Haven't posted anything in a while because I was undercover. My complete anonymity allows me to go around everywhere and observe and talk to people and listen to them. To those who think that the poor in Manila are poor need to go to the Visayas because the poor are even more wretched there (if at all this is even possible). I will visit Mindanao next because I am told to expect even worse conditions!

A fast and effective way to contain corruption in a society where nursing exams are leaked, little league qualifications are doctored, election results are rigged and customs and tax agents are routinely bribed is to slide towards anarchy. Cut governmental supervision. Abolish laws and minimize licensing. Standardize tax collection, integrate the armed forces into an effective constabulary that will protect and not take advantage of the people. Competition must be encouraged and political dynasties dismantled.

We need to be obsessed with the future. We are being eaten alive.

Listened to Justice Anthony Kennedy expound on the concept of "Rule of Law". He stated 3 requirements. One was the active participation of the citizenry towards the creation of just laws attuned to human rights, another was the enforcement of these laws without fear of retribution but it was the third component that got me thinking. Kennedy said that a government and its agencies needed to be reminded that they were not above the law. He felt that it was this concept that could explain all the corruption and graft and dishonesty in nations with less-developed legal systems because government and its agents have this notion that it is them who have the power to grant licenses and permits and enforce laws when these agencies exist primarily to process these claims to those who are entitled to them.

If you expect to go far in Philippine bureaucracy you need to adopt this pose of utter humility and ignorance because many in this entrenched class will only pounce on you harder if you so much as demand for what is rightfully yours. These people think that but for their compassion and grace you are not allowed anything. A fellow physician told me about what Oprah said: Never accept a No from someone who never had the right to say Yes in the first place.

Never mind that we may be 200 years behind but it is time to avail of modern tools. Carpenters don't have electric drills and saws and it requires so much more time and energy to perform tasks that any weekend worker in the US will finish in a fraction of the time it takes our professional carpenters to complete. Numerous laborers can be seen digging and toiling the entire day what a lone heavy equipment operator can accomplish in a few hours. Our farmers continue to rely on carabaos and wooden farm implements which explains why the ratio is still one farmer to a couple of hectares where in the US, one farmer with a combine can easily handle 500 hectares.

The argument has always been what our laborers will do with all the extra time and energy. This is a demeaning argument. Every human must be allowed to complete their tasks in the most efficient manner. This is the reason why we need to "recreate" whatever extra time we have in order that we do not lose sight of why we need to work in the first place.

We will never get our National act together until we recognize that other people's time is as valuable as ours.

Saint Lawrence was a deacon in Rome. The persecutors of the Church demanded that he hand over the Church’s treasures. In order to obtain a real treasure in heaven, he suffered torments, the account of which you can only listen to with horror: he was laid on a grill over a fire. However, he triumphed over all the physical suffering by means of extraordinary strength, which he drew from his charity and his faith.

This made the persecutors angry… Lawrence said: “Send some chariots with me with which I can bring you the Church’s treasures.” They gave him chariots. He filled them with poor people and sent them back saying: “Here are the Church’s treasures.” (from The Daily Gospel)

The practice of appointing deacons started when the original apostles were overwhelmed with the tremendous amount of work. Even at that time, it was a revolutionary idea to see any value in the poor. Poverty remains a relative idea. While material poverty in the US is a far cry from the poverty 2000 years ago, material poverty in the Philippines continues to approach levels from a long time ago. Regardless, we will always have the poor and serving them is an opportunity to edify our lives.

Many of our public servants today become disillusioned because they expect their constituents to remember their good deeds and past services. You don't go into this business seeking this form of reward because voters participate in elections mainly because of what's in it for them. Reminds me of the incredible story about an elephant's memory:

A young man was on holiday in Kenya after graduating from college. While he was walking through the bush, he came across a young bull elephant standing with one leg raised in the air.

The elephant seemed distressed so the man approached it very carefully. He got down on one knee and inspected the elephant's foot. There was a large thorn deeply embedded in the bottom of the foot.

As carefully and as gently as he could he worked the thorn out with his hunting knife, after which the elephant gingerly put down its foot. The elephant turned to face the man and with a rather stern look on its face, stared at him. For a good ten minutes the man stood frozen -- thinking of nothing else but being trampled.

Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned and walked away.

The man never forgot that elephant or the events of that day. Twenty years later the man was walking through the zoo with his teenaged son. As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures turned and walked over to where they are standing at the rail. The large bull elephant stared at him and lifted it's front foot off the ground, then put it down. The elephant did that several times, all the while staring at the man. The man couldn't help wondering if this was the same elephant.

After a while it trumpeted loudly; then it continued to stare at him.

The man summoned up his courage, climbed over the railing and made his way into the enclosure. He walked right up to the elephant and stared back in wonder.

Suddenly the elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk round one of the man's legs and swung him wildly back and forth along the railing, killing him.

Probably wasn't the same elephant.