Can Ph get Rid of being a Tourism Slow Foot in the ASEAN

 AN ANALYSIS

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Can the Philippines get rid of its disparaging moniker as the tourism laggard in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) before President Rodrigo Duterte will  step out of office next year or after the archipelago’s subdue the lethal pandemic?

Before we plow our eyes to the nitty gritty of the tourism industry of this 110 million acrimoniously populated third world country, the following are the tourist arrival numbers in the ASEAN in 2019 according to GlobalData:

1. Thailand - 39,797 million; 2. Malaysia - 20,1 million; 3. Vietnam - 18 million

4. Singapore - 15.9 million; 5. Indonesia - 13.62 million; 6. Philippines - 8 million; 7. Cambodia - 6.7 million; 8. Myanmar - 4.3 million; 9. Lao PDR - 3.4 million; 10. Brunei Darussalam - 213 thousand.

THE INDEX ranks 140 countries on their relative strengths in relation to global tourism and travel. The global average was 3.8 while the average for Asia Pacific was 4.2, reflecting ASEAN’s strong balance of natural and cultural resources to attract tourism – and its value for money.

Singapore was judged to have the most competitive travel and tourism sector in ASEAN, followed by Malaysia and Thailand. (Photo and caption texts credit to The ASEAN Post Team, September 5, 2019)

The Philippines thanks to the poor planning of its leaders was snagged in No. 6 position – where backwater countries like Cambodia and Myanmar breath behinds her butt, er, neck like an albatross, according to GlobalData. The Christian country being in a lousy post was blamed to her lacks of infrastructure, the high cost of staying in the archipelago, and the pathetic access for foreigners to reach the country and those tourist spots.

One of the complaints I read was a foreigner found himself stuck for in a monster traffic in Manila and those other traffics in the provinces that took him five hours to reach by land a resort say in Pangasinan or La Union.

Speaking at the European Union - Philippines Business Network forum in 2016, Guenter Taus, president of the European Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines (ECCP) cited that If the country would become a desirable tourism destination especially for high spending visitors, she needs to facilitate international investments in infrastructure and facilities that better match the visitors’ expectations.

As the Duterte Administration has one more year left before its ends its mandate in June 30, 2022, my poser: Does its $23 billion (P1.15 Trillion) it spends since it took office in June 30, 2016 enough to wiggle out from its No. 6 post (8 million foreign visitors) and overtakes No. 4 Singapore (almost 16 million tourists) and No. 5 Indonesia (13.62 million arrivals) as ranked by GlobalDatain 2019?

Finance Undersecretary Grace Karen Singson said that under the Duterte administration’s National Tourism Development Plan (NTDP), the Philippines will have to invest $23 billion in tourism infrastructure between now and 2022, when the President’s term ends, to make the sector “not only sustainable and highly competitive in the region but also socially responsible to propel inclusive growth.”

Singson said these proposed NTDP investments cover road networks, airports, cruise ports, railway, site infrastructure, tourism enterprise zones, transport units, accommodation facilities, and aircraft acquisition.

“2,620 kilometers of tourism roads over the next six years, from a baseline of 900 kilometers, which will require an investment of $2 billion,’ she was quoted by the media.

Pump priming the tourism industry is integral to the Duterte administration’s 10-point socioeconomic agenda as this sector is the third biggest contributor to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

The agenda provides for accelerated spending in infrastructure from three percent to over five percent of the GDP.

Tourism becomes the third largest contributor to the Philippines’ GDP after the Trade and Real estate Sectors.

As GDP growth where the country reached 5.2 percent in 2015, tourism accounted for 1.11 percentage points of the spike.

Singson said the government’s goal is to double the number of foreign tourist arrivals, increase tourism revenues by 90 percent and generate 14.4 percent of total Philippine jobs from the tourism sector by the time Mr. Duterte steps down in 2022.

NTDP is anchored on major infrastructure development initiatives over the next five years that include the improvement of ports, ferry services, airports in 11 tourism gateways in the country.

Other strategies of the government to boost tourist arrivals include developing the country’s cruise industry, which saw an increase in port calls by 67 percent over the 2013-2015 period.

“These initiatives for Cruise Tourism in the Tourism Development Plan expect that in six years time, ship calls to the Philippines will increase by as much as six-fold and visitor arrivals from Cruise Tourism will increase by as much as 800 percent,” Singson noted.

