Wish list

We’ve come a long way in one year and the daang matuwid or straight path is bearing fruit.

Those were the highlights of President Aquino’s speech yesterday recapping his first year in office, which was peppered with digs at the mess left behind by his predecessor.

The barbs, which are expected to raise the hackles of the Arroyo camp, were used to illustrate the “monstrous problems” he inherited that P-Noy said he never wished to confront. The actual state of the mess, he said, has been worse than he thought.

But when Filipinos reassured him he would not be alone in his task, he could not refuse, and we are still his boss, P-Noy said: Kayo pa rin ang boss ko.

His one-year report card, a longer version of which we can expect in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) later this month, enumerated the achievements of the previous year: housing for soldiers, expansion of the conditional cash transfers, the construction of about 2,000 farm-to-market roads, improved rice harvest and a drastic reduction in rice imports – all made possible without imposing new taxes.

What was noticeable was the absence of specific goals in the coming year, but this is probably reserved for the SONA. Also, the fewer the avowed specific objectives, the less the public disappointment when achievements fall short – or at least that’s probably what the administration is thinking.

P-Noy did cite the projection of Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala that the country not only can stop importing rice but also become self-sufficient in its staple by 2013. If achieved, this will be a significant accomplishment.

The President also cited efforts to upgrade the country’s defense capability. We were told yesterday that the country had submitted its “wish list” of military hardware to Washington amid tension with China over the Spratlys.

All of P-Noy’s nearly 100 million “bosses” surely have their own wish lists for a better life and a better Philippines.

* * *

We already have freedom, and if happiness can be judged by the ease with which people smile, then Filipinos are blessed with happiness. We tend to take these things for granted, but foreigners notice them. Foreigners from free societies point out, in public gatherings, that because of these things, they feel more welcome and at home in the Philippines than in most other places in this part of the world.

Foreigners from less open societies who settle here feel the difference even more keenly.

We have freedom, and we know how to have fun.

Now if only we could have more jobs and fewer beggars, greater purchasing power, cheaper electricity, adequate clean water, world-class education at affordable rates, better and affordable health care, Internet access for the majority, a cleaner environment, modern mass transportation, quality roads, ports and airports that are not sources of national embarrassment…

Okay, that’s a pretty long wish list. But these are not impossible tasks, and a number of them can be achieved fully by the end of P-Noy’s term at noon of June 30, 2016.

In his speech, P-Noy reminded skeptics and critics that haste does not make for effective and lasting reforms. He urged the public to look on the bright side of his first year and see the changes that are slowly taking root.

A foreigner from a democratic country told me recently that all things being equal, many investors would pick the Philippines over its neighbors.

All things aren’t equal, unfortunately for us, and our neighbors are getting most of the investments and leaving us behind in many human development indicators. During P-Noy’s six years at the nation’s helm, this widening gap should be narrowed significantly.

* * *

Instead of picking a fight with China, we can look at the many things that a country of 1.3 billion people, many of them impoverished, has managed to achieve in just three decades.

Chinese officials starting with Deng Xiaoping knew they could best focus on economic development and achievement of prosperity for their people in a peaceful environment, without the distraction of war.

Poverty has not been eradicated in China, and its officials have a stake in promoting continued peace in this region and even the rest of the world if their march to prosperity is to be sustained.

Today the Chinese Communist Party marks its 90th year. Among the most significant changes in the mindset of its leaders is the embrace of foreign presence in their country, from tourists to investors to professionals.

Unlike democratic Philippines, the communist Chinese do not resent seeing foreigners earn huge profits in their country. They’ve had many slip-ups over the years, but you can see them making an effort to level the playing field for foreign and local investors. And they’re responding to investors’ concerns in ways that we haven’t seen in our country.

Yesterday, on the eve of the communist party’s anniversary, the $33-billion Beijing-Shanghai high-speed train, faster than the bullet train in Tokyo, started its regular commercial run, drastically cutting transport fare to the equivalent of about P3,000 between the two major cities. Travel time is four hours. It took all of two years to build the railway.

Also yesterday, China opened the world’s longest cross-sea bridge. The Jiaozhou Bay Bridge, 42 kilometers long, links the eastern port city of Qingdao (home of the Chinese beer) to the island of Huangdao. It took four years to build. No court TRO, no scandals, no contract reversals.

If we could finish projects that quickly, with minimal hitches, P-Noy can truly claim that we’re going a long way under his watch.

* * *

INCORRIGIBLE, PART II: Several of the streamers with the faces and names of Parañaque Mayor Florencio “Jun” Bernabe and his son, Councilor Benjo Bernabe, congratulating graduates, have been taken down along with smaller streamers of Councilor Alma Moreno. There’s still a large one behind a lamppost on Sucat Road. And Parañaque taxpayers are still stuck with the streamers featuring Vice Mayor Gus Tambunting, offering free weddings to city residents. Any public official who comes out with these streamers should be given special attention by government auditors.

Meanwhile, the large black van with license plate PIO 961, whose two police motorcycle escorts used their wang-wang to part traffic at the corner of EDSA and Roxas Boulevard one early evening about four weeks ago, is registered under the Magsaysay Marine Service Inc. Its address is 21/F Times Plaza building on UN Avenue/Taft in Ermita, Manila, according to the Land Transportation Office. Why does a private company deserve two police escorts, with wang-wang? This is no daang matuwid.