Carlos's Tents
Think of the American soldiers
who waded ashore at Leyte with General Douglas MacArthur on October 20,
1944. How many of them would spend over a thousand dollars for a round-trip
air ticket to the Philippines so they could be at Red Beach in Palo, Leyte
for the fiftieth anniversary of the Leyte landing?
Thousands, predicts Tourism
Secretary Vicente Carlos, who believes that these veterans will enthusiastically
splurge on this kind of sentimental journey. He recalls that General MacArthur
felt compelled to return to the Philippines in 1944 -- and he seems convinced
that about 20,000 veterans of the Leyte campaign will feel a similar compulsion
50 years later, even though none of them promised, "I shall return."
The estimate of 20,000 visitors
is equivalent to about one-sixth of the 175,000 men of General Walter E.
Kreuger's Sixth Army, who landed in Leyte.
And if the typical veteran
of the Leyte campaign were willing to splurge so much money for the sake
of nostalgia, would he be sentimental enough to spend seven days in a tent
- and shell out $500 for this kind of accommodations?
Definitely yes, predicts
Mr. Carlos, who is so confident about Americans' military sentimentality
that he is putting up enough tents in Palo to accommodate thousands of
veterans. These veterans, he says, would be happy to live in tents so they
can authentically relive their experiences of 50 years ago.
Actually Mr. Carlos really
doesn't have very much choice about the tents. Palo's hotels, boarding
houses, dormitories, and bed-space facilities can accommodate only about
1,000 persons. The tents, each with a portable toilet and shower room,
may turn out to be more comfortable than some of Palo's fleabag hotels.
If Mr. Carlos were sinking
his own money into this investment in tents, we would wish him the best
of luck -- and urge him and his friends to pray fervently to St. Jude,
the patron saint of hopeless cases.
Unfortunately for us Mr.
Carlos is spending P7 million of government money (that is, our money)
on these tents. This sum represents about ten percent of the P70 million
or so that the government is spending to celebrate the Leyte anniversary
-- in the fond hope that a number of the visitors will be rich Americans
who can be persuaded to invest in Leyte.
And so, whether we like
it or not, we have a stake in the success of this harebrained scheme. And
precisely because Mr. Carlos has once again staked the prestige of our
country on a dubious project, we have no alternative but to make some positive
suggestions which, we hope, will minimize the damage that we foresee.
Our major concern is premised
on three facts: first, these veterans are persons in their 70s -- with
all the illnesses that septuagenarians are heir to; second, they will be
living in tents; and third, October is the start of the monsoon season
in Leyte (a fact, by the way, that General Kreuger's engineers cited when
they argued against landing in Leyte).
If several thousand 70-year-old
veterans are made to live in tents during the monsoon season, how many
of them are going to get sick? Even if we make the optimistic assumption
that the cholera epidemic will be over by October, we still have to assume
a higher incidence of gastrointestinal diseases.
We therefore urge Secretary
Carlos to make sure that there are a hundred or so doctors, nurses, paramedics,
and gerontologists standing by at Red Beach. It also would be financially
prudent to provide health and accident insurance for all the veterans who
participate in the Leyte anniversary.
It would be a tragedy --
would it not? -- if someone who survived the attacks of General
Tomoyuki Yamashita in 1944 were to succumb to the schemes of Secretary
Carlos in 1994.