Casinos in the country were burgeoning too as it drew foreign gamblers especially Chinese Mainlanders before the pandemic wrought havoc in the industry.

There were an average of 60 million Chinese tourists that visited the ASEAN Region in 2019.

Tourism in the Philippines contributes 12.7 percent of the country’s GDP and provides 5.4 million jobs in 2018.

With all those long term plans done by President Duterte since he took office in 2016, can we finally make a breakthrough not only as an economic sluggard among our ASEAN Peers (Damn we are at the bottom No. 6 in terms of exports) but as a slow foot in the tourism market after this pandemic has been finally controlled?

READ MY OTHER BLOG:

How Other Mayors Create Economics Opportunities to People

(You can read my selected columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com)

Gov’t Reduces Taxes to Encourage More Businesses

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

The government has reduced hundreds of billions of pesos of taxes to cushion the impact of the pandemic at the same time encourage more businesses and draw foreign investors, a top executive of the Bureau of Internal Revenue said.

Assistant Revenue District Office No. 4 Chief Aldrin Camba cited theCorporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act (CREATE) that was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Rodrigo R. Duterte last year.

“Yes, to encourage the investors and then iyong pinag-uusapan natin na Percentage Tax iyong Non-Vat from 3%, ngayon is 1% na,” he explained about the government's strategy to attract more investors in the country and the reduction of the non Value Added Tax (VAT)Percentage Tax from three percent to one percent payable in quarterly basis.

Strategy how to attract investors that could generate more employments in the country.

The purpose of CREATE is to grant tax relief for companies in financial need, provide transparent tax provisions, and further increase their competitiveness in the Philippines to attract for example foreign investment through corporate income tax (CIT) reductions.

From July 2020 to 2022, foreign companies will be eligible for a reduction in the CIT rate to 25 percent compared to the regular rate of 30 percent — the highest in the Association of Southeast Asean Nations (ASEAN). CREATE Act opts too for a five-percentage point reduction. Domestic micro, small, and medium-sized companies will directly benefit from a preferential rate of 20 percent (businesses with taxable income of up to P5 million (US$103,318) and not exceeding P100 million (US$2,066,437).

From 2022 to 2027, the 25 percent CIT will steadily decline by one percent per year, to finally reach 20 percent in 2027 for foreign companies.

Since the fourteen towns and two cities’ Revenue District Office have more corporations as taxpayers, Camba is confident that his office leads by Revenue District Office No. 4 Chief Ernesto Mangabat can find other sources to replace the loss of revenues due to CREATE.

“Yes in some sort. We’re finding a way na saan makukuha ng ibang koneksiyon na magbangga doon sa nawala (taxes),” he stressed.

The expected reduction in government revenues because of these reductions of taxes to corporations have been estimated at P476 billion. The economic managers of the government hoped they can be offset by the CREATE Act’s fostering of a more friendly business competitive environment for the near- to medium-term.

READ MY OTHER BLOG:

Oligarchs Mga Amo' ng Senador sa Pinas?

Mayors, Veems Racket Assailed by Publishers

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

 Many mayors and vice mayors in this province have been denounced by a newspaper publisher by fleecing her and fellow newspaper owners of a significant parts of amount for the law passes by either the Sangguniangs Panlungsod or Bayan (city or municipal legislature) that need publication.

“Dati rati kalahati ang kukunin ng office ni Vice Mayor, ngayon hinde na nila sasabihin kung magkano ang per page, sila na ang magbibigay sa iyo,” the source, who asked for anonymity, told this writer about the deteriorating rackets committed by many vice mayors in Pangasinan.

The mayors' avarice have not been spared by the criticisms of the publishers.

Bundles of Philippine Peso Bills.

One of them told this newspaper in the past that when he won a bid at the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) to publish an ordinance passed and signed by the town legislature and the mayor he was told by the latter:
“50% ang cut ko dito”.

The newspaper owner was shocked since he won the right to publish in a proper bidding as dictated by the Procurement Law of the Philippines.

“Sobrang suwapang naman ng mayor na iyan”.

Publication of a local government unit (LGU) in a newspaper could be lucrative. One page could be billed up to P7,000 where a printing cost only a publisher  P500 only. The town or city published up to 200 pages in three consecutive weeks of its ordinance in a paper that won the bid.

