Better jobs in the Philippines through tourism very soon

In the 2010 Presidential elections, we can expect candidates to come up with all sorts of motherhood vision statements as well as platforms and plans.  Or put it in another way, they'll tell everybody about their general and specific election promises.  

One stupid arguement I got into was whether a motherhood vision statement was worse than a platform and plan, whether a general promise was worse than a specific promise.  I don't know if there was a debate, but both general and specific promises are worthless if they remain promises and can be seeds for uprisings of all sorts if they're broken.

However, there is one point I salvaged from the morass of almost pointless arguements and it is this, specific promises can be accounted for and general promises are most likely fulfilled by tricking it out with all sorts of semantics.

I think what is really worth discussing is not whether a motherhood vision statement is better or worse than a platform and a plan, but how to figure out which candidate can be believed.

Obama mouthed motherhood vision statements, one was "Hope" (not his brand of cigarettes) and "Change" (not barya or a bunch of coins).  But he also spoke about a lot of specific directions that his administration, if voted into office, would take like cutting the outsourcing of jobs in the US, coming up with a bail out plan for the US financial system, getting the US out of Iraq, and others.

Most Presidential candidates in the Philippines will most likely have general and specific promises on what they will do.  I will make a prediction about what those general and specific promises will be like.  They will center around claims of having solutions to the perennial problems of the Philippines.  They will center around so-called gut issues or issues that have to do with the provision of basic necessities.  Why?  Because these are the concerns of more than 80 percent of the voters in the Philippines because most of them are poor or think of themselves as poor.

These problems or issues are:

1. Poverty and the problems arising from poverty.

2. Education.

3. Unemployment and increasing under employment.

4. Agriculture or the country's capacity to produce its own food at an affordable cost.

5. Crime.

In addition to these problems and issues are higher level issues, if you can call it that:

1. Climate change.  Which is the spiffier term for enviromental preservation or conservation.

2. Corruption.

3. Disaster prevention and mitigation.  This is now being connected to climate change.

4. Charter change and other modes of political reform.

5. Population control or population management.  Can you tell the difference?

I don't know how many will vote for a Presidential candidate on the sole basis of better crafted general or specific promises.  

Ideally, if this were true, I'd probably hear our neighborhood's designated street sweeper (and he doesn't have a blog but drinks Bilog -- slang for gin) tell me that he is rooting for a candidate because of his or her stand on a move to legislate a minimum wage increase.  This would be a big step for somebody who just asks everybody for money whether he sweeps their street or not.  He'll probably vote for anyone who buys him his next drink, that is, if he is actually a registered voter and wakes up on election day to cast his vote.

Besides, it ain't a competition on who can come up with the best thesis for solving everything that ails the Philippines.  Not that it shouldn't be.

I still think that Filipinos choose who they will vote for as President based on likeability.

If the 'Hello Garci' tapes didn't surface, perhaps we would have reason to say that this isn't true.  Because then, there would be no doubt that more people voted for someone they didn't like as a person and less people voted for a beloved action star whom everybody in the Philippines grew up watching in movies.

And this is the problem that Mar Roxas, Manuel Villar, Loren Legarda and yes, Dick Gordon will all have to overcome.  Ordinary people wouldn't find them as likeable as, say, Piolo Pascual, Manny Pacquiao, or my favorite actor, Tom Hanks.

If you had been listening to Mar Roxas in the Senate's hearing on the Legacy financial scam, you would have probably heard him say, "Tignan niyo ang mga mukhang ito, ang mga mukhang inargabiyado ninyo.  Kaya, ito ang sasabihin ko sa inyo, hindi ko kayo titigilan."  All words delivered to the effect that he was championing the cause of people who had been taken advantage of.

Who wouldn't like a guy like that?  Besides, even when I was still working FOR him, I really found him to be very likeable.  He's a great guy, really goes out of his way to see how you're doing and will even swap jokes with you.

The whole hearing seemed to be climaxing to the designed effect of showing Mar as a champion of the poor.  That was, after of course, one of the people he had hauled into the hearing missed her line and instead of saying that she had made claims to the Securities and Exchange Commission, had blurted out that she filed claims with the Comelec.  Was it all scripted or what?  That really ruined the whole thing for me.

It was a good thing Mar didn't say, "Putang Ina ka Celso!"  as he did when he said "Putangina! Ano ba naman ito!?" at a rally against charter change in the Makati Business District. 

Manny Villar has a similar gimmick and it is most often seen in the TV commercial of him holding a duck.  Loren Legarda recently had a commercial pitching for 'Pagbabago' and for a few seconds, I thought it was another pitch for Lucida.

Dick Gordon, however, is pursuing likeability too but his approach is kind of traditional in a sense.  He kinda thinks that if he does his job well and does something that will do people good, people will like him.  He also kinda thinks that fulfilling promises and doing what you say is a likeable trait.

When he ran for the Senate in 2004, he promised to improve the country's tourism industry and just recently, the Senate and the House of Representatives approved the final version of the Tourism Act of 2008 -- a law which he authored. 

Here's an article in Manila Times which explains some of the aspects of the Tourism Act.

Monday, March 09, 2009

Govt, private sector, Senate boost tourism 

By Francis Earl A. Cueto, Correspondent 

WITH tourism taking center stage in the Arroyo Administration, Sen. Richard Gordon said he expects the government to use this untapped sector to prop up Philippine economy amid the global financial crisis.

Gordon said tourism as the biggest industry in the world could be the principal growth engine to pull up the country’s economy.

Gordon said such is now possible with the expected signing of the Tourism Act next week, which he sponsored in the Senate.

He said: “This measure will definitely boost domestic tourism as it will provide the necessary infrastructures to invigorate local productivity. An increased productivity means more jobs for the people and more revenues for the government.”

Gordon said the Tourism Act would provide changes for putting in place the necessary regulations and infrastructure, which will make tourism more competitive in the international market.

As it happened, the World Economic Forum has downgraded the Philippines’ global ranking on competitiveness in travel and tourism to 86th in 2008 from 81st in the previous year. In its Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2008, World Economic Forum reported that the country scored 3.73 points among 133 countries in the world.

But Robert Lim Joseph, chairman emeritus of National Association of Independent Travel Agencies (Naitas), said the country could bounce back, adding that the global economic crunch has opened an opportunity to boost domestic tourism. He cited the price war for the lowest fare among local air carriers and the discounts offered by hotels that make travel very affordable to ordinary Filipinos.

Moreover, Mrs. Arroyo in Boracay recently stated that the Philippine tourism industry would withstand the global economic crisis as evidenced by tourist arrivals in the country’s key destinations in the first month of 2009.

At a tour of Shangri-La’s Boracay Resort & Spa before a Cabinet meeting on tourism development in the region, the President said the government would continue to spend more on tourism improvement.

Gordon, on the other hand, said the Tourism Act, once signed, provides for the creation of the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority and Tourism Economic Zones. It grants investor’s perks such as a six-year tax holiday, extendable as needed, and a 5-percent tax on gross income.

However, he said the new law would promote community tourism in lieu of domestic tourism, where residents preserve, protect and promote tourism spots in their localities and are friendly and helpful to tourists and travelers.

Echoing the ideas of Naitas such as the multi-school gathering of tourism students in Letran, Gordon said now is the time to develop the culture of tourism.

He said it did not have to be costly and grand as it involves keeping the streets safe and clean for all, not just tourists. An example, he said, would be picking up litters in the streets.

As the Tourism Act aims to generate ideas from the bottom to the national level, the senator said it would empower local communities to participate in a tourism master plan.

On the private sector side, Joseph said the government could give tax rebates to citizens who patronize local tourism and to tour and travel establishment that cooperate with the government in this program.

At the same time, the government can help by building new and improving old roads and bridges in various localities.

Joseph said local tourism at the village level would create jobs and mitigate the massive unemployment that is expected to result from the economic crisis.

He said this way, Philippine tourism and travel sectors will not only survive but will be in stronger position to exploit the rebound in global travel once the recession is over.

Bambee Dela Paz: Justice or Bust.

Apparently and for now, it seems bust.

The last bit of news I found on Google was a news report on the ABS-CBN news website saying that the NBI had concluded their probe sans any recommendation as to what action should be taken.

Here's an excerpt of that report posted on abs-cbnnews.com on 01/16/2009:

the report on the incident did not contain any recommendation from the NBI-National Capital Region (NCR) since the two parties have already filed cases against each other in the courts. The decision not to include any recommendation, the NBI said, was to avoid influencing the court's decision on the cases.

NBI-NCR chief Atty. Edward Villarta, in a phone interview with ABS-CBN News, said the report included a chronology of events in the brawl, which occurred at the Valley Golf and Country Club in Antipolo City last December 26,

All people involved in the incident, including witnesses, also submitted affidavits.

Villarta said they hope their report would help the DOJ find out what actually happened in the brawl.

Sylvia L. Mayuga who writes "For Better or Worse" in INQUIRER.net posted her own observations on 01/18/2009

The chink in Bambee Dela Paz’s blog account of the incident has been revealed to the indignant audience. Her dad lost his temper first, poking Nasser Pangandaman, Jr. with a golf umbrella on his tummy or his bottom, depending on which caddy you talk to. Here’s a roundup of the story thus far. Note how Mrs. Dela Paz carried a knife and her son carried a baseball bat.

I mention this as another evaporating tempest in a teapot to make a point – it pays to verify before getting emotions all riled up in crusade, a power media wields regularly but not always wisely. In his column, old hand Mon Tulfo, macho police reporter-turned-opinion- columnist, has been man enough to acknowledge jumping to conclusions. Here’s hoping more of us, media and otherwise, remember the present blush of embarrassment and the lesson that came with it.

Other mentions in Philippine online newspaper websites include:

Gloria, Mike can learn from Obama inaugural
Philippine Star, Philippines - Jan 21, 2009
I refer to the media madness that followed the blog-posting by golfer Bambee dela Paz of her account of the December 26 brawl at Valley Golf involving her ...

The darker side of media
Manila Times, Philippines - Jan 19, 2009
Of course, the slant was that the teen-age children of Mr. de la Paz—Bino and Bambee—were at the receiving end of the punches from the mayor-son of ...

Manila Times columnist Alito Malinao writes:

After investigating the incident and based on the testimonies of eyewitnesses, the Valley Golf and Country Club finally came up with its findings that showed it was the de la Paz family that started the scuffle and the Pangandamans only acted in self-defense.

As a result, de la Paz was expelled from the club but Pangandaman was only given a slap on the wrist by suspending him for two years.

Are the self-righteous columnists and commentators now going to admit that they were unfair to Pangandaman? I don’t think so.

Comments in Bambee's blog seems to have topped out at around 2,000.

The "Updates and Thank you" post has become the host of a troll fiesta of sorts with commenters arguing over the point of whether Bambee's camp was completely innocent or not.

I was of the opinion that while Bambee's family seemed to have been on the losing end of the brawl, it was clear in all accounts of the Valley Golf Brawl that her father had started the fight and at least in one account, said that Bambee participated in the fisticuff by attempting to gouge out the eyes of one of the Pangandamans.

I shudda known better because for my efforts to inject intelligent debate in a sty of self confessed sodomites and quack doctors, I've earned the ire of a blogger who is now impersonating my Blogger profile. Quite funny to those who know me personally but really quite damaging if it gets used to do something illegal -- in addition to Identify Theft I've already notified Blogger several times about it but it seems they are taking their time to notify me about what action they are taking.

Yugatech's review of Blogger had already warned others of its flaws -- one of them being that it is commonly used by spammers and unscrupulous people. Blogger moves quite slowly on complaints, particularly with regard to IDENTITY THEFT and there are no visible safeguards against it.

Other bloggers have put up blogs supposedly to keep the Dela Paz' quest for justice alive, but so far, the posts are stale with nothing new about them.

News about the court cases the Dela Pazes and Pangandamans against one another are hard to come by.

The last bit of information I got directly from one of the parties involved was that settlement was being pursued. The way the Dela Pazes are pursuing the settlement, as one described it, was similar to someone running in front of a Mercedes Benz in order to get hit and later demand exhorbitant reparations from the driver of the vehicle.

President Gloria and Senator can have the Obama photo op, but Senator Gordon will hopefully score one for Filipino WWII Veterans

There is much ado about Senator Francis Escudero and President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo wanting to have a photo op with recently inaugurated US President Barack Obama.

Well and good, for what ever it is worth. I wish them happiness in this endeavor.

But here's something to think about and it didn't land BIGTIME in the news.

Senator Richard Gordon authored and passed a bill allowing Filipino World War II Veterans to receive pension from the United States Government. This paved the way for legislation in the United States that would grant Filipino WW II vets not only pensions but recognition for their heroism and valor.

Barack Obama, then Senator, was among those who supported the US legislation -- which would not have been possible with Gordon's counterpart legislation in the Philippines.

The passage of the law was stalled until recently, news from the Los Angeles Times says that part of the $800 Billion Stimulus Package Law will include pensions for Filipino World War II Veterans.

Gordon went to the US several times in 2007 and 2008 to talk with US congressmen sponsoring the US bill last year and right now, there is a chance that the US bill giving veterans due recognition and pensions will finally push through.

Okay lang na walang photo-op with Obama, basta matulungan lang ang mga tumatanda nating mga WW II veterans na ilang panahon na lang ay baka pumanaw na rin. At least in their waning years, kinilala rin ang KABAYANIHAN nila.

