I just concluded an 18-day visit, both business and vacation, to the Philippines, the land of my birth. My last visit was about five years ago. Today's column and the few succeeding columns will attempt to share some personal experiences, insights or impressions (both positive and negative) as I was privileged, through the PhilSTAR publisher Max Soliven and some other influential people, to have met many "movers and shakers" of the Philippines, including the President of the Philippines during the 15th Year Anniversary of the STAR and the Vice President over privately held lunch at the Phil-Am Life Tower, a couple of Cabinet members and many other business and political personalities of the Makati or Greenhills business circles. It was an experience that not all balikbayans would ever experience. However, I have also met and talked to many people in the other side of side of the socio-economic spectrum, the so-called C,D,E,F social classes, the masa, that really make the Philippine society. I have talked to all social classes of Philippines society, from poor farmers, to religious nuns and priests, professors, students, politicians, barangay entrepreneurs, real estate developers, insurance executives, travel agency operators, struggling business people, would-be entrepreneurs, my STAR editors and fellow columnists, hired managers or executives of the Makati's elite. It's life's education at its best that can never be acquired by just reading the books in a library.

The cumulative, uncensored data that I have informally extracted from as many Filipino people made me feel the current pulse of the Filipinos. They have also portrayed the black and white picture of the Philippines despite and amidst the prevalent affliction ..er addiction of the daily newspapers and TV programs. I believe that what people read in the papers and/or see on TV programs that preoccupy the airwaves with too much political talks, bickerings and innuendos among the politicians is not the real Philippines. Politicians and the wealthy families live comfortable (hedonistic) lives but seemingly they do not feel the burden and anguish of the poor as a thick yet invisible wall separates them from the masa, the Great Unwashed. Witnessing the pangs of poverty from Batangas to Baguio (I did not have a chance to go to other islands) I am reminded of the pungent first stanza of an immortal poem by Edwin Markham(1852-1940), "The Man with the Hoe" when he said:

"Bowed by the weight of centuries he leans
Upon his hoe and gazes on the ground,
The emptiness of ages in his face,
And of his back the burden of the world."

The great majority of Filipinos do not read the daily newspapers nor watch, much less discuss or analyze the political talk shows (they cannot afford to buy newspapers or TV!) as they are pretty much pre-occupied with putting food on the table. Every day, seven days a week. What is happening in Manila or in the global market does not really affect them directly, until the prices of their basic necessities including passenger fares jump to the roof. Food, shelter and clothing are their daily concerns, not politics or the melt-down of the dot.com companies in Wall Street.

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Although I was offered to be met "officially" at the new Terminal Airport where all Philippine Airlines domestic and international flights departures and arrivals are held, I opted to arrive in Manila as an ordinary passenger to see for myself what the typical Balikbayan experiences through the Philippine Customs, Immigration at the Airport. Lo and behold, my exciting adventure in the Philippines started at the airport.

My very first observation was that there were so many airport workers trying to help us, the new arrivals, by touching or holding our baggage boxes with overt or implied requests for TIPS for coffee or breakfast (as it was just past 5:00 AM!). When you are super-tired, that kind of physical or psychological encounters, like trying to avoid unwanted flies hovering around you, become quite annoying and will definitely leave a LASTING impression to anyone, especially if it's his or her first time to set foot in the Philippine soil. To add insult to injury, these young airport helpers even follow you up to the restroom after "politely" opening the restroom doors for you as you clutch your hand luggage. Without sense of shame and devoid of any ounce of self-pride, these uncultured helpers have the temerity to ask you for a couple of dollars for "coffee or merienda." Tipping is way of life in America but it is done in appropriate places, like the restaurants, but not in the restroom! With mixed emotions and to be charitable such "pleas for a handout" a la mental ransom, I gave (in retrospect, possibly the wrong decision) a dollar or two, not realizing that after you give one helper (mental "blackmailer") ten others follow, like ants smelling that there was "honey" available in a specific corner of the building. There were also a flock of young emaciated children around the parking lots selling sampaguita leis by putting them around your neck without your permission! This was a lamentable but true experience during the first hours after landing in the Ninoy Aquino International Airport New Terminal on August 21, 2001 at 5:00 AM.

In confidence, I personally related this experience to several friends who agreed with me and to an old time-friend since the early seventies, now the Secretary of DILG Joey Lina, and he SAID, he will see what he can do to prevent this from happening again. I hope that this will not happen again especially when I will accompany some American business friends to visit the Philippines before the end of the year in connection with our nurses and medical personnel recruitment business. To Secretary Lina and to DOT Secretary Gordon, HELP US, the balikbayans, help our homeland by making us not become "mental or physical" hostages from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport or in the Abu Sayyaff' s turf in Sulu! That is the least your government can do for us for us to enjoy our occasional well-deserved vacation so that we can spend our dollars without regrets in our homeland!

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One of the primary reasons why our delegation of U.S. based businesspeople went to the Philippines was to participate in an "E-Commerce, Outsourcing and Entrepreneurship Seminar" at the Asian Institute of Management that was held from July 23 to 27th, 2001, which was attended by many CEO's, entrepreneurs, technical managers, governmental agency managers, academicians and business-people from as far as Davao and Cebu. As one of the U.S. presenters and lecturers during this Seminar, I too enjoyed the lively interactions and sharing from all the participants. I truly learned a lot from them and I can empathize with their shared frustrations, struggles as well as hopes for a better economic opportunities in the country. To all the participants, I told them that in every adversity, there is a great opportunity for those who will see the silver lining, pay the price in full and upfront during these times when the country is in economic upheaval. Two or three years from now, many real entrepreneurs in the Philippines will be millionaires.

From this seminar and subsequent forums that I had, I made many new friends and several potential business associates on some viable projects, like GlobalPinoybiz, a Hong Kong based marketing /distribution company of household products and appliance designed to the OFW markets for their loved ones in the Philippines, a U.S. based Asian Pacific Recruiting Agency specializing in the recruitment of medical practitioners especially nurses, physical therapists, pharmacists and doctors, that we have started in the Philippines.

The seminar that was sponsored and hosted by a California based IT computer guru, David Paraiso, Jr. of Intergrated Technology, was so successful that the participants were asking us when we will be back for more seminars and training. These series of seminars hope to contribute to the so-called brain GAIN --- to curb the tide of more human export to the U.S. and other countries ----the opposite of the so-called brain DRAIN that has been happening the last three decades. One of the objectives of the seminar is to sustain some world-class training of IT professionals so that they can be globally competitive and thereby capable of doing the work that is being outsourced to the Philippines from the United States.

With the many gargantuan problems of the Philippine economy aggravated by so much political circus and the Abu Sayyaff drama, this honest-to goodness-training seminar seems inconsequential and seemingly distant to help solve the country's current predicament. However, the expressed gratitude and encouraging responses of the participants at the conclusion of the seminar and forums gave us some priceless pounds of fulfillment as we, the Filipino expatriates from the U.S.A with some of our American partners, did something to contribute in the education, training and encouragement of those who took time to attend this week-long of seminars. We have no doubt that our small U.S. businessmen delegation has sown hundreds of seeds; with proper soil, water and sunlight, we hope that in the very near future some of these seeds will grow and bear fruits. Only God knows. Only time will tell.

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(NEXT: THE OFWs ARE THE "BAGONG BAYANIS" : WHY AND HOW)

You can e-mail the writer at: pmafounder@emailko.com or erdelusa@hotmail.com