That would be a staggering P420 thousand that a corrupt public official pockets personally half of its sum, while some publishers in the province who conspired with these corruptions have been able to build a house and bought a car.

The present source said the office of the mayor can short change the newspaper owner if it has the allocation of the budget for publication that is usually appropriated to the vice mayor’s office.

The conspiracy to rob the government's coffer with an expensive advertising fee ensued because another two publishers connived with the first publisher who bid in the lower price.

“Bibigyan na lang ng share ng publisher iyong dalawang kasama niya,” she cited.

Newspaper owners have been competing with each other to ingratiate with the vice mayors or his secretary in the August body by giving them expensive liquors and even tens of thousands of pesos upon the signature in the contract of the number two elected official of the LGU.

“Pag na pirmahan na ni Vice Mayor nagbibigay na kaagad ako ng paunang bayad pang good will”.

Many officials in the Sanggunian have been nearly sued by some publishers because they bypassed the bidding process – as requisite by the law- of the publication to get their favorite publisher to publish their documents.

“One of these case happened in a town in Eastern Pangasinan where the Secretary would not allow a publisher to submit her bid she believed to be the lowest,” a source cited.

Upon a legal advice from an official of the Civil Service Office, the newspaper owner asked a policeman to accompany her as witness that her bid would not be accepted by the secretary,” she told this writer.

A secretary or a vice mayor could be recalcitrant if he already accepted a part of the office’s total share of the racket.

Because of the threat of criminal prosecution and litigation, the vice mayor begged off the publisher not to sue them and instead give to her the publication of the ordinance.

The source lauded the towns of Bautista and Basista in Pangasinan to have honest officials who did not fleece a publisher who wins the bid there.

There are more or less twenty community newspapers that circulate and compete for publication bidding in the forty four towns four cities’ province.

READ MY OTHER BLOG/COLUMN:

Bobotantes hit after nixing ex-judges, docs, lawyers

(You can read my selected columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com)

Vote Buying sa Eleksiyon, Paano?

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Ayon sa Political Operator na kausap ko, ang isang tumatakbong Congressman na bibili ng boto para manalo ay kailangan lamang niya ng 85% ng registered voters sa isang distrito.

 Halimbawa: Kung ang botante sa isang Congressional District  ay may 266,894 voters - from the 85% of 313,994 voters, kung tig P1,000 ang pakurong (o gapangan in the eve of the May 9, 2022 National and Local Election) ang isang congressional candidate na gaya ng halimbawa ko sa itaas ay kailangan gumastos ng P266, 894,000 o P133,447,000 pag ang bigayan ay P500 kada tao.

THOUSANDS of pesos surreptitiously exchange hands a day before the election in the Philippines. Vote buying is endemic in almost all provinces in the third world country in South East Asia. Photo credit: FAQ.Ph

Usually 80% to 85% lang ang bumuto, ani ng source ko na ayaw magpakilala.

“Except sa isang disrict, karamihan sa mga districts ay isang wave lang ang bilihan ng boto,” ika niya noong sinabi ko na sa isang siyudad sa Pangasinan isang buwan bago mag election, namimigay na ng isang sakong premium na bigas na 25 kilos, 30 canned goods kung saan 10 ang corned beef, noodles, mga 3-in-1 na kape, at iba pa. Isang linggo mag election ang nasabing kandidato ay ni meeting ang mga taga barangays at kasama ang congressional candidate, vice mayor bet niya, at sila ay namigay ng tag P300, P500, P500, respectively na naka sobre kasama ang mga decals o papelitos nila sa mga tuwang tuwang na bawat isang bobotante na taga village.

Noong pakurong o gapangan na, ang bigayan sa mga nakalista na botante ay P2,500. Ang kuwenta ko mga halos P5,000 ang ginastos ng tumatakbong mayor na ito o half-a billion sa 85% na mga registered voters sa puwesto na nagbibigay lamang ng more than P100,000 anak ng bakang dalaga kada buwan sa tatlong taong term of office.

Ang kalaban niya ay libo-libo rin ang ginastos kaya sobrang tuwa ng mga tao na iyong iba na nakaregister sa ibang bayan na meron ding bahay sa siyudad na ito ay nagpapa register na ngayong taon bago maabutan ng six months prohibition ng Commission on Election (Comelec).

