized as it is. The crime rate over here, for one thing, is significantly lower, so remote in fact that most of the population wouldn't hesitate to walk the streets at night, both the old and the young, even the very young. A hush usually settles along the main avenue come 10 in the evening, save for a few strains of videoke singers drifting through the air. I walked the dark alleys right into midnight and never encountered homeless street beggars or any vicious looking personage. Even the stray dogs were courteous at night, according the right of way to this commuter for most of the time.

Ahhhh, yesss....Tagbilaran remains to be one of the bastions of chic and laid back urbane life in this country, I would agree wholeheartedly with that. It is a city with all of its concrete and steel and yet retains a vacation atmosphere all the same. The numerous expats and foreign tourists meandering around its inner environs all sport resort fashion, and always seem to be sauntering on their feet as if life in this otherwise buzzing central business district was like drifting along with the clouds.

This is not pretty surprising since Tagbilaran is right at the doorstep of one of the most famous resort islands in the world--Panglao Island, renowned for its long stretches of picturesque white beaches, and ringed by several coral reefs relevant to scuba diving enthusiasts. Tagbilaran houses several hotels and inns which are springboards for local and foreign tourists who later troop to Panglao for that much-longed-for resort experience. As such, Tagbilaran is quite close to the sea, and it is not unusual to catch a whiff of brine and salt in the wind.

The last time I flew into Tagbilaran was back in 2003, five years ago. Since that time, however brief the stretch, the attractiveness of Panglao and Bohol has grown exponentially among both Pinoy and foreign tourists. Where once before the island had been more or less perceived as another one of those obscure places in the Philippines, today has seen it being touted to no end as one of the country's premiere tourist destinations, right up there with Boracay, that other paradise we Pinoys are already familiar with. This recently enthusiastic promotion hasn't been for naught, since the influx of tourists has also ballooned to record numbers, and the buzz on the internet about Bohol and its bounty of beaches, dive sites, and those perpetually intriguing Chocolate Hills keeps on increasing and increasing. It comes as no surprise then, that this sudden spike in tourist attendance has also benefitted Tagbilaran in no small way. Where Bohol's capital city once sported a mere 4 cinemaplexes, there are now 16 spread throughout its corners ( a 400% increase, to put it statistically ). Where before only two major shopping malls dotted this city, there are now close to six. New schools and universities have sprung up. Internet cafes are now nearly as ubiquitous as hotels, inns, shops, and kiosks. There is even in the works the construction of an international airport within Tagbilaran's immediate vicinity, to supplement the existing domestic airport with its single runway, in order to accommodate even more tourists. In essence, Tagbilaran seems to be following the same trend of expansion and growth which was first trailblazed by the capital city the Philippines is most known for, Metro Manila.

Refreshingly enough, inspite of the onrush of changes and the velocity with which Tagbilaran seems to charge towards even vaster commercialization, the relatively amiable attitude, outstandingly hospitable habits, and politeness displayed by the local population seems to have remained undiminished. This is a far cry from conditions in Metro Manila, where crime and poverty have battered the cosmopolitan population into adopting more pragmatic practices to protect life and property. In other words, life in Tagbilaran, a city being it is right now, continues to feel kinder than the city where I come from.

So goes the projected image of Bohol as probably depicted in many a coffeetable book. You feel a warm welcome once you arrive at Tagbilaran airport, where you will instantly experience the cheerfulness of the locals hieing you off into comfortable urban accommodations with disarming thoughtfulness and sincerity. If you have the cash to go with it, later on you can slip into a beach resort only a stone's throw away, and take a dip, dive, party with foreigners, whatever might be your mien. Should you wish to roam around Bohol's interior, the hinterlands will always welcome you with the promise of experiencing pristine riverboat rides, trekking through the occasional patch of tropical rainforest, witnessing the grandeur of the Chocolate Hills, having the opportunity to hold a Tarsier ( the world's smallest primate ) in your hand, easing down to the panorama of famers and fisherfolk ekeing out the simple routine of rural lives amidst wide expanses of the green land or the blue sea. All of this I can attest to and have experienced myself. The prospect is so enticing that tourists from all over the world are constantly being pulled in.

It also seems that the Boholanos I encounter are always quick to smile, and it does seem that they have plenty to smile about, anyway.

Still...

Albeit that tourists and expats have a high regard for the quality of life in Bohol, and even speak of it as if it was a paradise on earth, I would have to argue that this island I call home still has a long way to go before it could merit this distinction. Call it playing devil's advocate, nit-picking, or finding fault where there is none, but who among us hasn't always felt that one's home should be nothing short of the best it can be?

No one can deny that Bohol remains pretty backward, being very much a Third World district. A huge majority of the local population live in dire poverty. Hunger and deprivation remain so pervasive that most locals rather regard Bohol as a place to escape from than a place to escape to. I should know because I live there.

