On wealth and fame

Before I started to write this column yesterday, I got a text from Jimmy Golez, quoting the world's richest and most famous man, Bill Gates.

Said Gates as quoted by Jimmy: "I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything he ever dreamed of so he can see that it's not the answer."

Very beautiful. Read that again. I read it thrice.

Then former Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn "Joc-Joc" Bolante's name came to mind, especially after I read the dispatch the other day of our Iloilo stringer Nestor Burgos that alumni of the University of San Agustin in Iloilo, led by lawyer Hector Teodosio, were asking for Bolante to return his award during the Centennial Celebration of the University July 17, 2004.

Many alumni, particularly those who received the award together with Bolante also felt offended. I am one of those. There were 100 awardees and there were 12 awardees in government service where Bolante was one of them that included the other controversial official, my own friend, Comelec Commissioner Rex Borra.

The others were retired Justices and other national officials. There were 12 categories, including journalism where I am proud to always say, in the category I was the lone awardee. Media mogul Roger Florete was in the category of management. Fr. Mamerto Alfeche, president of Colegio de San Agustin in Bacolod was in the category of education.

***

I sympathize with Joc-Joc Bolante. He had the wealth and the fame. How he lost them is worth learning.

I recall when I was informed before the awarding at the University, I asked who were the other awardees. Fr. Bong Delariarte faxed me the complete names with his request not to release the names without the go-signal because they wanted the release simultaneous.

When I saw the name of Joc-Joc Bolante I called up Fr. Bong and told him, the University might encounter problems in the future because at that time, news was already starting to come out of irregularities in the distribution of the fertilizer fund amounting to some P728 million. And Bolante was involved.

The problem was, according to Fr. Bong, the committee on awards had already sat down and decided earlier on the awardees. And Bolante was already informed. The university could not just withdraw it. And Fr. Bong was right.

We just all hoped it could just die down. The problem was the issue escalated and had snowballed.

***

Yesterday morning, I sat down with a committee at La Salle, chaired by Dr. Ma. Therese (Ating) Jochico to lay the policies and nominate names for the University of St. La Salle Outstanding Alumni July next year.

The committee, if we go by their names, is a power house. We have agreed we must be very careful in our choice. Well, so far, none of the La Salle awardees have yet encountered problems.

But Twinkling was right the other day. It's not easy to bear the burden of being an awardee. The expectations are very high. And you have to tiptoe in your movement lest you slide and fall.

Joc-Joc Bolante must have missed the responsibilities of an awardee. His record at the University's college of commerce where he graduated was outstanding.

I don't know where did he slip along the way.

But, then this is not new. Many of the awardees of the Nobel Prize and of the Pulitzer Prize were made to return their awards.

***

You cannot beat Nature. The heavy rains that lashed the country, especially Negros Occidental, have brought havoc that will take time to recover.

These are the problems if you are in farming or in fishing. Water had driven out fish in the fishpond. Rains have lashed at the rice plantation. Rains too have destroyed vegetables.

But these are things farmers must accept. Typhoons, particularly the southwest monsoon are the blessings for Southeast Asia. Without the southwest monsoon or what we call the "habagat" ours would have been a barren land.

And people have learned to accept the phenomenon. Pag-asa said, we expect some 18 to 20 typhoons this year. With Inday and Juan, we have only six or is it seven typhoons? Expect more to come.

What do we do? Cross our fingers, cuddle up in the corner while the rains are falling in torrents and pray.

As I said, you cannot beat Nature. Those who try to challenge it, lost even including their lives.

***

I want to make it clear. I am also for ethanol. I know the price of sugar is not stable. It may be P1,200 per lkg now. It might be P1,000 or even less sometime later.

Sugar is a political commodity. And a shortage like this can cause an excess in the coming years when everyone expands hectarage to take advantage of the good price. Then prices will drop.

Fuel, on the other hand, continues to rise in prices. Here's what the leaders of the sugar industry should study.

***

Friends asked what was the reaction of my friend. Johnny Yulo, I said, I haven't gone to DAILY STAR yet. But, so far I haven't heard from him. If Johnny wants to answer, I will yield my space. He just not make it long. The length of his letter the other day is just right.

Many of my priest friends just laughed at my "foolishness". One asked me, do you still believe the God of Abraham made mistakes? I readily answered, yes. Unless somebody can convince me he was innocent.*

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