Why do I have a blogsite dedicated to Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo? Because I can see that we have too many columnists and too many journalists in the country who are against her or would like to see her leave the Presidency, in shame if possible. I do not agree with that. While I don't get published in any of the papers (not for want of emailing), I can publish myself in the Internet. It is a challenge to me because it is easier to be critical than to be creative -- all you have to do is say something not nice.

Nicky, my favorite student

When you see your favorite student on TV wanting GMA to resign or else face what has been described as ‘intolerable pressure’ from outside Malacañang Palace, the seat of power, the residence and office of the highest executive of the government – what do you do? You disagree.

I was watching and listening on TV to Korina Sanchez interviewing Nicky Perlas of Pagasa (a civil society group I didn’t bother to get what it is an acronym of), and the message of Pagasa (in English, hope) is that the country is hopeless, GMA is hopeless and so, in two words: GMA out! When I heard that, in so many words, I told my wife to switch channels; she had to because I was insistent. There is enough negative vibes already in this country and I don’t want to encourage any negative vibes even if they happen to come from my favorite student.

I taught at Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro City in the late 1960s where Nicky was first year college. I taught my class their organic agriculture, with plenty of my references coming from the well-stocked university library. I gave him a grade of 1, Excellent – he deserved it. He graduated from Xavier into his own bio-agriculture, and on to international recognition and at least one international award, in recognition for his ideas and wisdom – all presumed on the foundations of peace.

Now, ‘Oust GMA!’ or whatever you call it, is not a peace process – it’s a broken-peace process that does violence to the rule of law. It does violence to creative thinking because it’s all critical thinking forcing its way into the consciousness of a nonviolent society. I have to say goodbye to my favorite student a second time.

What management does this country need?

I heard that GMA is a bad manager, that for instance, even when millions have been programmed and allotted, she can dictate where the funds go – and does.

In the first place, you are assuming that she is managing, that she knows management, that you know management. The thing is nobody knows management, not even the managers themselves. Or, rather, we have our own brand of management, and we believe we are all experts in management, ‘we’ including the vociferous columnists.

What kind of management does this country need? If you ask me:

One that dreams dreams in the first place, and writes it down in its manageable, achievable, desirable state. If you don’t write it down, it will never be clear.

One that settles on a strategic objective that is clear to everyone. That is why you have to write it down.

One that has an organizational strategy, despite the unwieldy bureaucracy. This must be written down.

One that has a management strategy, notwithstanding the encumbrances of ancient government protocol. It all has to be written down.

One that has a people strategy, that prizes people more than anything else. You have to write this down.

One that has a marketing strategy that works all the time. That’s why you have to write it all down.

One that systematizes everything so that everything will work despite people. One that will work even if it is the 50 millionth time. That is why it must be written.

No, we don’t have that kind of management, not even in the private sector. Certainly not in the hands of Ping Lacson, not in Joseph Estrada, not in Susan Roces, not in Loren Legarda, not in other pretenders to the throne.

What I have described is a new management paradigm, derived from that of Michael Gerber – read his 2-million-copies-selling book The E-Myth Revisited. You don’t learn such management in schools; you don’t learn that from criticizing in the sidelines either.

Nobody but GMA

2005 August 05. Considering all the troubles visited on her recently and up to this time:
There is nobody smarting than GMA – and nobody smarter.
Nobody more discouraged by more – and nobody who discourages more of her discouragers.
Nobody made smaller by more – and nobody who feels taller.
Nobody more dared by more – and nobody more daring.
Nobody more roasted in public by more – and nobody more trusted to let all those troublemakers go to hell.

3 questions: ‘What did GMA feel?’

I did not note the date, but there was this press conference at Malacañang Palace with GMA and Filipino journalists. I did not note the other questions either, but I was struck by 3 questions from 3 different askers. It was really only 1 question: ‘What did you feel when ...?’ And to the 3 questions, GMA had only 1 answer: ‘It doesn’t matter what I feel.’ But of course it does. What she meant was that if she was hurt, we had to leave it at that. ‘After all,’ she said, ‘I did not become President to enjoy.’ She told the askers what her father (President Diosdado Macapagal) told her long ago, that if she wanted to be President, she had to be prepared to do one thing: ‘Sacrifice.’ Next question?

GMA on a harm offensive herself? No

I’m reading Federico Pascual Jr’s (FPJ) column of 2005 August 04, which is all about GMA, her dress, her hair and her non-feminine look.

Is GMA on a charm offensive when her detractors or would-be destructors are on the offensive offensive? Then she’s doing it all wrong. She likes to wear blue, because that’s her lucky color, but that’s not a match to her skin, says Vi Massart, Philippine Star chief correspondent in Paris. And blue is sexy for tall and shapely ladies, not you know who.

Silbee Melissa wants this other FPJ, ‘If you get to see Gloria, kindly tell her to let her hair grow a little longer. I don’t want my President strutting around like a tomboy. Her manly looks upsets many of us women-watchers.’ What’s with the masculine look? ‘Sure,’ says Silbee, ‘she wants to project herself as a strong leader, but there is nothing stronger than feminine charm.’ And this FPJ tells her, ‘Yes, Ma’am, I agree with that last sentence!’