Tagbilaran may display a sense of thriving progress, and yet the rest of the island ( yes, a very big part of the island ) is terribly bereft of any of that. Feudal practices of landlordism abound among the farmlands, and the persistence of this oppressive practice has polarized the Boholanos between the elite few and the poor majority. Revenues and income from bountiful harvests of rice and other crops only enrich the landowners and the cartel of produce distributors, reducing farmhands into squalid lives in which food is mostly absent from the table and access to good education ( or good jobs) is so steep it may as well be denied. When one is born a farmhand, one is expected to be a poor and starving farmhand ( or fisherman, for that matter ) for life. Practically no one is spared this sobering prospect, and most Boholanos you meet are typical barrio-bred folk who remain isolated and marginalized their whole lives, pretty much on the same unenviable level as the so-called "ethnic minorities".

For the lucky few Boholanos who do escape this reality ( and the number is not substantial at all ), the recourse is either to find jobs overseas and become one of the millions of OFW's plying the world, risking life and limb to provide for their children and families, or to trek to the cities ( such as Tagbilaran, Metro Manila, wherever ) and try to find better opportunities there.

It is said that a Pinoy migrating from his hometown is the usual way out of a Third World poverty-stricken existence, and this is a practice carried out fervently by millions of us. And yet, the hometown we leave behind doesn't necessarily seem to reap significant rewards from this. Only take a look at Bohol, in which many of the population's high earners are overseas workers. After 30 years or so of this outward-bound migration, has Bohol progressed from Third World conditions to First World conditions? Apparently not.

30 years is a long time. Within the same period, Japan recovered from World War II and became a major world superpower. Why hasn't Bohol experienced such a turnaround of the same degree? When you scour the interior of the island, you would notice that the way of life for Bohol's farmers and fishermen hasn't noticeably changed ever since the age of the colonial occupation of the Spaniards, 400 years ago. They were oppressed by unsound labor practices and poor and destitute back then, they are still in those same deep waters right now, in the 21st century. Wow.

Which would explain why the insurgent Communist movement has festered among not a few of the younger disenfranchised Boholanos. Yes, Bohol can be regarded as relatively "safer" because of the lower incidence of crime, but there is also no denying that highway robberies are prevalent, and the island has its share of unfortunate brigands all-too willing to steal for food.

And look at Tagbilaran. Yes, it sparkles and sizzles right now. A hubbub of activity with involvement from foreigners. Malls keep on mushrooming up in places where the land used to be backwater. The economy is taking a turn for the better...or so it seems. If you look at the increasing number of malls and commercial establishments and glitzy bars and cafes, yes, it truly does appear to be so. It's becoming more and more like Metro Manila, actually.

Well, it must be conceded that for any city to be classified as "progressive" in the Philippines, Metro Manila is used as the yardstick for comparison. And that's really sad. Because for all the disproportionate prestige accorded to Metro Manila, being as it is the seat of government power, the hub of education, the center of industry and commerce, and even the home of the glitz and glamour of the Pinoy television and movie industries--the capital city time and time again never fails to betray many unforgivingly reprehensible characteristics as well. Pinoys know that Metro Manila has long been quagmired in untramelled political corruption and illegitimate and unfair business practices founded on inexhaustible greed and obscene self-interest. The city is also a seething hotbed of pressures arising from the conflicts between the elite few and the lower-class majority...among a host of other things. Metro Manila may hold the distinction of being the most prestigious locale in the Philippines, but it also cannot hide the cesspools of its massive ghettoes and slums, its debilitating pollution, its undisciplined frenzy of activity that leaves many residents in constant threat of losing precious lives and property, its general insanity. Yes, Metro Manila can be a nightmare for most of us Pinoys...and we know that there are still more things to hate even underneath all of those.

To think that Tagbilaran is attempting to adopt the ways and mores of Metro Manila is nothing less than imbecilic, and at worst an exercise in peril. You emulate Metro Manila, you risk encouraging the growth not only of the desirable but also what is undesirable. For example, right now, ghettoes and slums aren't prevalent in Tagbilaran. But who is to say that they won't eventually spring up in the future, too, if this city continues on its present path?

Even today, it saddens me to think that business establishments in Tagbilaran have already started conducting themselves much in the way their counterparts do in Metro Manila--by not giving the proper compensation to their workers who toil over extended hours just to make ends meet. The problem is subtle, and hardly observable, and yet it is these simple things which eventually grow and grow to unexpected proportions.

