Former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada has been in jail since he was deposed 6 years ago. He stands accused of plunder, a capital offense and the verdict is expected any day now. Estrada remains very popular and continues to be seen by many as the true friend of the poor. Even if Estrada clearly enriched himself while in office he will most likely be acquitted or immediately pardoned in the remote chance of a conviction due to the upheaval that will follow if he is punished. That’s how justice is in the Philippines.

Erap should be accused of squander. He had that rarest, historic opportunity to do great things for the country and he royally blew it. He would gamble with friends until dawn and he irresponsibly left the affairs of state to all sorts of characters and political operatives. One quality a developing country can’t afford in a leader is sloth. Whatever their deficiencies, Cory, FVR and GMA were all hard workers. Estrada on the other hand wasted his enormous political capital because he simply didn’t care. How else do you explain behavior that ignores healthcare and education while continuing to lead a reckless life of debauchery? He continued to see his many mistresses on a round-robin system while children all over the country were becoming stunted from chronic malnutrition. He continued gambling and drinking while the educational system deteriorated. He is said to have sired another child while under detention.

Many will attest to the extraordinary charisma of Erap Estrada. Many will swear that you will never meet a more amiable person than Estrada and I believe them all. It only makes Erap Estrada even guiltier of letting his country down.

Our country invested a sacred trust in Erap Estrada and he clearly did not deliver. I don’t think neither remorse nor regret is punishment enough.

I attended the Medical School homecoming for the first time because I wanted to start meeting people. After all, it will never hurt to know a few more doctors. There was an incumbent Senator, all the way from Manila who wangled an invitation and was seen vigorously schmoozing.

Every meeting has a Continuing Medical Education portion that allows participants to claim part of the trip as a tax deduction. One topic dealt with telemedicine, technology that I am very familiar with considering I practiced in a rural corner. At 1 in the morning and you would be called to see a trauma patient, you would invariably “send” the x-ray studies to Amarillo, TX for the radiologist to give a provisional reading. We would physically send the films the next day for a final diagnosis. That was 10 years ago. Today, it would be cheaper to “send” studies to India because we don’t use film any longer. Radiological studies are digitized into compact discs. For other specialties, it has become vastly easier to send the entire medical record of a patient to any specialist anywhere in the world for another opinion.

An older physician asked the doctor from the Philippines who was presenting the topic why we couldn’t hire more physician assistants and nurse practitioners to staff the thousands of unmanned Barangay health centers. Those of us in the audience who knew the reality in our country were flabbergasted. Was this guy from another planet? We don’t have PA’s and NP’s because anyone with these skills would have left the country a long time ago. We don’t have a problem with diagnosis in the Philippines. We don’t have the resources to treat diseases.

The UP Class of 1989 had a reunion one evening. After 17 years, I saw my group-mate in anatomy. He was now a Jesuit priest. He was peppered with questions regarding ethics and morality the entire evening. I also met an ophthalmologist classmate who had practiced in the hinterlands of Mindanao for 13 years until she decided for reasons of personal safety to migrate to the US as a registered nurse. Nothing dishonorable whatsoever in her decision. She had freely given her time and talent but was regularly showing up in the list of potential kidnap victims.

How to harness this large group of doctors most of whom earnestly want to give back to their country? How to effectively utilize the combined resources at their disposal? We all want to help.

My 10 day visit to the US ended at 4 this morning. We could have arrived earlier but the airport was closed and hence we had to spend some extra time in Vancouver. I tried the Las Vegas-Vancouver-Manila route for the first time and I wasn’t disappointed. The flight was 18 hours long but at least I didn’t have to change planes. I do have many things to write about and I will begin from the most recent.

Yesterday was one of the hottest days in Las Vegas history, 116 degrees Fahrenheit. You couldn’t stay outside for long. 4 hours before the flight, there was already a lengthy queue at the Philippine Air Lines counters. What distinguishes a flight to Manila is the presence of the ubiquitous Balikbayan boxes crammed with stuff and these boxes always weigh 70 lbs, the maximum allowable weight. If you were to x-ray these boxes, you will find many cans of corned beef and Vienna sausage, bars of Ivory soap, seasonal candy purchased the day after the event, shampoo, towels, Pringles potato chips, athletic shoes, clothing from Ross or Marshall’s or TJ Maxx, generic vitamin supplements, Splenda, used household appliances (particularly the recently replaced DVD player), hair color, toothpaste and deodorant. Returning female seniors are particularly adept at this ritual. And so even if it takes longer to check in and the counters are perennially crowded, it has always been a source of comfort to be in line with kababayans. The chatter becomes overwhelmingly Tagalog and everyone is just happy to begin the arduous trip home. No mistake here, no matter how long you’ve stayed away, regardless of the color of your passport, everyone’s homeward bound.

Amid the chaos, your faith in our simple ways becomes stronger. Like ants we are prepared to return various goods and sundry material transported via giant container cargo ships back across the Pacific box by Balikbayan box. I find this trait so admirable because each box is an amalgam of months of flea-market shopping, garage sales, K and Wal Mart specials. We anticipate the joy and grateful acknowledgement of the intended recipients back home with every shopping mission. We become united.

Hadn’t heard it in a long time but the main cabin erupted in cheers as our plane touched down the Manila Airport. We were all just glad to be home.

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Sorry for the intermission, I am here in Oklahoma working hard. Oldtimers here say, “ some of us have to work to make a living”. I report for work at 4:45 am, take care of the paperwork and start endoscoping patients at 6:15 am.

When I arrived in the US, the Customs guy in LA cheerily told me, “Welcome home, Dr. Bautista”. This is a country where things work. Funny that you see multitudes of Filipinos at the airport as Immigration Officers, janitors, food concession employees, many others, we make the airport run especially during the graveyard shift. This is a nation that works, America the Beautiful, why won’t our country do the same?

Check out our headlines, the political intrigues surrounding the next Senate president, counting of votes in Maguindanao, whether we are lying about our GDP, there’s no real production involved, only gossip and chismis and nonsense.

So, let me work, make a little money. Gregory and Doc Lacsamana, we’re in the same continent. Life’s good. Let’s keep evolution and the meaning of life in the backburner. If we are going to change our country, we need to relax, take a couple steps back, think, keep independent.

We can change the World.