Silbee is saying: GMA’s hairdo doesn’t do her justice. I’m saying: So, what else is new? The opposition does not do her justice either!

No, GMA doesn’t strike me as on a charm offensive, but it strikes me that despite the harm offensive of quite a few disgusting males and females, this female has charmed quite a few other females who can’t help be concerned about her lack of charm. What all this tells me is that if the ladies are talking about looks in these turbulent times, then the world around GMA’s world looks okay after all.

The power of my mouse: Delete

One time, I sent this message to someone who keeps sending me emails of columnists and journalists all anti-GMA: ‘You, it doesn’t matter what they all say! It matters what I say because that’s what I think.’ Thousands if not hundreds of thousands of emails must be circulating everyday. They are trying to influence what people are thinking. They have the power of the email; I have the power of my mouse: Delete.

God Save The Queen

2005 July 3. In the midst of all the tumult created by those who claim to be saviors of the multitudes, it may be asked: ‘What will happen to GMA and her family?’ I will venture an answer and take it from the pages of history, from Europe, from the 17^th century, when it was first made known: a song, a prayer, and a prophecy. It is ‘God Save The Queen,’ the unofficial national song of Great Britain, music based on traditional song. Except for the names, this supplication applies to the current belligerent atmosphere in the Philippines.

God save our gracious Queen,
Long live our noble Queen,
God save the Queen!
Send her victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us;
God save the Queen!

Gloria will be glorious and reign over the country until her term is over.

O Lord our God arise,
Scatter her enemies
And make them fall;
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks,
On thee our hopes we fix,
God save us all!

The enemies are using politics as their weapon of mass distraction, but they will fail. Their deceitful hearts will be frustrated. God will save us from those who would destroy the country.

Thy choicest gifts in store
On her be pleased to pour;
Long may she reign;
May she defend our laws,
And ever give us cause
To sing with heart and voice,
God save the Queen!

GMA will defend our laws and make us proud, and we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Not in this land alone,
But be God’s mercies known,
From shore to shore!
Lord make the nations see,
That men should brothers be,
And form one family,
The wide world over.

The other countries will help our Queen battle the foes from island to island, from country to country.

From every latent foe,
From the assassins blow,
God save the Queen!
O’er her thine arm extend,
For Britain’s sake defend,
Our mother, prince, and friend,
God save the Queen!

God will spare her from any assassination attempt. God will protect her for the Filipino people.

Lord grant that Marshal Wade
May by thy mighty aid
Victory bring.
May he sedition hush,
And like a torrent rush,
Rebellious Scots to crush.
God save the King!

God will save her loved ones, her family included. God will save us all.

A company, a monastery & a country

In the 36^th issue (July 2000) of Fast Company, a new magazine based in Boston and co-edited by Alan M Webber and William C Taylor, there is an article by Chuck Salter with the title ‘What’s your mission statement?’ While the title is weak, the message is strong: Work should be liberating, praying should be rewarding – we should be doing both.

In Berkeley County 45 miles outside Charleston, South California, there stands an all-male company that owns 3,000 acres of lowland, that has guest houses for those in retreats (some 1000 warm bodies comes each year), that has a 2,200-acre timber land, a Web site, gift shop and botanical garden, and that has a poultry farm that makes more than $500,000 a year by producing 9 million chicken eggs and 270 tons of compost. This company has motivated workers, a strong organizational culture, and no backstabbing.

A miracle of an organization! It is the the Mepkin Abbey of 24 monks (average age 70). Their Abbot is Father Francis Kline (51). It’s an eclectic group, with a former Wall Street computer technician, clinical pathologist, a chef, stage manager, and a fisherman. ‘It shouldn’t work,’ says Father Francis, but ‘the fact that we’re here says a lot about God.’

And why does it all work out well? Augie Turak, a frequent visitor to the abbey, explains that the attitude there is: ‘How can I help the community?’ and not ‘How can the community help me?’ Turak is President of the North American operations for Israel-based Mu Tek solutions, a software-development company.

We can then liken the community to a software or computer program. Turak would know that in a software, all the menus must work together seamlessly, or the software will not work or will crash. The software does not ask the user, ‘What can you do for me?’ Instead, the software asks, ‘What can I do for you?’

We can then liken Mepkin Abbey to a country. Where there are motivated citizens, a strong national culture, and no backstabbing, the country will not only survive but grow. Which all means that if a country doesn’t grow, it’s not only because there are backstabbers but there is no strong national culture and there are no motivated citizens.

In the Philippines as elsewhere, the sowers of chaos must be stopped, the citizens must be motivated, and a strong national culture must be cultivated. We all have work to do and lots of prayers to send to Heaven. If not, we’ll never get to Heaven.

