Vol. 8, No. 3, May 10, 2004

The Philippine National Railways turned over to Mindanao leaders the P55 million feasibility study to complete the final phase of preparations for the Cagayan de Oro-Iligan City railway, the first rail project in Mindanao in over a hundred years.

Construction on the first of four planned new rail lines that will crisscross Mindanao is scheduled to start in the next four months by a consortium backed by the Thai and German governments.  President Gloria Arroyo gave the go-signal in mid-2003 to build the long-awaited Cagayan de Oro-Iligan City rail line, which will extend to the Misamis Oriental Export Processing Zone, Phividec.

The feasibility study, which cost P55 million ($1 million), is a gift of Thailand's Thaipicon, a major rail developer in Thailand, and its Mindanao rail project will be financed by the Thai Export-Import Bank, owned by the Thai government.  The project is also being backed by the Siemens Group, and the German government's KFV soft-loan financial institution.  CdO Mayor Vicente Emano and Iligan Mayor Franklin Quijano received the P55 million feasibility study from the Philippine National Railways.

Also being completed are the feasibility studies for the Iligan-Zamboanga Line, the Cagayan de Oro-Agusan-Surigao Line and the extension to Davao City and General Santos City also being funded by the Thai, German, Austrian, French and India Consortia.

Nat'l Steel rehab on schedule

The two-phased rehabilitation program of the National Steel Corp. plant is on schedule and is expected to be completed in June.  The bit of good news came amid growing impatience among local residents on the steel plant's condition, noting the impact of its reopening is yet to be felt at the local level.  The rehabilitation process started last Jan. 22.   The six-month rehabilitation process is divided into two three-month phases to make sure production equipment and machines are in tip-top shape when the plant's operation goes full blast.  The company is now awaiting orders from foreign buyers.

ON THE OTHER HAND
SEC asked to defer sale of NSC

A landowner claiming ownership of a parcel of land where the facilities of National Steel Corp. stand is asking the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) to hold the approval of the steel company's asset sale.  In a manifestation addressed to SEC, lawyers of Teofilo Cacho asked the SEC to "hold in abeyance" the approval of NSC's liquidation plan until such time that the Quezon City Regional Trial Court rules on Cacho's complaint.

Cacho filed a case asking the trial court to issue a temporary restraining order on the sale of NSC's assets to India's Global Infrastructure Holdings Ltd.  A hearing is set for May 18.  Cacho claims to be the son and sole heir of the late Demetria Cacho in whose name the Supreme Court awarded two parcels of land in Iligan City where NSC's billet plant is located.  Cacho had asked the Quezon City Regional Trial Court to stop NSC from including his property from the sale. In February 2002, Cacho's lawyers wrote NSC that he should be paid P220.83 million for the use of the property by NSC.

Charles O. Sy, Batch '67

Come Gil or High Water

Come May 10, the Filipino people will troop to the polls to cast their votes.  Many others will likewise go there to cash their votes.

