Where have all the patriots gone?

The absence of a single top opposition leader during last Saturday’s National Day of Prayer was disturbing, sad and pathetic. Are the oppositionists so enraged at the Macapagal-Arroyo presidency that they would not even agree to join an event that symbolizes national unity? Or are they so devoid of patriotism that they would opt to distance themselves from a non-partisan, non-political affair?

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How nice it would have been if Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr., the Senate minority leader, or Senator Blas F. Ople, or even Senator Sergio Osmeña III was there at the Quirino Grandstand, to signify the opposition’s desire to see our people unite and help push our nation forward. How about Senator Edgardo Angara? His presence at the National Day of Prayer would have meant very much to well-meaning Filipinos who would like to see one nation, one people, questing hand in hand for a better tomorrow.

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Sixteen years, four presidents. That is how much time has passed since the coconut levy funds were sequestered and put under government control — in limbo as to who their true owners are and how they can be used. The judicial system itself has found how much of a quagmire the coco levy funds are, because of the conflicting evidence and points of law needed to resolve even the most basic issues. In the meantime, the farmers and the stakeholders find that they cannot even benefit from the coco levy funds.

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It is just possible that the solution to the issue may lie not with a judicial decision, but with a covenant among the stakeholders and with the government on how to finally resolve the problem. Recently, the first half of that solution came into being. Organizations representing the coconut farmers signed an agreement urging President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to resolve the pending cases.

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The agreement focuses on the Coconut Industry Investment Funds that were used to purchase shares in San Miguel Corporation. The CIIF funds are invested in more than a quarter of SMC’s total outstanding shares — and these shares have been under sequestration since 1986.

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Under the agreement, the following commitments are made:

1. A perpetual and irrevocable coco trust fund will be created from CIIF shares.

2. Earnings from the fund will be used for projects that benefit the farmer beneficiaries.

3. A coco trust fund committee will manage the funds.

4. There will be a mutual sharing of benefits among the coco farmers on fund utilization and program implementation.

5. The coco farmers groups will work for the exclusion of the CIIF shares in San Miguel from all pending coconut levy-related issues.

6. Coco industry development councils will be established in coconut-producing areas.

7. There will be continuing cooperation among the farmers groups to attain their common objectives.

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The agreement is needed because tracking down all coco farmers and individually giving them their shares in the CIIF looks impossible. Thus, a forward-looking solution is to use the coco funds and the CIIF shares to create a trust fund that will benefit the coconut industry.

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Perhaps, it is high time for the coco industry to fight back on its own terms, to improve the competitiveness and productivity of the coco farmers, to market their products abroad, to conduct research on new products, and to lobby for more measures that will expand existing markets and open new ones. That is what the coconut industry needs —- and the trust fund is one way to finance such an effort.

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An Ateneo schoolmate who sent to me a copy of Ronnie Alejandro’s account of what he personally witnessed during the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center erred when he described Ronnie as a "couturier." In a letter from New York, Ronnie said we must have had in mind another Atenean, Roy Gonzalez, who made it big as a couturier in Paris for more than three decades. "Roy was the first Filipino to make it in what was then the fashion capital of the world under the famous Parian couturier Jean Patou."

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Now, for some more tidbits about Ronnie Alejandro who has been living continuously in Manhattan for the last 32 years. He was truly versatile and excelled as a dancer, choreographer, chef, culinary historian, stage director, columnist, and research librarian at the New York Public Library, one of the world’s great libraries. He then took an early retirement so that he could devote his time to writing books, so far numbering 21.

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What Ronnie gave me at the lobby of EDSA Shangri-La several years ago was "The Pinoy Guide to the Big Apple." I still have that copy in my own library. Ronnie promised to give me copies of his coffee table books like Pasig: River of Life, Selyo, Philippine History on Postage Stamp, and the Flowers of Baguio. Right now, he is doing research work on sequels to the tome Pasig: River of Life, and Mga Bagong Bayani: The Filipinos Overseas.

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PULSEBEAT: According to ANC’s Gene Orejana, the open manhole at East Avenue, near the Land Transportation main office, has been fixed. Instead of a circular metal cover, the manhole is now covered with a rectangular metal sheet, with asphalt on its sides. Apparently, the DPWH does not have an inventory of manhole covers . . . The Ateneo de Manila University Alumni Mass has been rescheduled to Sunday, November 18, at the Ateneo College Chapel. The Mass celebrant is Fr. Nemesio Que, S.J. . . . The UP Institute of Human Rights is sponsoring a round-table discussion on "Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Policies, Practices and Prospects" on November 16, from 1 to 5 p.m. at the Malcolm Theater, Malcolm Hall, UP Diliman, Quezon City. This forum should be of great interest to disabled Filipinos who feel that they are not getting what is due them under the Philippine Constitution and the Magna Carta for Disabled Persons (Republic Act No. 7277).

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Thoughts For Today:

The bumps and bruises along life’s way
Are softened when you stop and pray.
God will always listen to you,
Gently guiding all you do.

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A single candle can illuminate an entire room.
A true friend lights up an entire lifetime.
Thanks for the bright lights of your friendship.

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My e-mail addresses: [email protected] or <[email protected]>