My Uncle was a USAFFE and he already thanked Senator Gordon for helping with the passage of the US Veterans Law.

Here is the article from Los Angeles times:

Stimulus bill may include benefits for Filipino veterans.

The Senate's proposed version of the economic legislation includes one-time payments for World War II veterans from the Philippines, $15,000 for U.S. citizens and $9,000 for noncitizens.

By Richard Simon
Los Angeles Times
February 4, 2009

Reporting from Washington — After a decades-long struggle, Filipino veterans of World War II finally may be granted U.S. military benefits thanks to, of all things, the economic stimulus legislation.

A $198-million provision of the proposed Senate stimulus bill would authorize one-time payments of $15,000 to Filipino veterans who are U.S. citizens -- many of whom live in California -- and $9,000 for noncitizens, including those in the Philippines.

The provision is a small part of the overall $885-billion bill, but it has drawn criticism. North Carolina Sen. Richard M. Burr, top Republican on the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, "finds it difficult to see how spending money in the Philippines will help stimulate the American economy," a spokesman said.

The veterans, many of whom are in their 80s and 90s, have fought hard for the benefits: In 1997 in Los Angeles' MacArthur Park -- named after Gen. Douglas MacArthur -- a group of protesters chained themselves to a statue of their former commander.

"We think this [stimulus bill] is the best chance for us to get this benefit approved," said Franco Arcebal of Los Angeles, a vice president of the American Coalition for Filipino Veterans. "We're only about 15,000 left now. I'm 85, one of the youngest."

The payments were added to the legislation by Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii), chairman of the appropriations committee and one of three remaining World War II veterans in the Senate.

"It's a matter of honor and the good name of the United States," Inouye said outside the Senate chamber Tuesday. He noted that in 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt promised the benefits, but Congress reneged on the pledge in 1946.

As for whether the veterans' payments belonged in the stimulus package, Inouye said, "I'm looking for any vehicle that will carry this forward."

Congress last year approved appropriation of the Filipino veterans' benefits, but authorization is needed before the money can be paid.

There is no provision for the veterans in the House bill. If the item survives in the Senate, it will be the subject of negotiations to reconcile differences in the two chambers' bills.

The veterans' measure is among a spate of bills aimed at rewarding the sacrifices of World War II veterans -- who are dying at a rate of about 850 a day -- and healing wounds lingering from the war era.

Other bills include the Belated Thank You to the Merchant Mariners of World War II Act to provide payments to members of the merchant marine, sponsored by Rep. Bob Filner (D-Chula Vista), and a measure sponsored by Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles) to create a commission to investigate the government's actions in the World War II internment and deportation of Latin Americans of Japanese descent.

Among the critics of including benefits for the Filipino veterans in the stimulus package is Rep. Steve Buyer of Indiana, the top Republican on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee.

"I do not question the valor and courage of the Philippine army, which fought alongside U.S. forces to defeat Japan in World War II, and I am not opposed to discussing ways to compensate these veterans. However, to do so and say it under the guise of stimulating the American economy is a complete falsehood and is the lowest form of partisan politics."

Arcebal called the payments a "small token to recognize our service."

Even if the benefits do not make it into the stimulus bill, this could be the year that the veterans achieve victory.

Several of their longtime champions are now in key positions in Congress: Filner and Sen. Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii) chair the House and Senate veterans affairs committees, respectively, in addition to Inouye chairing the appropriations committee.

And President Obama, during the presidential campaign, expressed support for granting benefits to the Filipino veterans.

"If the Senate decides that this isn't the appropriate time or place, we're optimistic that we'll find the right vehicle in the future," said Rep. Michael M. Honda (D-San Jose), chairman of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus.

Copyright 2009 Los Angeles Times

Filipinos celebrate Obama-mania with food

Once you go black, you never go back and Filipinos everywhere may as well celebrate Obama-mania with a festival of food.

For starters, my kababayans may serve up century eggs and jelly fish salad for starters. Or, if you want to go a bit high class, perhaps you can serve up some caviar.

The main fare can consist of Adobong Pusit, Dinuguan, Bistek, Fish Tausi, and Silkie Chicken Soup with a healthy serving of heirloom rice. Perhaps you can have this with a side of talong salad.


For dessert, you can probably have a choice of hot chocolate or kapeng barak-o with ube pie.

Barack's Cellphone

It's called the Sectera Edge.

I spotted this post on Yugatech and I am reposting it here because it is just too juicy to just point a link to it. (My apologies to Yuga.)

The insistence of US President Barack Obama to still carry a mobile phone prevailed over security concerns and he is the first United States president to ever carry one while in the oval office.

Apparently, that means he has to use a secure unit specially made for the NSA — the Sectera Edge {via}. It’s a Blackberry-like device that allows for secure and non-secure communication for making calls, SMS and emails.

There’s no way of knowing what’s inside this celly except for the price tag of $3,500. If you want one, just ring up General Dynamics (the contractor that developed the phone) and ask permission for the National Security Agency to get one.

There is reason to believe that many of our politicians who claim they are like Obama will cough up the almost P200,000 tag price and even bug a couple of people at the National Security Agency to get their hands on a Sectera Edge.

And I would bet Words for Moolah's shift keys that news of somebody here in the Philippines getting their hands on one will make it in the first gap of TV news programs and probably also land in the front page of a major daily broadsheet.

As to whether all its features will work with the cellphone systems here isn't clear. I would assume that special telecoms infrastructure may be needed to make all of its features functional, the most important one being its ability to make calls on it "secure" or untappable. Perhaps Gloria will be interested in having a couple hundred million pesos inserted in the 2009 budget so that she can have the government buy the infrastructure that will support the Sectera's security features. Hmmm...

But certainly, if you were to own one, the act of whipping on out of your pocket will elicit the usual new gadget question, "Hey! What's that?"

And you'd have to roll your eyes, then tiredly reply "It's a Sectera Edge."

And the conversation would go like:

"Ooooh! You mean it's not a Treo?"

"No, but it's exactly like the one used by President Barack Obama. Only ten were made this year and this one is the second that got off the line."

"Ooooh!"

"And now that you've seen it, I'll have to kill you. Hold still while I ram this stylus up your nose!"

Obama keeps his Blackberry or What Philippine President Gloria Arroyo can learn from Obama about transparency

It must have been a poor joke that fell flat, got stomped on and kicked around.

Philippine Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita was said to remarked that US President Barack Obama might have a thing or two to learn from President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Ermita said in an article found on gmanew.tv:

"First of all, our President is ahead of Obama and probably, I would think that if there's anything to be learned, it should be President Obama learning from President Arroyo. And wouldn't we be proud to say that the Philippines continues to be an 'island of calm' because of the present crunches?" he said, when asked by media what lesson Arroyo could learn from Obama.