- ooo - I used to enjoy political jokes ... until they get elected. - ooo - The advantage of being a politician is that he does not have to fool the people all the time. Only the majority. - ooo - If the antonym of "pro" is "con," is the opposite of progress Congress? - ooo - Politics is just like religion. Except in politics, it's your opponent who confesses your sins. - ooo - Fernando Poe Jr. agreed to meet with Ping Lacson for talks to forge an alliance even if he has no intention of backing out of the presidential race.  Maybe FPJ was just being Poe-lite. - ooo - Vice presidential candidate Loren Legarda had to take a break from her campaign after suffering a sore throat.  Her doctor said it was a simple case of Lorengitis. - ooo - Raul Roco insists on continuing his campaign for president despite his prostrate ailment.  He said he doesn't want to leave his supporters in prostration. - ooo - Despite his disqualification by the Comelec, Eddie Gil says he will continue to seek the presidency come Gil or high water. - ooo - National Artist Nick Joaquin died at the age of 86 last April 28.  He was one of the finest Filipino writers of all time.  I remember meeting him when he spoke at the launching of his book "A Question of Heroes" at the University of San Carlos in 1978.   While delivering his speech, a student placed a glass of water for him on the podium.  To which Nick Joaquin, noted for his insatiable appetite for beer, growled, "Mama mia! What izz thiz?  That's not what I want, baby!"   And the audience burst into laughter.  Shortly after his talk, I approached him with my copy of his new book which he politely signed:  To Charles Sy, Viva Filipinas!  His death last April 28 marks the passing of a golden era in Philippine literature. - ooo - ALUMNI NOTES:   Several alumni are on a traveling spree this summer.  We heard that Cristina "Sio Hua" Vy-Tan (Batch '70) is currently in Taiwan where she is attending a seminar, courtesy of the Tzu Chi Foundation, Cebu chapter.  She is a member of faculty of the Cebu Eastern College and the Bethany Christian School.  And on May 20, Remedios Tan-Wee (Batch '64) will be heading off anew to the U.S.A. with friends and relatives.  Their trip includes places like Vancouver, Alaska, New York, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Boston, Atlantic City, Chicago, and Nashville.   Getting set for a summer holiday in China this week are Dy Tiao Un (Batch '40) and his wife Lourdes.  They are joining a tour group on a three-week swing starting on May 12 across Beijing, Shanghai, Xiamen, Nanjing, among other cities in China.  Also heading for China on May 10 for a week-long respite from the ongoing political circus in the Philippines are Roderick Ngo (Batch '70) along with his wife Marivic and kids.   They will be touring Beijing, Xiamen and Shanghai. And arriving home just last week from a three-week vacation in Australia were Helton Sy Sua (Batch '74) and his family.  Their tour brought them to the many major landmarks of Sydney, Melbourne, and other key cities down under.  Also recently Alfred “Al-Al” Lai II (Batch '89) flew over to London for a holiday from his work in Chicago where he is now based.  Meanwhile, looking after Al-Al’s condominium unit in Chicago is his cousin Diana Grace Sy (Batch '99), youngest daughter of Aurora Ong-Sy (Batch '66).

It’s election day, may we all go out and vote. May our votes make a difference. May those ballot boxes reach the right hands. May the right and deserving person wins.

Our country needs somebody with tenacity when it comes to principles, who doesn’t have the tendency to be swayed by self-serving advisers, who has the capacity and ability to tender the services that the country needs.

Long before this May election, I’ve already made up my mind as to who to vote.  How I reached my choice is not something I’m proud of.  But I believe that I’ve chosen somebody worthy to run a country such as ours.

If we take a good look at each candidate’s track record and match it with the rumors (true or false), and match it again with our list of the “ideal” qualities that a leader should possess to help us decide who is good enough to be the next president and vice president, I’m sure we’d all come out empty-handed.  It seems that there’s no one with a really spotless record worthy to handle the top-most position of the land.

Somebody once taught me in high school that when given a multiple choice exam and you don’t know the right answer, do the process of elimination.  That’s how I came up with my choice for president.  Sort of choosing the lesser evil among the lot.  In an ideal world we should have been choosing among the best, but given the choices that we have, it’s like making do with what is offered or “who” for this matter.

Given the kind of person that I am, who always want to look at the positive side of things, I want to believe that our votes would matter.  Even if the buzz around town is getting louder that some sectors will do whatever it takes to gain the top most position.  I’d still want to believe that if each one of us who is using our right minds would go out and cast a vote, then I still believe that somehow we could make a difference.

It’s May 10, it’s election day.  May this election be peaceful not full of tension and may the outcome be credible and not tenon-to.

Leonardo Tan, Batch '66

Today, May 10, marks one of the most important days for the Filipinos.  For almost the entire officialdom will be renewing their mandate with the sovereign will of 43 million voters of the country -- from the pinnacle position of the president of the Republic to the last councilor of the remotest town.  After a few months of hectic and heated election campaign, the time has come for the great decision.  The merry grand circus is over and the Filipino people are today summoned to the polling places to cast their votes.

If I were a voter today, what would be foremost in my mind? For sure I would be asking myself so many questions.

Will I give it a very serious thought about what this election will bring to me personally?  Or for the good of my entire community and the country as a whole?  Is there any choice?  Will my vote make any difference? Will I sacrifice any personal gain and make this election as a turning point in redeeming my country?  Whom shall I vote for?  A friend or a platform of government?  A celebrity or the track record?  Why limit our choice between the lesser evil than who is best for the country?  Why are there only personalities without any platform of government?  Why are there so many confusing political groupings?  What happened to the 2-party system?  Will my vote be counted accurately by the COMELEC?  Why has COMELEC lost so much credibility?

