Of those who did not go hungry in the last three months, 92 percent said they were hopeful entering the New Year while 78 percent of those who experienced ‘severe hunger’ said they were looking at 2007 with hope. The survey also showed that high hopes for the New Year are shared across all areas and socio-economic classes. Thus, ‘New Year hope’ increased by 19 percent among members of class ABC this year as compared to 2005 – from 73 to 92 percent. Among those in class D, the increase was 4 percent, from 87 to 91 percent, while in class E, it increased by 8 percent, from 83 to 91 percent. On the other hand, except those surveyed in Metro Manila where the New Year hope stayed at 67 percent, the rest of the country registered increases ranging from 9 percent (83 percent vs. 92 percent) for the rest of Luzon, 5 percent (88 percent vs 93 percent) in the Visayas and 6 percent (84 percent vs 90 percent) in Mindanao.

With these survey results, we cannot blame administration publicists if they are to draw public attention even more to their achievements which they had previously trumpeted in full page ads and other devices even before Christmas. Such is the regime’s luck that for once in a very long while the public pulse seems to correspond and even reinforce their chest thumping. Even the usually snooty international rating firms and financial gurus are singing hosannas to a record year. And, to be fair, what a run it has indeed been. The peso is at an all time high against the dollar reinforced heavily by record high OFW remittances; the stock market just registered its best finish in almost a decade; growth is expected to hit 5.5 percent as advised by NEDA Secretary Romy Neri despite a bump in the third quarter; inflation is down at 4.7 percent vs 8.4 percent last January; interest rates are also down so we are now pre-paying some of our debts inducing the markets to get cozy with RP debt papers once again. Finally, we are now being told that some P106 Billion in new investments were poured into the country in the first semester alone which is also a record of sorts by any reckoning.

But even as we share in the hopefulness gripping the entire country we cannot help but point to the inconvenient truths which continue to blot the landscape. Quite apart from the fact that the country’s growth has yet to trickle down and reach even more families and communities we are concerned about its very sustainability. We have been through periods of surge before buoying up the nation’s spirits no end only to be witness to longer periods of withering and instability. Too, we are seeing the economy’s continuing inability to absorb the growing army of unemployed and underemployed Filipinos clogging the country’s arteries and in time joining those who populate growing areas of poverty and instability. We are also concerned that our efforts at rehabilitating, upgrading and expanding our basic infrastructure is being hobbled by a hundred and one obstacles chiefly the Jurassic practices and rules which continue to populate the nooks and crannies of the bureaucracy and even the business sector. Initiatives meant to modernize our ways and work ethics including those calculated to bring the levels of corruption and disruptive rules to manageable levels continue to be frustrated by all kinds of forces.

Of course, the more pernicious effects of political killings, media harassment, vigilantism and related human rights violations haunt the country no end. Add to that the endless political bickerings, one-upmanship and even witch hunting which reached its apex with the 2004 elections and you have a formula for despair and instability. And then, we have to bear the tragedies, both natural and man made, which is straining our collective pockets and endurance as the year comes to a close. Yet, we remain a very patient and hopeful people, a virtue which can be mustered if only we as a community wills it to prevent the country’s possible slide into the abyss as we once again face a new, highly politicized year in 2007. Despite everything we remain hopeful and are ready to move on.

As the Good Book says, there is an appointed time for everything and a time for every affair under the heavens. It is time to say goodbye to 2006 and a time to welcome 2007 with hope, love and goodwill.