Philippine News by MySearch Philippines

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Noli de Castro were finally proclaimed by Congress as President and Vice-President, respectively, of our Dear Philippines.

At more or less 3:45 A.M. of June 24, 2004, I’ve watched the event live from the Batasang Pambansa. It’s very early in the morning when the “speeches and objections” were finished.

This is a very divisive and "bruising" election but the majority party, for the first time in recent elections, controlled the two top posts in the executive and the majority in Congress, both houses.

I can say that there could be more coordination, in national policies, in the future.

For the administration party, be magnanimous in victory. You must exert all effort to hear the dissenting views of people who have not voted for you, like me >:-)

I have observed that democracy, as practiced today, is a tyranny of the majority. The true test of our democracy is how the majority respects the minority opinion.

For the opposition, bring your advocacies to a much higher level. Focus on what the ordinary Juan de la Cruz wants, not what you want, just to be perceived as “independent.”

Simply remember that you’re just a representative and a servant, not your own boss, that you must express the people’s will.

You can also dissent without being nasty and obstructionists.

To Fernando Poe, stop now your politicking. Our Dear Pinas needs unity.

For the common Pinoys, stop entertaining notions of destabilization. We can contribute, in our own little ways, to the economic upliftment of our Dear Pinas.

Remember that a rich country has more options than beggars.

As a starter, join The CEO-Entrepreneurs Organization at http://freeonlineschool.manila.ph/ceo-entrepreneur

Congratulations to both winners and losers.

The Best of Pinoys

By Alfred Yuson
The Philippine Star 05/16/2004

Patricia Evangelista, a 19-year-old, Mass Communications sophomore of University of the Philippines (UP)-Diliman, did the country proud Friday night by besting 59 other student contestants from 37 countries in the 2004 International Public Speaking competition conducted by the English SpeakingUnion (ESU) in London.

She triumphed over a field of exactly 60 speakers from all over the English-speaking world, including the United States, United Kingdom and Australia, reported Maranan.

The board of judges' decision was unanimous, according to contest chairman Brian Hanharan of the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC).

PATRICIA'S SHORT SPEECH WORTH READING....
BLONDE AND BLUE EYES

When I was little, I wanted what many Filipino children all over the country wanted. I wanted to be blond, blue-eyed, and white.

I thought-if I just wished hard enough and was good enough, I'd wake up on Christmas morning with snow outside my window and freckles across my nose!

More than four centuries under western domination does that to you. I have sixteen cousins. In a couple of years, there will just be five of us left in the Philippines, the rest will have gone abroad in search of "greener pastures."

It's not just an anomaly; it's a trend; the Filipino diaspora. Today, about eight million Filipinos are scattered around the world.

There are those who disapprove of Filipinos who choose to leave. I used to. Maybe this is a natural reaction of someone who was left behind, smiling for family pictures that get emptier with each succeeding year.

Desertion, I called it. My country is a land that has perpetually fought for the freedom to be itself. Our heroes offered their lives in the struggle against the Spanish, the Japanese, the Americans.

To pack up and deny that identity is tantamount to spitting on that sacrifice.

Or is it? I don't think so, not anymore. True, there is no denying this phenomenon, aided by the fact that what was once the other side of the world is now a twelve-hour plane ride away.

But this is a borderless world, where no individual can claim to be purely from where he is now.

My mother is of Chinese descent, my father is a quarter Spanish, and I call myself a pure Filipino-a hybrid of sorts resulting from a combination of cultures.

Each square mile anywhere in the world is made up of people of different ethnicities, with national identities and individual personalities.

Because of this, each square mile is already a microcosm of the world. In as much as this blessed spot that is England is the world, so is my neighbourhood back home.

Seen this way, the Filipino Diaspora, or any sort of dispersal of populations, is not as ominous as so many claim. It must be understood.

I come from a Third World country, one that is still trying mightily to get back on its feet after many years of dictatorship.

But we shall make it, given more time. Especially now, when we have thousands of eager young minds who graduate from college every year. They have skills. They need
jobs. We cannot absorb them all.

A borderless world presents a bigger opportunity, yet one that is not so much abandonment but an extension of identity.

Even as we take, we give back. We are the 40,000 skilled nurses who support the UK's National Health Service.

We are the quarter-of-a-million seafarers manning most of the world's commercial ships. We are your software engineers in Ireland, your construction workers in the Middle East, your doctors and caregivers in North America, and, your musical artists in London's West End.

Nationalism isn't bound by time or place. People from other nations migrate to create new nations, yet still remain essentially who they are.

British society is itself an example of a multi-cultural nation, a melting pot of races, religions, arts and cultures. We are, indeed, in a borderless world!

Leaving sometimes isn't a matter of choice. It's coming back that is. The Hobbits of the shire travelled all over Middle-Earth, but they chose to come home, richer in every sense of the word.

We call people like these balikbayans or the 'returnees'-those who followed their dream, yet choose to return and share their mature talents and good fortune.

In a few years, I may take advantage of whatever opportunities come myway.

But I will come home. A borderless world doesn't preclude the idea of a home. I'm a Filipino, and I'll always be one.

It isn't about just geography; it isn't about boundaries. It's about giving back to the
country that shaped me.

And that's going to be more important to me than seeing snow outside my windows on a bright Christmas morning.

Mabuhay and Thank you.

More Best of the Philippines at http://mysearch.ph/philippine-new/archive.htm