Tomorrow morning the driver will pick me up at 5:00 a.m. (that would be Tuesday, 28 February, 3:00 p.m. Pocatello time) to take me to the airport. I’ll then make my way to Japan, Portland, Salt Lake City, and Pocatello. Another trip to the Philippines will come to an end. It’s been a very busy week at work with lots of meetings and things to do. There is no lack of work that needs to be done here. I think I’ll be back here again in a few months. I enjoy the Philippines and the Filipinos. So, it’s probably worth a few minutes to describe a couple of things that I’ve experienced over the past week.

Shortly after I got here, the President of the Philippines, Mrs. Gloria Macapagal Arrroyo, declared a state of emergency. The alleged reason was a foiled coup attempt by the Marines. A couple of people were arrested (retired General Ramon Montaño and representative Crispin Beltran) and the Daily Tribune newspaper was raided. Several other military officers were taken in for questioning. Since then everyone has been released except for Mr. Beltran — there wasn’t sufficient evidence to link them to an attempt to overthrow the government. In the meantime, a host of civil liberties have been suspended and folks aren’t very happy about that. Other than seeing military personnel at toll stations and checkpoints, there isn’t much other evidence of the state of emergency. Most folks feel that this was a manufactured event by an embattled president struggling to maintain power. Today the Philippine Supreme Court will decide on the constitutionality of the declaration of the state of emergency and it is quite possible that the declaration will be struck down. While I don’t understand the politics very well, this is a situation currently under control but that could blow up at any moment.

I’ve thought a lot about why the Philippine economy is so depressed. The population is growing at a pace faster than the economy. More than 40% of the population lives below the poverty level. A huge portion of the Gross Domestic Product comes from wages remitted back to the Philippines from Filipinos working overseas. Years of deficit spending have racked up a national debt that is soaking up about 75% of the GDP. It’s one of those countries with so much potential but the bickering, graft, and corruption prevent any meaningful growth. It actually is somewhat depressing!

The other evening I was at the Festival Mall to grab a quick dinner. A couple of young ladies came up to me and asked if I was shopping. I talked with them for a few minutes and learned that they were 20 and 24 years old. They worked every day, seven days a week, from 9:30 a.m. until 9:30 p.m. and were being paid the equivelant of $78 a month to walk around the third floor of this huge mall to invite people to come into the store they were representing. They said they were able to get about ten people a day to go into the store who wouldn’t otherwise go there. The store’s merchandise is fairly expensive and is mostly more luxury items, such as room air conditioners, vibrating lounge chairs, and such. My guess is that the profit on one sale a month pays both of their salaries. They enjoyed their job because it gave them the opportunity to meet a lot of people. The both wanted to do something different and something that would make a lot more money, but that finding a job was very difficult. Both said that they were very happy to even have a job. The both live at home. The 20-year-old lives about an hour away by jeepny. She had four brothers and two sisters (for a total of seven children). She was number 5 in line. What little money she made went to help support the family. Her father works as a laborer on rice farms around the area and her mother takes in laundry to wash, iron, and mend. Two of the three older brothers live at home. One has a job, the other is trying to find work. Her older sister is going to school and the younger children are going to school. The 24-year-old lives closer to the mall, but has nine other brothers and sisters. She’s number 7 in line. Everyone still lives at home, including two married brothers! That sounds like a real packed place to live. While I enjoyed talking with them (and was amazed at how much they would tell me about their lives), I also am not very optomistic about their future. How do they have a social life? How do they get enough education to have a hope of a better job? I’d think that they and their families are among the 40% of the population living below the poverty line, but because they have a job, they’re not among the almost 13% unemployed. However, they aren’t making any kind of a living wage and don’t have much prospect for that to improve. I’ll never see them again, so I’ll never know what will transpire in their lives. One can only hope that something in the political situation will change for the better where the government is much less of a drag on the economy. Meanwhile, I’m finishing up here and am headed home. Hurrah!