Senior Speech

It’s been all bad news for Pilandok even before the May 14 election. So, I want to post something encouraging.

My daughter auditioned for the Senior Speech in University of California (Santa Cruz) Graduation Ceremony next month. She wrote this draft 1 hour before appearing on the search committee yesterday and luckily, she was in top 3. There’s more drama about how she got into the audition because she missed the deadline for submission of entry 1 week ago.

There will be another round of audition among the top 3 contestants next week to choose the winner who will deliver the senior speech. Let’s hope that she win so that the voice of a Maranao woman can be heard in the hall of the University of California.

Baooai is her registered name. I misspelled it (just as my dad misspelled mine) so people think it’s some exotic Hawaiian name. But it’s a very generic name for Maranao girls (kung sa gamut pa, paracetamol) and for those of you who have lived in Ranao, you know what ule means.

She speaks fluent M’ranao although she’s been NRP (Non-Resident Pilandok) more than half of her life. She is very proud of her M’ranao and Muslim heritage. She tries to pray 5x a day.

She just emailed me this draft 10 minutes ago. It’s not exactly how she said it in front of the search committee and I did not edit the text, except for the blah, blah, blah and dah, dah, dah.

By the way, she does not know that I am posting her draft and she doesn’t visit this blog because she's busy.

Like I said, I just want to post something with a happy tone and get away from Ranao politics for a moment.

SENIOR SPEAKER: BAOOAI

Assalamualaikum. This is the Arabic greeting for peace; it literally means “May Peace Be Upon You.”

I greet you all today with peace. For the students the peace of mind now that we don’t have to think about examinations and cramming for those exams- for the parents the peace of mind of not having to pay anymore fees. We have reached the finish line at last. Before I go on much further I just want to say congratulations to every single one of my fellow graduates.

Perhaps many of you are wondering why I have chosen this very peculiar greeting as my intro.

I stand before you all today as: a foreigner (More specifically, an alien for that is what it says on my US visa. When I was twelve and saw that word next to my name I was quite surprised and thought it unusual word choice. Up until then I never thought of myself as an alien. It seemed so out worldly.), as an Asian woman, and more importantly for me, a Muslim. Looking at me you would have never pegged me for a Muslim; certainly faces of Muslims on the news have not been that of short Asian girls wearing glasses speaking with a Filipino accent. That is the best part about living here in America that I have found which is the ability of people to be able to proclaim their identities without fear of being discriminated. Also another wonderful part of living in this melting pot is having the chance to meet people from all parts of the world. Just by attending this university, it’s as if I have traveled the world. From Somalia to Korea, Vietnam to Brazil, Mexico to Turkey. When we speak about diversity on campus being non-existent I have to say that I have had a much different experience all together. Meeting these students, getting to know them as people, as ambassadors of their countries has truly opened my eyes and helped me overcome many of my preconceived notions. I never thought that one day I would be attending an American university, speaking and thinking in this foreign language and learning so much. I was born and raised in the only Islamic city in a majority Catholic country of the Philippines. Growing up in what we would call here in America as a provincial city, we had limited electricity, no indoor plumbing, limited contact with the rest of the world really.

Blah, blah, blah…

We don’t now know what the future will hold for us. One thing is for certain that we should never forget where we come from. It is what makes us unique individuals.

Dah, dah, dah…

Whatever foreign land you may land in. Whatever foreign tongue you may start to speak and think in. Never forget who you are and where you come from. But also don’t let that stop you from becoming who you are.

Engage in simple acts of kindness towards fellow students.

Itutuloy...

From Bob & Joy

Hi Si Raoul ,

Of course, I'd be honored that my little "2 cents worth" of comments gets posted somewhere else. And esp to the right audience who might need this kind of enlightenment on topics that are most crucial to them.

As I said, if majority of the voting population are educated, then they will tend to make more informed decisions when they vote... and the long term effect means - squandering politicians will eventually feed away, and good leadership will prevail. But as long as the people "feed" the bad habits of the community's local governance - these politicians are similar to pests and weeds that will always stay around, and it will always be a problem like a chronic disease that will never go away.

It's quite appalling that everyone tend to blame the people's "culture". The Maranao people has the richest and most colorful culture I've known in all of Mindanao. But for along time - and until I came here to US, my perspectives on Mindanao has totally changed. I had never realized Filipinos seem to always bark at the wrong tree... not knowing that the real root cause of all these problems is not the "culture" of the people but the adverse effects of an ill-informed society and a community deprived of the Government's services and access to mainstream educational infrastructures.

'or maybe MSuans ought to launch a massive educational campaign and provide computers and Internet access to all elementary students all around Lake Lanao and other Mindanao provinces!! Ha-ha!!

I heard Bill Gates Foundation did that for South African children... but that's another story.

It's nice talking to you,
Joy
...............................

Hi Joy,

This is a nice write-up. Can I post it in my blog at http://www.aratawata.com? I am hoping that with this blog we can freely discuss our problems without intimidations from our politicians, friends and relatives.

