Change.  That is the catch word today, but will it happen here in the Philippines?

Those who protect the status quo seems to be holding on stronger than ever. Philippines is destined to remain the sick country, the sick economy of Asia, a democracy of the few. It’s sickening.

The flawed system seems to be diagnosed right. But as always, there are millions of reasons why Philippines should remain in its flawed state. Wealth distribution is at its worst. Only about 5% of the population controls about 90% of the nations wealth. Visayas and Mindanao will always be second or third class regions of the country. Still, Manila equals Philippines.

We have a congress that is mal functioning, yet they are the one task to repair their malfunction. We have a senate that proclaims themselves as the more intellectually superior than their lower ranks (lower house representatives) conterparts, but similarly are only politicking.

Changes with the form and system of government will never happen in 50 years. But we have to start somewhere. Lately, I was optimistic that the election will finally be automated.But just as all the rest in this country, it seems to be the same.

I am very very disappointed.

2010 presidential election is around the corner, and before we know it, a new leader will emerge from the ranks of the presidentiables. But what the heck.

In my younger days, I dream of the day when the poor will have better chances of getting to the top. I was once full of optimism, to someday see my country become the new Singapore. I always dream of seeing my starting point at thesame  point with the rest of the competitors.

But over and over, time after time, I see thesame lemon. Lemon, lemon, lemon. Manila still gets hold of the rest of the country. The elite which are about 5% of the entire population still controls about 90% of the country’s wealth. Moviestars and basketball players are still the idols of the masses. The politicians are still the most knowlegeable person on this part of the globe.

Income level is still horendously unequal. Metro Manila resident still gets the higher economic graces, as if they are more deserving than people in the provinces. If you stay in the province you will be lucky to find a 15 thousand entry level salary. But what can that buy you? That may make you eat three time a week, live a pretty decent life, with not much stress to bother you. But will it buy you a car? 15 thousand salary will  definitely will never allow one provinciano  a car .

We may find a thousand reason why we don’t need a car, but if one has a choice, like owning a car, I am quite certain that people will not argue against owning one. Many people in the provincies are still awed with people who owns a car. It may be a provincial reality, but it is a reality that people in the Metro would just dismiss.

That is the sad reality that I still hope would someday disappear. I hope that a true leader will emerge to finally lead this country through. But who will be this person. Who will be this Simon Bolivar?

There are natural leaders and made up leaders. The natural leaders are those who have in them the elements of leader, which is difficult to distinguished from leadership qualities which are propagated through PR campaign.

So how do we-the ordinary mortals who were not trained in the modern discipline of brainwashing-are going to defend against the invation or enfluencing being propagated by giant communication experts. We ordinary mortals are prone to fall to tricks being peddled by these experts. It is not far fetched for us to believed what they say.

The battle in the fortcoming presidential election will be the battle of PR practitioners and Advertising firms. True qualities, real skills, or experiences that we should be looking for from leaders will not be the major factors that will determine who our next president will be. The enfluencers will most likely determine that.

So as an ordinary voter, how am I going to select whom to vote?

Manny Pacquiao has metamorphosed into a two fisted bomber.

I never wrote anything about the MP-Hatton fight because even after the Dela Hoya fight, I already believed that Hatton is perfect for Pacman’s hooks and straights. I never expected Hatton to fall in two rounds, though.

But there appears in the horizon, a boxer who compelled me to write again about boxing and to make some prediction this early. The genetic arrogance of Mayweather Jr is trully polarizing, but I must admit, he has the hateful attitude to make one pay attention to whatever he says. His obnoxious self proclamation notwithstanding, the guy has incredible boxing and promotional skills.

Let me compare him with Manny Pacquiao;

MP has incredible speed. PBF is equally speedy. Manny is quick to accept the challenge from best fighter, Joke Floyd Jr is quick to duck the best fighter. The Pacman is fast to attack his opponent; Floyd is quick to run away from his opponent.

MP lately, has shown good defence. PBF have shown better defensive skills.

PBF has power in his hands; MP has monstrous power in both hands.

