Time to go site seeing…Manila Here I come

Time to go visit my partners, colleagues and friends in the Philippines, but since my schedule is so tight I will only have a few days there so I plan to make the most of it. It will be an action packed several days! Ideally not as much action as last week…

As some may know there was a “mini” coup about 1 week ago in the city of Manila (in the Makati area). Since I have followed southeast Asia for a number of years coup attempts are not that uncommon. Therefore I developed a proprietary coup grading scale:

Full Coup (Successful)
Middle Coup (Unsuccessful – but lasts for longer than 24 hours)
Mini Coup (Unsuccessful and you try to handle over a long 2 martini lunch)
Lil’ Coup (Unsuccessful attempt to get a free “supersize” at McDonalds)
Chicken Coup (Big plans to take over the world, but too busy playing video games like Halo 3 and Wii Bowling.)

This as you can see from the scale above was a mini-coup. One key to an enjoyable mini-coup is location, location, location. After all if you are going to throw a party, why not do it at a nice place? And a nice plus is that the Peninsula in Manila is a very nice place and the service is spectacular.

Now on a serious note, I certainly wish the stability of the Philippines would increase to advance the agenda of the incredible people there. The Philippine people are a culture of service and genuine caring for one another that is virtually unmatched elsewhere in the world. I routinely am inspired by the greatness of the Filipino people.

That is of course until politics comes around to put a taint on the whole operation. Although I won’t bore you with political talk I will say that the people power that exists in the Philippines can be best expressed at the voting booth. Yes I am aware of the controversy about past elections and so forth, but my overall message is that a long term commitment to changing through the system and under the rule of law will yield the best long term results for the children and grandchildren of the Filipino people. My hope for my friends there is that stability and leadership will bring progress and a prosperous future for the Philippines. They deserve continued greatness!

Photos courtesy: Ranoco

The capable army stands ready to take care of business.

1500 troops or so surround the hotel.

Time to put an end to this.

Checking Out.

I will try to post while on the road, but it can be tough to find a internet connection and time!

p.s. – Yes – in case you were wondering – I am staying at the Peninsula and we are having all of our meetings and iFLOOR events there too! Since that Armored Personnel Carrier(APC) smashed through the foyer to put an end to the event I am assuming there will be a nice new “open air” styled entry way. 😉

Brighter Sunrises Lay Ahead