A time for wheeling

ON BOARD PAL FLT 3047 – He didn’t know who Arnold Schwarzenegger is, he hadn’t heard of Sylvester Stallone, and was quite apologetic. But he knew Manny “Pakio” and demonstrated by making jabs in the air. “Oh, he’s so fast, so strong! How nicely he moves!” He enthused. The speaker was our favorite waiter at the “Three in Canton” restaurant that is in the same building as our hotel in Kowloon, the Gateway Marco Polo.

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He gave his name as Wilson Wong, but we knew he was better educated than his other co-workers because he had better manners and spoke good English while we could hardly communicate with the others. We found out why when we interviewed him later and found he was a university graduate, with tourism management as major. So working at the resto was probably part of testing the ropes because his plan is to move to the Bahamas and put up his own business.

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Wilson seems to be among those of his people who dream of trying their luck elsewhere. We forget to ask why he didn’t choose the Philippines. Maybe he thinks there are already too many from his country there. Or could it be that he knows there is some resentment against his officials because of the Spratly affair. Another thing we noticed was that there are so many Filipinos working here, although we can’t say the same for the mainland.

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But it was very disconcerting to realize that the exchange of the peso to the Hong Kong dollars has reversed so badly since the very first time we came to Hong Kong. Then a peso was worth two Hong Kong dollars and it was a real joy to go shopping here. Now a Hong Kong dollar is worth at least P7 in our money. What a comedown. Will the time ever come when we could at least equal it? In the meantime, the news here is full of protest against the decision of the jury not to indict Darren Wilson, the policeman who had shot and killed teenager Michael Brown. Maybe, the people who are outraged at the killing have reason to be mad but it seems some of them are just looking for a reason to go to the streets and protest. But what does looting and arson have to do with any injustice, as they perceived it? Even the mother of the boy had said they should not protest just to make noise but to make a difference. She must know her son – and what he was capable of doing.

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For the first time in five days, I was able to read a Philippine newspaper – and that was when we got on this plane. How I miss the local activities already. So Gov. E.R. Ejercito will really be removed from his post due to overspending. E.R. and who else? There must be hundreds of others similarly guilty, but nobody had the guts to complain, much less provide the evidence.

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One must really have a strong pair of legs to be able to get to board one’s plane at the Hong Kong airport. Fortunately, we had been warned that this is a different territory from what we had seen in the 90’s. So the three of us seniors decided to discard our pride and asked for wheelchairs. What a wise decision that was! I’m sure we went through more than a kilometer, including a bus ride and a train ride to get to the pre-departure area! Even a younger member of our party of eight buckled down and asked for “wheels” as well. So, a warning to senior citizens: If you’re planning to go to Hong Kong – forget your pride and be ready to wheel and deal.

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Happy birthday to Senate President Franklin Drilon. May God bless you always*

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