Russian Connections

President Benigno Aquino III left yesterday for Russia, and early last night, reports said he had already landed there. But he is proceeding to a distant area from Moscow, which is called Vladivostok, a place that used to be regarded as a no-man’s land. Me, I have always considered it exotic, if only for its name. But, alas, I never got to see it on the one time that I went to Russia.

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The President, and several other world leaders will be convening in Vladivostok for the 24th annual meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Conference, or APEC. They say, Russia chose to hold it in that place to give it a little promotion and introduction to the tourism sector. An interesting sidelight to the President’s trip here is that media people have discovered that the bellboy – they call them bellman – assigned to him speaks fluent Tagalog. And he was not shy in displaying his ability to Filipino reporters there.

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Indeed, the Russians really know how to prepare for visitors. Sometime in the late 1980s, when my brother Bing (the mayor) was president of the Negros Press Club, the Press Attaché of the Russian Embassy was one of our guests and he invited Bing to visit Russia. At that time, very few Filipinos, particularly media people, had gone to Russia which was then still steeped in Communism. The attaché, his name was Andrei Olenin, made all the arrangements, and we all got excited about the rare opportunity.

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A close relative of ours who was then an officer of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, or NICA, was not very happy about it, but Bing was determined to go, so he had to undergo a lot of briefing about what to say, what not to say, where to talk freely and when to shut his mouth, all that. When he got to Moscow, he was surprised to find out that the guide assigned to him spoke very fluent Tagalog! At that time, Bing himself could hardly speak it, and was stymied whenever the guide would use words and expressions he could not even understand. He had to ask him to speak in English, which being true Russian, the man disliked.

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My own opportunity to visit Russia came when I was included in the media group that covered the state visit of then President Fidel Ramos to Moscow. It was still the time before perestroika, and so our movements were still somewhat limited. We could not even get into the Kremlin, all we could do was circle around it and stay in the Red Square while the Presidents were meeting inside. But we loved having photos before the colorful St. Denis Cathedral, which we could not enter, because it was always closed.

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What I can’t forget about that trip is that there is no record whatsoever in my passport of it. When we entered, the immigration staff attached an entry form on our documents, which they removed completely when we left. So I can’t even show an official record of being there, except for the Identification Card that we had to wear all the time, and which I kept inside my blouse when we were checking out. Maybe it is different there now.

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As for President Aquino, he should be in high spirits as he goes to meet his fellow heads of state, as he is carrying with him the good news of the country’s having been upgraded as far as world competitiveness is concerned, and with his own jump in approval ratings, the results of which were released yesterday. From a rating of 42 the last survey, he went up to 67, and his supporters are crediting this to his unflagging campaign against corruption, no matter who is involved.

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Tomorrow is Grandparents Day. First there was only Mother’s Day when children were made to wear red roses on their lapels if their mommies were still alive, and white if they are gone. Then it became Parents Day, now we have Grandparents Day. When will we have Tita and Tito’s Day, Brother and Sister’s Day, Grandchildren’s Day, and Nephews and Nieces Day? What an opportunity for stores selling gifts for them, and for eateries where they can be treated!*

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