LOS ANGELES – Good governance, Harvard economist Dani Rodrik wrote, is essential insofar as it provides households with greater clarity and investors with greater assurance that they can secure a return on their efforts. A Spanish trade mission visiting Manila last week told Philippine officials and media reporters that investors are not worried about the lingering terrorist threats in the Philippines but are more concerned about corruption.

Of particular concern to them is the perceived failure of government to respect contracts with foreign companies. Also cited as worrisome to the foreign investors, according to a Business Mirror account, is the perception that there is a move towards nationalization of utilities in the country, like such sectors as oil, energy and infrastructure, a situation that seems to be happening in the Manila Electric Co., where there is a looming government takeover.

The Spaniards may have more than a thing or two in terms of first hand information to support their perception of what’s going on in Meralco today. Union Fenoza, the Spanish utility company, was still represented in the Meralco board some years ago when Winston Garcia attended his first board meeting.

It was a time of serious judicial setbacks for Meralco and with the large refunds and no rate increase, its cash flow was endangering its international credit rating. It was a perfect opportunity for Mr. Garcia to introduce himself and make his mark in his very first board meeting. So he said a mouthful as he analyzed the failure of Meralco’s management to convince the Supreme Court to see things their way. He also gave a strong recommendation on how to deal with the judiciary to reverse Meralco’s sorry judicial record.

It is a recommendation that I would rather not reveal in this column. Suffice it to say that it shocked the straitlaced members of the Meralco board. In line with the transparency that Winston advocates for Meralco, I think the details of that board meeting, including its raw tape recording, should be made available to any Meralco stockholder upon request. Why should Mr. Garcia have all the fun inspecting Meralco records?

What Winston said in that meeting is also why there are those in Meralco management who just shake their heads and try to suppress a smirk every time Mr. Garcia talks high and mighty about good governance. I would be the first to admit that there is always room for improvement in Meralco’s management today but I can’t imagine that Mr. Garcia is the right person to demand it from Meralco after that board room performance.

Then again, whatever happens in the Meralco stockholders meeting tomorrow, enough notice had been served that whoever ends up running Meralco will have to live by very tough governance standards. The public’s awareness of what constitutes good governance practices in running a utility like Meralco has been heightened. It is no longer enough for Meralco management to say they are following orders from the Energy Regulatory Commission or that all the other utilities are doing it too.

Nor is it enough for them to know that their practices are above board… it must look above board and their subscribers must feel it. Good governance is good in and of itself. But it cannot be talked about in broad strokes as some nice but unattainable ideal. Good governance will be measured by the public in terms of what it sees and what it experiences. And there can be no compromise for the sake of pragmatism such as to win its cases before our courts.

I will concede that perhaps the Winston Garcia attending his first Meralco board meeting was just trying to show the Meralco board what a political macho he was and only said things for shock value. But he must realize that people today have long memories, greater cynicism and better understanding of what constitutes good governance. The speaker is as important as the message.

Eliza Doolittle, in My Fair Lady, advised Freddie, her love struck suitor: don’t talk of love, show me. It is a good advice for Mr. Garcia too. Don’t talk good governance. Show us…starting with GSIS giving a report on its foreign investments, among others.

California’s budget woes

My daughter Trishy just completed her year long credentials program to qualify her to teach in California’s public school system. It was a grueling year of academics and practice teaching under the guidance of education PhDs at CalState Fullerton.

My daughter loves teaching children, particularly those in the lower grades. When at times the demands of the program on her became too heavy, she kept on because of the psychic rewards of doing it and hearing words of appreciation from the children.

One third grader approached my daughter one afternoon to tell her that she hates Math but now she loves it because of the cool way my daughter taught the subject. That made Trishy’s day and everything seemed worthwhile again.

But now t