So like the Greeks

THESSALONIKI, Greece – My daughter’s Greek landlord once admonished her, upon finding out she was taking a vacation in Greece, to be careful about too much exposure to the Greek sun. Bring plenty of sunblock, he advised. 

My daughter remarked that she comes from a tropical country and is thus familiar with sun exposure. But her landlord insisted that the Greek sun is different. It is more vicious. 

Indeed it is. This is not my first visit to Greece and I have noticed that the Transition lenses in my eyeglasses always turned dark almost as soon as I leave the passenger terminal. That means ultra violet rays are extra strong and that’s unhealthy for our eyes. That rarely happens in tropical Manila. Maybe there is a hole in the ozone layer over Greece or our air pollution level is high enough to block ultra violet rays. Ok, I am not sure my theory about a potential good side of Manila’s pollution is scientifically tenable but I am desperate to see something positive.

There is however something that irritates ordinary Greeks more than the sun’s ultra violet rays: their politicians. Our guide pointed to the Parliament building as we made our way to our hotel. He said we will see many ancient temples in the course of our visit and the Parliament building is a modern temple, the temple for democracy.

Unfortunately, our guide said, its high priests are mostly crooks. Another guide while I was touring one of the Greek isles said just about the same thing. “Those politicians ought to be shot. They mismanage the government and it is us the common people who must suffer the consequences.” And yes, they don’t have an idea where they are taking Greece. They don’t have a game plan. Doesn’t that sound familiar?

The massive austerity program forced upon Greece by the European community is having an adverse impact on employment and the general economy. I am told that only the strong family system is helping a large army of unemployed survive. Just like in our case.

Even at the airport, I noticed only two immigration officers processing foreign passport holders and another one for those holding EU passports. The lines are long, like it once was at NAIA. But unlike at NAIA, there was someone trying to speed the process.

The negative impact of the austerity program I am told, is more pronounced in the metro area of Athens than in the islands. Talking to ordinary Greeks about how they feel about their government made me feel at home. Their parliament is as disreputable to the Greek people...just the way we feel about our Congress,

The Greek people are proud to trace the historical roots of democracy in Athens. It is pretty much like our pride in pointing out that our country is the bastion of democracy in our part of the world. How could the political leaderships in both countries prove so unworthy of their people’s trust?

Both our countries have experimented in strong arm rule and after a people’s revolt, had high hopes for democracy taking root only to be disappointed by ineptitude and corruption through different administrations. Now Greeks and Filipinos are just angry at how they have been betrayed by their political leaders.

Still, our guides point out that angry as the ordinary people are with their political leaders, the caricature image of Athens in CNN and BBC news reports is not accurate. The riots some months ago were confined to the vicinity of the Parliament building. Indeed, the rest of the country is peaceful and busy catering to the tourists. 

And the country out there is postcard picture perfect. The sun, the beaches, the cuisine have all fallen into place to produce a country that seems to have made for great vacations.  A conservative estimate of 14 million tourists find their way to Greece yearly. In Athens as in the Greek isles, tourism is the driving force that blunts the harshness of today’s economic times. And unlike in our case, they have good infrastructure in place to capitalize on the tourist trade.

Austerity or not, their highways are miles away in quality from what we have. Cruise ship terminals are busy even as they are about to close this year’s tourist season. But like in many European capitals, petty crimes victimizing tourists is now a major headache. Someone in my group lost her bag to a snatcher right at the Acropolis complex in Athens. There was zero police visibility in the highly popular tourist destination, perhaps due to the government’s austerity program.

But I like the Greeks and I feel the same frustration they have. Our leaders may feel smug about how our economy seems to be doing better than the Greeks but that is false pride. Thus far it is just the OFWs and the BPOs that seem to be holding our country’s economy up. We still have a fairly large number of unemployed and underemployed people who are yet to feel what our economic managers brag about as the second highest economic growth rate in the region next to China.

One thing I noticed that made me envious of the Greeks is how they have taken care of their infrastructure through the years. A Greek also pointed out to me that austerity or not, every Greek has the right to free education up to college. 

Maybe their politicians have done what most politicians do but unlike in our case, didn’t neglect the basic needs of their people. As the Napoles case revealed to us, our politicians steal 100 percent of budgets. That’s reason to be mad enough to loudly demand and work for change. Otherwise, we deserve our fate.

We are so like the Greeks. At the same time, we are so different!

Frustrated and angry

If e-mails to me from my readers are any indication, it seems there is a growing number of people who are also getting very frustrated and angry. Most of them truly wanted P-Noy to succeed from the start. 

They have been patient as P-Noy and his Student Council went through the process of learning the job of running government. But after P-Noy crossed the midpoint of his six year term, expectations are high for him to deliver.

The other opinion I get from readers is their frustration over the administration’s inability to deliver on essential services and infrastructure. I get readers who say that while they appreciate the anti-corruption focus of P-Noy, they don’t think that shouldn’t be at the expense of long sought projects. The issue of competency is now raised more often than before.

Here is one e-mail I received from someone I shared a publisher with before. Both he and I used to write for Business Day where I was a columnist and he was a reporter.

Here is that e-mail slightly edited for space considerations.

Hi Boo,

 I’ve been shadowing your columns for a mighty long time and I’m like totally exasperated by now since your observations are accurately spot on. I am more frustrated than you are.

The analogy isn’t perfect but the adage “hell hath no fury than a woman scorned” holds water for me.  This is the reason I am more frustrated and upset than you are. For all intents, I am one of the last hold-outs.

Reading your columns from way back, you struck me at the start as a doubting Thomas of the student council, became a tentative “believer” and by the time you expressed your cynicism, I was still on a hopeful mode.

I truly had high expectations of this administration.  It was spouting the right sound bites that resonated with me.  I felt that this was what I was looking for in the past 30-40 years.  All the past presidents -- with the exception of Tita Cory -- were disappointing.

I never expected Tita Cory to really pull us out of the poverty rut.  To me, her role was definitive and singular: just get rid of the dictator and we’ll take it on from there.

Anyway, until the PDAF and DAP bombs exploded, my sense of optimism was akin to a poker player who had on his hands a royal straight flush.  I felt that I could bet the whole bank on this administration because there was no way I could lose.

As things have turned out, it seems that the hand that I have been dealt with looks like they came from tarot cards.  And with the tarot hand I have been dealt, I cannot even predict the future, can no longer divine what else can be significantly accomplished in the remaining years of this administration.

Perhaps I should just focus my energies on supporting the next, still unidentified candidate, who is certainly not one of the current  wannabes whose integrity and competence leave much to be desired. Regards and keep on lancing those laid back incompetents with the sword of your pen. 

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco