They’re begging to
help Myanmar

The price of gasoline rose again by P1 during the weekend. While it may make some of us desperate, there are still Filipinos who are not bothered by such developments, not even by the reports that such increases may be effective weekly. A business report said Saturday that the Philippines is one of the top buyers of the very expensive Jaguar cars in Asia. This was confirmed by the head of the company selling the luxury vehicles himself. Does this mean that, on this aspect, we can compete with the Indonesians, Malaysian, Singaporeans, and even the Chinese?

* * *

Obviously the Jaguar owners do not mind if there is a crisis on food, or that our country is scrambling to find places in Asia from which we can buy rice. I hope, however, that those buying the luxury cars are paying the right amount of taxes on them. That, at least, could mean income for the country. But, as reports in past months have shown, some owners of luxury cars have managed to pay only what they want, and how they do that, your guess is as good as mine.

* * *

They did it. The first batch of Malaysian peace talks monitors really left the country Saturday, and the next groups may follow them later. Some officials also involved in the peace process, stung by the comments of the Malaysians before departing, issued statements to the effect that the abandonments is of no moment, it was probably good riddance. I hope, though, that they will take some lessons from the observations of the Malaysians. We do have a habit of delaying and delaying, and imposing a lot of red tape which tested the patience of our supposed friends.

* * *

A week has passed since Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar and until now do-gooders from all over the world are still puzzled over the reluctance of the government there to accept help. More and more people are getting hungry and sick, but there is very little response from their own government. Somehow, they have also made their stricken people believe that since this tragedy was caused by Nature, it is something that they should accept. So aid bringers are virtually begging the Junta to let them in, but the more the governing body thinks up obstacles to their entry. The last we heard, they are even requiring the aid groups to secure visas first, in a process that takes weeks!

* * *

We might call it bragging, but this time I agree with the National Disaster Control Council here who claim that we are much better prepared to handle calamities than Myanmar. At least we have our Red Cross, and our Office of Civil Defense who can get into action immediately. And we do not have reports of disaster aid being hi-jacked by the government, as reports say, is happening in Myanmar. The military seize the aid packages as soon as they land, and drive away the ones delivering it. Even with that kind of treatment, the United Nations is still appealing to other countries to raise $157 million to be used for assistance to the stricken country.

* * *

I caught the last portions of the Miss Earth Philippines contest late last night and was impressed by the facial beauty and figures of the candidates. Indeed the new generation are an improvement over the past ones in that many of them are tall, fair, and very healthy-looking. Judging that contest must be very difficult and apparently, it was only in the question and answer portions that the top qualifiers got their points. Some of them did not give very sensible answers to the questions, but none made boo-boos like the one who won another national contest about two months ago.

* * *

I don’t think the results will be in today’s national dailies yet, so let us give our readers an advance. The winner of the Miss Earth Philippines title, a popular choice, was Miss Cebu, Karla Paula Henry, a fair mestiza. Miss Pagcor International Tourism, a new title, was Miss Fil-US East Coast Melanie Felix; Miss Air was Miss Dipolog Marie Razel Eguia; Miss Water was Miss Obando Marian Michelle Oblea; Miss Fire was Miss Candaba Ma. Kristelle Lazaro and Ms. Eco-Tourism was Miss Legaspi Maria Venus Raj. I noted that there were no candidates from Negros Occidental and Oriental, Iloilo, or any of the Panay provinces, none even from the Metro Manila cities. I wonder if there had been any or had they been eliminated earlier?*

back to top