They say it’s
more fun elsewhere

President Benigno Aquino is back in the Philippines after a brief trip to Russia for the annual meeting of member countries of the Asia Pacific Economic Conference. The gathering was held in exotic, albeit, unsophisticated, Vladivostok. However, Pinoys eagerly awaiting news of what he had taken up with Chinese President Hu Jintao were disappointed. Reports said they could not find time to meet and discuss the problem uppermost in our minds.

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This was stressed in the reports coming from the media team that accompanied the President to Vladivostok. Is it true that they could not find the time, or was the evasion only from one side? Maybe the Chinese leader doesn’t really want to discuss the matter. Or maybe he was afraid that PNoy would talk to him Tagalog, which I was afraid he might do before the APEC, knowing how fond he is of using the language during important events.

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I wonder, though, what developments had been taken up as far as our tourism campaign with the APEC member countries is concerned. Somehow, there is something not quite right about the way we try to emphasize that, as our new Tourism secretary has declared, “It’s more fun in the Philippines.” How can the travel-inclined people of other countries feel like coming here when we have TV personalities like David Celdran always praising and promoting European countries in his program?

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If you were a foreigner, dreaming about going to interesting places in the world and you happen to watch Celdran, would you not, instead, be tempted to go to London, Spain, Greece, or any of those countries he is enticing them to visit? There is also the world traveler introducing himself as Joy Roa (on the same network) promoting exotic places and food of other countries he keeps flying to. Who will think of the fun in his own country after watching him? It is true, what some cynics say, that Filipinos like to shoot themselves in their feet.

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Meanwhile, astronaut Neil Amstrong, the first man to step on moon soil in 1969, who died last Augusty 25, has reportedly left instructions that he be buried at sea. Isn’t that strange? I thought that he would ask that his body be cremated and his ashes strewn over the surface of the moon by the next group of astronauts who will go there. However, there is also a report saying that the next moon mission of the U.S. will take place in the year 2018 yet, so that may be the reason why he had chosen the sea, instead.

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Former President Gloria Arroyo is said to be the latest believer in the effectiveness of stem cell therapy and has already undergone initial treatment, with more coming on. Maybe this will rejuvenate her, especially her troublesome neck, so that she will not need to go abroad for more opinions. Maybe it will also envigorate her so that she can attend to all those cases that have been filed against her, as well as to prepare for her reelection as congresswoman of Pampanga. By the way, is it true that her son, Congressman Mikey Arroyo is no longer seeking reelection as the party list representative of security guards?

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The Supreme Court has ruled that Filipinos with dual citizenship cannot run for public office in this country. The decision was made on the case of a balikbayan with dual citizenship who had run in a local election and won. Why was she able to do that? Is the law granting dual citizenship not very clear on that point? That was unfair to the candidate, who must have spent a lot and planned a lot for her hometown.

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I think I can understand the feelings of those Pinoys who had acquired foreign citizenship – mostly American, by the way – but whose hearts still beat for their home country. Now that they have fulfilled their dreams of financial stability, they want to return and help their kababayans. But the law apparently does not favor this. A long time ago, a friend who had just acquired U.S. citizenship, called me up and she was crying. She said her heart almost broke when she had to take the oath repudiating her beloved Philippines. She said she only did it to help her family. She quoted the words of the oath, and you know what? I cried with her, too.*

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