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Bong Wenceslao October 19, 2004 I WAS not able to write a column the whole week last week because I had to stay at the Cebu Doctors Hospital to flush out a troublesome stone in my kidney. For two days, my lower abdomen was so painful I blurted out God's name at times. Apparently, He heard me because two days more and the stone got flooded out of my system. I didn't really like the idea of staying in bed tied to a dextrose bottle. But I did learn a few things in that four-day confinement, like understanding my body more. And because I was prepared for the worst, I ended up without much complaint about hospital services or the way my doctors, Marlon Co and Karen Chan Licuanan, attended to me. My health, though, can be considered less problematic than the health of our country. A friend from way back slipped into my room after seeing me on the lobby being wheeled for admission at the second floor. Aside from recalling the old days and our acquaintances, we talked about our work and the difficulty of making ends meet. Since we parted years ago, my friend, a son of a farmer, had changed jobs a number of times. He worked in a beach resort but had his hopes of promotion dashed because of his lack of education. He went back to tending mangoes, but gave up after finding plant pests difficult to contain. He is back in the city and is into stone craft. My friend talked about losing the business competition to China, which has become the favored market for local stones. Which bolstered my earlier observation about the effect of cheap products from Mao Zedong land--from textiles to appliances--flooding the markets and cramping the styles of local entrepreneurs. That led to mutterings of frustration about the government, something shared by Doctor Co who, during one of his visitations, shifted our talk from the state of my health to the state of our country. The good doctor, as expected, zeroed in on the exodus of our people, including doctors, to lands that could provide them with better opportunities. I agree that the blame should be pinned on politicians who managed to bring this country to the sewers with their corrupt ways and incompetence. And yet, these very same politicians are now calling for a stop to the exodus even if the situation here has worsened. Until they straighten out their act, leaving will always be a good option. P.S. On the killing of lawyer Arbet Sta. Ana Yongco, here’s a portion of an e-mail sent by a “John Pala”: “Thank you for your sweet words on Arbet. We, too, are admirers of her kind. But there will be other Arbets who will take the cudgels for the poor and the oppressed and when you spot these, do write as sweetly about them--while they're still alive.” (e-mail: khanwens@yahoo.com; text: 0927-4912362) [ top ] |
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