Senior Moment: Romulo Macalintal Misses Golden Opportunity For Greatness

MANILA: You can find your own chance at greatness even when you are a senior. Atty Romulo Macalintal missed that prospect today, Saturday, 24 September 2016, at the campus of the well-known UP Los Baños in Laguna south of Manila within the walls of the 89-year old historic Baker Hall. An honored lawyer himself, Macalintal just missed making history today, at 70 years of age. And sorry, he did not realize it. He could have but he did not find beauty in improving the history of senior citizens in his own country. Opportunity knocked, and he didn't grab it.

He was the keynote speaker at the "5th UPLB EDP Anniversary Senior Citizens Summit" held the whole morning. I was invited and when I heard the word "Summit" I thought it would be a great idea to listen to what others were thinking about their senior moments and how to improve further their lives from retirement to kingdom come.

I was disappointed. Macalintal talked for far much longer than his allotted time of 20 minutes, and he merely rambled on the benefits and privileges of the elderly according to the law, RA 9994 (Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010), about 20% discount and so on and so forth. He could have told us what he did in 20 minutes in only 20 words:

Senior citizens have benefits and privileges under RA 9994. Know what you're entitled to so you can demand. Go read.

He did not even prepare a proper speech. He talked about what he knew about the law and senior citizens that we senior citizens already should know by heart. Like, when you're buying medicine, you enjoy 20% discount, but you must present a doctor's prescription. Like, you're entitled to 20% discount when you go see a movie. Like, you're entitled to 20% discount when you ride a bus. Like, any government-issue ID is valid for claiming your 20% senior citizen discount. When you are denied your 20%, you should demand. That was a recitation of information fit for those who have just descended from the boondocks.

In a moment of greatness, he could have said:

I have been thinking about senior citizens, even as I am one of you, at 70 years of age. How can our lives be improved? How can the government help? The elderly can very well be developed as human beings contributing to their families and as citizens contributing to their country.

Here are my candidate Ten New Developmental Laws for the Elderly that I have been thinking our Congress should be passing in favor of the senior citizens of this country:

(1)     At 85 years of age, the senior citizen should be receiving a government cash gift on his birthday of P500,000. At 95, the senior citizen should be receiving P1 million. At 100, P2 million. At 120, P5 million. Not P100,000 only when the elderly gets to be 100 years old, as the current law mandates. There should be a great cash incentive for those successfully growing very, very old.

(2)     There should be Internet for seniors that they can enjoy in their own villages free of charge. Someone should teach them for free how to surf the Web and learn more and enjoy life more.

(3)     Those who are up to it should be financially assisted to continue being or to be new journalists or communicators dedicated to serving the development needs of our country.

(4)     Capable senior citizens should be acknowledged and given emeritus status as lecturers on the subjects of their expertises or experiences. What they are good at should not go with them to their graves.

(5)     Monthly emoluments at P10,000 each, no questions asked. Most senior citizens are unemployable, so this is great for their ego, most of all their health. We owe them.

(6)     Computer classes should be given to the elderly, to hone the talents they already have or for them to learn new skills. The joy the computer would bring!

(7)     Computer acquisition loan at P50,000 granted once. The loan should be of low interest rates.

(8)     Photography for seniors. Loan to buy a good digital camera. Photography is priceless.

(9)     Creative writing for seniors. None is too old to learn anything. The ability to write is wealth untold.

(10) Desktop publishing for seniors, especially those who wish to write their autobiography or wish to share their wisdom to the world and do not yet know how to write and publish.

Such a laundry list or a shorter list I would have loved, clapped hard for, and congratulated Romulo Macalintal right on the spot!

To (8), I would add: At 76, I'm enjoying my photography with a Lumix FZ100 superzoom, so why can't other seniors?

To (9), I would add: I am extremely enjoying my creative writing and can teach others online. I am an excellent example of a teachable person – at 35 years of age, I began to teach myself creative thinking leading to creative writing.

To (10), I would add: In the last 10 years, I have desktop-published 14 books, 11 actually commercially printed and publicly distributed.

But I do not blame him for not being creative – lawyers are trained to be critical thinkers, not creative thinkers. They can tell you to your face about logical fallacies like (except the terms) nonsequitur and barking up the wrong tree as well as name-calling, but they are not trained to think out of the box of the law.

I hope Romulo Macalintal will not miss to grab his opportunity next time around. At 70, he has a lot more years to find more beautiful things in life and be more creative.

In any case, I gave him the benefit of the doubt in that moment of weakness. I wanted Romulo Macalintal to think on his feet right there and then. So I kept raising my right hand but he kept ignoring me. With my camera slung on my neck, he probably thought I was a newspaper reporter and I would ask a nasty question.

He had no way of knowing that I was going to ask him this:

Sir, I know you are a lawyer. Because we are supposed to be attending a summit for the development of the elderly, to help improve the lives of senior citizens, what other laws do you believe should be passed by the government of the Philippines for the development of the elderly?

I missed my chance to ask that, and he missed his chance to make history. No other Filipino has been thinking like that.

I left early, right after Macalintal's talk, because this "Summit" was not what I thought it would be. I was expecting a meeting of minds, unlike the legal mind of Macalintal already made up. Summit. I was expecting to propose, discuss, propose, discuss.

As I write this, Sunday, 25 September, I have just googled "UPLB elderly development program" and found this (Rotary Showcase, undated, map.rotary.org):

UPLB EDP is an extension initiative of the University of the Philippines Los Baños College of Human Ecology Department of Human and Family Development Studies. Its targets are to develop and operate an Elderly Care Program which shall serve as a form of instruction, research, extension and public service for professionals and the youth. It intends to provide Medical, Nutritional, and Recreational services for the functional elderlies to continuously develop their bio-psychosocial well-being.

I also found this, that the UPLB EDP is "an extension initiative" of the College of Human Ecology and the Department of Human & Family Development Studies of UP Los Baños.

What is missing there is the concept of development of the elderly. My list of Ten New Developmental Laws for the Elderly above is all about development of senior citizens.

So, in fact the EDP is an Elderly Care Program; I have no objections to that. But, why call Saturday morning's activities a "Summit" when it is nota meeting or conference of leaders or participants at the highest level? We should be teaching the elderly the correct meanings of words and not try to confound them. If you don't have a dictionary, there's always the Internet. Or why not ask the professorial senior citizen near you?

26 September 2016. Essay word count, excluding this line: 1383