Life after the presidency

HONG KONG — We flew in here today to cover the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Asia Meeting where our very own President Arroyo is among the leaders from the so-called “emerging economies” in Asia who are invited to speak before this international forum. Less than a week after she returned to Manila from her official trips to Peru and Colombia, Mrs. Arroyo is going abroad anew for her penultimate foreign travel this year.

The President will embark on her last trip for this year to Thailand for the 14th Asean Leaders’ summit to be held on Dec.15-18. That is, if the political crisis in Bangkok settles down before that time and embattled Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat is not replaced. During his recent short visit to Manila last month, the Thai premier reassured Mrs.Arroyo that Thailand is ready to host the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit at a venue in their country’s northern province of Chiang Mai instead of Bangkok in order to avoid possible security problems from the political strife centered in their capital city.

That was before the takeover of Bangkok airports by thousands of Thai protesters demanding for Somchai to step down from power. Despite herself facing renewed attempts to impeach and oust her from office, President Arroyo appeared very confident that her arch nemesis won’t succeed again to do so. In fact, even while she was still out of the country last week, pro-administration Congressmen decisively killed the latest impeach case lodged against her.

She is again leaving the country even if the latest impeach case — supported no less by her estranged political ally, ex-Speaker Jose de Venecia, Jr. — has yet to be formally buried at the House of Representatives plenary floor voting set for tomorrow at the Batasang Pambansa.

Mrs.Arroyo is expected to arrive here later tonight on the eve of the opening of CGI Asia meeting to be held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Wanchai. She was invited by her favorite classmate at the Georgetown University, former US President William J. “Bill” Clinton. The President and Clinton survived impeachment attempts. In her case, not just once but four times already.

It will be a reunion of sorts for the two of them. Both of them along with Pakistan Prime Minister, Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani are the featured participants in tomorrow’s opening plenary session on the subject of “Balancing Growth, Sustainability, and Equity.” The CGI Asia Meeting kicks off with remarks from United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon.

The two-day event gathered “influential Asian business, government, civil society, and philanthropic leaders” to help develop solutions for the most urgent issues specific to the region. The CGI Asia is the first in a series of international meetings in diverse areas around the world which will also feature panel discussions, workshops and open press sessions devoted to addressing the specific areas of concern on education, energy and climate change, and global health at the local, regional, and international levels.

The other heads of state invited to participate in this gathering here are Jose Ramos-Horta of Timor-Leste and Nambaryn Enkhbayar, President of Mongolia who are both grouped together on the plenary session “Building Prosperity from Diversity.” Our very own Maria Ressa, senior vice president of ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs and managing director of ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC), is a participant in this particular plenary session.

Two other Filipino journalists are invited here as participants in separate plenary sessions. They are Rico Hizon, who is now business anchor and reporter of BBC World News, and Jaime A.FlorCruz who is the chief of the CNN Beijing Bureau. Speaking of Rico Hizon, I voted for him as one of the judges invited by the Commission on Overseas Filipinos to select the 2008 Presidential Awards for outstanding Filipinos and organizations overseas. Thus, I am glad to learn that he is one of the winners who will receive the award from President Arroyo in the program slated on Dec.10 at Malacañang Palace.

The other invited participants in the CGI Asia Meeting from the Philippines included Rina Lopez-Bautista, Knowledge Channel Foundation, Inc. (KCFI) president and daughter of Lopez Group chairman Oscar M. Lopez. The Lopez Group is a conglomerate that includes Sky Cable Corp., the largest cable network in the Philippines, and ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp., the largest mass media content provider in the country.

Aired over Skycable Channel, KCFI’s Knowledge Channel is the first and only curriculum-based TV channel in the Philippines, available on cable and satellite. It aims to equalize learning opportunity by making quality education, audio-visual materials and training accessible to poor and marginalized students, their teachers and even their parents. KCFI programs benefit more than 2.9 million students in close to 2000 public schools in the Philippines. It is currently developing its new media initiatives in line with 21st century learning in tie-up with the Department of Education.

Lopez-Bautista is credited to have harnessed her family’s media resources and founded KCFI in 1999 to enhance basic education by providing public schools with cable or satellite access to Knowledge Channel, an all-educational channel that airs TV programs consistent with government-prescribed curricula for primary and secondary education. She was invited to join the panel for the Education working session entitled, “Bridging Digital and Learning Divides.” Her Knowledge Channel is now considered a model for hybrid educational technology in less developed countries, aligning it with CGI’s thrust toward concrete solutions for global challenges in education.

The CGI was inaugurated in September 2005 in New York City under the leadership of former President Clinton. The CGI is stated as being a non-partisan catalyst for action by bringing together these global leaders that include heads of state, non-profit as well as business organizations and charities to discuss challenges facing the world today and devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges.

Mr. Clinton’s example could inspire Mrs.Arroyo to see there is life after the presidency. Thus, there is no need to extend her stay in office beyond her term in June 2010.