Looking Back and Looking Ahead

By: Bob Boyer

 

January takes its name from the Roman God Janus, whose image has two faces looking in opposite directions. Janus, and January, thus represent the wisdom of reflecting on the past while planning ahead. This article looks back on topics I didn’t write about in 2018 but will be tracking in 2019.

Topic One, Philippine-American Doctors and Nurses. A lovely article (“Wall Street Journal,” August 13, 2018) entitled “A Sisterhood of Nurses” traces the history of six nurses who came from the Philippines to the U.S. in 1977. The extensive article immediately captured my attention with pictures from the 1970s to the present and this headline: “In 1977, six nurses from the Philippines came to work in America; the field of medicine has changed dramatically since then, but their friendship has not.” Whether in Green Bay or in Chicago, one encounters a dramatic and welcome presence of medical folks who come from the Philippines.

Topic Two, Duterte flexes his authoritarian muscles. He had a sitting Philippine Senator, Antonio Trillanes, arrested. He did so by first revoking Mr. Trillanes’ amnesty protection and then accusing Trillanes of trying to overthrow him. It took some doing but Duterte succeeded. The Senator, however, is out on bail and the president’s popularity ratings fell to a new low. Another “serving senator,” Leila de Lima, was imprisoned in the past year, and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was removed from office, both critical of the president.

Topic Three. Typhoons and Trees. It appears that a combination of mining and deforestation in the Cordillera Mountains in Northern Luzon contributed to mudslide damages and upward of 100 deaths in the wake of “Supertyphoon Mangkhut,” (“The Wallstreet Journal,” Tuesday, September 18). Deforestation in places like the Cordilleras and parts of Palawan continues, to the detriment of all.

Topic Four. “The Freedom of Intelligence.” This is the title of a You Tube video of an interview by one of the few media voices in the Philippines critical of Duterte. Two University Administrators, one each of the University of the Philippines and Ateneo de Manila (Jesuit University in Manila) respond to the “Red Tagging” by the Duterte Government. VP Jose Dalisay (UP) sent me and others a copy, stating, “I went on video today (October 26) in an interview, still responding (as cooly as I could) to the issues raised against us.”

Topics Five and Six. Duterte versus the Bishops; Duterte and China Sea. My friend John, whom I see often after Church on Sunday, and who has an interest in the Philippines, occasioned these two topics. Most recently he said to me coming out of Church, “So Duterte wants to kill the Catholic Bishops.” I checked, and, basically, he had said that. And just the previous Sunday I had praised Duterte to John for making an intelligent overture to China about exchanging rights in the South China Sea for beneficial trade relations for the Philippines.

Topic Seven. Filipino Food. A good Filipina friend and her daughter visited with me and my wife the week before Christmas. She brought with her an amazing chicken adobo. The vinegar marinade was so savory I refused to eat or drink anything for the next twenty-four hours, a happy thought for a conclusion.

Contact me at Robert.boyer@snc.edu or <anamericaninmanila. com>.