He said the President could even be a model or the "proper conduct under pressure."

Arroyo had managed to quell all attempts to oust her from power – via impeachment, “people power" uprising or coup plots – despite her very poor popularity rating.

After Arroyo’s allies in the House of Representatives defeated the fourth impeachment attempt against her late last year, it became clear that Arroyo would be able to finish her term until the end of June 2010.

Ermita said Arroyo and her abilities especially in managing the economy and in insulating the Philippines from the full brunt of the economic global crisis had been recognized. And while the US maybe a big country and have the wherewithal to overcome the crisis "being a leader of a nation, President Arroyo has more experience than President Obama."

I don't want to waste my time refuting all that Ermita had said right now because this is not what the post is about.

It is about one word: Transparency.

US President Barack Obama has effectively dealt with the issue of transparency first raised as he insisted on keeping his Blackberry. The second instance that transparency was dealt with was his memorandum on the Freedom of Information Act.

All throughout her term, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has managed to escape attempts at impeachment by simply keeping quiet and blocking all access to all information that would incriminate her.

The 'Hello Garci' scandal which brought up the issue of her direct involvement in wholesale electoral fraud in the 2004 elections was effectively silenced on the grounds that the actual recording of her cellphone conversation with Comelec Official Virgilio Garciliano came from an illegal wiretap.

Then came the NBN ZTE deal which, for some reason, the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee under Senator Alan Peter Cayetano stopped investigating. So far, Cayetano has yet to produce a committee report on the investigation which would be expected to recommend the filing of charges against officials involved in the deal, including President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo used measures such as Executive Order 464 to prevent her cabinet members and other government officials from disclosing what they may know about the 'Hello Garci' scandal.

Another measure that she deployed was that of Executive Privilege which functioned as a blanket justification by cabinet officials such as former National Economic Development Authority Secretary General Romulo Neri for refusing to disclose details regarding the NBN ZTE Deal.

The 'Hello Garci' controversy, which has also been referred to Gloria Gate (an allusion to the Watergate scandal which similarly centers around tape recordings of US President Richard Nixon), should have produced legislation similar to what was done with the Presidential Records Act.

In 1978, after Watergate, the Presidential Records Act mandated that presidential records would become property of the U.S. government when the president leaves office. They would be transferred to the federal archives, then become available to the public after no more than 12 years.

This law, if I am not mistaken, basically means that all communication by the US President is recorded and makes it illegal for the US President to conceal any communication.

I think, if my understanding is right, having a law like this would have made it easier to obtain evidence against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

In a press release, Senator Ramon 'Bong' Revilla expressed assurance that he will continue to push for the passage of the Freedom of Access to Information Bill even though he is no longer the chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Information and Mass Media.

"Rest assured that I will exert all possible efforts in support of the Freedom of Access to Information Bill. Transparency of government records is vital in exposing scandals and criminal acts of government officials. It will greatly help to eradicate corruption," Revilla said.

He appealed to newly-installed Senate Committee on Public Information and Mass Media Chairman Allan Peter Cayetano to start the public hearings on the much-awaited Freedom of Access to Information Bill as soon as possible.

One bill filed by Senator Manuel Villar, SB 1578, basically asserts "Article II, Section 28 of the Constitution which provides: “Subject to reasonable conditions prescribed by law. The State adopts and implements a policy of full public disclosure of all its transactions involving public interest.”

Likewise, Article III, Section 7 also states: “The right of the people to information on matters of public concern shall be recognized. Access to official records, and to documents, and papers pertaining to official acts, transactions, or decisions, as well as to government research data used as basis far policy development, shall be afforded the citizen, subject to such limitations as may be provided by law.”

However, the law itself imposes a list of restrictions on to what information can or cannot be accessed in Section 4. This basically, still, just gives the President various justifications to conceal information which can be easily twisted to suit whatever purpose.

There is no mention of any requirement being imposed on the President to have all his or her communications recorded or any prohibition against not recording communications.

The Presidential Records Act of the United States, from my understanding, orders that all communications by the Office of the President be recorded and made available according to certain prescribed procedures.

In the case of the Hello Garci scandal, the illegally recorded conversations between the President and Virgilio Garcillano cannot be used as evidence. But supposing that we had a law like the Presidential Records Act and all the President's conversations were being recorded officially, then it would not be necessary to divulge the existence of the illegal wiretap and just subpoena the President's official records (of course, this assumes that other causes can be found to initiate an investigative procedure which would make the subpoena necessary).

In the case of the NBN ZTE probe, if the law filed by Senator Villar were improved to state that if evidence were found that a transaction in government were anomalous, all records of all officials pertaining to that transaction would be divulged.

In relation to this, I hope Senator Panfilo Lacson makes good with a commitment to amend the Bank Secrecy law to make the bank records of all public officials exempt from secrecy.

Does the Philippines have a leader like US President Barack Obama?

I've got two answers right now: No and maybe.

My answer is NO, because all the comparisons made between President Obama and any politician running for the Philippine Presidency is going to end up as a joke.

On one hand, I've heard enough jokes about Jojo Binay being a Philippine analogue to Obama. The idea is so revolting it's enough to make me snort squid ink and dance the Macarena in a bikini in the middle of EDSA at high noon.

On the other hand, can any of SWS Presidential Survey frontrunners lay a claim to being the bringer of hope and change? Of course they can! Silly! They can claim anything under the sun but will it do us any good to believe them?

My answer to 'Does the Philippines have a leader like Obama?' is also MAYBE, because there are still choices outside of the current crop of Presidential survey frontrunners.

I don't think money and popularity should be considered when making a choice for President. The only thing you have to think about is if the person presenting himself or herself as a Presidential candidate can do the job.

You can look at the Philippine Constitution and it lists the basic qualifications for a President. The qualifications aren't that hard to measure up to, because apparently all you have to do is to be born a Filipino and reach a certain age. This is both good and bad because it means anybody can be a President and that anybody can be an individual with exceptional qualities or it can be just the worst choice anybody can make.

In anycase, what a President actually does or what a President ought to do depends largely on the situation that the country is in.

It's not hard to figure out what kind of situation our country is in right now because we've been in the same situation for decades and most of our problems stem from this situation.

The situation is easily described with four words: The Philippines is poor.

The job, therefore, of the President (at least in my opinion) is to lead the country out of poverty.

Have any of the so-called frontrunners in Presidential surveys proven that they can lead people out of poverty?

How many people has Senator Manny Villar helped out of poverty? How about Noli De Castro? Loren? Lacson? Bayani Fernando? Mar Roxas?

Obama in the Philippines

I missed the live TV coverage of President Barack Obama's Inauguration last night.