PBF is arrogant, boisterous, a polarizing character with an irritating charm; MP is humble, a man of few words, a uniting  and loving charm.

MP makes you feel YOU CAN DO IT; PBF makes you feel helpless.

Finally, if eyes is the window of one’s soul, a look at MP’s it is easy to say he is FEARLESS; with Mayweather’s he is AFRAID.

In my college days, I can remember all the names of  dorm residents, not only of the dorm where I stay but including the nearby dormitories. In my dorm, I can tell what floor, what room, this or that person stays. Once when I attended a symposium at  Ateneo University 15 years after leaving the SU campus, I met someone who I remember as the young elementary girl who was regularly  passing by the dormitory. At the time of our meeting, she was already a university chemistry instructor, already a full grown lady.

Today, two years  after being diagnosed as hypertensive, I would tend to forget the names of some people that I am supposed to remember. My kids would make fun of these lapses. They would tell me that I am already suffering from alzeimers, or that memory gap is soo huge that it is normal for old people.

I am not bothered by those jokes, I know 45 is still young, but I am wondering what’s really happening within my brain. Am I losing the power of longterm memory? Have the neurons been disconnected, or have naturally died down because of disuse?

In my highschool and college days, I love to play chess because I am always on top. I met quite a few who are really good, those are the national masters and the international masters, but I always find a way to beat most of them. Today, after more than 25 years of not playing regularly, I am playing again, and I found out how people around me have improve. Everybody seem to be stronger than me?

Can I regain the snap of my brain? In few months of training I will tell.

Last February 10, I wrote about my past preoccupation with chess, and the reasons why I shied away from it (not totally but in terms of volume that an active chess player should play to be competitive in tournament plays).

Actually, that week, there was a tournament held in our locale. And it reminded of my past love affair with the game. A sort of reminiscing the past, I mingled around the tournament tables. On the second day of the tournament, I was talking to fellow spectator. He is a teacher, and he seem to be very enthusiastic with his comments , and a realization cannot be denied that I can no longer follow the flow of the game. The fellow turned out to be somebody whom I played chess with 20 years ago.  My chess playing was still a bit stronger then, but was already in decline because I can no longer remember the exact opening repertoire, or the variation of the moves.

After the tournament, he and a friend who participated in the tournament, visited me for a game of chess. We played a several games and the results were awful. I made mistakes that were very elementary. There were instances where I would lose my queen due to a fork or a pin, a discovered check, and all those elementary novelties.  I was laughing at how I missed those seemingly simple variations. But I enjoyed our encounters though, one because they allowed me to win some games.

They visited me several times, and slowly I would try to focus and concentrate more, but the result would still be thesame disaster. Every game became a proff of the LAW of USE AND  DISUSE. Atrophy has set in clearly, the line that was once very obvious where no longer there, the patterns is nowhere to be found. Perhaps, the neurons connectors in my brains have been cut off , or my short term memory can no longer access the data deposited in my long term memory.

Now I am playing chess again, with a lame excuse of fighting old age diseases. It is believe that chess helps combat alzeimers, so I would like to play chess again before alzeimers sets in.  But the main reason is that my warrior self could not accept the fact that my opponents would only accomodate a win for me. My proud self well not allow such pity. I will recover my old self, I will rediscover my old touch, became my new mantra.

Well, after about two months, the line are slowly appearing, and I am winning once again, although not in a fashion of long ago, but at least not an accomodation win.

Elite chess grandmaster, with and Elo rating of 2627, the highest so far by any filipino, that’s how good Wesley So is. His best performance so far is his victory in group C of the chorus chess championship. A tournament far more prestigious than the recent one which he  virtually won-the Battle of the GM’s held in Dapitan. Its is good that it was held in Dapitan, at least slowly Mindanao is getting it fair share of the game.

I would like to give a thumbs up sigh to Prospero Pichay, who is himself a Mindanaoan, for the simple deed. At Mindanao, Zamboanga in particular is given some positive angles, not only the kidnapping of the ICRC volunteers, and the teachers.

