Jobless; the healing powers of music

Make no mistake about it. The biggest news in the last few days is the number of people without jobs in the Philippines. There are many jobless in other countries in the world but being jobless in the Philippines has a painful edge to it.

While the Aquino administration boasts of high growth (one time even boasting it was even higher than China) it has less to say why it also has the highest unemployment figures in the region. According to one report seven out of every 100 Filipinos are now jobless despite the “robust” economic growth.

That is the trouble. There is a presumption that high growth means more jobs, so it came as a shock that after announcing high growth, it also had to accept the highest figure in our region of people without jobs.

Something wrong there and the Aquino government had better move fast.

I remember riding once with some Taiwanese friends who told me they were shocked at so much empty unproductive land — something they could use for abundant food production with technologies they have developed through the years. They found it inexcusable to have so much land left idle.

So, too with China that so awed the world by bringing up and giving better lives to millions of poor. It is driven by the belief that the first job of government is to maximize its resources to feed and support its billion people. The job of government is less about how to “create” jobs as it is to how create a humane society.

Back to the Philippines and the new figures of 7 percent unemployment (curiously almost at par with its development). According to the International Labor Organization it means that seven of every 100 Filipinos are jobless — despite the “robust economic growth” in the past two years. Moreover, 11 percent of the nation’s workers are classified under “extremely poor,” individuals living on less than $1.25 a day, or about P55 a day.

But more interestingly, the lLO says this is relatively high compared with the rest of the Southeast Asian region. “In most of Southeast Asia, the unemployment rate has a downward trend — from an average of 6 percent between 2000 and 2008, to around a projected 4.5 percent in the next few years.“

What is behind it? It is not owed to a single political ideology as some would have it.

We all know, pure communism was a stage, a phase and when it soon became apparent it no longer worked to help the hungry and the homeless, a leader, Deng Xiaoping came forward and mixed it with ‘capitalist’ techniques. The key was flexibility and boldness to be able to carry out fundamental duties of government and society. 

So our leaders must stop thinking it comes only from critics from the opposition. It must begin to accept the challenge that it is time to change course. As for business leaders who have never had it so good think they are insulated from poverty with high growth, they, too must think again. It is not high-flying economics, but the reported joblessness in the Philippines is a threat and warning to them as well.

To our spiritual leaders, perhaps it is good to hear from Pope Francis. He says the problem has become a spiritual issue: The youth unemployment amounts to “one of the most serious evils that afflicts the world these days,” putting it alongside “the loneliness of the old.” It is not “understandable” as claimed by Malacanang or that we have the typhoons and other disasters to blame.

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I did not think I would ever cross paths again with Arsenio “Nick” Lizaso, the distinguished stage, TV and film director. I knew him briefly as a member of the board of the Cultural Center of the Philippines. I did not have time to know more about him until recently when he volunteered to help in an advocacy we have called “Crowdsourcing for a new Philippines.”

 He is one of those restless individuals who do not just want to be good only in their field. They want to do more despite the honors and awards he has already received from here and abroad.

So I was not surprised when he invited me to a free public concert at the Philippine General Hospital for cancer patients as well as other hospital patients and the PGH medical staff.

“ I believe in the healing power of music, “ and with that he proceeded to work at it and spread it around.  He has organized an advocacy group called Sining Sigla. He worked with other likeminded individuals for the concert — the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Olivier Ochanine, the Philippine Cancer Society, its executive director Dr. Rachael Rosario and  CCP president Raul Sunico.

“It is interesting to note that scientists and physicians around the world are beginning to recognize the healing power of soothing sounds. A number of research studies have confirmed the benefits music has for patients suffering dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and even cancer,” he said.

He cited the findings of Dr. Mitchell L. Gaynor, author of “Sounds of Healing: A Physician Reveals the Therapeutic Power of Sound, Voice, and Music.” 

The book says there is evidence that listening to comforting music increases brain waves associated with relaxation while decreasing heart rate and blood pressure. There’s also evidence that listening to comforting music helps your body cope with stress and pain.

“This should be music to our ears!” Moreover, the concert took place before Valentine’s day as a memorable gift to many of the PGH patients.

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A very dear friend has brought me back to music. I like music, have some favorite pieces and artists, but never with the intensity I now have because of this friend. It is more than just passive listening. I have been persuaded by his passionate dedication to try listening to it more attentively. Like literature it is so multifaceted you can listen to it every which way you can. Music, like literature is life itself.

Recently I attended the concert of one of our most promising musicians — Joaquin Maria “Chino” Gutierrez. I was so enthralled by his violin playing and like the rest of the audience I leaped to my feet to plead for encores.

Surprise, surprise. It turns out that the young violinist now making a name for himself was related to my friend who led me to music. When I wrote him about Chino’s concert at the Insular I Alabang he wrote “amazing how good genes show up several generations later, to think that his great great grandfather originally wanted to be a violinist but went on to law school and public service later where he left a proud legacy.