After waiting around two hours for it (switching between CNN, Fox, and BBC), I found myself fighting vainly against what would become the irresistible pull of sleep.

I snored through the first black US President's inaugural address and now have to content myself with just reading the text of his speech.

It is a great speech and from the snippets being replayed on TV news, I can gather a sense of how truly thrilling his delivery was.

The question now on my mind is what this historic US Presidency will mean for the Philippines.

Being great at mimicking or aping whatever fad there is in the US, I am sure our own politicians will present us with their INNER OBAMA and certainly, they will find a way to make the masa lap it up or at least, make it seem that they are lapping it up.

Will the Philippine Presidential Elections in 2010 be like a talent show where the winner will be the candidate who can come up with the best imitation of Obama?

It was a joke then and still is now, but Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay referred to himself as the first Black Filipino Presidential candidate. He refered to himself as Jejoma and the joke got a few laughs before people got tired of it.

Other politicians who are eyeing the Philippine Presidency are trying to project an Obama-like image, with some blatantly claiming to represent change. From the top of my head I can cite at least Loren Legarda and her pagbabago TV Ad, Mar Roxas and his Oras na campaign (Our time has come), and perhaps even Chiz Escudero.

Survey frontrunners Vice President Noli de Castro and Senator Manny Villar haven't associated themselves or their looming candidacies with the message of change. De Castro is or was largely seen in TV ads hawking Pag-IBIG Fund (though it was unnecessary to spend tens of millions of pesos sourced from contributions of members on a tri-media campaign just to have his face all over the country). Villar crows about helping OFWs (about a few dozen out of the 8 million Filipinos that have sought employment abroad).

Bayani Fernando, the pink loving MMDA Chairman, was last seen on TV hanging on the barong sleeves of Former President Fidel Ramos. As to what this signifies is something that I have yet to decifer.

Former President Joseph Estrada is still peddling the idea of running again for the Presidency and it seems that this is gaining some traction in the surveys.

Given the way things are, I doubt if we will have a President like Obama with the way a great number of our people think about how the political game ought to be played.

Politics in the Philippines, for the most part, is not based on values or ideals but opportunism -- which some times is brazen and sometimes is well camouflaged as a sincere bid to help people out.

If there was someone among our politicians who is truly like Obama, I doubt if people will vote for him.

Filipinos in the Philippines love having it easy and having their way (even if it is the wrong way) about things. Filipinos here will vote for a politician depending on what they can get from the politician whether it's a few hundred pesos for voting for them or a job after they are elected or a fat government contract.

(More later, I have to give my kid a bath)

Obama fights to hold on to his Blackberry while Senator Gordon raves about his Nokia E90

It's just about two days before President Elect Barack Obama takes over from President George W. Bush and even in the Philippines, most of the people I know are anticipating the live coverage.

Just about everything about Obama right now draws attention, if only to provide an inkling of what kind of Presidency the United States will be having. On one hand, some reports say that Obama will be facing a 'perfect storm of crises' when he steps in as President. Then there are news items that make the President Elect a bit more endearing, such as a report that says he is fighting to keep his personal Blackberry.

Here's an excerpt from a report on the Philippine Daily Inquirer's site:

Interviewed by CNN Friday, Obama said the smartphone was among the tools that he would use to stay in touch with real Americans and avoid becoming trapped inside the presidential "bubble."

"I think we're going to be able to hang on to one of these. My working assumption, and this is not new, is that anything I write on an email could end up being on CNN," he said.

Why is this a big deal?

Perhaps not a lot of Filipinos are aware of the implications of the Watergate Scandal which caused President Nixon to resign. One of the implications or results of this controversy was that it prompted the creation of a law that requires that records be kept of every communication made by the White House -- including those of the President.

Here's another excerpt from that report:

Obama did not divulge just how he will overcome legal constraints, given the requirement of the post-Watergate Presidential Records Act of 1978 to keep a record of every White House communication.

A page from www.archives.gov describes the Watergate Presidential Records Act of 1978:

The Presidential Records Act (PRA) of 1978, 44 U.S.C. ß2201-2207, governs the official records of Presidents and Vice Presidents created or received after January 20, 1981.

The PRA changed the legal ownership of the official records of the President from private to public, and established a new statutory structure under which Presidents must manage their records.

Specifically, the Presidential Records Act:

• Defines and states public ownership of the records.Places the responsibility for the custody and management of incumbent Presidential records with the President.

• Allows the incumbent President to dispose of records that no longer have administrative, historical, informational, or evidentiary value, once he has obtained the views of the Archivist of the United States on the proposed disposal.

• Requires that the President and his staff take all practical steps to file personal records separately from Presidential records.Establishes a process for restriction and public access to these records.

• Specifically, the PRA allows for public access to Presidential records through the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) beginning five years after the end of the Administration, but allows the President to invoke as many as six specific restrictions to public access for up to twelve years.

• The PRA also establishes procedures for Congress, courts, and subsequent Administrations to obtain special access to records that remain closed to the public, following a thirty-day notice period to the former and current Presidents.

• Requires that Vice-Presidential records are to be treated in the same way as Presidential records. Amendments Executive Order 12667

Our own experience with the so-called Gloria-gate or the 'Hello Garci' controversy has not produced similar legislation or even caused Philippine media organizations to push strongly for a Freedom of Information Act.

The Hello Garci controversy stems from a taped conversation between a woman who sounded very much like President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and a man whom she referred to as Garci (gar-see) whom others said was a shorted version or nick name for Comelec official Garcillano.

The illegally taped cellphone call purportedly between the President and the Comelec Official happened at a time when the 2004 election votes across the country were being counted. One exchange in that conversation had the woman asking for assurance that she would win by a margin of 1 million votes. If it was President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, then it would have been proof -- inadmissable as it may have been -- that she had led the whole sale manipulation of votes that eventually led her to win over contender Fernando Poe Jr. by a margin of 1 million votes.

All the Filipino people can show for it is a message from President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo saying 'I AM SORRY' which sounded insincere and rehearsed. Moreover, she was not definite about what she was saying sorry for and could not therefore, make any commitment to perform amends for it. There was no contrition on her part.

After the Hello Garci controversy, the Senators who investigated it should have speedily drafted a law that would require the President (and even those in her family, including First Gentleman Mike Arroyo) to keep records of every phone conversation and all manner of communication she makes.

Perhaps, in so doing, we could have prevented another scandal -- the NBN ZTE deal. Or at least, would have evidence that would lead to the conviction of economic plunderers.

Going back to Obama's Inauguration, the masa (masses) or at least a larger number of them, will probably wonder what the big fuss is all about but certainly the crowd (politicians, their staff, and reporters) at the Philippine Senate will either be leaving early from work or staying on over to catch the live coverage on cable.

