What Convicted Corona

Yesterday, Chief Justice Renato Corona was declared guilty of violation of Article 2 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution which in simple words requires all public officials to declare ALL their assets, liabilities and net-worth (SALN).

         

Others say that Corona acted in good faith by not declaring his foreign accounts, by provision of the FCDU law (non-disclosure of foreign accounts). They add that this was an error in judgment on his part.

Inspired by Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas' defintion of culpable violation of the Constitution which is the “willful and intentional violation of the Constitution", I cannot imagine how the Chief Magistrate would overlook the sovereignty of Article 2 over the FCDU law and make them appear as 2 clashing provisions or that the latter would serve as exemption of the former. It is likewise unthinkable how one under his category would be so careless in doing so.

If we succumb to the claim that he "acted in good faith", we would make him a clumsy Chief Justice - not meticulous enough to make sure he is worth his title - but perhaps an excuse to charge him not guilty.

If we agree that it was a "culpable violation" then we would make him a dishonest Chief Justice - enough to convict him. 

We all make mistakes. I for one make a lot in a day. Intentional or unintentional. For Corona's case, however, the "acting in good faith" seems unacceptable. If it were an ordinary person who did the same "error in judgment", it would have been excusable. And so we are left with only one judgment as to the refusal of declaring his foreign accounts - culpable violation. He did it on purpose. 

He violated the law plus he is not the average Juan- He is the Chief Justice. What he did, what he did not and who he was - that convicted him. 

Third World Customer Service

I’ve been a customer service agent once. And those of you who have been one, you’ll understand the mindset I got in terms of the right kind of service customers deserve. Before this, I had been a timid customer and would shut my mouth whenever I got affected by a saleslady’s attitude problem.

The problem I noticed about Filipinos (compared with developed countries like the US, Korea, etc.) are that we are too kind. When I say that, I am not talking about Biblical humility that pleases God. I am talking about opting for complete silence to avoid trouble. We normally hate confrontation. Instead of discussing things with the concerned people, we curse them behind their backs and laugh at them with friends or badmouth about them in Facebook and Twitter.

It could be our more than 300 years of being a colony that up to now, we still have the “slave attitude”. We shut our mouth or else we’ll get into trouble. Or we simply laugh it off.

This is probably the reason why customer service is generally bad in the Philippines. Ask your foreigner friends and they could also tell you the same thing.

I will start with SMART Communications. I thought I was being kind enough by erasing the post I made on FB that expressed so much disappointment in their service; I thought it’d be much better if I emailed them and so I did. Someone (I just hope it was a person who did it, not some computer-generated system) replied, asking for my mobile number. And now I’m rolling my eyes. That was the last I heard from them. I felt neglected and unimportant. SMART is the “largest network in the Philippines”.

I went to buy some prepaid cards at Cell Depot at Island City Mall. I am sometimes paranoid so when I saw that the plastic wrapper of the card was torn at the side, I asked for a replacement (thinking it shouldn’t be much trouble). And I told her I was just following what was written on the back, “DO NOT ACCEPT THIS CARD IF THE PLASTIC WRAPPER IS TORN OR HAS BEEN TAMPERED WITH.” Did I yell at the lady for replacement? NO. Did I do anything unconstitutional? NO. I kindly asked. But she got the card, got another one and said with a frown, “Susmaryosep.” (Jesus, Mary and Joseph).

To rise from being “third world”, I think the system has to work both ways. The government develops projects while we strive for excellence in providing customer service. Think about Cebu Pacific’s shortcomings in their service and NAIA having broken CCTV’s (NAIA charges P200 for domestic terminal fee and P800 for international). The Barreto-Tulfo feud is of course another issue.

My Trip to Busan, Korea

I went to Busan, Korea for an international CCC conference 2 years ago.

If you wonder why I only wrote about it now, memory stimulated by pictures perhaps or must be the weather. I went there in summer but I had to borrow a friend's thick coat because it felt like January in the Philippines.

Korea, with all its fresh air, uncrowded places, surprisingly organized garbage segregation system (papers, bottles, food, etc are separate groups) and strict traffic rules and regulations had just one downside i took notice of: no blue sky that it felt as though a storm was coming. What with the cold air and all.

Korean culture is very evident in the conference. Spicy vegetables (Bibimbap) for lunch; corn tea as beverage (that my roommates found me weird for liking it); lots of bows and Anyong Haseyo's, and of course the Pali-pali (hurry up!hurry up!) culture.

Because I made friends with Americans, I was forced to create a facebook account. At first, I couldn't see the point of having another online community account when I was well and good with friendster (which I don't use anymore today) but due to friends' relentless requests, I signed up for facebook in July, 2007, even before most of my friends knew such exists and that it is way better than the other one (sorry...).

There were about 16,000 of us from all over the world but none of us (as far as I'm concerned) had a problem with food or water shortage. There were just enough and more for every single person there. The subways were allowed for free use for us by the mayor of Busan (who spoke on the first night) and Korean civilians especially vendors watched curiously as about thousands of students of different color and language walked the streets nearby Hae Eun Dae Beach to one of the country’s biggest activity complexes: BEXCO. It is as probably thrice as big as Araneta Coliseum (correct me if I am wrong, though). And despite all the tedious, meticulous and laborious preparations: Hanbok Fashion Show, Parade of Nations, Korean Culture exhibits, hundreds of seminars that were up for the week, there was no report of a stampede, or a person lost.

Organized is an understatement. Every detail was carefully planned, including seminars that were translated to about 10 different languages and transmitted to local frequency bands in the area (though, I don’t think this is small detail); freebies, announcements and big things like plane tickets , bus rides (that were very comfortable as the bus rode smoothly along city roads without traffic jam, you wonder if there are any cars in Busan or the mayor stopped people from using them that week) and grouping people together in hotels.

Luckily, our group was housed in probably one of the best hotels available: Sea Cloud, a five star hotel that overlooks Hae Eun Dae Beach, one of those beaches situated in a city with lots of tourists and commercial gimmicks and where Busan Aquarium was located where we chanced to gaze at marine life with verbal and non-verbal wow's.

You could see fish you could have only seen in diving spots or in the movie, Finding Nemo or Jaws; penguins and seals and dugongs you could have watched eat live fish only in National Geographic, marine animals that emit light in water and giant jelly fish and octopus that will make you feel safe about the sign: For Your Eyes Only.

Watching those made me wonder what else I could see in the future and those I never will.

Memories in South Korea still fascinated me days after I arrived in Manila. Awed by their clean, efficient and organized systems, I secretly wished we would experience the same in the Philippines. But it was a Christian conference I went to and one of the things I learned there was the power of prayer. Korean Christians are known to pray a lot. Many great changes in their country have been brought about by the sincere cry of Christians to God.

I am not a Korean and I have my own way of praying but I sure know God listens to me. I decide I would not only wish, I would pray. With the power of prayer, who knows.