Then there's the nagging reality of too many shopping malls practically blanketing the city, which indicates that the local governing body encourages an economy based on consumption rather than production. As has been the typical case with most other major cities in the Philippines, malls are regarded as the stamp of "economic progress", proclaiming that a city has finally reached a landmark in improvement. However, an economy that relies on consumption wouldn't necessarily mean that it is in fact progressive. The Pinoys who patronize these imposing malls are more often than not reliant on Overseas Pinoy Workers to fuel their spending powers, which, if one examines it carefully, necessitates that more and more Pinoys need to go abroad and leave their families behind in order for the mechanism to continue running. Arguably, such an outward movement of valuable human resources saps the homeland of talent which could otherwise have been better utilized for us fellow Pinoys. In this unfortunate situation, it is other countries who benefit greatly from the efforts of top Pinoy scientist, academicians, medical personnel, laborers, seafarers...the list goes on and on almost unendingly. In the end, it is us Pinoys who end up on the losing end. So it must be said that a consumption-driven economy is not in any way very progressive at all, much less a marked improvement in the lives of the people of Tagbilaran. If anyone doubts this, one can only look, again, to Metro Manila as the primary example of economic management gone wrong--a city which has remained pathetically Third World for centuries.

Would that Tagbilaran look beyond Metro Manila and prudently model itself after the truly significant cities such as New York, London, Paris, Beijing, Seoul, or Tokyo. If the idea seems farfetched, then perhaps the vision can be that of pursuing the same pedestal reached by Singapore or Mumbai--small cities which are anchored on the engines of industry, manufacturing, academics, technology, cutting-edge services, which are generated locally and then conveyed as exports to other countries. As is the experience of those cities just mentioned, it is these types of economies which ensure the best standard of living for their inhabitants by way of better wages and larger productivity, two things which define a First World way of life--which is what we Pinoys exactly look for in the first place when we go abroad.

A factory for making cars or airplanes in Bohol? Why not? You can even throw in shipyards perhaps, like the ones that first made South Korea into a dominant world player. Maybe some farmlands could be converted to agricultural research institutes which could function as educational centers devoted to developing new technologies for better farming methods, such as those operational in Japan. Even fisheries could be converted to agencies of similar type.

And yes, it is feasible for the resort economy to thrive within such a setup. Which could elevate Bohol and its capital Tagbilaran to a level of achievement which other cities around the world would envy!

My hometown. It may as of the present be a place I would willingly visit again and again. It still holds many treasures which anyone could openly see. But both Boholanos and its visitors should also be more aware of what they would not easily see. It is my hope that in apprehending both of these, Pinoys, Boholanos, expatriates in Bohol, and tourists could perhaps all contribute towards making my hometown become the Paradise and home it should be for everybody.

And 4 Billion Years Afterwards

( a continuation of the previous blog "A Story 4 Billion Years in the Making" )

As of this writing, after around 6,000 years of human recorded history, the greatest danger to humanity continues to be humanity itself.

Simply put, humans can't seem to perceive each other from the same standpoint. Religion and contravening racial interests breed never-ending wars between Islamic peoples and Jews in Israel and the Middle Eastern nations surrounding it. The dogmatic belief that paler-skinned peoples stand superior physically and intellectually above darker-skinned peoples time and time again surfaces, as attested by the perpetual existence of White Supremacists. The world at large repeatedly witnesses genocide on a massive scale, from tribal wars in Congo and Sierra Leone in the Africas, to the former Yugoslavian Republics in Central Asia.

Even in this land of ours, Pinoys are not immune themselves from the temptation to segregate people into different classes. Probinsyanos are snidely denigrated by the city-bred, metropolitan "elite" Pinoys, and are treated with less courtesy and respect. Pinoys with foreign descent ( so called Fil-Ams, Fil-Norweigans, Fil-Swiss, Fil-Korean...the list goes on and on ) are more often the objects of admiration and envy, in contrast with the haphazard, mundane regard Pinoys have for fellow pure-blooded Pinoys.

Most recently, the election of Barack Obama as the first American President of African descent has been hailed, almost universally, as one of the greatest victories against barriers of race and social class. That this praise has been heaped and trumpeted to the point of overkill comes as no surprise, since it has never been lost to the majority of the world population that humans do discriminate against one another, and that this crude attitude has persisted for so long that President Obama's election rises up as an angry fist ( perhaps, one of the distinct few ) against its overwhelming presence.

Sadly, the delusions of religious dogma don't seem to impress upon us the real worth of each and every human being. Most of them teach that man was made in a day, or in a single second. Some of them preach that white-skinned peoples are the best of the Creator's cooked bread from Its kiln, whereas people of different color were either "half-baked" or "scorched", therefore imperfect. Some of them even say that humans can never be of the same status because a particular race is the "Chosen People". Balderdash!

As I've pointed out, it would be better to appreciate each human as the product of a Creator which labored billions of years to make us what we are now. Friend, you may be rich, beautiful or good-looking, powerful and influential, but that street urchin begging for any scrap of food outside your car
is made of the same fiber and blood that took infinitesimal eons to develop, like your own. Friend, you may be white, but those darker-skinned people all around you were lavished the same care and attention by the Creator the way It did by you.

Friend, myths of religion don't really tell you everybody's true worth. Believe me, false religous dogma didn't do anything to make people treat each other better for thousands of years. It definitely won't be able to do so in several thousands more. And no, the Creator could never do anything in a day.