I had gone there on the invitation of Mr. Adam Le Mesurier, Executive Director of Asia Economic Research, of the powerful Goldman Sachs.
"Don’t be deceived by my French-sounding name," Adam – who’s based in Singapore kidded me later, "I’m English."
It soon turned out that the meeting in the 7th floor Business Centre (the location should have alerted me) wasn’t even a lunch – it was an interrogation. The group offered me some cold sandwiches (Club, I think) from a bowl, and asked me what I would like to drink. I opted for cheap bottled water.
Then the questions began flying. Anyway, they were a nice and very polite bunch representing important fund investing groups, most of them having flown to Metro Manila direct from London. It was soon clear they were doing a business and political risk analysis to determine whether they could safely invest more here – or pull out their money.
The charming "inquisitors" included Didier Lambert of Fortis Investments (Paris); Steve Jennions of Autonomy Capital Research L.L.P. (London); Ahmet Ratib of Whitebeam Capital Management LL.P. (London); Ms. Chioma Okoye, Emerging Markets division, of Goldman Sachs International (London); and Vasan Shridharan of Ernst Capital (Hong Kong).
Basically, they wanted to know whether President GMA would not only remain in power, but finish her term. Whether the political situation would stabilize. Whether there was a military mutiny brewing – or whether the over-publicized rumors of a coup d’etat were true or false. Whether Cha-Cha would push through, and what form or shape a new Constitution might take. Finally, whether the Philippines is still a good place in which to invest – for example in the mining industry.
They even asked about the report that a "bomb" had exploded outside or inside Malacañang Palace just a few minutes earlier. (They got the buzz about this pretty fast, proving they were on the ball). My first reaction (I’d just heard about it minutes before I got to the Shang) was that "it must have been only a firecracker." Later, I quipped the small explosion might have been triggered off by troublemakers to signify – in vain – that a coup was in progress.
A coming "coup"? From my cracked crystal ball, I told them, that this is the only country where press releases are issued about coming coups which subsequently don’t happen.
In any event, the bomb scare turned out to be something of a joke. A minor "explosion" occurred in a garbage can in the grounds near the Mabini Hall, several hundred yards from the Palace itself. The only "casualties" were a few palm fronds from the coconut trees beside the trash pile. This was hardly enough to signal a military mutiny or terrorist attack – why, the sniffing dogs of the Presidential Security Guards even turned up their noses at the very idea that it might have been dynamite or IED (Improvised Explosive Device).
Oh well. As the Oklahoma blast demonstrated, anybody can make a bomb even out of fertilizer – no reference made in this remark to the Agriculture Department’s fertilizer scandal.
The most fascinating question thrown at me by the investment managers – most of them visiting our country for the first time – was: "Why is it that we don’t detect any spirit of ‘nationalism’ among people?"
Now that’s a very pertinent query – or observation.
And they’re right. Many of us simply don’t stand up for our country. We pay lip service to nationalism, and indeed to patriotism – but are too often bayaning huwad, straw patriots, pursuing our own selfish personal interests, or the interests of our clan, or tribe. How many are truly "Filipino"? It’s time we reoriented our educational system and made it work for us – telling us of how our forefathers fought for freedom, for their dignity and their rights. About how, despite our talent, we haven’t truly become One Nation. How too many Filipinos are "deserting" our country to seek their fortunes in the foreign diaspora.
How could I answer their question? They got me there.
One disgusting example were the recent marathon air talks between the Republic of the Philippines and the tiny but extremely wealthy oil-rich Emirate of Bahrain (population a piddling 650,000) which were conducted from February 16 to 17 in Clark Air Base, then from February 18 to 19 (Sunday) in Makati Shangri-la Hotel.
Sanamagan! Our RP panelists from the Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Tourism, CAB, Air Philippines, Cebu Pacific, Pacific East Asia Cargo Airlines, Clark Development Corp. and Philippine Airlines, were from Day One being bullied by our own Government officials to surrender to the demand by Bahrain that their airline, Gulf Air, be given six unconditional flights to Manila (in addition to those they already enjoy).
Despite being pressured, the RP panel refused. Bahrain then shaved down its imperious demand to four entitlements without conditions. The RP panel rejected this, too.
