F rankly, I never gave Raffy Alunan any serious consideration despite the exclusive school he went to and his pedigreed upbringing.

It was enough that nothing sensational happened during his watch as Tourism Secretary under Cory Aquino. He and his friend Trade Secretary Peter Garrucho also almost botched the presidential campaign of Fidel V. Ramos that President Aquino himself had to recall me from the Philippine Embassy in Washington, DC, to help run special operations at the last minute to salvage his moribund campaign.

* Editor’s Note: Mr. Paglinawan actually sent this commentary in response to Bobby Reyes’ article, ADB and Alunan Are Wrong: The Overseas Filipinos Can Lead RP to the 21st Century and Beyond. We decided, however that Mr. Paglinawan’s remarks deserve to be published as a separate article.

B ut here in his affirmation of Hyun Son's analysis for the Asian Development Bank, it seems Mr. Alunan jumped over the cuckoo's nest. The man is just simply detached from reality.

I have just returned from a mission to Western and Central Africa, and if the Philippines is two centuries behind as Mr. Hyun and he asserts, then Ghana and Cameroon are in the Jurassic age, which is not true either.

You know this is the problem growing with the Philippine super elite in Forbes Park. His immediate vicinity is Ayala Avenue and the Makati gated communities. As soon as he crosses Pinagkaisahan, his sense of denial acts up. I cannot confirm or deny whether he catches Hay Fever just as far as Pasay, Malate or Mandaluyong, but his failed management of water system shows that besides the referrals, there is really nothing but good looks between his shoulders. He could have had a better career in television or the movies.

Look guys, since 1998, the Philippine has gone into hibernation and onto decay, I will not deny that. In fact, ten years of Estrada and Arroyo have sent our country close to the abyss. During this decade, institutional corruption has been the major government platform.

Fuel for the country's number-one job creator, number-one economic catalyzer, and number-one generator of products has been taken out to ignite the pockets of the First Kotong and all those in power. Of course, I am speaking about the agricultural sector.

Do I have to enumerate the fertilizer, irrigation and livestock scams that have blown away billions of government funds and tens of billions of opportunities away from our people?

But when Neal Cruz writes that another Php700 million has now been stolen from the Department of Education, now that's really devastating. He says "As the Arroyo administration winds to a close, her officials are scrambling to provide for their future."

What has been exposed here is the "Food-for-School Program that for years has provided nutritional supplements to Filipino children like the Nutribun and powdered milk supplied by the Americans during the Marcos era and lugaw during the Aquino years."

Neal Cruz wrote "This time, the food being supplied is noodles - What ordinarily costs Php5 a package is being sold to the Department of Education at Php 18 a pack. That's an overprice of more than three times!"

But even this cannot put us two centuries behind.

The ADB study finds itself ludicrous in concluding that it would take the Philippines anywhere between 132 and 241 years to catch up with the living standards of industrialized countries.

W hy because I am convinced that we can turn around overnight, but there are very simple solutions:

* First, let's get rid of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and the First Gentleman as soon as possible and get these big fishes behind bars to show all and sundry that sucking the blood of the national patrimony warrants capital punishment.

* Second, let's get Dick Gordon elected to the presidency. With virtually just the penny-ante income of Olongapo when the Americans would not share in the economic burden to pay for the social cost of maintaining the bases, he turned the city around to be one of our model rural towns. With nothing but the dust of Mt. Pinatubo to shovel by hand, he rallied hundreds of volunteers to clean up and preserve the Subic Naval Base after being abandoned by the Americans.

When tourism was an expense center, Gordon took on the cabinet post and showed our regional competitors that the Philippines was back in contention as one of the country's major dollar earners. They as he became Senator, he has exposed the various leeches who are precisely fleecing the Philippine taxpayers money and raiding the coffers of the National Treasury.

Dick Gordon is the only "presidentiable" today that has a track record to show in and outside government. The Philippines, led a by a visionary leader as Gordon, can turn promise into reality as he has already and repeatedly achieved in the past. His moral ascendancy and love for the rule of law will melt corruption from our midst and provide a fertile ground for production, growth and enterprise and investment. 

* The third step, of course, is the immense capital of the Overseas Filipinos in talent and treasure.

But only and only when good governance is assured, that Bobby Reyes' vision of "Overseas Filipinos becoming the best hope for the country's redemption as the erstwhile 'Pearl of the Orient' " can logically be pursued.

For the meantime, however, let us just thank God that Overseas-Filipino remittances have at least managed to keep the water below our chin. # # #