I believe it's our false maratabat and the (national) government failure to enforce the law that causes the election failure in Lanao. I can say that in my little municipality, the people are educated enough (because of MSU). If COMELEC will strictly enforce the election law, ie. disqualify any candidate who buy votes, pad or destroy ballot boxes then the problem will lessen. Our false maratabat is to vote for a politician even if we know that he is a proven thief. Most people do it for money though.

Thanks,

...si raoul
...............................

Hello Bob, Raoul, and Richard,

I think the root cause of these problems lie much deeper than that. It is not about the culture of a people, nor it is the squandering style of the current generation of politicians nor it's the lack of good leadership in these areas.

The chronic problem lies on the low level of literacy among the majority of the population in these areas. High level of illiteracy is the root cause of all the other problems that besieged these already poor provinces. It seems the "short term" solution cannot be achieved in the current generation - but the long term cure is to "educate" the younger generation, and future leaders, on the benefits a stable local Government and why it is important to the economic progress of their community.

MSU can sponsor massive educational campaign around these small towns on different topics and subject areas that gives the people around the "Lake" a different perspective of how things should be and what could be better for their community.

In my hometown here in Virginia for example, the public schools and universities always involved the community in many socio-economic programs; they'd sponsors children's art contest, community projects for young children, conduct classroom seminar on environmental preservation awareness, etc and the subtle emphasis is all about making the right choices for the common good. Last week, my son's school had a "student council election". Middle school student's were taught the intricacies of an election by popular votes, and learned how to cast their votes, student candidates campaign around the classroom (for real!), and overall it was a fun learning experience for the young elementary students.

Maybe the MSU main can sponsor field trips for these young students, and give classroom campaign and seminars around the lake... and seriously take the lead in launching an educational revolution among the young and future leaders of Mindanao.. which is the only way anyone can think of to alleviate such problems. Otherwise, the same chronic diseases will always be the hindrance to achieving a stable government, economic progress, and long term peace in these areas.

Joy Ziegler
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I always thought that our (Maranao) corrupt politicians are the problem. But I was gravely mistaken. It’s our people and our false maratabat. Pilandok is so bankrupt that he will vote for Lucifer if he give him money.

My brother-in-law ran for Municipal Mayor but he did not buy votes because we want him to run a clean government if he win. We were hoping that our Municipality will be a good model for the province. If he doesn’t give money, he doesn’t have to steal so there will be developments. It’s that simple. But the people didn’t buy it. Even our close relatives did not vote for him. The other 2 candidates did not even campaign. They just let their money (tens of millions, 5k per vote) talk for them.

I think, Lanao del Sur will be better off if we do away with elections. Just appoint a Christian Military Governor and Mayors. And maybe, in the future, allow elections one town at a time.

I am sad for my people.

...si raoul

The email that started it all...

Hi Joy,

Our MSUan Maranao brothers and sisters are quite sad as well that till now, electoral exercises in their homeland are as messy as they used to be. Seems like there's no foreseeable cure ever.
...

Bob L.

Election Watch

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Soup No. 5

How-to of Soup No. 5.

• Pass a provincial legislation to to make non-payment of Pilandok's vote a crime punishable by lifetime imprisonment for the offending candidate.
• Create a special office to oversee the peddling of votes, like the New York Stock Exchange, but with Islamic flavor.
• This new office under the Office of Muslim Affairs can be called, Lanao Islamic Vote Exchange (LIVE).
• LIVE will publish the daily voter’s “going rate” for each elective position.

Prices vary depending on voter’s blood relationship with the candidate, the amount of IRA-release for the office and day of purchase, i.e. generally expensive near election day. Insanely expensive on hotly-contested, special re-elections. Cheaper when the buying candidate is expected to withdraw to a sibling or close relative vying for the same position.

Mayor is more expensive than Governor, Governor is expensive than Congressman, and so on. This is the difficult part of the implementation. LIVE probably needs to hire Ernst & Young Consulting to conduct a 3 year study of the Ranao election and come up with a fair pricing policy.

• LIVE will administer candidate’s trust fund without interest (it’s un-Islamic to receive interest on your money).
• The Ulama "vote brokers" of LIVE will conduct Pilandok’s swearing on the Qur’an (that he will vote for the buying candidate or he goes to hell).

In these days of internet commerce, there’s no reason why we can’t do the entire transaction via the web, like using ebay or etrade.

Pilandok can log into a LIVE website, like http://www.pamasa-akong-ka.com, register and sell his vote. The money is credited directly to his registered checking account and the candidate’s trust fund is automatically debited.

Qur’an swearing can also be done on-line using finger print scanning technology and Qur'an multi-media version. LIVE has to install ATM-like kiosks to provide on-line services.

In order for this idea to really work, Pilandok should be able to sell his vote to all the candidates for the same position. Say, if there are 3 candidates for the City Mayor, Pilandok should be able to sell his vote to all 3 candidates.

This is a win-win situation. The candidate is happy that he gets to buy ALL the votes in his district and Pilandok is able to sell his vote to every candidate on the ballot box.

Watch the video. Arata Wata gotta get back to work.