Just as my 17 years in the US passed so rapidly, I look back to my first blog entry ten months ago and I am amazed at the speed of time. I am thankful that I was at least able to get some of my thoughts written. For many years I had kept a journal, until I started taking care of terminally-ill AIDS patients long ago I found that I simply did not have the time to spare to collect my thoughts and write. I regret this now and should have made time.

I am back in Manila and from out of nowhere, I recall Thomas Paine's words: "We have it in our power to begin the world all over again". Suddenly I am optimistic that our nation will finally rise from all the petty yet destructive politics that has consistently held us back.

The Philippine Banking industry needs a major overhaul. We will never get far with the current set-up that we have. It is a system so stacked against the little investor and provides major benefits to the super wealthy, just like everything else. Now that we don't have much of a middle class, Philippine society is rapidly being transformed to the very wealthy who can afford to stay, the struggling middle class finding ways to leave the country and able to get by only through the intercession of relatives overseas and the desperate poor with no options.

Try opening a savings account here and they will demand from you 3 separate forms of identity--just following the law they say, against money laundering! The process takes half an hour and is not at all a friendly and convenient experience. In the US, they even offer free toasters and dinners to attract your business. Depositing money, repeat, putting money in another bank branch will cost you $2! It must be because the cash is still physically transferred from one branch to another and this entails armored vehicles and security personnel or whatever. Interest rates are dismal and service charges are all over. This system plainly does not encourage people to save. In the US, paper checks are fast becoming anachronisms. By not transacting electronically, the Philippines is not even part of the game.

This is the result of a patronage-based banking system where banking laws are drawn by patronage-seeking lawmakers pretending to understand the arcane banking rules that are necessary to support a growing economy. Another example of why we are in such a mess.

The Philippines ranked 71 in the World Economic Forum's latest ratings. Switzerland and the Scandinavian nations topped the list. Goes to show that generous welfare programs and high taxes do not stifle a country's capacity to compete.

Hong Kong topped the list in the Economic Freedom of the World Index which measures how a country's policies and institutions support property rights, competition and personal choice. The Philippines was somewhere in the bottom half.

From the beginning, I have been railing against our nation's seeming helplessness regarding property rights. Politicians are required to pander towards the multitude of squatters if they expect to get re-elected. Tax collection has never been emphasized due largely to a patronage system that depends once again on the current set of compromised politicians in power. This is the reason why there is hardly any money left for welfare programs.

Many of society's ills are ascribed to a lack of political will. Anybody who wants to continue occupying positions of power is afraid of taking decisive measures. At the end of it all, it is the electorate's fault why we can't seem to get out of this mess. We choose our leaders (sometimes). This is why I think public office must become a purely voluntary responsibility. Politics must cease becoming a source of livelihood. It must stop becoming a way of life for certain families.

My first entry since Monday. We are on our way to the first Oktoberfest hosted by St. Peter's Church. Quite a paradox that I don't have as much time to collect my thoughts and post an entry whenever I am in Oklahoma. I will be flying back to the Philippines on Sunday.

I look forward to my return trips to Oklahoma because the long flight gives me a chance to reflect and to think and to read. I get to contrast the different ways that business is conducted in a successful country compared to a country that is controlled by politicians who make a living from governing.

I will zealously maintain my skills as a gastroenterologist lest I become one of those professional politicos who would not know what to do when they are eventually thrown out of office.

Today is Yom Kippur. In synagogues everywhere, the tale of Jonah will be recounted. Remember the man from Nineveh who was asked to become a prophet and who tried to escape from this call by taking the first boat out of the city? And how the ship encountered a storm and how after casting lots Jonah was hurled off the craft and the storm was silenced? And how Jonah spent 3 days and 3 nights inside a big fish?

Point is, we all seem to think of personal freedom as a state of total control regarding our destinies. That we can face this world solely on our own terms. There is a paradox here. True freedom should not be confused with spending the rest of your life playing golf, scaling mountains, gaining weight traveling to exotic locations... freedom is understanding the purpose of your existence and discerning your destiny and investing all your energies towards the fulfillment of this destiny.