“Ala ey kadaming pera naman ere saan galing ang mga iyan?” tanong ng kaibigan kung Batangueno.

Wika ko sa kanya ang iba may mga milyon at bilyon na yaman na, iyong ibang kandidato – na karamihan sa mga tumakbo - galing sa dugas at nakaw sa kaban ng bayan ang pinagtutustos sa election.

Kaya pag ikaw ay incumbent na Congressman o Mayor at ikaw ay natalo sa eleksiyon – Diyos ko po, nakakahiya!

 Bakit? Iyong kalaban mo kung sa boxing pa ay challenger iyong pinagtatapon niyang pera ay galing sa bulsa niya. Ikaw na incumbent ang ginagamit mo ay ang perang binahagi ng gobyerno sa mga social services at public relation offices mo hinde pa kasali diyan iyong 20 percent na tong -pats o S.O.P mo na dahilan na tinawag kang Korean ng mga contractors ng government projects.

“Magkano Korean este ko riyan,? Tanong ng isang nakaupong elective official sa contractor na gumagawa ng substandard at baku- bakong kalsada sa isang congressional distrit sa Central Pangasinan.

“Maganda dito libo-libo ang makakuha mo sa dalawang kandidato hinde gaya sa bayan namin timba at may lamang isang kilong karne galing sa mga mapera na tumatakbong Councilor at isang libo lang sa tumatakbong mayor,” sabi ng kilala ko.

“Iba kasi ang waves sa siyudad maliit ang area madaling e mobilize ang tao. Sa congressional district malawak kasi marami siyang sakop na bayan may siyudad pa,” ika ng Operator na nagsasabi na typical one wave lang ang vote buying na puwede sa congresisonal election.

***

Sa May 2022 election dito natin malalaman kung ang talino at performances ay wala ng silbe dahil karamihan sa mga Filipino ang iboboto ay ang mga galanteng nagbibigay ng maraming datung.

Noong 2016 election nangyari iyan sa isang kandidato, hundreds of millions ang ginastos niya isang taon bago mag election. Isang linggo bago mag botohan nagipit na siya ng pera. Ang kalaban na beterano - na patawatawa lang habang nagtatapon kaliwa’t kanan ang  unang kalaban -  ay gumastos sa bilihan ng boto a week bago mag election. Nanalo siya.

“Tama iyan. Ang mga botante kasi matatandaan ka nila kung binigyan mo sila kahapon o noong makalawa. Kahit P300 lang ibinigay mo at iyong kalaban mo nagbigay ng P500 noong nakaraan buwan ikaw na P300 ang iboboto nila,” isang beteranong mayor sa Central Pangasinan ang nagsabi sa akin sa Art of Vote Buying kung saan umiiral ang retentive memory ng voter sa giver.

READ MY OTHER BLOG:

HowMayor, Guv, Solon Steal to Fund Their Election

(You can read my selected columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com) 

Prov’l Gov’t extols PMA graduates from P’sinan

The officialdom of the province of Pangasinan congratulates the 13 Pangasinenses who graduated from Philippine Military Academy this 2021.

Governor Amado I. Espino III, during the regular flag-raising ceremony on May 17 held at the Capitol Plaza, commended to the PMA graduates for entering military service.

“Being a son of a former military officer, isa pong karangalan na makaharap kayo… isa pong karangalan na pagsilbihan kayo at kasama niyo po ako na nagsisilbi sa buong probinsya ng Pangasinan,” Gov. Espino stressed.

On 11 May 2021, the Philippine Military Academy led by the Superintendent, PMA, LTGEN FERDINAND M CARTUJANO PAF conducted a Send-Off Ceremony to the newly commissioned Officers (members of PMA "Masaligan" Class of 2021) at the Sundial Area. It was attended by selected personnel of PMA and Cadets (Photo Credit: PMA Face-Bok)

Urging the PMA graduates and cadets to be role models to other Pangasinenses, Governor Espino encouraged them to invite more youth in the province to take the PMA entrance exam and be a cadet.

“Mag-anyaya pa po tayo ng ating mga magagaling at matatapang na mga kababayan na pwedeng mag-exam sa iba’t-ibang academies para masubukan nila kung paano magsilbi sa Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) at sa buong Pilipinas, especially here in the province,” the governor added.

The 13 Pangasinenses are among the 164 graduates of Masaligan (MAndirigmang SAmahan na Lakas at SandIGAN ng Bayan) Class of 2021.