The RP panel, under continuing pressure, next offered the insistent Bahrainis a compromise of two entitlement flights to Manila under condition that a commercial agreement be signed first between RP and Bahrain before operation on entitlements would begin. Bahrain in turn rebuffed the very idea and insisted on two unconditional flights to Manila.
What was bizarre was the fact that DOTC Undersecretary Harun V. Pagunsan, who sat as chairman of the RP panel appeared to be on the side of Bahrain, not the RP. By golly, USEC Pagunsan even snubbed the media because, as he sneered: "You know the media . . they will misquote you!"
When the Clark talks hit gridlock because the RP panelists doggedly stood their ground, although exhausted and disheartened, it was agreed that discussions be resumed Saturday afternoon at the Shangri-la in Makati.
Bahrain seeing our panelists hanging tough finally "agreed" to a code-sharing deal but refused to put their panel’s verbal promises in writing, in black and white. When the talks dragged on for hours, USEC Pagunsan didn’t even want the RP panel to take a break for dinner – but at 11 p.m. most of the panel decided to defy him and adjourn for half an hour to get something to eat.
When the panelists returned, USEC Pagunsan informed them that a new proposal had been drafted by the Bahrain panel "which he had already accepted". But when the panelists studied it, they declined to sign the draft, even though it had already been initialed by Pagunsan and Victor Luciano, the representative of Clark Development. According to insiders, USEC Pagunsan then hit the roof threatening to resign as chairman – even threatening the astonished RP panelists they could lose their government positions if they didn’t go along and kept on rejecting Bahrain’s proposal.
The group broke up at 2 a.m., despite the badgering of the frustrated Pagunsan.
Only close to midnight that Sunday was a confidential memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed by the two panels agreeing to allow their designated carriers – PAL and Gulf Air – to operate two additional frequencies under a code share agreement from Bahrain to Manila and return.
The maximum size of aircraft would be an Airbus A340.
The codicil, however, is that PAL and Gulf Air must reach mutual understanding on the implementation of this code-sharing agreement within 21 days of the "signing." In short, the deal might still collapse, and we’ll be predictably subjected to more harassment, pressure and double-cross again.
How do we square ourselves with the distressing fact that our government big shots are more tenderly disposed towards giving in to foreign – in this case Arab interests – than protecting our own rights and dignity? Just because Bahrain employs a few thousand Filipino workers or OFWs? Salamabit! If you asked me, I’d recommend we tell them to go to hell.
We’ve become slaves to our hunger for jobs for our OFWs. They’re not giving us charity: the foreign employers make our OFWs work very hard. Then, they use this club to bash us with.
And, as during the Japanese military occupation of our country, they find so many collaborators and Kalibapis to help them.
Is it true that the RP panelists were being bombarded from the very start with the insinuation that the agreement to grant Bahrain more frequencies was already a "done deal" – and that President GMA had already approved it? Is it true that DOTC Secretary Larry Mendoza even rang up to hint our RP panelists must say "yes" already? If true, I can only say: Shame.
And what was the role played by one of GMA’s appointees, Ambassador Amable Aguiluz who had been designated by La Gloria "special Philippine Ambassador to the Middle East"? Aguiluz acted like the Ambassador of Bahrain to the Philippines instead, it seems.
At the outset, our Ambassador Aguiluz hosted an opening dinner for the Bahrain and RP delegates, citing in his speech the wonderful "relations" we have with Bahrain. Of course, Aguiluz operates an apparently profitable branch in Bahrain of his AMA Computer Schools. Even before the RP-Bahrain Talks began, would you believe, Aguiluz endorsed the proposal of Bahrain. He still declares we owe Bahrain so much, and the Sheikhs are jolly good fellows – so we have to be nice to them. I say that our Ambassador Aguiluz is entitled to make chika-chika with the Bahrainis and their royal family all he wants – but he must remember, he belongs to our side, meaning us Pinoys and Pinays, and not to the Arabs.
I’ve covered the Middle East for many years, and probably I know a bit about how things work in that region of the world. The Arabs, whatever their persuasion, always stick up for their own tribe. They know well enough, on the other hand, that Filipinos don’t always stand up their own.
There’s an old Arab proverb which I learned in the black tents of the Bedu (Bedouins) in the Sahara many years ago. It goes: "God has a hundred names, but man knows only 99 of them. The camel knows the 100th Name of God. Therefore, the camel is superior to man."
In the RP-Bahrain talks, those shrewd masters of camels truly put one over us.