WHILE many continue to be fascinated with the continuing saga of the botched NBN deal and the sale of the nation’s sovereignty, the country’s great mass of underprivileged must make do with what they have just to survive. The thought of millions or billions made in illegal commissions must boggle the mind, but may be viewed as ironic in the face of people struggling to make a daily wage or to feed a gathering brood.

Almost three decades ago, certain like-minded friends and corporate entities put together the first of a series of what are now called Family Farm Schools. The first one went up in Lipa, on land donated by the Ayala group. (My friend Tony Laurel of the Ayala agribusiness group remembers this particular donation.) The family farm school is one attempt to keep the children of small landowning families continuing to work on the family plots of land. In a way, the schools seek to reverse the trend of most families that finds their children migrating to the urbanized areas of the country, leaving otherwise productive lands fallow or underproductive.

The schools use a combination of classroom and actual on-the-job training. Since most of the students come from a certain radius distance from the school, they are expected to spend half of their time working back on their small farms, applying the concepts that they had picked up in the school during the previous week. The schools’ faculty members go on the road and review the implementation by each student of specific assignments given them.

Initially, many of the families concerned sent their second or least promising sons to the first school in Lipa, figuring that they would not lose anything by doing so. Typically, the eldest would then go off to the metro area to seek his fortune and, hopefully, send enough money home to keep the family out of a state of penury. Later on, when the parents saw how their sons -– and their farms -– progressed, they were astounded as their less-promising sons began to leave their older siblings in their wake.

It is projects like the Family Farm Schools that contribute to the general sense of well-being in the nation. Better yet, small plots of land that would have otherwise been sold off or left fallow continue to remain productive. The sad news is that these Family Farm Schools try to do so much but do not appear sexy enough to potential contributors, leaving them in a perpetual state of trying to make do with so little.

Pity.

WHOEVER said that one can take it easy upon becoming a senior citizen will have to re-examine his or her assumptions. In an e-group of my grade school and high school classmates, someone brought up how the student body was made aware of their rights and the need to fight for them sometime during our idyllic life on campus. Not long after, many of us joined ranks with others who got caught up in the maelstrom called the First Quarter Storm. Fifteen years later, we marched in lockstep with many others to fight for basic freedoms during the many years that preceded the People Power days at EDSA 1. Now, almost a quarter of a century later, not having learned anything from the previous struggles for change, the mood is once again ripe for a mass-based movement to bring down an unpopular leadership.

Many of those who participated in the past struggles for change are hopeful that, this time around, a more meaningful change in both structure and underlying moral values will finally result in a country that can do things right without having to fall back on those aspects of the dark side that continue to drag us down as a people. Otherwise, we will just pave the way for another pack of self-serving and greedy individuals who will line their pockets before they begin to think of working for the greater good.

The current leadership is keen on pointing out the country’s economic success, touting growth figures that, at first glance, do seem impressive. It does not take a trained economist to realize that these positive indicators -– fueled mostly by OFW inflows and a consumption economy –- are not solid enough for the economy to survive on in the longer term. A substantial chunk of our workforce abroad rely on the largesse and strength of their host economies, some of which may soon feel the strain of the increasingly negative growth being felt in the current slump. In fact, a recent survey points out that more and more of our countrymen feel poorer than before, which suggests that the growth being touted by the administration is not effectively filtering down to the masses. That is bad news.

Instead of focusing on big ticket items –- which are, of course, attractive because of the commissions corrupt officials and their cohorts can earn at the expense of the people –- the leadership should focus more on those programs or projects that impact directly on the fortunes and pockets of the ordinary Filipino. These –- to be truthful -– are precisely the areas that the NGO community revels in, but which the government studiously chooses to avoid. Not enough glory perhaps, or not enough personal gain or profit?

Instead of that stupid broadband deal -– which the private sector could have cobbled together for much much less than the accepted price –- money could have been poured into microfinance (working through NGOs or the small banks accredited for this purpose), habitats (like the GK communities), vocational education, et al. There is a wealth of very soft or free bilateral and multilateral money available for this purpose. But of course, these back to basics projects are not attractive because, as the saying goes, the projects are “Bulag.” Translation: “Wala Kita” (Literally, “Can’t See;” figuratively, “No Profit!”)

And then, there is that wonderful area of fund-raising by the government’s revenue generation agencies. The government always wonders why the revenue generation agencies don’t seem to meet their assigned targets. All one has to do is realize that many taxpayers end up paying more to unscrupulous revenue agents than to the government in the myriad arrangements that come up on a day to day basis. These less than honest agents make it harder for honest taxpayers to pay the right taxes.

Crummy! No wonder more people are joining the search for Truth and Justice!

MY son had to run off one night last week because — as one of the judges for the prestigious Anvil Awards — he had to be present for the awarding ceremonies of the Anvil Awards sponsored by the PRSP, the umbrella organization of public relations practitioners. Not long after, a close friend sent me a text informing me that his company had won and that, to his surprise, his godson — my son — was presenting the award to him! My son had not even made the connection between the award and the fact that his godfather was the head of the company to be awarded. Needless to say, the only admonition I gave to my son when he was busy going through the various scrapbooks was to exercise the greatest objectivity and not to be swayed by the corporations or their owners. He is already quite independent-minded, and my reminder only served to reinforce the need to be above the fray when it comes to sensitive matters like the giving of prestigious awards.