“Thankful po ako dahil naka-graduate ako at sobrang saya sa feeling na makita mo ang magulang mo na proud... excited na rin kami na pagsilbihan ang bayan natin,” said Jerson Tandoc, one of the PMA graduates.

The PMA graduates also commended the transport assistance of the province dubbed “Hatid Estudyante Pogram” which also assisted them to go home to respective hometowns on May 11.

“Napakaganda po ‘yung program na ‘yun at at makikita po na supportive talaga si Governor sa pagsundo sa amin dahil hindi rin po namin alam kung paano uuwi after graduation kaya napakalaking tulong po ‘yung pagsundo sa amin at nakasama po naming agad ang pamilya namin,” Tandoc also stated.

The PMA graduates were also joined by 27 other PMA cadets and their beloved families during their courtesy call on Governor Espino.

Joining Governor Espino during the flag-raising ceremony were: Provincial Administrator Nimrod S. Camba, Provincial Disaster and Risk Reduction Management Officer Rhodyn Luchinvar Oro, Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Council Secretary Carlos Resurreccion, Provincial Assessment Office OIC Loida Alamar and Provincial Information Officer Orpheus M. Velasco.

/Shiella Mae C. De Guzman

Gen. Recalls PMA Days when an Incoming Cadet Seeks his Advice

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan - A former General and an incumbent Mayor reminisced the day when he would be joining the plebehood in the Philippines Military Academy when an eighteen year old constituent appeared in his office for advice before the former report on Saturday at the premier military institution in the country on Saturday.

“I was just like him so young and thin when I joined the PMA ,” Leopoldo Bataoil chuckled but waxing sentiment when he told recently this Writer when the latter dropped by at the mayor’s office of this No. 6 most populated town in the four cities forty four towns’ Pangasinan.

CADET RECEPTION. Physical and mental toughness of plebes are tested during the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) reception rites at the Borromeo Field. Plebehood strips them of their civilian life as they transform into professional and effective military leaders. Plebe is dubbed as the lowest life of a cadet as he wiggles out for acceptance in the academy. (Photo by Jean Nicole Cortes)

In a public letter addressed to Avril Michael de Guzman, 18, he posted at the Writer’s blog Talk Radio 101 in Facebook, the General said he was so proud of the feat of the young man.

“Let me share with you my story. I am 5th in a family of 7, my father was a teacher and my mother was a homemaker. To support us all in college was very difficult for parents like them but they really find ways and means to see us thru, no matter. So, when I passed the PMA entrance exam, I took it upon myself to grab the opportunity to avail of the cadetship program as a government scholar, all free; Tuition, uniform, food and with salary which is higher than a Master Sergeant and lower than a Second Lieutenant,” excerpt of the letter.

Bataoil is a retired three-star police general, a nine years former Congressman of the Second District, and Chief Executive of this burgeoning capital town of Pangasinan.

De Guzman is one of the more or less 300 cream of the crops from the 20,000 examinees who took the PMA Entrance Examination held in the various testing centers all over the country in August 30 last year.

He was taking Bachelor of Science in Accountancy at Kingfisher College in Dagupan City when he passed the tough military college's entrance examination.

“Only 1,000 hurdled the examination but only 300 passed the stringent physical and psychological examinations at V-Luna (Armed Forces of the Philippines Medical Center in Quezon City- Author),” de Guzman, who is of the same age with Bataoil when the latter joined the PMA, disclosed to this Writer in the vernacular.

The mother, a housewife, of the incoming cadet is the childhood neighbor of the former General in Barangay Libsong here.

“He’s like my kin thus I was happy that he hurdled the PMA exam. Nobody from my family and relatives joined the PMA”.

The General saw at De Guzman the lineage to continue the fine tradition of professional soldiery, where he considers the boy as his extended member of the family.

“ (C)onsidering your mother Athena and your Aunt Badet like my own sisters. I hope we can meet and talk again so I can guide you more on your future plans,” excerpt of the letter of Bataoil to the incoming cadet.

The former Congressman told this newspaper that many friends have been discouraging the young man to join the military school in Baguio City because of the adverse opinions of several gory incidents that ensued there.

“I told him to ignore them because he will be joining the most prestigious school in the country”.

At the young age of 18 Bataoil advice the son of his former neighbor that it will be an advantaged to be part of the Long Gray Line.