I just saw HBO Asia's ad announcing that it will be showing Obama's Inauguration at 7:30 PM on January 21. My wife and I have already marked it down on our calendars.

I don't know if my boss, Senator Richard Gordon, will be able to hold everything off to watch the tube for about an hour or more. The Senate will be in session this week, apart from that there is still more work at the Blue Ribbon Committee where he is hearing the case of the P732 Million Fertilizer Fund Scam and then there is the case of the 3 abducted workers of the International Committee of the Red Cross. (It is just simply amazing just how much work he can pile on his shoulders and still make time for other engagements.)

One more comparison I'd like to make between Gordon and Obama is that both people are connected to their constituents through technology. He is actually one of the very, very few public officials you can send a text message to or even call in the middle of the night if you are in trouble.

Being directly in touch with your Senator is a great thing.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Puno as Philippine President?

Thank God he nixed it.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno turned down an offer to be a Presidential Candidate in 2010 and said that he would be content to be the catalyst for the creation of a "moral force" movement to help solve the country's problems rather than seek the presidency in next year’s elections.

Yesterday, Senator Panfilo Lacson was on DZMM saying that he would gladly step aside and abandon any Presidential ambition he had if Puno would run for the Presidency in 2010.

Puno, thanked Lacson for his endorsement but said:

"I don't want to be pretentious. I will be happy if I will just be a catalyst of this movement. I am willing to be one of the foot soldiers. But perhaps it may not be appropriate to take leadership while I am in the government acting as Chief Justice."

Fine, except for his use of the word 'pretentious' instead of the more correct 'presumptious'.

Nevertheless, what he said may be indicative of the Supreme Court Chief Justice's view of what will be best for the national interest. Perhaps he knows that it takes more than morality to lead a country as morality can always be questioned. Also, if you want strict morality in government, you'd be in the same basket as Islamic fundamentalist states -- think Afghanistan before the US invasion.

Perhaps, also, he saw through the political gimmick pawned and pumped through the media by Senator Lacson. After all, it was Lacson who donned the image of Mr. Clean when he ran against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo after refusing to relinquish his Presidential bid in favor of supporting actor Fernando Poe Jr. The ploy (if it is a ploy) would have been aimed at making people remember what Lacson stands for -- anti-corruption, an end to criminality, etcetera.

This comes at the beginning of the year before the 2010 elections when Presidential Candidates (declared and undeclared) are now all trying to place themselves in the minds of people.

If the SWS survey results on choices for Presidential Candidates are to be believed, Lacson is fifth (with 14 percent drafting him as they choice for President) from pole position which is currently owned by Vice President Noli De Castro. Coming in second and third were Senators Loren Legarda and Manny Villar with 28 percent and 27 percent, respectively, followed by Senators Francis Escudero (19 percent), former President Joseph Estrada (11 percent), and Sen. Mar Roxas (10 percent).

Going back to Puno and the idea of a moral Presidency, Cory Aquino was the moral choice in governance, but the years that followed her rise to power proved that mere morality will not cure all that ails our government. It takes so much more.

We've had moral choices offered to us too in the 2004 elections. When Lacson ran in 2004, there were other moral choices including Raul Roco and Eddie Villanueva. The immoral choice was Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the popular choice was Fernando Poe Jr., and the insane choice was Eddie Gil.

But were these choices really choices? Did they represent real options and real directions for governance?

I am not saying that morality has no place in politics, the romantic ideal of a benevolent and powerful leader still appeals to me. However, morality ALONE does not make for effective political leadership.

If you asked me, I'd rather go for a candidate with a track record for being a builder of new beginnings rather than one with an image of a destroyer or preserver of a status quo. I'd go for a candidate with a clear plan, a vision, for the country's future.

That's Dick Gordon.

Sure, he isn't in the surveys and the Pedestrian Observer may chide me -- as he or she already has for comparing Gordon with Obama.

Was it a story in the Bible or a often quoted phrase that says he who can be trusted with a portion, can be trusted with the whole.

Gordon began his political career as a Constitutional Convention delegate in 1971, the youngest ever to be elected. He had no political backing (which should have come from his mother, Amelia Gordon) and no funds, but he won and became the youngest delegate.

He didn't run for his own sake. He was actually part of the generation that led the First Quarter Storm and in the Con-Con, he opposed a term extension for then President Ferdinand Marcos. This was apart from introducing the idea of the Philippines sharing control over the US Naval base in Subic, which in those times was considered visionary.

He became Mayor of Olongapo and everybody knows about how his small town became a model for city governance. If New York City had Rudolf Giulliani, the Philippines had Richard 'Dick' Gordon in the very real sense of transforming a filthy and crime infested town into a model city that had color code jeepneys, effective neighborhood anti-crime patrols, a garbage collection and segregation system that was the first in the country, a good samaritan program where all the rich citizens of Olongapo generously gave to the needy, and other city programs that were emulated all over the country.

He became Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority Chairman. When he was put in charge of Subic, it was a wasteland with almost nothing in it. After a couple of years of hard work with no guarantees, he turned the former Naval base into what then President Ramos called a new engine for growth and a magnet for investment in industry and tourism.

He became Tourism Secretary with no promotion budget and all sorts of negative news about the Philippines. Instead of saying 'Kawawa naman tayo', he shouted 'Wow Philippines' in almost every major tourism marketing event there was and brought in a whopping 2 million tourists a year by the end of 2003-- straight up from less than 1 million a year in 2001.

Right now, he is a Senator who is known for a couple of important things --

He is the father of Automated Elections in 2010. He virtually dragged his colleagues at the Senate to amend the existing Automated Elections law to make it work and dragged a couple more people in the Comelec to make sure we will no longer have Hello Garci in 2010. He is working to make sure that every body's vote will be counted in the coming elections.

He is also the author of the Text for Change bill, a proposed law that will get 10 to 50 centavos out of every peso earned by Smart, Globe, and Sun and pour these funds into public education. At the current P 2 Billion text messages a day, this will generate as much as P70 Billion in funds that will be added to the budget for public education. This means an end to classroom and teacher shortages, better books, science and computer laboratories in all public schools, higher teacher salaries, free food all year round for students, free medical and dental services, and to top it all off, scholarships for 100,000 college students -- 10,000 of which will be sent abroad to study in Ivy League Universities.

Obama's Inauguration and crowdsourcing resolutions for 2009

The estimated number of people who will pack it in at sites for President Barrack Obama's inauguration all over the US are expected to reach between 2 and 4 million.

However, ABS-CBN News says , some Filipinos living in the US will opt to watch the whole thing on television because of the crowds and traffic.

I'll probably catch this historic event on CNN or BBC with the rest of the world.

