Old news, fresh perspective

I arrived just in time for lunch at the Marketing and Opinion Research Society of the Philippines General Membership Meeting. People have started eating, so I squeezed in the nearest table occupied by a group of ladies (marketing and research, as I have accepted since college days, is still a female-dominated industry).

The getting-to-know-you-better part can wait, so I went straight to that important business of filling my stomach. In the middle of working that grub, familiar faces slowly filled the hall – some old-timers, some famous, some whom I’ve met at various projects, conventions, and similar meetings.

One familiar face gave me a surprise. A former dorm-mate, a batch younger, whose name somehow I did not forget (forgetting names is, sadly, one of my strong points) despite having not seen her for the longest time.

“So you still in the same office?” she asked.

“Yup. And you?”

“Still in the same organization – since graduation.”

“So just like me, you been working there for *ubo-ubo* years?”

“Yup!”

Dr. Ned Roberto, marketing and reseaarch guru, gave his outlook for 2006.

It’s the same set of lessons through the years since the Marcos administration: politics overwhelm economics. The sad part is, we never learn.

This year we can only hope that economics could rise above politics. A near-impossible feat, considering we have yet to hear more clamoring for either an end to political bickering or the ouster of the President.

But there’s much each and every one of us can do to help. These may be old news, but there’s always a time to start anew, and go back to where the problems lie.

Let’s do our part in making this country better, one day at a time.