This must be the longest period that I haven't written an entry in this blog. It's because I've been back to tending our medical clinic since the end of last month. My wife and I are introducing our new physician to the community and we've been showing him the ropes. Right now, we are four doctors working in the clinic and we've kept busy.

America keeps you productive. We help keep other people productive by taking care of their respiratory infections, allergies, sprains, and headaches. We prevent complications arising from hypertension , diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, cigarette smoking. We see to it that their kids stay healthy so they can put in a full day at work. We try to keep them slim and trim.

Healthcare is an obviously integral component in any society that wishes to remain competitive. Healthy children learn much faster than their malnourished and unvaccinated cohorts. In the Philippines, where there is barely any healthcare I can only shudder at the staggering number of hours lost from unhealthy workers and their dependents.

When I check out the news at home and all I read about are the political ambitions of our entrenched dynastic scions amid the permanently high oil prices, the weakening peso and the looming food shortages, I wonder what role industrious, productive and overseas citizens have in all this. Must we simply remain reliable remitters sustaining a corrupt and shameful order where we have no place and no voice?

The easier option is to keep things the way they are. We stay out, comfortable and secure and regularly assuage our continued commitment to our families. But even this behavior has become a major part of the reason why our country is becoming less self-sufficient. Dependability is a virtue until it breeds weak dependents.