When economics lord over environmental adjustments

The Swedish EU presidency is soon finishing its six-month term without any concrete promises for the summit meeting on Climate Change to be held in Copenhagen next month. The big countries considered to make a big difference in achieving the target figure in reduced carbon dioxide emission such as United States, China and India are adamant to make any commitments.

The deciding factor - as enunciated by India during the recent trip by Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, is economics rather than environment. Economic progress at the cost of environment devastation is a hard political choice being made in the US, China, India as well as the lesser developed members of the European Union like Poland. The financial crises that hit the world economy left debris that got in the way of economic productivity. It is the strongest reason by many industrialised countries to prioritise economic development at the cost of enviornmental adjustments such as reduction of carbon dioxide emission.

Countries like India and China have strong economies with global impact but at the same time, they have a huge population of extremely poor people. Environmental problems are coming not just from unregulated industrial processes but from usage of natural resources in the areas where poor people earn their livelihood. Forests, rivers, seas are drained of their environmental balance when poverty becomes an excuse for abuse and exploitation.

At the outset of the Swedish EU presidency, it has been made clear that all other areas of concern such as admission of new EU members, regulation of refugee and asylum intake, labour migration, unemployment, regulation of the financial system and bonus payouts, as well as synchronisation of the internal EU market will take a backseat position. The overwhelming concern is signing a climatic change agreement to secure both the short and long-term welfare of the human community. # ( Photo by Jayline. Manila is flooded)

Land of distress and endless misery

It is heartbreaking to view one's homeland as a country in perpetual distress - mostly because it is geographically in the path of annual storms and typhoons, but mainly aggravated by man-made neglect and mismanagement of environmental measures to cushion the impact of such natural calamities. The country known as "pearl of the orient", with nature's gift of endless miles of white sands, green forests, lakes, ocean teaming with marine life- is a sad picture of perpetual disaster.

After many years of living abroad, one is not totally liberated from the placental ties with the homeland no matter how hard one tries to distant oneself from the socio-political developments taking place. Many are forced to leave the Philippines for reasons that are politically and economically-motivated. In the dark days of the dictatorship, it was necessary to flee to avoid more repression if not imprisonment. But in the mid-70s, the Filipinos leaving the country were is search of economic security and prosperity. They formed the population of overseas Filipinos whose regular remittances to their families became the country's main source of hard currency.

There are no words enough to honour the contributions of overseas Filipinos. No matter how severe their setbacks are in their search for jobs abroad and despite the tragedies suffered by many in the hands of unscrupulous recruiters, the feeling of loyalty to blood and belongingness remain strong. Such strong emotional commitment is often exploited when in times of severe calamities, we are driven by a strong conscience to help the victims of typhoons back home.

There seems no end to feeling a bad conscience for the disasters that perpetually confront the Filipinos. We, living abroad are always sorry for what we are and have become, because the rest of the countrymen are not doing so well, and because the political management of the country never gets better. How long are we, for reasons of birth, going to be hounded by the abysmal failures committed by political leaders with no conscience?

(Photo: Courtesy of Jayline)

Some living lines in my life's lane

The passing away of many memorable people whom I had the fortune - as well as misfortune of encountering in my life's history in the Philippines, brings to mind some questions about what and how these well-known personalities have touched my life.

I was truly saddened about Cory Aquino's death and memories of her home in Times Street, Quezon city came back. She spoke little, was seen little in a court of friends and journalists where her husband was the main actor. Yet, one could sense the strength she had that was her husband's lifeline during his days of incarceration and exile. She said with a half smile during a dinner I had with her: " So, is it true that (President) Marcos is afraid of Ninoy? What is he afraid of ?" I could have said: " The force that Ninoy Aquino has to end the Marcos regime". It is prophetic that it was infact Cory Aquino who led the moral crusade that ended the dictatorship after Ninoy was brutally assasinated in the Manila International airport.

The late President Ferdinand Marcos left a million quotable lines - his and his brilliant speech writers. As a journalist then, there was no shortage of quotes from this man who knew what to feed journalists hungering for good lines. The one I remember most was what he said at a press conference in Malacanang Palace. I think I asked him if the New People's Army (NPA) could surrender without giving up their arms. And he replied with his typical half-smile, half-smirk on his face: " I will embrace my enemy even as I hold a knife in my hand."

