Reaction to 'perennial handicap'

Alabang golfer Jose Mari Cacho forwarded a letter to Spy Bits written by serious golfer Dodo Cu Unjieng, wherein the latter vented his anger and frustration over the “golf cheating” incident involving Customs Commissioner Lito Alvarez. Due to space constraints, we edited the letter and retained the salient points. 

“Mr. Alvarez and Cesar Purisima have tried to downplay the relative unimportance of cheating in a golf tournament compared to the important post of Customs head. Mr. Alvarez even used a line obviously provided by his PR consultant, ‘judge me not by my (golf) score card but my performance score card.’ The game of golf is truly unique because, like no other game in the world, it is played without referees or umpires. Players are expected to abide by a code of honor where they call penalties upon themselves and honestly report their scores.

“And here we have Mr. Alvarez who, together with three other golfers of the same ilk, made a mockery of the tournament by blithely conceding unbelievably long putts among themselves and turning in equally unbelievable low scores that could only lead the tournament committee to conduct an investigation resulting in their being banned from tournament play and a (too lenient) six-month suspension for Mr. Alvarez. Everyone should carefully consider Mr. Alvarez’ response when confronted: ‘I only signed the score card that my caddie gave me.’ All golfers know that it is their sole responsibility to check their scorecards before signing and turning them in. In attempting to downplay the significance of his dishonest act by lamely trying to blame his caddie, Mr. Alvarez shows another character flaw – he shows no sense of accountability.  

“So is the incident as harmless and insignificant as Messrs. Alvarez and Purisima want us to think? Would these gentlemen have us accept their proposition that it’s okay to be dishonest, to lie, to cheat in the ‘small’ things like a golf tournament because they’ll be honest and truthful when engaged in their important government jobs? Contrary to what Messrs. Alvarez and Purisima wish us to believe, Honesty and Integrity aren’t traits one turns on or off to suit the situation. You either have it or you don’t.”

Sandbaggers and cheaters

Still on the issue of golf, an American golfer who used to regularly visit the Philippines to play golf has completely stopped coming. The American golfer complained that so many local golfers in the country are sandbaggers and routinely cheat with the help of their caddies. One legendary story at the Wack Wack Golf and Country Club was about a caddy who would routinely move the ball with his toes with the help of a hole in his shoe and place his player’s ball on a good lie. At another golf club, another legendary story goes that on a Par 3 where the green cannot be seen from the tee, players more often than not usually make a hole in one. That’s because the caddies simply place the ball in the hole even if it hits the sand trap. The tradition is when one makes a hole in one, all the caddies get an extra tip. The victims are usually Japanese and Korean players. As far as the caddies are concerned, “everybody happy.”

Gestapo tactics

Several businessmen are planning to write a letter to Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima to express their concern about the potential Gestapo tactics that could happen with the DOF’s plan to place a website wherein anonymous tipsters can give out the names of anyone they can claim to be alleged smugglers and tax cheats. While the businessmen agree the intention is good and they want to help the BIR and Customs do their job more efficiently, government must see to it that safeguards and controls are put into place so that honest businessmen will not be victimized by BIR or Customs officials out to harass them, or worse, simply reported by jealous business rivals. After all, the crab mentality in this country has only gotten worse. Alexander Solzhenitsyn once said, “Our envy of others devours us most of all,” and that is a fact of life.

Draining our brain

Two or three foreign recruiting firms are said to be operating quietly and offering overseas jobs to all sorts of professionals like our pilots, meteorologists, engineers, nurses, doctors and others. Obviously in the case of PAL, the company has been on a losing streak for some time now, which is why it cannot afford to compete with the salaries being offered by foreign airlines. The biggest recruiters come from the Middle East where pilots are in great demand. If a pilot is lucky he can even be employed by an oil sheik to fly the latter’s fleet of private jets and get paid enormously. One oil sheik from Oman reportedly has two Airbus 380s. One for himself and the other for his three wives.

Biggest remittance

Outgoing Canadian Ambassador to the Philippines Robert Desjardins (who left last week) was proud to say that out of the $17-billion average yearly remittances from overseas Filipino workers, the biggest share comes from Canada-based OFWs who send in $1.9 billion or more than 10 percent. Canada has become a choice destination for many workers because the pay is much higher than most other countries including the United States. 

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