How much is being spent in the entire election campaign?  Is it true that it is going to be in the tens of billion of pesos?  What will the value of the peso be after the election?  Will the majority of the people become better off or worse?  How many have lost their lives in the course of this election campaign?  How many more will die today in the exercise of the very basic democratic rights?  What will this election achieve?

Will graft and corruption be minimized with the new administration?  Will the dispensation of justice be more equitable? Will the tax collection be more evenly and fair?  Will the men and women in uniform gain back my trust?  Will people in public service truly serve the public and change their arrogant attitude as the masters instead?  Will government red tapes somehow evaporate and so with ridiculous requirements?

Will this election prove to be a good thing for the Philippines?  Will the newly elected officials introduce policies that will attract foreign investors and capitals?  Will they create more jobs for the jobless?  Will National Steel finally re-ignite and revive Iligan’s economy again?  Are we in a crossroads between good and evil?  Or are we travelling in a freewheeling mode towards a one-way down sloping street of economic quagmire of hopelessness?

Will there be peace after the election?  Will the losers readily concede their defeat?  Will the winners be magnanimous in victory and do remember what they promised?  Will there be another EDSA kind of upheaval?  How serious are the talks about a military junta?  Will there be a bloody revolution as some columnists dared predict?

Is democracy really good for the country?  Has the presidential form of government failed us all?  Should we be flirting with other forms of government, like parliamentary system?  How could I help in eliminating political dynasties?  Are we that desperate that we are even hearing serious proposal of a dictatorial regime instead?  Is there such a thing as a benign dictator?  And who shall that dictator be?  Is there anybody there today whom we could honestly consider a true leader of the Filipino people?

So many questions but not one easy answer.

And that is very sad for a country that was the envy of the Asian region barely two generations ago.  Our economy was only next to Japan when the rest of the region was still languishing from the effect of World War II.  We prided in our democratic way of life when every other country has fallen into the communist trap.  We were closely behind the US in their lofty ideals of freedom and liberty when half of the known world was under the iron and bamboo curtains.  Our peso was a mighty one and worth half US dollar or “one is to two” which is just inconceivable today at one is to 56!  Our universities were enrolling so many foreign students in all courses and now many of our teachers are exported back to them as domestic helpers.  We claimed without any doubt then to be the third largest English speaking nation on earth which is now questionable with our standard command of the so-called international language deteriorating.  We were then complaining of brain drain as our medical doctors were seeking greener pastures though in trickle but this time as if a mass exodus in alarming proportions just to be as mere nurses and it seems no longer newsworthy.  We were happy then to be referred to that as the only Christian country in Asia but now the same reference could be a sort of embarrassment for our moral decline.  The word “kleptocracy” was then unheard of but we seem to have invented it now.

And so today, May 10, 2004, after this litany of woes, I would be wondering why am I still casting my vote?

But I am not a voter today. I am free from that very difficult task.  I won’t make any difference anyway.  But I do really care for my native land.  It seems so hopeless.  But I hope I am just wrong.  I hope this day will awaken the Filipino people and a brighter new day will come at last if the majority of them make the right choice or decision!

The Gift
Forwarded by Alex Rodriguez (Batch ’65)
Miramar, Florida, U.S.A.

A young man was getting ready to graduate from college.  For many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer's showroom, and knowing his father could well afford it, he told him that was all he wanted.

As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited signs that his father had purchased the car.  Finally, on the morning of his graduation, his father called him into his private study.

His father told him how proud he was to have such a fine son and told him how much he loved him.  He handed his son a beautifully wrapped gift box.

Curious and somewhat disappointed, the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible, with his name embossed in gold.   Angry, he raised his voice at his father and said, "With all your money, all you give me is a Bible?"  With that he stormed out of the house.

Many years passed.

The young man was very successful in business.  He had a beautiful home and wonderful family.  He realized that his father was already very old and thought perhaps he should patch things up with him.  He had not seen him since that graduation day.

Before he could make arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had passed away and willed all of his possessions to his son.  He needed to come home immediately and take charge.