“While the older classmates or mistah niya will be retiring he will be the last man standing. He has the chance to be promoted to even Chief -of -Staff later.

When asked by this newspaper what branch of service he will prefer after he graduate at the Academy, he retorted: Air Force, Sir!

TWO GENERALS AND AN INCOMING PMA CADET. This blog author (extreme right) posing recently at the office of the mayor in Lingayen, Pangasinan with two retired Philippine Generals Lingayen Mayor Leopoldo Bataoil (PMA' 76)(extreme left) Municipal Adminstrator Robert Sylim (PMA '74) (2nd from right). Avril Michael de Guzman - an incoming cadet of the Philippine Military Academy - is at second from left.

BELOW IS THE WHOLE COPY OF THE LETTER:

"Mortz thank you for this post. Here’s my open letter/ pep talk to Avril Mike, fyi-

“Dear Mike, I know you have mixed feelings and hesitation about joining the PMA so forgive my intervention at this time.

I want you to know that I am so proud of you and yes it’s a major decision that you must make at this young stage of your life.

Let me share with you my story. I am 5th in a family of 7, my father was a teacher and my mother was a homemaker. To support us all in college was very difficult for parents like them but they really find ways and means to see us thru, no matter. So, when I passed the PMA entrance exams, I took it upon myself to grab the opportunity to avail of the cadetship program as a government scholar, all free; tuition, uniform, food and with salary which is higher than a Master Sergeant and lower than a 2Lt.

As a cadet, you are expected to study for 4 years, train to be a leader as an officer and gentleman. Upon graduation, you will be conferred a BS Degree and serve either in the Army, Navy or Air Force. As years go by, you can later on pursue higher studies. If the AFP sees in you a high leadership potential and you keep your service reputation clean, the institution will invest in your career development.

In my case, I was sent to Australia in 1986 by the AFP to study their officers and soldiers training programs; and USA in 1988 for my military officers advance course. When I joined the PNP, I was sent to UK Bramshill in 1992 for my Command Course equivalent to OSEC/ GSC; UK Yorkshire for my Crisis Mgt Course, among others.

As I gathered, you want to be like your brother to specialize on accountancy. The AFP can likewise help you specialize on that field thru inservice trainings, where you can serve as the military comptroller in the future. Civilian schoolings can also be availed of at certain point while in service. In my case, while I served in Mindanao, Visayas and Luzon, I took advantage of the proximity of colleges and universities where I was able to pursue and graduate as MBA at St. Paul University of Tuguegarao City in 1980s later on as Doctor of Peace and Security Administration at the Bicol University in 1990s.

You will have more opportunities as a military officer after PMA and even after retirement. Some of our PMAyers are recruited or pirated to serve big private corporations even while on active service and more of them were offered positions in govt after retirement.

A case in point is our Municipal Administrator, MGen Roberto G Sylim AFP (Ret) himself is an alumnus, a member of PMA’74. We were batchmates of Class 1970 at PPHS now PNHS (Pangasinan National Highschool - Author), a valedictorian who joined the Phil Air Force after PMA graduation. He was a member of the prestigious Blue Eagles jet fighter pilot, held various high positions like military attaché in USA and Canada and retired as The Commanding General of AFP Logistics Command. He is a graduate of two masteral degrees; the prestigious AIM (Asia Institute of Management) the best management school in Asia, and another masteral degree in UK, among others. I mentioned all these because you said you prefer the Air Force and I feel that you needed role models to firm up your decision to join the PMA.

Again, in my case I opted to join politics where I served as your congressman for three terms and now as your first term mayor of our beloved hometown, Lingayen.

I hope I can talk to you more. I wanted someone in our family to follow my footsteps. My nephews tried but failed, except for one who followed my footsteps at the Philippine Merchant Marine Academy (PMMA) where I had a year of cadetship training prior to PMA. Then I saw it in you the lineage to continue the fine tradition of professional soldiery, you whom I consider my extended family in our neighborhood, considering your mother Athena and your Aunt Badet like my own sisters. I hope we can meet and talk again so I can guide you more on your future plans.

Mike, this is your chance of a lifetime, a rare opportunity to serve God, Country and People, one of them noblest ways that I know. Take it and be the best you can be”.

READ MY OTHER BLOG:

Generals reacted on my West Point’s column