The occasion of the Anvil Awards reminded me of a trophy I saw last December during a dinner hosted by an aunt to commemorate the life and times of her spouse, my uncle, who served with distinction in both the private and public sectors. The trophy was for a Grand Anvil won sometime in the ‘90s by the institution I worked for. The project was a multi-year effort at uplifting a depressed community in Metro Manila. Why the sense of déjà vu?

Sometime in ‘83 or ’84, I wrote a concept paper which suggested that the firm “adopt” a depressed community and send a team of people from the company to do a “needs analysis” with the end in mind of uplifting said community by way of a multi-year partnership. The idea was to help the community without resorting to the usual hand-outs, but to find ways and means to get target beneficiaries out of the perennial cycle of poverty that most depressed communities are rooted in. I remember one suggestion I made back then, which was to take a look at some of the items being bought on a regular basis by our company, and which could be produced on a small scale by the community. Other possibilities included sponsorship of skills training and vocational education for those capable of working, and the offering of scholarships for promising young children.

The program was implemented after I had left the firm for my in and out stints in government and stabs at entrepreneurship. It was a pleasant surprise, therefore, when I got a call from my former staff to tell me that they had won the Grand Anvil based on a concept I had written years earlier.

The concept is valid till this day, and is — to a very large extent — finding fruit in efforts like the Gawad Kalinga program which provides housing and a combination of social and moral upliftment to boot.

THE EVENTS of the past few months validate what many jaded observers have seen and noted as a hallmark of many who serve in government these days. Gone is the concept of service above self (as a civic club is wont to profess as one of its governing principles). Instead, we now have a proliferation of people eager to enter government, hoping to enrich themselves in the process. And, from what is being revealed by the current Lozada testimonies, the proponents have become incredibly greedy and voracious.

I still remember vividly Ka Jaime Ferrer (who was certainly a paragon of honesty and integrity when he served as Comelec chairman!) recounting to me how he would react when asked by a constituent to be recommended to the revenue agencies like BIR or Customs. He would lash out at them and scold them for asking for those appointments, knowing that they had only one thing in mind: to get rich!

Some two decades back, while the country’s accounts were being put back in order and the international debt pared down, the policy of using Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) and Build-Own-Operate (BOO) became the norm, and the tendency in the past to borrow to fund capital expenditures was discouraged. That is why the brazen (but foiled) attempt at borrowing to fund the government broadband project really strikes one as yet another attempt at personal enrichment at the expense of future generations of taxpayers. But even more stunning is the thought that the basic cost of the project at about $100+ million would have generated more than $250 million in stolen profits for the proponents, using borrowed money at that!

My family has just laid our mother to rest after a life well lived and well spent. My mother belonged to a generation of old-school practitioners who believed in God and practiced honesty in their public and private dealings. They also instilled their hallowed beliefs in us, their children, and we — in turn — have not tired in pointing to our own children the need to put the Commandments and Beatitudes into practice in their own daily lives.

There were so many of my mother’s friends from her childhood and civic action days who passed by to express their sympathies to the family. These were people I had long looked up to and admired over the years, and whose own lives served as formative models. Some had remained purely in the private sector, while others pioneered in education or set the tone in selfless civic involvement. Many of them lamented the apparent loss today of core values and wished for the days when they and my parents would get involved in projects that would help many others without any thought of self-aggrandizement or self-enrichment.

And we wonder why our country can’t seem to get off its collective feet and progress like our neighbors are doing?

WHILE walking through a mall located in Metro-South, I happened to notice one particular store that brought a happy thought. This store — I forget its full name — is called San Jose and deals in kitchen cabinets and the like. It is owned by a neighbor and his wife, casual but good friends. Why did the sight of their store evoke a pleasant thought?

The couple started typically as small entrepreneurs in a related field. Then, they ventured into this other field and encountered the usual problems that budding enterprises fall prey to. They managed to grow over the past few years, however, and their success is evident in the opening of new outlets like the one I saw in the mall. What distinguishes this couple from others like them?

The owners, Oscar and Mel Chan — who have no idea at all that I am writing this piece about them and their business, thank goodness — are a God-fearing couple who do not merely mouth platitudes about social responsibility. They put it into practice every single day. For example, each working day starts with a group prayer, offering the day up to God and thanking Him for His many blessings. The Chans share their profits with their employees, and make every effort to let them know how the company is doing — and how much it is earning — so that each feels like a personal stakeholder in its fortunes. As a result, the company enjoys high employee morale and a great sense of involvement and achievement.

Perhaps, because of their sense of social responsibility, the good Lord has seen fit to reward the company with increased business even during tough times.

This is yet another example of how business persons can walk the talk without much fanfare.