Will 2003 bring any good?



I'M SURE that I'm not the only one who felt depressed and rather miserable this year at a New Year's Eve party. With a looming war in Iraq that will have untold consequences, a worldwide economic downward spiral and continuing attacks on Americans worldwide, this new year is one of the most troublesome since 1991, when a counter-invasion of Kuwait was about to be launched by the United States and its allies.

Last New Year at least we were all relieved and happy to see the back of 2001, the year of the horrific 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. Life had nowhere else to go but up. After all, what could be worse than those attacks except for nuclear Armageddon?

I know that I have many reasons to be thankful and happy: I have a nice home, a good job, plenty to eat, excellent healthcare, good friends, and good health. That's more than can be said for millions of poor people across the globe who struggle on a daily basis to survive on a dollar a day, with dirty water supplies, meager food, no healthcare to speak of, violence and disease. Economic deprivation leads to mental stress and self-doubt. Having enough money is the key to so many things that make a peaceful life possible.

I'm hearing people everywhere saying they're so uncertain about the future that they don't want to spend unnecessary amounts of money on luxuries, opting to save that money and wait and see what happens. I personally don't blame them, especially after hearing what one Arab fortune teller had to say about the Middle East's future on an Orbit television program on New Year's Eve: That the war between Iraq and the US would last not for three months, but for three years! That Iran and Russia would ally themselves with Iraq, and that Europe and the US would fight a huge war in Palestine trying to help Israel defend itself from an onslaught of Arab attacks.

Despite these dire predictions, I see spots of light that bring hope that human nature can many times surprise us and do much good rather than bad. The inauguration of Brazil's leftist new president Luis Inacio da Silva, also known as Lula, brought a smile to my face. The millions of impoverished Brazilians now have hope after someone who came from their ranks was elected and sworn in as their president. I am doubtful that Lula will be able to meet all of the challenges he faces in only one term of office, but let's give him the benefit of the doubt.

Another thing that made me smile was the movie "Victor/Victoria." I was watching it last night on Turner Classic Movies, and caught the scene where an impoverished Julie Andrews (Victor/Victoria) is stuffing her face with plate after plate of food at a Paris restaurant, of course with no money to speak of with which to pay the bill. Instead, she has a live cockroach in her handbag ("bigger than your thumb," she tells her dining companion), which she plans to spring into her salad when it is served after the main course. Naturally, by the time she shakes her bag over her salad, the insect has already crawled out of the bag and onto the table. This is the old trick of deliberately placing an insect in your food at the end of the meal so that you don't have to pay the bill, but it nevertheless sent me howling when everyone started shrieking in the restaurant and jumping up as the monster roach rampaged through the eatery!

If real life were only so simple and laughter filled!

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In Saudi we have balikbayan too!

IF YOU thought that only the Philippines had "balikbayan" (foreign-based Filipinos visiting the country), than you're mistaken. The anti-Arab backlash in the United States, specifically the new immigration rules applied to Saudis living in the US post-Sept. 11, means that a veritable flood of expatriate Saudis are now coming back to the Kingdom to live and work here again.

Like most balikbayan, these Saudis have come back reluctantly and many times after having no other choice but to do so. For the Kingdom, this has been a boon, a sort of brain drain in reverse. Many of the top Saudi minds had migrated to America to first study than find better career opportunities. With Master's degrees and PhDs, these balikbayan are for the most part finding a nation ready to embrace them and give them a chance at making it here. One such balikbayan had studied in the US for nine years, but has come back here armed with a Master's degree and is now working full-time in a company as a translator. Another studied economics then worked for three years in a Los Angeles design firm. With a lengthy wait in store for him to have his US visa renewed, he's now considering working here in the Kingdom, and may end up working for a local publication as a designer.

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Cynical about Macapagal's announcement

I COULDN'T help but feel cynical when the bombshell announcement was made this week that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo would not seek reelection in 2004. I don't think I was alone in feeling that way.

To begin with, the president had not given any previous indication that she was thinking along these lines. Indeed, she has never tried to hide her fierce political ambitions, especially after she garnered more votes as the vice-presidential candidate than Joseph Estrada got as the presidential candidate in the 1998 election.

Second, the timing of her announcement is suspect. The recent accusations by Congressman Willie Villerama that two foundations connected to the President and her husband had accepted millions of pesos in donations from sleazy Congressman Mark Jimenez, has caused many eyebrows to flutter in wondering if there isn't more to that story than has been reported so far.

One observer told me that he thought President Macapagal had suddenly announced her political retirement after 2004 because there was more to the foundation story and the Jimenez donations. The President's spin masters have tried hard to spin away from this story, denying any connection between her and the foundations. So far no newspaper has dared to do an in-depth investigation into these allegations, which is a pity, really. Perhaps it is too much of a hot potato to handle right now, but it is a story worth pursuing. As usual, it will probably be left to the Philippine Center of Investigative Journalism to dig around on this one!

President Macapagal claimed that one of her reasons for giving up future presidential hopes was so that a divided nation could heal. That's rather disingenuous of her to say now, after her ascension to power through the EDSA People Power II protests in January 2001 turned out to be one of the most divisive events in Philippine history.

Ms Gloria Arroyo-Macapagal, with her vague air of sainthood around her, has found that politics sullies all that partake in it. Being swept into power was the easy part. Dealing with the various powerful groups and interests have sullied her no end, forcing her to make unsavory alliances and decisions that have made her popularity plunge.

I don't envy anyone who tries to rule the Philippines. The problems that face any President today are really awful and seemingly insurmountable. The country seems to be in a rut politically, socially and economically. Economic growth is minimal, foreign investment in the country has shrunk dramatically, the government is strapped for cash and hundreds of thousands of Filipinos are still leaving the country every year to seek greener pastures abroad.

Let's hope that the president can now concentrate on healing and improving the nation, whatever her real motives were for deciding not to run in 2004.


Visit the author's website at http://www.manilamoods.com to read past columns.