My best pal, Time's Nelly Sindayen owns a great number of lines for each of her friends, as well as foes. The ones that drew great laughter was her Tausog dialect spoken like a homosexual. And when she talks, her own laughter was never far behind. Then there was Teddy Benigno of AFP - also gone and probably having a good laugh with Ninoy Aquino - somewhere out there. Teddy wrote long columns and one often wondered if he ever learned the use of a period to end sentences.

And not too long ago, Adrian Cristobal also passed away. Adrian was a great speech writer not just of the late Pres. Marcos but more so of Imelda Marcos. Of lines and quotes, one cannot forget the ones that Adrian wrote or said. What I remember most were the ones he wrote when I was a newcomer at the College Editors' Guild, and he and the late Labor Secretary Blas Ople - another brilliant speech writer of Marcos, were conference lecturers. In one of his private letters he wrote: "You are Galathea to Pygmalion". I was an aspiring writer and I thought that he was trying to encourage me. They were beautiful lines he wrote when he was not yet in the corridors of power.

As I sit and ponder at many living lines that friends and enemies left behind, I also see their faces expressive in what they are saying and later breaking into joyous laughter. How could these people with great minds simply go and we are left to muse over what had been said, at which juncture of a life's history and that of a nation.#

Cory Aquino - A Woman of Substance

Cory Aquino was hesitant to become president. She did not plan to be a politician. She was a mother, a housewife of the most popular political oppositionist to the Marcos dictatorship, Benigno Aquino Jr. After the treacherous assassination of her husband in 1983, Corazon Aquino ceased to be the quiet person she had been all through her role as politician's wife. She became the leading spirit of the Philippine's people power revolution that led to the downfall of the Marcos regime.

As foreign correspondent of the Far Eastern Economic Review, I had on many occasions been to the Aquino's residence on Times St in Quezon city, where former Senator Benigno Aquino - on a temporary freedom from Camp Crame prison held court and met journalists, politicians and friends almost every day. The senator was a fantastic source of valuable information and made excellent copy for my Hongkong-based paper. In all those sessions with him, Cory was almost invisible in the house. She was in the living room only to see that the guests were attended to. During some late interviews I made with the Senator, she was very solicitous with dinners and once she actually had dinner with me and spoke about her concern over the Senator's situation in prison.

When I returned to the Philippines in 1986 for a short visit, she had just been elected president of the Philippines. The whole nation was jubilant and yellow became her symbolic colour of victory. I saw her in Malacanang during her first days and she looked like she wasn't sure she was actually the President. She still rode her old car to Malacanang Palace. When my younger sister Daisy was murdered in 1989, I saw her again in Malacanang. She had called her Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Fidel Ramos and asked him to expedite the search for the killers of my sister.

As a President, she was a compassionate person. She had a program of reform that was blocked by old powers and the military - accustomed to getting its way with Marcos tried to topple her government a few times. If she was given the chance she needed, she could have rebuilt a country demoralised by years of abuse, corruption and greed. Even then, she tried her very best and her countrymen will remember her for what she was - an incorruptible moral leader of her country.

June...in an explosion of sun and happiness

In Sweden, it is hard to predict when summer comes and whether it will be all sun or sun and rain. It has become an accepted reality that Swedish mid-summer week is unreliably fickle and many feel cheated to spend their holidays indoor. Nonetheless, this country is extremely beautiful this time of year when everything comes to life and its waters are filled with boats of all sizes lazily cruising the archipelago, or just moored in various small harbours.

Despite the early pessimism over the unpredictable arrival of Swedish summer, it did come in full blast week after midsummer with 25 to 30 plus degree temperature, almost rubbing off the dominance of the sun in places South like Greece. The sun has a strong effect on people's humour and well-being and most of all, on one's capacity for love and affection. Somehow, in the cold winter days and night - our hearts find it difficult to respond to warmth and the need to share it with someone, or others. It is not that love disappears into darkness. The heart just seems more melancholic and proned to dark thoughts ( for others suicidal!).

I have many reasons to be happy before the after June with many happenings of the heart like the joy of awaiting a new grandchild, of being at a son's wedding in Santorini and witnessing an immeasurable surge of happiness in two people who celebrate a much -awaited union, and then becoming part of many events simultaneously occuring in my nearest geographic space. The Volvo Ocean Race Stockholm Stopover for one, was a sight to feast on.

