Is a Tunisian weekend in our future?

No, I don’t mean an exotic adventure in this favorite playground for millions of European tourists. Though friendly to the west and against Islam fundamentalism, this predominantly Muslim country had been ruled by a dictator for the last 23 years.

But until lately, it had an economy that was better than most of its neighbors. It has a thriving tourism industry and an agricultural sector that produces dates and olives. According to the BBC, women’s rights in Tunisia are among the most advanced in the Arab world - the abolition of polygamy and compulsory free education.

But as in many countries today, the economy has fallen on hard times. The Tunisian economy was not big enough to provide jobs for its fast growing educated middle class. The events over the weekend were precipitated by a college educated young man who publicly burned himself after he was prevented by the police from selling his wares in the street.

The young man’s situation struck a familiar chord in the hearts of many Tunisians who have increasingly become frustrated with their inability to earn a living. I saw interviews on television of educated Tunisians who complained about the value of their education if they cannot get a job.

It didn’t help that the ruling dictator had a security apparatus that enjoyed a license to what they think is best to keep their principal in power. Protesting youths found themselves in bloody confrontation with the security forces and the police.

The military withdrew its support and the dictator had to flee. The Prime Minister, a close aide of the exiled President, momentarily assumed control. But he too had to let go after he was rejected as a successor for having circumvented the succession mechanism and for being closely identified with the dictator.

We can perhaps say, we have been there and we have done that in 1986. That is true up to there. What is worrisome about the events in Tunisia over the weekend is how frustration of an educated middle class to get good jobs led to a most interesting weekend.

Well, we can again say that will not happen to us because we send our jobless to overseas jobs. We have a viable pressure reliever with the millions of OFWs everywhere in the world. But we should not forget we are living on borrowed time. Those overseas jobs will not always be available. Things can drastically change in the political and social milieu in host countries that could send millions of OFWs home.

We have to do something about our fast vanishing industrial sector. We have lost thousands of jobs through the years in various industries from garments to steel. In garments for instance, we had over 700,000 people working in it compared to just about 100,000 today. There must be ways to clean up our image as a difficult strike prone country or we will just end up sending some workers abroad and a larger portion of the labor force at home without work.

Every President keeps on saying sending workers abroad is temporary and they want to see the country with enough jobs so our people don’t have to leave home to work abroad. But the situation only gets worse through the years. The issues that killed our industries have not been adequately addressed.

The OFWs have kept our economy up for decades now. What was supposed to be a temporary measure while we fixed up our economy has become a steady job strategy for successive administrations. But our economy seems worse off than when we first sent our first OFWs to the Middle East.

It may not happen soon but it is worrisome to think of an army of unemployed OFWs who are used to pretty good incomes suddenly doing and earning nothing. Those OFWs are also forming the core of our middle class who know from their experiences abroad that things could be a lot better here at home. That should have a political consequence as volatile as in Tunisia last weekend.

That is also the reason why the Chinese Politburo officials are worried about the impact of rising inflation and food prices in the wake of a growing middle class. Dictators are often tolerated for so long as they are able to provide for the needs of their people.

I realize keeping the middle class happy is not an easy problem. But the point has to be made clear to P-Noy that this is one very volatile problem he should be burning the midnight oil on. Former OFWs have raised expectations our political leaders must not ignore.

We may not have an oppressive dictator with a heartless security apparatus to spark a People Power revolt now. But an inept government unable to identify with the daily struggles of its people could provide a similar spark.

The leftist loudmouths have found good symbolic issues that will paint an image of a government that is unable or unwilling to provide relief to the daily problems of people living on the edge. While we all know that government cannot forever subsidize MRT/LRT fares or disallow investors in our tollways from recovering their investments, government must show it is concerned about the impact of the rising cost of living on ordinary Pinoys.

Today, it was the Tunisian weekend. Who knows when it will be a Philippine weekend, and I don’t mean it will be about the Pilipinas Kay Ganda.

Leaders

I got this reaction from a foreigner to last Monday’s column.

Mr. Chanco… I’m not a Filipino and so I hope you wont mind my comments about your article about empathy and your President. I agree wholeheartedly with your views and more. What I fail to understand is how a country like the Philippines with an abundance of people with so much talent in all facets of life, is still unable to unearth a good President to lead the country out of its current morass.

Philippines has an abundance of natural resources, talented articulate citizens, located within the proximity of a booming South East Asian Region and with a solid critical mass of vibrant populace in the younger demographics. A good leader, and not necessarily even a great one can harness all of these assets to lift the country out of its myriad problems.

There has been a dearth of even a good leader in the country for some time, I really wonder why? I hope it’s not out of place for a foreigner to make such a comment but it’s out of sympathy for a potentially great nation in the region, but bereft of a good leader.

I do apologize if you do take offense to my comments but it is with good intentions. Love your articles, thanks for the opportunity to make a comment. Kind Regards

Briefs

Atty. Sonny Pulgar sent this one.

A lawyer’s young secretary got married, but stayed on the job. About a month later, the lawyer telephoned the newlyweds’ house and happened to get her husband. He asked, “Would you please ask your wife if my briefs are ready?”

After a brief pause, the husband finally asked. “Do you mean she does your laundry, too?”

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]