FVR at 79

Former President Fidel V. Ramos (FVR) is turning 79 years old on March 18. A fellow Pisces, FVR invited me to visit him "for a cup of coffee and friendly dialogue" in his presidential library cum museum last week. It is actually the headquarters of the Ramos Peace and Development Foundation, Inc. or RPDEV which FVR chairs. It was my first time to set foot in his post-Malacanang Palace workplace located at the 26th floor of the Export Bank Plaza at Gil Puyat Avenue, corner Chino Roces Avenue in Makati City.

Typical of FVR, his invitation to me came in the form of his red-penned marginal note at the bottom of a xeroxed copy of my Feb.21 column when I wrote about "FVR’s Three Ks." In that clipping, he marked in red pen the following paragraphs in my column that day.

"With all the three Presidents of the Republic endorsing their own bets in these coming elections, FVR seemed to be out of the picture and nowhere in sight. He is after all the chairman emeritus of the ruling administration party Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD). He might be out of the country again on yet another speaking engagement or business cum trade mission abroad in his private capacity as "senior citizen Eddie."

"With all these campaign hoopla and getting endorsements, it reminded me of FVR’s secret formula for candidates on cost-effective campaign. He calls it the "Three K’s," or short for "K for kamayan" (shaking of hands), "K for kawayan" (waving of hands), and, "K for Kodak-an" (photo-taking)."

"FVR’s being quiet these days should augur well for President Arroyo in the light of the worsening intramurals between Lakas and her allies from the Kabalikat ng Mamamayang Pilipino (KAMPI)."

He corrected me right away that it should be actually "FVR’s 4 Ks." The fourth K, he added is "Kainan," or eating, as the Filipino tradition for candidates ought to do while campaigning. Levity aside, FVR admitted he has intentionally stayed away from the senatorial campaign, citing the situation is "still very fluid" to explain why he has not endorsed any of the administration-backed senatorial candidates from the Team Unity of President Arroyo.

On his being "out of the country again," FVR shoved to me a copy of the first quarter issue of "Visionary," the official newsletter of RPDEV, and marked by a yellow paper post-it scribbled with his red-penned note "out of pic?" On pages 4 and 5 of the newsletter, entitled "FVR Takes the Philippines Around The World," he pointed to me a table showing the number of times he has gone abroad to attend to various international events like business conferences, investment and trade symposia, and speaking engagements since he retired from office on June 30,1998 up to Dec.31,2006. By his reckoning, he has gone out of the Philippines for a total of 348 times for the past five years.

In the middle of our "dialogue," while chewing his tobacco, FVR got a phone call from Speaker Jose de Venecia. He did not get up to leave the room but talked with De Venecia via cell phone and he obviously intended to make me listen to their conversation. Talking in English, interspersed in Tagalog, he told De Venecia about the FVR books mis-delivered at the House of Representatives. And for about five minutes of their telephone talks, FVR repeatedly told De Venecia: "It’s all about local politics, Joe! Go back to your district."

Obviously, they were talking about the local party intramurals as well as with their coalition partners like KAMPI. Despite his being the Lakas president, De Venecia’s re-election bid for his third and last term in Congress is being challenged by his fellow Lakas, incumbent Dagupan City mayor Benjie Lim. Former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Arturo Lomibao, who has applied to join KAMPI, is also reportedly set to contest De Venecia in the fourth district of vote-rich Pangasinan.

But while he has stayed out from the Team Unity senatorial campaign, FVR finds himself in the center of the local intramurals, including in his own birthplace Asingan, where two Lakas bets who are both personally close to him are contesting each other’s bid in their congressional district. They are Customs deputy commissioner Gallant Soriano, who is FVR’s godson in baptism and wedding, and Rachel Arenas, daughter of socialite Rosemary "Baby" Arenas.

Always elusive as he is, FVR evaded giving me any direct answer when I queried about his own local politics dilemma, except citing the need to infuse "young blood" to lead the country to its bright future.

Aside from his frequent travels here and abroad, FVR is also kept busy writing columns that come out every Sunday at The Manila Bulletin. Incidentally, the RPDEV and his friends will host a birthday party for him on Thursday and launch his latest book, aptly titled Bulletin of FVR "Sermons."

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Hollywood had taken fancy of the presidential couture of Mrs.Arroyo. While watching TV at home late Friday night, I was shaken from my drowsiness over a preview of "30 Rock," a new situation comedy show that would be featured every week at Star World Channel in the Skycable.

The sitcom stars Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin. The show’s title comes from a nickname for 30 Rockefeller Plaza. The "30 Rock" show is a workplace comedy that follows the cast and crew of a Saturday Night Live-like show-within-a-show where Fey and Baldwin are TV executives who are always at each other’s throats. The sitcom will now be airing in our local cable TV starting this week.

In that particular preview, Fey, as Liz Lemon producing The Girlie Show, was talking with Baldwin who, as the network boss, facetiously complimented her tailor-cut dress. But in a mock dismay, Fey bewailed: "Like I am the president of the Philippines!"

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