By Patricia Laurel, May 02, 2007
http://www.philippinenews.com
The good news is: there are Filipinos, who after many years abroad are ready to come home to impart or share the knowledge they've acquired to our people back home.
Meet Dr. Martin Bautista. He is a returnee determined to make a difference. He vowed to return home one day to help turn his country around. In his mind he never left, he didn't exchange his Filipino passport for the coveted U.S. one. He chose instead to remain an immigrant. His thoughts were always back home, thinking of the people he left behind.
As evident in the PBS program, "Searching for (Asian) America," Bautista was one of two Filipino physicians featured in the episode as Asians doctors working, sometimes in the face of adversity, in the mostly white rural town of Guymon, Oklahoma. Bautista and his wife, Sylvia, also a physician, raised their children as Filipinos, teaching them Tagalog and reminding them constantly of their home country. In the program, Bautista admitted that he had achieved material success in the U.S., but felt a tug to return to his native land, to work for the betterment of the future of his home country.
Bautista's reason for leaving the Philippines is not a unique one. Like many Filipinos seeking a better life for his family, Bautista chose to make it on his own, instead of living off his parents and becoming a financial burden. It was also during the terrible time of martial law in the Philippines.
Bautista was born and raised in Quezon City. He attended the Ateneo de Manila School for 12 years, transferred to the University of the Philippines for nine years, and spent 18 years working as a physician in the United States. His life and struggles is a success story parents would be proud of. But instead of staying and enjoying the good life, he made his plans and prepared his wife and children for the journey home. There was something he needed to do back home.
Indeed, he returned home, and what he's undertaken is daunting, at best. He is running for a seat in the Senate. A legislative body that is overloaded with names that have been a permanent fixture and celebrities that don't have any business being in politics. But because the names are known to many, and because people aren't educated enough on important issues, and because most people are poor and need money, they sell their votes to the highest bidder. Sadly, our people vote for so many corrupt, rotten eggs in our country's vicious political cycle.
Unlike Filipino American Theodore B.M. Aquino, whose candidacy for senator was rejected by the Comelec unless he renounced his U.S. citizenship, Martin, a green card holder, is running as a Filipino citizen.
He said that if he loses, he could always be sponsored by one of his American-born kids and return to the U.S. The issue of his citizenship is not a factor.
Bautista has joined the Kapatiran Party that means The Brotherhood or The Alliance. There are three senatorial candidates from the party. All three have very impressive credentials: good educational background, informed and knowledgeable in the many issues and concerns that plague our country, no stains on their young political reputations. The party has hardly any funds to campaign as evident in their absent posters not plastered all over the country, only posters of airbrushed smiling candidates enticing the voter. Their unsophisticated website was probably created by a student of computer science. There are no frills there. There are those that say isn't it about time for a breath of fresh air to leak in?
Bautista has familiarized himself with all issues like medical (his expertise), poverty, corruption, etc., just about everything that plagues our country. He does not shy from questions thrown at him and does not read from notes, unlike his opponents, as shown recently in a TV political debate that included well known and beloved veteran screen actors. At the end of the debate, it was clear the actors needed to return to their professions and never entertain the thought of entering the political arena. The same should apply for some who are currently in politics or those thinking of becoming a politician because it's a way to get rich quick.
Bautista is not high on the ratings, but most likely his chances for 2010 will be very favorable. He's only 44. But he's making other politicians nervous. So far, the only negative thing written about him is he tends to stutter when he gets riled up, but not all the time.
In one interview, Bautista was quoted: "I invite all of you to join me. I am personally willing to bet everything material that I possess that if we ordinary citizens were to become aware that the power to change our country lies in each of us, then we can all work together in redeeming our Philippines. All the political dynasties with their innumerable guns, armies of goons, unlimited gold and Comelec will not stop an idea whose time has come."
Bautista has given interviews and speeches tirelessly. Despite the challenges, the negativity, he forges on talking and explaining ceaselessly about his plans to get us out of the hole we've dug ourselves deep into. It is indeed refreshing to watch him as he spoke and rallied the people at Quezon Circle, in Quezon City recently, to fight against the plague of poverty, something he hopes to abolish one day. A very tall order, but the man is managing to open tired, sleeping minds out there.
To learn more about Dr. Bautista's political platform, or to find out about the Kapatiran Party, visit their website at www.angkapatiran.org.
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