We have a date. I had originally planned to return on June 12 which is Philippine Independence Day until upon further research, I learned that the United States granted us independence on July 4, 1946. How suitable that I will be home on the 60th anniversary of this auspicious occasion. One of my classmates in high school has become the governor of Leyte province. How wonderful it would be to wade across the Leyte gulf beach and repeat the words uttered by Douglas MacArthur "I have returned".

Although I realize now that I had never truly left the Philippines. I was simply on an extended, learning vacation. I have always kept current with what was going on and my twice-a-year trips back home have always sustained my spirit and kept me firmly grounded.

If I had been a scion to a fabulous fortune or a political dynasty, I might never have sought to go elsewhere for life-lessons but my wife and I realized very early on that financial independence was essential to leading a life lived to your our own specifications. We have no regrets let me make myself clear. You do the best you can with whatever cards you are dealt.

The US Senate is expected to pass a sweeping immigration bill that will remove the cap on existing quotas on nurses. This can potentially hurt the Philippines in a very bad sort of way. But look at what the government has to say:

"Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye allayed fears by some groups that the measure the US Senate was expected to pass soon will hurt the country's health care system, which was already facing a severe shortage of nurses.

The US legislation removing the cap on the hiring of nurses was needed to help the US cope with its own growing shortage of nurses, reports said.

"New nurses keep coming up, they are replaced at almost the same rate they are recruited, so I think we will not have shortage of manpower," Bunye said.

Besides, Bunye said the government could not prevent its manpower from leaving the country to seek "greener pastures."

He added that Filipino talents were "marketable," being known as world-class workers.

He also said that remittances sent by Filipinos overseas did not only help the country but most especially their families, who use the money to finance the schooling of those willing to take up nursing.

What the government can do is to accelerate the training of those in medical services, Bunye said."

As always, short-term thinking dominates. Does the press secretary know that the bill will enable these nurses to take along with them their entire families? I wonder how many weeks these promised remittances will continue to shore-up our dependent economy until they dry up permanently. Our greatest resource has always been our people, decent, hard-working, honest and capable of tremendous sacrifice. How the government treats its people as dependable cash cows regardless of whatever personal sacrifices they have to endure shows the entire world how much regard the people in power back home have for us.

My father and mother are here visiting in Guymon. I showed them around and they see why I think this place is so beautiful. They saw their fourth granddaughter for the first time.

Let me expand on my idea for character change. We Filipinos need to become more aware about our responsibility to help one another. We have a lot of work ahead when it comes to the concept of common good. What seems to come so natural here in the US and that is people in a community coming together to build projects or organize into groups remains largely a dream in the Philippines.

A good area to start is the concept of recycling as much as we can. This may be more expensive in the short term but this will eventually free-up a lot of land fills and keep everyone conscious about the need to conserve our resources. Garbage collection must be made regular and more often. And we need to make fresh potable water readily available. Society needs to put more premium into cleanliness.

We all need to be reminded that we are all in the same boat and we all need to work together to improve our common lot.

I am a firm believer in the genetic pool. What do I mean by this. The Philippines has a population of 87 million people. In my time, there was only one single state-subsidized medical school, the University of the Philippines College of Medicine. My 1989 class was composed of 142 students. To this day, I am confident that pound for pound, we could compete with Harvard.

This brings me to my message for the day. I have no doubt that if the 13 colonies in 1776 were able to assemble a group of far-sighted geniuses who would be able to draft the Declaration of Independence and a formidable Constitution, we also have in the Philippines today a surfeit of talent and genius that will reel us back in record time. The substrate is there. We are not starting from scratch. Our country has a long history and we have generations of educated as well as patriotic people who will bring us back.