However, even in the brightest of horizons can come some rainclouds and I don't mean meteorologically. The world - near and far, remains unsettled by military and economic conflicts aggravated by the deterioration of life's quality in poorer parts of the world. While I have personal reasons to be happy, I am not entirely detached from a world that is wrestling with hard issues of survival.#

Taking the global market by the horn

(Welcome Speech on the occasion of the formal launching of the Philippine Education Society in Stockholm, June 5, 2009)

I have the honour of welcoming you all to the celebration tonight of the 111th anniversary of the Philippine independence. Eleven years ago, we proudly celebrated the 100 year commemoration of our freedom from 400 years of Spanish colonisation. During that time, the population of Filipino immigrants in Sweden was officially around 8,000. Today, the community- spread in all parts of the country has grown to more than double.

The celebration of the Philippine independence every year strenghtens the consciousness of national belongingness especially among the immigrant Filipinos, who keep the sense of "blood and belongingness" alive through associations and federations. The purposes and directions taken by every organisation vary in certain ways but the ultimate goal is to stay together and strengthen the bonds of common heritage.

Tonight, we celebrate the historic achievement of national independence but more specifically, the commitment we have taken upon ourselves to give back something to the Motherland. It is common knowledge that overseas Filipinos remit huge amount of money to the homeland, to the tune of 8 to 9 billion US dolllars per year - a considerable contribution to the country's national economy.

However, what makes tonight's celebration memorable is the formal launching of a foundation, known as the Philippine Education Society, or PES. The foundation has a specific goal - a modest one to start with and that is to grant scholarship to deserving young Filipinos in the form of language training, to give them a competitive advantage in the Swedish labour market. It is a small step towards the improvement of Filipino competence in a global market that is facing severe competition. But a good step nonetheless and PES is exactly where it should be - which is taking the challenges of a global market by the horn.

The PES has several working committees - each of which has specific targets to achieve. The most important is the fundraising and business committees, upon whose shoulders will rest the life and survival of this young foundation. We are aware of the hard times facing the global economy, the retrenchment made by national budgets to solve the financial crisis. We are also aware that the labour market is under severe pressure to keep unemployment from plummeting into depths never known before. However, despite the economic crisis and because of the economic crisis, we are raising the competence of our workforce that want to find its way to the global market. Sweden is both a national and a global market.

If the PES can - in a modest way, help equip our young workforce the language competence to improve its chances in a global labour market, then we shall have made tonight not just memorable but historic when we look back 20 or 50 years back. Despite the crisis we face, our sense of compassion to help and share resources with the less fortunate can never be taken away from each and everyone of us because of the bonds of blood and belongingness.

I thank you you all for for being with us tonight and for giving support to the new foundation.

What we (Filipinos) do for love...

The growing population of Filipinos in Sweden did themselves proud when they decided- through the heads of various organisations, to organise formally into a foundation which is now called Philippine Education Society or Filippinskt Utbildnings Sällskap. The project is a brainchild of the current Philippine Ambassador to Sweden, Mrs. Angara-Collinson.

Organising Filipinos in Sweden is not a novel experience. Since the celebration of the 100-year RP centennial in 1999, the number of Filipino-Swedish organisations have grown. A few, like Bayanihan headed by Edgar Gumabon in Helsingborg has been around for a much longer time. There has been an attempt to start a federation of Filipino-Swedish organisations in 1999, and it did get started but was burnt out after the second year. Federations are not always easy to manage if the member-organisations do not fully commit themselves to a common goal and shared purposes.

The Philippine Education Society, or PES, for short has one clear vision. It is to upgrade the professional status of Filipinos seeking job specifically in Sweden by helping them with language training in Swedish before they arrive in this country. This is the specific aim but the long-term vision is to upgrade the professional level and competence of Filipinos seeking work overseas.

It is lamentable that a majority of Filipino manpower export abroad crowd the service sector, which means roughly that most young Filipinos go abroad and work as housemaids and baby-sitters. Nevermind if the hardworking image of Filipino nannies is immortalised in films like "Mammoth", but the truth is that, we can do better with Filipino competence in other fields.

Looking at how China and the Chinese are crowding universities and colleges in Europe and the North America for advanced knowledge in edge-cutting technology fields, why are we settling for low-status work and sinking the general image of the country to that of exporter of cheap labour?

The Philipppine Education Society, PES, is just getting started and refining the procedures and strategies for achieving its goal will take more than a half-hearted voluntarism. It requires an engagement that comes from love, the love of one's birth country. Because even if we overseas Filipinos have long ago cut our placental ties with the Motherland, there is no way we are getting anywhere without looking back at our roots and our identity.