This is good inspite the little prominence it gets from the editors. Understandably, gruesomeness sells better than good news. I can’t blame them, they have a duty to sell their wares, a duty to inform as the public of the bad things that is happening around Mindanao.

Mindanao, however, gets a fairer share of the good news everytlime Manny Pacquiao wins a fight. Boxing is far more exciting than chess, so the Pacman is more in the limelight than Wesley So. Well, it is not good to compare the two in the first place. MannyP is an aknowledge phenomenum, one of the worlds best, one of the most enfluencial star according to the Time Magazine. He is an established champion. Wesly is just a kid, a chess grandmaster at a very young age of 15, but he still has to prove himself in the complex 64 squares. He is not yet in the top 100, although he might be there in a couple of months.  But i can’t help it, both makes us filipinos proud.

The other day, Tony Blair’s name was the headline for most of our broadsheets and major tv networks.  Floated as a possible advisor to the peace panel to negotiate with the MILF, his experience in settling the Ireland conflict became the focal reason for the demand of his persona.

Simulatneously, too, Kidapawan City-the capital of Cotabato province was on the news because of a bomb explosion. Luckily, there were no fatalities in the said explosion. The drama continues, and the struggle is still on going. The provincial board of Cotabato province have passed a resolution that sounded like an opposition to the idea of having Tony Blair as an advisor to the peace negotiation.

I can understand why the local leaders would have this kind of attitude. If I am a local leader, I would also do thesame. Why should the national government invite the presence of a foreigner who have a pheriperal knowledge of the Mindanao conflict, but bothers the least to consult the local people or have some local representative to the ongoing peace process? Do Tony Blair know that when Kidapawan City was bombed, a retaliatory action was taken by the people who were affected by this terroristic action. A grenade was also thrown to a muslim community in the city. I think the hatred, the emotional distress, is too, alien to be understood. One has to live where the turmoil is, to trully understand the sentiments of the people.

The MILF leadership, on the contrary welcomes the idea of having Blair in the team. Of course. The presence of a Tony Blair, a former British Prime Minister would give the moro struggle its long desired international recognition.

The MILF, or the moro leadership, wants Blair, the local leadership rejects the idea. The Moros make a move to win their struggle, the local people makes a defense to make their lives more secure. With this attitude from both sides this struggle will see no light in the near future.

I have no problem with that. But as I always mention, bombs should stop exploding, specially in civilian communities. The Moro leaders should realize that a tipping point has already been reached. This is similar to the killings in the 70’s. That for every bomb that explodes in christian communities, they should expect a similar explosion in muslim communities. The moro leaders should realize, that as their terroristic actions continues, the more that they are allienating themselves with the non moros.

The moros should come out their stereotype. They should be creative enough to look for other ways  to fight their wars. Bombs and guns will never give them the victory they so desired. If they are so good, why can’t they find other means.

When you are big and mighty, when you have amassed wealth that you can no longer exhaust spending on mundane luxuries, there is no way for you but to extend a helping hand to the needy. Perhaps one reason why the news these days are full of PR propaganda gimmicks trumpeting the soft heart, the humanitarian side, the good samaritan persona of the once greedy profit oriented companies about there corporate social responsibilities. It may be an honest effort, or a mere justification of the guilt feeling,  an effort to fill the emptiness and meaninglissness of their lives that huge amount of money can never cover up…,the effort to help the needy is a welcome development.

There are two recent news that made my day. The first one is regarding my home island of Mindanao which for decades have been mired in war, underdevelopment, poverty and neglect. Mindanao will recieve 800 hundred million pesos (or around 16 million US Dollars)  grant from Germany to help the developed the island. They are the recent helping hand that joined Japan and Australia who have already provided millions or billions dollars in aid to Mindanao. Of course the EU have also been there for decades already. The Germany grant  may not be so huge an amount but it is a welcome effort on their part even in these time of economic crisis. Hopefully, the aid will really find its way to the needy and not end up at the hands of the administrator, both in the government and in non government organization, who have somehow mastered the art of siphoning about 75% of these aids and grant.