As the United States celebrates another historic moment, my thoughts return to a time when the Philippines celebrated something similar but not all together the same.

In June 1998, being employed with Radio Television Malacanang, I stood at the Quirino Grandstand (where recently elected Philippine Presidents are inaugurated) and watched Joseph Ejercito Estrada deliver his inaugural speech. He had been hailed as the President who had been voted by the most number of Filipinos and was a self-avowed champion of the Filipino masses.

Scarcely three years after his election, he was ousted and his Presidency virtually amounted to nothing but a string of scandals -- from his midnight cabinet and womanizing to his involvement in the illegal numbers games.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo took her oath on the corner of EDSA and Ortigas. Many still wonder if her assumption into power was Constitutional.

It would have been another great moment for Filipinos.

But the events that followed gave a lot of people the feeling that they had made the wrong turn on what they thought was a road to salvation. Corruption scandals hit the Macapagal Arroyo Presidency as well.

What makes the Philippines laughable as a democracy is that its people never seem to learn their lessons.

The 2004 Philippine Elections saw President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo being sworn in as President -- for the second time.

That she won by a million votes is now questionable, especially after the 'Hello Garci' expose in 2005.

Someone who sounded exactly like President Macapagal Arroyo was caught on tape talking with a Commission on Election Official named Garcillano and asking if she was going to get a million votes more than her nearest contender, Fernando Poe. Jr.

As if this wasn't enough, we had the NBN ZTE scandal which involved Commission on Election Chairman Benjamin Abalos (the one who presided over the May 2004 Elections) and the pay off would have amounted to billions of pesos had this scuttled government transaction with the Chinese government gone through.

This is not to mention the P732 Million Fertilizer Fund scam that allegedly greased the wheels of the Macapagal Arroyo Presidential campaign.

If people are willing to plunk down US $ 50,000 for Obama's inauguration fund, it may be that generations of Filipinos (who are among the poorest people in the world) had actually been sold to long decades of penury for the Macapagal Arroyo Presidential inauguration.

In 2010, I hope that we will elect a better President. I have made my choice earlier than most Filipinos would and in my own way, have begun a personal campaign to have him elected.

Joma now on Facebook and...?

An exiled leader of the Communist movement in the Philippines is using Facebook to keep in touch with fans and followers. Great!

Tarra Quismundo of the Philippine Daily Inquirer reports:

You can “poke” Joma, send him a message or gift him with a red flag and virtual copy of “The Communist Manifesto.”

Jose Maria Sison, founding chair of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), apparently digs the hugely popular social networking site Facebook that Barack Obama himself used in his successful campaign for the US presidency.

Here, Sison, on self-exile in the Dutch city of Utrecht, keeps in touch with more than 1,200 friends from around the world, among them fellow revolutionaries, militants, journalists and, yes, even sexy star Asia Agcaoili.

And while he became tech-savvy only recently, the 69-year-old leader of the party tagged by the United States as a terrorist organization adapts to cyber-cool and simply uses his nickname for his online persona.

Sison’s latest status update, a Facebook feature where users talk about their current state of mind, recent activity or any message, reads in apparent reference to yesterday’s 40th CPP anniversary: “Joma Sison is conveying the season’s greetings to everyone and celebrating a historic event.”

Season's greetings? I thought that Communists were also Atheists and generally denounce Christmas as capitalist propaganda? Oh wait! He was trying to be funny...

Funnier still, I found this other bit of news that should serve as a warning for all those who choose to hook up with dates via YM or any other internet chatting device. Read on:

Chinese teen kills self when blind date turns ugly

BEIJING -- A 17-year-old boy in northeastern China was so disappointed with the looks of a woman he met over the Internet that he hanged himself after seeing her face-to-face, state media reported Friday.

The unnamed teenager first contacted the woman -- known by her chat moniker "Qunjiaofeiyang", or "Flying Skirt" -- using the popular Chinese online messaging software QQ, Xinhua news agency said.

The girl described herself as a beautiful 19-year-old and the pair chatted on the Web for weeks before arranging a December 26 rendezvous in the nearby city of Mudanjiang, in far northeastern Heilongjiang province.

The boy arrived to discover the woman far less attractive than advertised and 10 years older than him, Xinhua said.

The boy immediately returned home, lost his appetite, and four days later hanged himself from a tree.

Whoah! I've dated a couple of dogs myself, but how ugly does a girl have to be to get a man to commit suicide after the first date? Maybe the boy's date turned out to be Joma in a skirt.

Har har har!

A Filipino Obama?

A response to Alex Magno's column, where he asked "Can there be a Filipino Obama rising to the challenge of 2010?" (Mr. Magno's column appears below.)

Mr. Magno, there is no such thing as a Filipino Obama but there is a Filipino named Gordon. More than the First Black American President, I think it is more interesting to contemplate having the First White Philippine President.

Richard J. Gordon, Senator and Philippine National Red Cross Chairman. A man who has been a leader all of his life whether he had a position in government or none and a man who has served his countrymen, even to the point of risking his own life -- not once, but many times over the course of 40 years -- all for the cause of alleviating human suffering.

While all the other aspirants for the Presidency in 2010 are promising, Gordon is the only one with the longest track record of success as an Executive. While others are selling dreams, people whose lives he has touched are living the reality of a better life... In Olongapo, in Subic, in all the tourist destinations all over the country promoted through Wowphilippines, in disaster areas rehabilitated through the efforts of the Philippine National Red Cross, and soon, when the Automated Elections system is finally online in 2010, all over the country as they finally do away with the antiquated mano mano system of recording and tallying votes.

You want to talk about inspiring leadership?

Anybody can be inspiring during good times when most people are happy and content. With a very publicized speech, a little advertisement here, a few well placed articles in a well read newspaper or magazine, and a couple of guest appearances with some other popular masa personality 'et voila!' even the do nothing political john doe can become an inspiring brand.

Try being an inspiring leader when the streets are a mess, crime is everywhere, and most people have lost belief in themselves. That was Olongapo in 1980. That was the time when Gordon ran for Mayor. That was the time when things began turning around for the sin city just outside of Subic. The first color coded traffic scheme, the first integrated garbage collection system, community based anti-crime campaigns, legalization of scavenging -- the pre-cursor to recycling, and much more. In less than six years, the transformation was made from sin city to model city. It was awarded the UNESCO Cities for Peace representing Asia and the Pacific in 1997 and the Konrad Adenauer Local Medal of Excellence in 1999. The Asian Development Bank and World Bank recognized its successful urban redevelopment and city development strategy after the US Base turnover.

Sure, you can say that that was just Olongapo City. Okay, then, how about Subic? That's an easy transformation job too, or was it?