When he arrived, a wave of sadness and regret enveloped his heart.  He began to search through his father's important papers and saw the still gift-wrapped Bible, just as he had left it years ago.

With tears, he opened the Bible and began to leaf through the pages.  His father had carefully underlined a verse, Matt.7:11:  "If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"

As he read those words, a car key dropped from the back of the Bible.  It had a tag with the dealer's name, the same dealer who had the sports car he had desired.  On the tag was the date of his graduation and the words “PAID IN FULL.”

Sometimes we underestimate our heavenly father's plan and power and we do things on our own will.  But our God knows what to give and when to give.

Success
Forwarded by Joe Macmang
Los Angeles, CA, U.S.A.

Four friends reunited at a party after 30 years.  After a few laughs and drinks, one of them had to go to the rest room. The ones who stayed behind began to talk about their kids and their successes.

The first guy says, "I am very proud of my son, he is my pride and joy. He started working at a very successful company at the bottom of the barrel.  He studied Economics and Business Administration.  Soon he was promoted and began to climb the corporate ladder becoming the General Manager, and now he is the president of the company. He became so rich that he gave his best friend a top of the line Mercedes Benz for his birthday."

The second guy says, "Damn, that's terrific!  My son is also my pride and joy, and I am very proud of him.  He started working at a traveling agency for a very big airline.  He went to flight school to become a pilot and also managed to become a partner in the company where he now owns the majority of the assets.  He became so rich that he gave his best friend a brand new jet for his birthday."

The third guy says, "Well, congratulations!  My son is also my pride and joy, and he is also very rich.  He studied in the best universities and became an Engineer.  He started his own construction company and became very successful and a multimillionaire.  He also gave away something very nice and expensive to his best friend for his birthday.  He built a 30,000 sq. ft. mansion specially for his friend."

The three friends congratulated each other for the successes of their sons. The fourth friend who earlier had gone to the restroom returned and asked, "What's going on?  What are all the congratulations for?"

One of the three said, "We were talking about the pride we feel for the successes of our sons." And then he asked, "What about your son?"

The forth man replied, "My son is gay and he makes a living dancing as a stripper at a nightclub."

The three friends said, "What a shame that must be, that is horrible, what a disappointment you must feel."

The forth man replied, "No, I am not ashamed.  Not at all.  He is my son, and I love him just as well.  He is my pride and joy.  And he is very lucky too.  Did you know that his birthday just passed and the other day he received a beautiful 30,000 sq. ft. mansion, a brand new jet, and a top of the line Mercedes Benz from his three boyfriends?"

Perhaps it was because we were just fresh from high school and had come from a small campus that when we stepped into the larger portals of a university we couldn't help but gape in boyish amazement and almost drip with sensuous drivel at the sight of hundreds of beautiful girls that poured into the campus then.

Among them was this girl who struck us as unusual.  Hers was a typical Filipino beauty, with a sun-bronzed complexion, and a perfectly shaped body that swayed with luscious sensuality as she pranced around the campus to the delightful stares of the hot blooded male populace.

The mini skirt was the craze then and being the modern girl that she was, mini skirt it was that she wore day in and day out.  It was not the ordinary kind of mini skirt that floated just an inch above the knee (in those days one inch above the knee was old fashioned).  But it was the kind that was three or four inches above!  Which placed the hemline just a few centimeters below the point of extreme interest. Needless to say, her thigh was long enough to show that much legs above the knee without ending up showing the navel.

Just like a hundred other beautiful girls in those days, she was not really the type of girl we thought we'd like to bring home to our Grandma. But we must admit we always got cross-eyed every time she carved her presence into our consciousness in her mini skirt.  If a survey had been conducted about the most desirable girls existing in the campus at that time, we were sure she would have placed high in that list.  Indeed she looked very attractive and -- oh, well, to use a sexist metaphor -- very desirable.  Like perhaps, a green mango.

Despite our desire to meet and get to know her better, we never got beyond the "Hi, hello" stage.  We had always been the shy type -- especially before those pretty lasses who didn't care for people like us with scrawny bodies who nothing to their names except perhaps a picayune talent for writing.  Those girls had their eyes and mind only for those jocks in their gleaming wheels (a jeep was good enough, Volkswagen was okay na, Mustang was oh-la-la), because being seen in those machines had a touch of glamour that raised their spirits way above the level of their social stratum.  Besides, very often we found that many of the beautiful girls we knew were like the moon.  Beautiful from afar but a vast sea of craters and nothingness up close.

In any case, we didn't really care so much if Green Mango didn't give us a second look.  There was a host of other girls who caught our cerebral fancy.  These girls talked of matters of consequence, spoke better English, and were more emotionally deep.  They were not stunners -- not the face that could win a Mutya ng CCebu contest -- but were presentable enough.  To use our contemporary lingo then, they were "colonable" or someone we could bring to Colon St. without a trace of embarrassment.

Thanks to those girls, and of course, the guys who comprised our close circle of friends, we had the opportunity to explore various existential questions that normally beset people our age then. Nothing earthshaking really.  Just questions about life and death and the purpose of our existence, about dreams and realities, about caring and sharing, and about passion and compassion.

Since we had just gone through the First Quarter Storm of the seventies, we also talked about ideologies.  But our language was down-to-earth, stripped of the bombastic and cut-and-dried jargon one often heard in rallies and demonstrations.  While other talked about comprador capitalism and feudalism, we asked why people were exploited and what could be done to help them.

Typically, nothing much came out of those soirees.  We didn't solve any global problem and we usually went home with the same load of fears and insecurities.  Still, we always felt better and lighthearted and breathed more easily after each session.  We always realized that we did not have a monopoly of the world's fears and insecurities.  Others had their own -- and they had more reasons to be so.

Anyway, as fate would have it, we survived college and went on to work for several banks and financing companies.  One time, we worked in Manila.  Sometimes, we could spend our melancholic Saturday afternoons after our Executive Committee meetings in one of those shopping malls.  That's where we were that particular Saturday afternoon -- bumming around Greenbelt Square in Makati, trying to decide whether to watch a movie, browse in the bookstore, or have a good massage.  Before we could make up our mind, who did we bump into?  Green Mango!

She was with a guy.  She still remembered us though and was nice enough to stop and chat awhile.  We had enough time to exchange pleasantries and telephone numbers.

Well, nothing cropped up immediately after that because we somehow forgot about her and her telephone number.  Then one time, several years later, we saw her phone number again and finding nothing better to do, gave her a call.  She sounded excited about our call and we finally agreed to have dinner.

There and then our thoughts raced back to our college days, centering on Green Mango.  Her mini skirts.  Her well-sculptured body.  Her sun-bronzed complexion.  How we'd always wanted to get to know her better (date her, you might as well say).  And how, now finally after almost twenty years, we were about to do so.  We planned carefully how we'd spend the night -- dinner, then on to some music lounge and a nightcap.

To make a short story shorter, the day came for our dinner date.

We were jolted back into reality.  Green Mango's well-sculptured body had shrunk, ravaged by childbirth and several bouts of crash dieting and slimming exercises.  To mini skirt was gone, but from what we could see we could discern that her legs had shrunk as much as her body and lacked the glow that trapped men's stares almost twenty years before.  Her face had grown some wrinkles which she tried with futile efforts to cover with cosmetics.  Her complexion was no longer sun-bronzed but was plainly dark and coarse. She smoked a lot and her voice was deep and almost had an unpleasant tone.

She talked about her past, about her love life which gave her a love child, and about life in general.  She sounded bitter about her one great love and the recriminations that marked the end of their relationship.  As she talked, her eyes flitted, as if her mind was trying to escape from a haunting memory.

It was almost nine o'clock when we finished dinner.  Just right for some music and she was just raring to go.

We called for the chit and debated within our mind where to take her next.  She was still eagerly anticipating our next stop when we settled inside the car.

Finally, as we started the car we asked her where she lived -- and took her home, limply telling her we had to wake up early the following day.

We went home afterwards and opened a bottle of cold beer.  We switched on the TV, not knowing what particular program to watch.  As the screen flickered with unintelligible scenes, we took our first gulp of the cold beer.  As the beer trickled down our throats, we felt an age-old fantasy and obsession melt into oblivion.  Slowly we drifted into sleep.  Right before we reached dreamland, we thought about the moon and beautiful women.