10 Cabinet members resigned & Atlas Shrugged

‘Resign, resign! That’s what is on many people’s lips nowadays. They want the President, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, to resign amidst allegations of corruption surrounding her husband and son, and accusations that she cheated in the May 2004 presidential elections. The opposition on the left, who differ in ideology from that of the center, who differ in ideology from that of the right, all want her out – preferably now. A matrix of plots, a web of conspiracies: who will emerge as The Ultimate Webmaster? Come to my parlor, said the Ultimate Spider to the Ultimate Fly.

Recently, many of GMA’s cabinet members resigned in a dramatic fashion, holding a joint press conference, hoping to create maximum impact not only to stare down the diminutive GMA but also to put fear into the hearts of the people and paralyze government machinery so that the little President will throw up her arms and give up the fight. They don’t know that GMA is small but terrible. ‘No surrender, no retreat,’ she told the Publisher of Philippine Star, Max Soliven, and Max knows she meant it.

Did the defiant, disloyal cabinet members think what they were doing was like Atlas Shrugged? That’s fiction. In Ayn Rand’s phenomenal book, when the intellectuals quit, the world stopped spinning. When those GMA cabinet members quit en masse, did they think that the future of this country depended on 10 intelligent cabinet members who had just stopped working? That’s fiction. When I thought of that, my Atlas shrugged it all off, as the future of the world does not depend on intellectuals who act stupid.

Preachers plead God to come down in wrath

Some preachers have been entreating God to come down angry from heaven and heap wrath on GMA whom they describe as the #1 sinner of the country, being President and a cheat. They presume to tell God what to do. He who has no sin let him cast the first curse!

NPAs will join anti-GMA rally during SONA

Ka Roger, publicity-conscious, laptop-hugging, cellphone- lugging spokesman of the New People’s Army in Southern Luzon, says the NPAs will join the anti-GMA rally during the State of the Nation’s Address of the President at the Batasang Pambansa on Monday, 2004 July 25. What can I say? ‘Welcome to democracy!’

The Philippines as the Clowns of Asia

You might as well know about us Filipinos: We are the uncrowned clowns of Asia.

I was watching ANC yesterday, Sunday, 24 July 2005, Cito Beltran’s program ‘Straight Talk,’ with guests Jon Santos and Leo Martinez; Jon is a first-class impersonator, and Leo is a first-class stage actor and comedian, that combination. Nanette Inventor was supposed to be with them, another first-class solo act, but her bulk was nowhere to be seen or heard; they were plugging their stateside show, ‘In Kilitical Condition,’ a pun combining the Tagalog ‘kiliti’ (literally, funny bone; in usage, it means personal weakness) and ‘critical’ (a reference to the dangerous times we are in, hyped by mass media, as always). Next month, August, they are performing in several states in the United States, where many Filipinos have families and reside as immigrants. Jon and Leo and Nanette are masquerading as marketing folks out to sell the Philippines to the Filipinos out there in these times of turmoil. Their act revolves around the country’s best beach, called SanamaBeach. A daring act is what it looks like; indeed, the times call for it. Jon wondered how and why is it that in times of crisis, the comedians suddenly become the top act. Explanation: We would rather have a zany act like theirs than a crazy act like a coup.

Cito asked Leo why he has not been seen or heard with his trademark character Congressman Manhik-Manaog with his Batangas accent, ‘Ala e!’ The name of the character is a play of words: manhik-manaog means now it’s up-now it’s down. Leo replied in so many words: ‘It’s because our congressmen today are funnier than my congressman. I’m not writing any scripts because our congressmen are writing all the funny lines.’ Cito laughed loud, and so did I. What Leo was trying to say is that our congressmen today are making fools of themselves, and the Filipino people beside, mouthing words that say they care about the people and due process of law, and then going ahead and voting and acting inside and outside Congress the opposite of what they claim to be. They are ridiculous, if not downright pathetic. Some clowns can’t get their act together.

GMA’s SONA brings us back to 1 BC

I just downloaded the text of the State of the Nation Address (SONA) of GMA and I noticed that it was ALLCAPS. This is vintage 1 BC (Before the Computer). In 1985 AD (Age of the Dinosaur Typewriter) and years before, the texts of speeches were typed ALLCAPS, allegedly for easier reading (you used Orator if you had an IBM Selectric with its selectable rotating balls of fonts). I said allegedly. Now that it’s 2005 AC (Age of the Computer), you must know that ALLCAPS is in fact difficult to read (compare that with Allcaps) and, with your favorite word processor, all you have to do today is select the whole manuscript (Ctrl+A), then click Format Font and select a bigger size, like 18 pt. GMA’s SONA shows that habits die hard.

And so do the bad habits of the opposition old and young: obstruction, obfuscation, disinformation, disengagement. They raise a ruckus and call for resignation; they pay for opinion polls and push for the President to step (or fall) down ungracefully. Are they enemies of the people? Only if the people listen to them, and only if they engage with the enemies of the state, who are trying to bring us back to the times of the barbarians at the gate.