A matter of conscience - JAYWALKER by Art A. Borjal

I have the highest respect for public officials who are willing to sacrifice their political ambitions for what they believe would be for the best interest of the country. Take the case of Speaker Manuel "Manny" Villar, who bolted the ruling LAMP coalition several days ago, bringing with him over 40 legislators, to sign an impeachment petition against President Estrada.

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Prior to his defection, Manny Villar was a shoo-in for a senatorial slot in the LAMP line-up. Such privilege would have given him access to the awesome resources of the Estrada administration, which would have boosted his candidacy. But he decided to give this up, as a gesture of what he thought would be best for the Filipino people. In Villar’s own words, the decision was meant to speed up the resolution of the serious impeachment charges levelled against the President. Allowing this case to drag on would only lead to further erosion of the national economy, Villar added.

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It is apparent that Villar had more to lose by resigning from the LAMP coalition than by sticking it out. But then, his conscience prevailed. And his resignation became a crucial turning point in expediting the impeachment case in the House of Representatives.

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The rationale behind hastening the impeachment process is easy to discern. Filipinos are sick and tired of the usual political practices. And allowing the impeachment process to drag on and on in the House is not, at all, going to do the country any good. This, I think, is what was first and foremost in the mind of Manny Villar when he, along with 40 partymates, bolted the powerful LAMP coalition. The country could certainly use more principled leaders like Villar.

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If you think the Japayukis are known for their beauty and flair for fashion, you could be wrong. A group of former and active entertainers showed up Wednesday at the branch of a well-known commercial bank in Makati City, where they pulled out their dollars from their wallets and purses, turned these over to tellers at the bank windows, so that the dollars would be converted to cash. This gesture, said observers who are not at all associated with the "Erap Resign" movement, was an act of patriotism and love of country.

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The Japayukis, all working women, must have surprised bank depositors and customers, who saw them walk in, clutching dollar bills in different denominations. And the observers were amazed when the Japayukis said they wanted to trade in their dollars for pesos, because that was one way of restoring the strength of the peso against the Yankee dollar and a way of contributing to the national economy. But one skeptical guy muttered, these Japayukis must have been sent here by the pro-Erap strategists. Well, let us for the sake of national unity give the Japayukis the benefit of the doubt.

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The bank tellers were very glad to accept the dollar bills. But they were surprised when told that the Japayukis also had a message for the Makati elite and the city downtown businessmen: Stop hoarding dollars. Stop speculating in dollars. Stop victimizing poor Filipinos.

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Apparently, there is dollar-hoarding and speculation going on. Some quarters claim that these get-rich-quick schemes are a monopoly of "economic warlords" and business executives. And the practice involves buying dollars when they are cheap and selling them when the exchange rate becomes attractive. In other words, they speculate on the dollar by getting every bill they can lay a hand on and wait for the item when supply is low and demand is high.

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Observers say that dollar-hoarding and speculation are an organized business, launched for two reasons – to make millions and to ruin the economy. One damage-control measure being used by President Estrada’s strategists is to make it appear that the dollar-hoarding and speculation are being done by forces unfriendly to the Estrada administration. "The hoarders and speculators want to ruin not only the economy but also the President," supporters of President Estrada say.

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Now, back to the Japayukis in that Makati bank. They said that trading their dollars for pesos is their way of helping save the economy. And they recalled that during the 1997 Asian economic crisis, the Thais and South Koreans also turned over their jewelry and family heirloom to their governments as donations, or for a small sum. The Japayukis are now calling on other Overseas Filipino Workers to continue sending their dollar remittances to their families back home in the Philippines.

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But then, why should we rely merely on the OFWs to save the economy? Why can’t government officials also unload their dollars and convert these into pesos? President Erap should order all Cabinet secretaries, and all other executive officials, to give up their greenbacks and make them circulate in the business community. And the senators and congressmen can follow suit by likewise giving up their hidden dollars.

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I am glad to hear that my good friend, Bacolod City Mayor Oscar R. Verdeflor, has fully recovered from his recent illness, and that he is back in his job, delivering basic services to his people, and giving emphasis to socially-oriented projects like grassroots development of chess in his city. According to Rodolfo Toledo, his special technical assistant on sports, Verdeflor, had not only been distributing chess sets in the city schools, but has also sponsored various chess tournaments, in different age categories.

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Mayor Verdeflor’s deep involvement in chess is certainly one of the reasons why chess has really bloomed in Bacolod City and Negros Occidental. Toledo told me that under the umbrella of the Negros Occidental Chess association alone are 14 chess clubs all over the province. And in Bacolod City, said Toledo, there are 12 chess clubs all of them active in promoting grassroots chess in the city’s different barangays.

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Art A. Borjal’s e-mail address: <[email protected]>