Apologies July 31, 2006

FOR SAYING THE EVACUATION OF THE FILIPINO OFWs in Lebanon was a mess for lack of funds, the whole thing being left to chance, God, and the elements whichever proved more merciful, Philippine Ambassador to Lebanon Al Francis Bichara now finds himself in deep—well, let’s just say—debris. Malacañang is furious and has denied his assessment of things. The Owwa funds are intact, Marianito Roque said angrily, and even then were being used to bring the OFWs home. He demanded that Bichara be investigated for causing the furor that arose over the funds, the Senate now demanding to know where these are. Alarmed by how his assessment has been received by the people who have hired and can fire him, Bichara has apologized profoundly for his error. He could have saved himself the trouble: It won’t save him. I met Bichara casually ages ago in a talk in Legazpi. He was then the governor of Albay. His family name is a well-known one in Bicol, “Bichara” being the most famous and, if I’m not mistaken, longest standing movie house in Naga City. The name is almost synonymous with movie house. I didn’t know that the Bicharas have Arab blood, or even specifically Lebanese blood. I do recall that Al Francis Bichara didn’t look like the iconoclastic, defiant, Young-Turk type. He looked like the acquiescent, pliant, go-with-the-flow type. I didn’t even know he had even become ambassador to Lebanon. But certainly he doesn’t look the type to issue shrill notices to draw attention to himself. Which brings me to the difference between what he and his government are saying. Bichara is in Lebanon, he probably knows the language and the custom of the people, he can actually see and hear what he is reporting. What he can see is panic, what he can hear are screams, and what he knows is that he has no money to give the ever-growing refugees refuge. Hell, he can’t even give them food, he has to rely on the kindness of strangers and humanitarian agencies. (Roque would subsequently say that is because the money has not been coursed through him but through their own representative in Lebanon. Go figure.) Bichara’s assessment is backed up by the Filipino priest there, Fr. Agustin Advincula, who runs the Church of the Miraculous Medal in Beirut. Deluged by Filipinos who have managed to escape the bombing by the skin of their teeth, many of them penurious from having been abandoned by their employers at the first sign of danger, and not knowing where to turn to while the nationals of other countries were being plucked out of danger in ships by their governments, he issued a wounded cry that rose up to heaven itself: “Where have the OFW billions gone?” We don’t know if Malacañang has asked Archbishops Fernando Capalla and Ramon Arguelles to ask the CBCP to ask Advincula to shut up. We know Malacañang has asked Bichara to shut up and let them do the talking. We do know several other things as well. We know that the first advice the Department of Foreign Affairs gave the OFWs in Lebanon was to hitch a ride with passing vehicles as though they were in some village in the Visayas or Mindanao. We know that the second advice it gave to them was to pack up and go, as though they were loitering around waiting for their pay while the place was being turned to rubble. We know that the OFWs have no Medicare funds. Before the 2004 elections, GMA transferred the Medicare funds of the OFWs to PhilHealth, which then issued cards, not unlike her campaign posters, showing her cradling an infant. Subsequently, the DOLE stopped Owwa from reimbursing OFWs who had incurred medical expenses. Roque says he welcomes an inquiry into the Owwa funds. That’s what GMA said too about impeachment. By all means the Senate should take him on, if only to see where else whole portions of the funds have been diverted to. We know that GMA is willing to spend billions to reward her friends and allies. That was what the Sona was all about. It was about a division of spoils—or so GMA promised, if her own friends and allies could believe her. I did say that GMA did well to remind us at the beginning or her Sona about the plight of the OFWs in Lebanon, which is not unlike the plight of most of us today, only to tell us how she meant to use our money. The OFWs, their families and the migrant groups should make a poster showing the pictures of the people GMA expressly named in that Sona (a veritable rogues’ gallery!) with the caption, “Where have all the OFW billions gone?” I remember that only a few months ago, we had a very similar case. Acting Education Secretary Fe Hidalgo had the misfortune of telling us we lacked 6,832 classrooms. This made GMA furious. She said Hidalgo didn’t answer her question which was: How many classrooms exceeded the 1-100 teacher-student ratio. The assumption being that teachers doing double shift could cover 100 students adequately. Hidalgo subsequently apologized. The 6,832 classroom shortage, Hidalgo would explain later, was based on the “ideal” ratio of 1 teacher to 45 students. Which showed only how horrendous our concept of ideal now is. In countries like Korea, the current reality, never mind ideal, is a PC-to-student ratio in classrooms of 1 to 1. Hidalgo never became education secretary. Last year, GMA apologized to the nation for telling a lie. This year, at least two major government officials have apologized to her for telling the truth. Last year, GMA rewarded herself for her “lapse in judgment” by clinging to a position she did not win. This year, her officials are routinely punished for their temporary insanity in thinking they can keep their jobs by doing their jobs. Last year, GMA made lying a lofty virtue. This year, she has made honesty a crime. http://opinion.inq7.net/inquireropinion/columns/view_article.php?article_id=12619