The Americans left the Subic Naval base practically bare and it happened hardly a year after Pinatubo buried most of Central Luzon -- including Olongapo -- in ash. Think about just how inspirational you have to be as a leader when you are trying to get your people, just barely recovering from the biggest natural disaster in Philippine history, to volunteer to maintain the base and its facilities for nothing but the promise of maybe someday attracting investors and tourists. (The idea was so far fetched at the time that you might as well have been talking about promoting tourism in Basilan and Sulu at the outbreak of full scale military operations.)

You know what, despite the naysayers, Gordon made Subic into a premiere tourist and investment destination. Some 40,000 jobs were lost when the Americans left, 80,000 new and higher paying jobs were created when Gordon tookover Subic. Tens of millions of pesos of income were lost when US servicemen stopped coming, but billions of dollars flowed when Gordon started promoted Subic to the world.

He did such a good job at Subic that the next President after Ramos kicked him out with administrative order number 1 -- all because Gordon picked up a cigarette but from the street he swept thousands of times himself.

Still easy? Okay, how about promoting Philippine tourism at a time when there were coup attempts, terrorist threats, negative travel advisories weekly, a scant tourism promotion budget, a lazy Tourism bureaucracy, and whatever else.

A year into his job, Gordon reversed the shrinking tourist arrivals and by 2004, the country played host to two million tourists a year. The success continues as the country continues to draw 3 million tourists and if the tourism bill Gordon is working on gets passed into law, that figure might double or triple in no time at all.

He's no superman, that is for sure. In fact, the truth is, he is hard of hearing. He can't hear the word IMPOSSIBLE. He can't hear the phrase IT CAN'T BE DONE. He just goes ahead and does it.

There is one more flaw that Gordon has: He is white.

It is true that his father was an American.

James L. Gordon was so much of an American that when time came for him to chose between retaining his American citizenship and becoming a Filipino, he did what a number of Filipinos would not do if given a choice: He CHOSE to be a FILIPINO.

He was so much of an American that he spent the best years of his life serving his countrymen of choice, Filipinos, as mayor. He was shot dead by an assassin just when he was about to succeed in having Congress grant Cityhood to Olongapo. As tens of thousands marched in his funeral procession, Senator Jose W. Diokno paid tribute to him with these words: "He was born to an American father, chose to be a Filipino, raised his children as Filipinos, served his country as a Filipino, and died a Filipino hero"

Yes, Richard Gordon is white but the only thing American about him is his work ethic and his straightforwardness.

So, going back to where I started. There is no Filipino Obama, but try this parallelism on for size: How about electing the first WHITE Filipino President?

---

Obama
FIRST PERSON By Alex Magno
Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Barack Obama had the odds stacked against him all his life. He said so himself as he celebrated his sweep of four state primaries last weekend, bringing him in dead heat with his rival for the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton.

Born to a Kenyan father and a white American woman, he was abandoned by his father when he was two. His teenage mother and his grandparents raised him in humble circumstances. He spent a few years of his youth in Indonesia and served poor communities as an activist in his early adult years.

He served as state Senator before winning a seat at the US Senate three years ago. Charismatic and articulate, Obama sought his party’s presidential nomination even as everybody considered the Democratic Party apparatus firmly under the stranglehold of the Clinton couple.

Until the onset of the primaries season, Obama was considered an outside runner, a novelty at best. There was no way, everyone thought that an African-American, one with few friends in the nation’s capital, would have very poor chances in this game.

But when the primaries began to be held, Obama turned in more than a respectable performance. He pulled off a couple of upsets in the early races, gradually built momentum on his side and, last weekend, swept the four states that were contested.

The Democratic Party base is now divided right down the middle. Hillary Clinton is popular among lower-class women voters, Hispanics and those on the lower end of educational achievement. Obama attracts African-Americans, the college-educated and, overwhelmingly, the young voters.

In an unprecedented way, the primaries in the US has generated worldwide interest mainly because the probable Democratic nominee will either be a woman or a black man. The US presidency has, heretofore, been a post for white males.

Over and above considerations of race and gender, the Obama campaign appears to have animated a movement that now seems highly inspired and determined to challenge the insiders in the party as well as existing paradigms of what politicians should do or say.

Obama appears to have detected a strong undercurrent in American society. It is an undercurrent of discontent with politics-as-usual reflected in rising political apathy. Electoral participation among young voters has been declining. Significant minority groups have not been participating at all in the democratic exercise.

He has tapped into this undercurrent and tapped it well. The undercurrent itself now appears to be much more powerful than anyone calculated. Much more powerful, in fact, than maybe Obama himself ever imagined.

In the Democratic Party fund-raising dinner last Saturday, people turned up as early as dawn to ensure seats for themselves so that they can listen to Obama. Across the US, an army of young volunteers has been making the phone calls and knocking on doors to campaign for Obama.

This campaign is unusual, to say the least. It is no ordinary contest for one party’s presidential nomination. It is a movement of the discontented attracted to the promise of change. More than that, it is an open rebellion against the entrenched political aristocracy in Washington DC.

It is not just the unpopularity of George W. Bush that is driving this phenomenon. It is the unpopularity of the political establishment no less that is driving this rebellion.

The Other America, the one that shunned the political process before, has now barged into that process, responding to Obama’s clarion call for a sweeping change of how America has been run and how it has been governed.

What started out as a seemingly quixotic campaign has now become an intensely passionate political force. It is a force that will, at the very least, change the way the Democratic party deals with its constituencies. At its very best, it will change the way America chooses its leaders.

This phenomenon is not led by a John, a George or a Ronald. It is led by a Barack, one who has managed to inspire with words and move people with a compelling vision for his country.

Color of skin aside, Obama has been compared to John F. Kennedy. The comparison has served the candidate well and he has made it a point to quote the well-loved Kennedy extensively in his speeches as well as match the polished prose.

Kennedy, in the early sixties, rocked the political establishment, redefined the office he eventually occupied (albeit briefly) and awakened an entire generation of Americans. The young Americans today who volunteer for the Obama campaign are the children of the generation JFK animated.

There is, to be sure, a lot of energy in the Obama campaign. But there is a lot of talent there as well, enough to enable this campaign to carefully calibrate its moves and sharpen its rhetoric. Enough talent to enable this campaign to overcome the entrenched party bureaucracy, outwit the rival campaigns and nurse a certain tone essential to keeping a movement animated.

Perhaps more than the Americans, there is a lot of discontent among Filipinos over the quality of governance they have been forced to accept and the quality of political leadership that has been available. There is discontent over how we do our politics and how power has been wielded.

There is no shortage here of people who seek to win the highest elective post. But there is scarcity, obviously, of real leaders emerging from the margins and challenging the system. Leaders who can inspire and arrest the drift of public cynicism. Leaders who can make us hope again.

Can there be a Filipino Obama rising to the challenge of 2010?