All We Need is a Good Leader

The first thing that caught my attention this morning was the brownout. As we were slowly getting out of bed—Lil’ Miss Wonderful had preceded both of us and was keeping up a delightful chatter—the power in the hotel died. After a few minutes it came back on as the huge generators kicked-in just outside our windows. Well, not “just outside” as we’re on the 10th floor and they are ground level but just the same, you know when they start up.

We had a brownout last night for a couple of hours and except for those buildings with generators, the view outside the window was completely black. But here they call it a brownout. Last night’s brownout was a couple of hours long and our daughter slept through it with ease. My wife and I, however, left her with the nanny and went to Makati where we joined friends at a bar we had frequented often in the days before 9/11.

Some things never change. In one corner was an old Spanish-Filipino gentleman of indeterminate age who I remembered from the days of smoking cigars at Forth & Tay (now closed but then in the New World Hotel). He always favored hats of some sort and carried his cigars in a cloth draw-string bag. I think he smoked 10-cigars a day but it was hard to tell as he’d fall asleep with one in his mouth then have to re-light it when he woke-up. He’s still out and about with only the addition of a cane and a new cloth bag.

We also saw some of the same girls frequenting the bars. They had changed little as well. Some sported tattoos that are the rage now but most looked the same except for the addition of a couple of pounds, a little more wrinkle-covering make-up and new clothing styles. There have been a lot of changes in the infrastructure in the Philippines, especially in Makati, in the last 10 years but, basically, the people are the same as are the attitudes and the government.

When I first came to Manila in 1991 there was a time when the brownouts were 8-hours a day in the capital. Then it was caused by the failure of the powers-that-be to ensure the proper maintenance of the power plants providing power to Southern Luzon. Those brownouts led to some controversial and extremely expensive moves by the government to increase the availability of electricity for the Metro Manila. The power companies are still paying for electricity that they don’t consume thus aren’t able to sell. (Please don't ask me to explain how that can be. The story is long and convoluted like the relationships that bloom in the bars during brownouts.)

But the thing that caught my attention in the newspaper this morning was a headline where the Pope reportedly said that the “…Filipino people need upright leaders.” I found that most amusing and thought provoking. Here is the Pope, the Head of State of the Vatican, which is surrounded by Italy and many thousands of miles from the Philippines, telling the Filipino people that they need upright leaders. You’d think that he’d start closer to home with the Italians and their lothario Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi. But he apparently directed it to the Filipino people alone when we all know that all peoples of the world, not just the Filipino’s need upright leaders.

Clearly the Pope in this case is being used in an attempt to affect the outcome of the 2010 elections in the Philippines which in and of itself is amusing. True, the Philippines is a heavily Catholic nation but to use the head of a theocracy to influence the outcome of a democratic process is just, well, wrong. The Church has never really understood democracies for a democracy is the exact opposite of a theocracy. Democratic leaders rule at the behest of the people. Theocrats at the behest of God.

Please, don’t get me wrong. I do not support the absolute division of church and state as advocated by the ACLU. It wouldn’t hurt any of our political leaders to have a little divine inspiration now and then and besides, the moral lessons would be good for their individual souls and good governance in general. But when man—other than the Pope, of course—begins issuing edicts from God the temptation to slip in a little something extra is too strong. This can be witnessed in the fatwas issued by obscure—and some not so obscure—Muslim clerics on women’s rights and perceived insults to Islam.

So if you happen to run into the Pope or one of his Cardinals, please encourage them to expand the Pope's statement. The entire world needs upright leaders, not just the Philippines. All Filipino's need, and want, is a fair chance to vote into office the candidate of their choice. Not the choice of the economic elite; but the choice of all the people.

Come to think of it, Americans would like the same thing.