America is silent regarding its effort to help Mindanao for 2009 and beyond, but it is understandable for the not so simple problem that beset their economy. Their billion dollars are needed to bail out their ailing conglomerates. Which brings me to the other news item; the aid to the ailing american companies. AIG, has been bailed out in the tune of billions of dollars. How big  is AIG? It is a big company that its reach may affect so many americans, but perhaps not as big as Mindanao. But the aid they recieve is in billions while my poor island gets a mesly million.  That only shows who is more important, who should not suffer the difficulty in life in contrast of who should die in starvation and bullets.

But even with those disparity in consideration, Mindanaoans gets lesser irritants that goes with those aids.  If you get 1 million, so you lost 750,000 thousand of it to administrative cost (if not corruption). In contrast, the american people are aghast that the bailed out company are paying hundreds of millions in bonuses to their CEO’s.  The bigger your share of the pie, the bigger your share of the poison that goes with it.

Mindanao; A Way Forward, is the title of the recent dialogue held in Marco Polo in Davao City.  It aims to dicuss and find solution to the age old conflict in Mindanao. Three lead questions guided the panelist and all participants; 1. where do we go from here, (or what is the way forward) regarding the stalled peace talks with the MILF. 2. What lessons have we learned from the past experiences, 3. What new insights have we gained that we can apply in the future.

The discussion was indeed insightful, with the four groups (the National Government, the Moro group, the Local leadership,  the Media and the academe or we may say the civil society group) clearly elaborated their points. One interesting point that Dean Antonio Lavina raised was that Mindanao is a very big region, and the absence of representative from the Lumad group is noticeable. It is reflective of how this problem is being treated, take for example the title. It’s about Mindanao, but the conflict is only isolated. Most of Mindanao is not affected by the conflict, that it is not right to label it that way as if relaying a message that the whole island is affected by the war. The organizers could have labelled it; Philippines, A Way Forward.

In the discussion, some underlying assumption were uncovered. 1. In an environment of war, economic  progress is not possible. Fermin Adriano  discussed it lengthily and clearly. Indeed, some example of the localities affected by the conflict but where economic enterprises is robust are Sarangani Province, Cotabato Province, the Cities of Iligan and Zamboanga, etc.   2. The right for self-determination is a prerequisite to economic progress. Or in the same tune, that this is a political crisis thus a political solution is needed.  Well it has become obvious that the previous attempt tried to categorized it that way, and the logic followed that if a political solution cannot be dicovered then Mindanao is doomed. For the last 4 decades, Mindanao has toiled under the cloud of smoking guns and exploding bombs, but slowly it is now emerging. The national government and the whole nation now listens to its cry. It is now easy to argue that Mindanao is more economically vibrant than Visayas.    3. There is an unbrigeable divide between the muslims and the non-muslims. This is of course a mere propaganda line as the MILF would like us to believe. Visit Luwaran and see how they tried to sell that fallacy.  Visit the many muslim dominated towns to see if integration is not possible. Visit the towns of Pikit, Wao, etc.

There are other real issues that were brought forward. 1. Land Ownership. This is indeed the fight of the ordinay moros. Many do not have land, not only because their lands have been forcibly taken by the illongos, but historically, because most of their lands are under the control of their Datus or Sultans. This chance to own land has encourage them to fight. And the settlers who already valued lands, are fighting to keep their property.   2. The stuggle for self determination is a real issue, although it is an issue that affects more the spirit of the leaders more than the ordinary people.    3. Economic development, or the lack of it, has been the failure that attracts criticism towards the moro leadership. No matter how hard they try to parry the blame, by throwing the blame to the national government’s failure to give them real autonomy, it is very clear that that debacle is big black eye to the moro struggle. The ordinay Abdul, Mohamad, Rohayda…needs to eat, go to school, needs to buy cellphones etc, etc.   4. The complaint of the local government is also real. That there is inadequate consultation, and that there is not enough representation for them in the negotiating table. Indeed.

Overall, this dialogue is a step forward, and I am hoping that more of similar discussion should happen this year. Should the convenor be able to increase the occurence of exchanges like this, I am hopefull the this administration will salvage this effort towards the attainment of doable solution for this problem.