I often have things to rant and rave about the Philippines with no venue to vent them through. The notoriety gained by the Philippines as often perpetuated by media is unfortunate as I believe that there is just as much good and beautiful as there is bad and ugly to focus on and proclaim to the world. While I believe in the watchdog-role of media, the seemingly rabid attention on the negatives serves to negate the rich heritage, the abundant resources, the natural wonders, the man-made marvels, and the inherent talents and characteristics of the people.
Nonetheless, there are many things that are often and fatalistically blamed on “culture” or “the system” that are ignored and even accepted as a way of life. And I believe that it is in the smaller things where the change must start.
As such, I embark on this blog to chronicle my personal observations, views and sentiments on places I visit, events I witness and people I meet that move me or otherwise affect me personally and Philippine society in general. While I will try to focus on the good and the beautiful, I will inevitably touch on the bad and the ugly. For this, I apologize ahead of time. Otherwise, I hope this helps or serves to inspire.
Rave - Mayor Tinga of Taguig and Tony Meloto of GK
August 10, 2008
I unexpectedly got an email from an old friend and professional acquaintance in the person of Jojo Marasigan. He mentioned through his email that he had recently resigned from his job with Digitel and had rejoined Blue Media which was now involved with rolling out WiMax. He was inviting me to a launch event in Taguig to be held on August 8, Friday, in the MBC Tent at the Fort. The launch was also to coincide with a Gaward Kalinga (or GK) event which I found as rather odd. In any case, I readily agreed to attend and brought with me my CTO Bon Diwajon. We have been similarly thinking about deploying WiMax for our own use so this was something of interest to us.
We arrived promptly at 6PM and the number of policemen and bodyguard-types at the tent entrace made it apparent that the event was going to be well attended by some heavy hitters. Immediately, I spotted Sen. Kiko Pangilinan and Mr. Tony Meloto of GK fame with British son-in-law Dylan Wilks who were quickly ushered in while we lined up to get our passes. The reception area was already crowded and more people were arriving so it took a while before our turns came for a badge to pass beyond. I noted the unusual backdrop in the reception area that simulated the facades of shanty houses common in the city slums. It was a promise of interesting things to come.
Once inside the tent-proper we found a group of girls signing on stage providing entertainment to a considerable crowd, mostly standing, that had already formed. I didn’t find Jojo after looking around a bit but I spotted some seats to one side of the place with a good view of the stage so I decided to comfortably camp there for the rest of the event. I spotted architect Bobby Manosa who happens to be my baptismal godfather. On the way in I also saw a group of police officials in formal attire. This was turning out to be quite a mixed crowd. Obviously, the event was not going to be about WiMax alone.
The entertainment stopped at around 7PM when the tent was almost filled to capacity and Mayor Tinga was introduced as the host and first speaker. In his early 40’s, I learned earlier that he was a former technology practitioner so associating him with WiMax was really no surprise. Still, I couldn’t see where his preamble was leading to in relation to technology. After a while, he introduced Vice President Noli De Castro who naturally spoke about housing and the relevance of GK. This led to the introduction of Mr. Meloto who turned out to be a revelation.
Recently bestowed the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership, it is just a matter of time before he gets some sort of international recognition for his efforts and accomplishments. Listening to him speak, you will know he lives and breaths his mission. More importantly, he is producing results and making further inroads towards the daunting if not impossible objective of providing homes to the many who need them. He acknowledged as partners some in the audience including Mr. Washington Sycip of SGV, Mrs. Marixi Prieto of the Inquirer and Mr. Gerry Ablaza of Globe among other no-less imminent dignitaries supporting the GK cause. The reason for the presence of top architects such as Manosa and Palafox became known when they announced a contest for a designer GK village to be established in Taguig.
After two or three more speakers, Mayor Tinga got back on stage and we got to the meat of the matter. He spoke of making Taguig the first WiMax city with the attendant technologies and applications in security, information processing and telecommunications which must have made Mr. Ablaza more than a bit uncomfortable. Mr. Tinga was obviously in his element by this time. He was sounding more like a CEO of a high-tech company selling to a an eager crowd. He had his show-and-tell and live demonstrations which included reading the plate number of a car parked outside the tent using Israel-made CCTV and a live teleconference between an OFW mother in some middle eastern country and her children who were on stage. The mother, once on line, proceeded to scold the poor kids in front of the audience providing unexpected amusement.
Mayor Tinga is young, eloquent, obviously well educated, dedicated, with a vision and a mission and, just like the GK, is getting things done. He presents a model for all other LGU’s to follow and I think he has the formula which he is willing to share with all who care to listen. He is very aware of the issues, does not mince words and is not shy about them. More importantly, he knows what the problems are and seems to know the solutions. He did not appear to be asking for help but rather for cooperation. He is definitely a man worth watching and listening to.
I saw Jojo Marasigan on our way out of the tent and we agreed to get together the following week to talk shop and possibly do some business. In the reception area I noted that the backdrop had changed and now presented the façade of proper homes and buildings. This completed the message of change. We left with mantras of “Walang Iwanan” and “The Best for the Least” ringing in our ears. I could not help feeling euphoric and hopeful. Here was a once-obscure Local Government Unit working with corporate Philippines, Non-Government Organizations and civil society to solve real-life problems. It can’t get better than that.
It has been two days since the event and I have not seen anything written about it in the newspapers, at least not in the Inquirer, despite the presence of columnist of note Conrad De Quiros. We have read about the Mindanao problem, inflation, more corruption and scandals and other such doom and gloom. A law must be passed to allocate equal print space to good and positive news. Even if it was solely for his vision and intentions, Mayor Tinga and Taguig should have been front-page material. The GK has had constant if not daily progress. Why not provide a running tally of that? I am sure that even government has something good to report regardless of how trivial or insignificant. Are we so jaded that only bad news sell newspapers? I hope not.
