Government failing in Tampakan; the 18th century geisha

It is evident that the impeachment of Corona is occupying government. Many tasks have been left undone or left to subalterns who do not have a comprehensive plan to push the country forward. No wonder the economy is slowing down just as the risks from a failing world economy become graver by the day.

This hapless situation springs from President Aquino’s obsession to impeach CJ Renato Corona by hook or by crook in order to keep Hacienda Luisita in his family’s hands or at least the price tag they desire — P10 billion.

It is taking a toll on the economy and the well being of the Filipino nation with “central government slowing down to a virtual standstill”. One of the most serious effects of this standstill is the administration’s mining policy that will have serious repercussions not only in mining but in other areas requiring foreign investments.

Sagittarius Mines Inc. (SMI), the Philippine subsidiary of Swiss based Xstrata, was recently denied their Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) despite its compliance with necessary requirements. The company has filed a motion for reconsideration but said that it was prepared to go to court or even file an appeal before President Aquino if it is denied by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

At a meeting last Thursday Sagittarius and the Chamber of Mines, David Pearce, an international expert on resource economics was invited to present the potential game changing impact of the Tampakan Copper-Gold project on the economy. With statistics and graphs he showed how the project would make a substantial long-term contribution through various direct channels including payment of taxes and royalties, employment and purchase of goods and services. If approved, the project can contribute an average of an additional one percent to the gross domestic product over a period of 20 years.

I was surprised that contrary to what has come out in media, the local authorities were in favor of SMI’s project. The impression that local authorities have blocked the project is not true. The ban on open pit mining came from the provincial board by then Governor Daisy Fuentes who has now become a congresswoman. That ban made on the last day of her term has been retained by the present board to the detriment of the well-being and livelihoods of the constituents of the region.

It was good that the SMI gave the municipal mayors (the real local authorities) a chance to give their side. A distinction has to be made between the desire and need of the local authorities and their constituencies (meaning the people directly affected by the project) and the provincial board of South Cotabato.

This column was given a thick booklet prepared by the Municipality of Tampakan with the signatures of all concerned and their various manifestos and petitions. It is the real picture in Tampakan. 

Municipal Mayor Leonardo V. Escobillo made a stirring appeal for their case of what their communities would lose if the national and provincial board would continue to block the project. Copies of the plea and accompanying signatures as thick as a book have been addressed to President Benigno C. Aquino, Secretary Ramon Paje and members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of South Cotabato. Contrary to reports the problem is not between local and national authority but real local authority and the people of the region on one side vs. the provincial board and the national government on the other.

Three very articulate municipal mayors — Leonardo Escobillo of Tampakan, Marivic Diamante of Kiblawan and Datu Amirh Musali of Columbio took turns to give their side and how government is failing them. Their lives have improved ever since SMI was set up in their areas. I realized even more the importance of hands-on local government helped by political will from the top.

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Travelife’s Japanese night last Thursday was to me a personal experience. The organizers headed by the indefatigable Christine Cunanan in cooperation with the Embassy of Japan did a marvelous job to create a little Japan with cherry blossoms and a wooden bridge in Dusit Thani’s ballroom and the food as promised was excellent. The piece de resistance of the evening was the two lovely maiko (apprentice geishas) who traveled all the way from Japan to perform dances redolent of the intricacies of Japanese culture.

To me it was more than just attending a Japanese night. It was a sentimental journey to memories I had as a student at the Seishin Joshi Daigaku (the Sacred Heart University) in Shibuya-ku. I studied there for two years and took up English Literature and Japanese history (strange combination) but these were the only courses for foreign students at the International section of the school.

For my Japanese lessons I had to walk down (dark and cold in winter) to the back garden of the convent to a lovely tea house to meet my Japanese teacher. From her I learned my Katakana, Hiragana and Kanji, Japanese painting and what to do in a proper tea ceremony all of which I am afraid I have now forgotten.

Although Empress Michiko was a student of the school, she was gone by the time I studied there, although I did meet her younger sister Emiko who was taller and slightly darker. We belonged to the same group at a fund-raising Christmas bazaar. That was a very long time ago and abroad for me became Europe where I lived for 20 years. Shibuya shrank to a forgotten part of my life.

Travelife’s Japanese night brought the memories back. All the more because I wrote a thesis on “The Geisha in the 18th century.”

Geisha is most often misunderstood in modern times especially after the war when they were thought of as prostitutes in Tokyo’s nightclubs.

Too few are aware that the classical Geisha was and still is an integral part of Japanese tradition and I think that was the sense in which the organizers of Travelife’s Japan night invited them to Manila.

To be a geisha meant arduous training that is not for the weak hearted. It required discipline to be able to perform various Japanese arts such as classical music and dance. The geisha in the 18th century was an entertainer of the highest order because men sought them for their companionship. She was the companion they talked to about art and culture so she had to be accomplished. The wife was the woman who bore his children and managed his house. That was a neat, guilt-free arrangement.

The center for training geishas is in Japan’s cultural capital — Kyoto. I remember walking down its streets and imbibing the atmosphere of Japanese cultural traditions that is difficult to experience in Tokyo. Thank you Travelife for making me want to revisit that past in Japan.