Inspired by the hundred-dollar man

By Herbert Vego

 

I WAS already out of college when I first got hold of a hundred-dollar bill showcasing the image of Benjamin Franklin. It rekindled my admiration for the man I had learned about during my elementary and high school days.

Ben Franklin (Jan. 17,1706-April 17, 1790) – though he never finished college – rose in prominence to become the principal author of the famous Declaration of American Independence in 1776. He made a name for himself as a newspaperman, inventor of lightning rod, book author, United States ambassador to France and delegate to the Constitutional Convention.

I remember a line he wrote in his book, Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin: “Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.”

He followed a piece of advice he himself had written for readers of his annual publication, Poor Richard’s Almanac: “A penny saved is a penny earned.”

Having become one of the wealthiest Americans in his time, he might not have remained faithful to that saying. But Ben Franklin had such a special ability to deal with people that we Filipinos of this generation could learn from.

While still a boy, so his story went, Ben Franklin realized that many of his traits and characteristics were harmful to his ambition. Some boys, awed by his family’s good fortune, were uncomfortable because of their notion that he was “aristocratic.”

And so he vowed to train himself on how to win friends and influence people and eventually wrote about how he did it.

I dare guess that latter-day American writer Dale Carnegie (1888-1956), author of the best-seller How to Win Friends and Influence People, had imbibed and paraphrased some of his ideas.

Franklin realized that while talent and competence at what he did was of paramount importance, it was often not the difference-maker in terms of success. There were people in his time who, whether wittingly or unwittingly, failed to exploit their talents to the hilt. He wrote of talented artists and authors who had been surpassed by inferior competitors in terms of public acceptance; they didn’t seem to have a way with potential patrons.

Those frustrated talents, Franklin observed, often grumbled about receiving before giving. It should be the other way around in the beginning, he corrected, in order to gain the attention of a prospect. Happy patrons would not hesitate to run after their favorite service providers or merchants.

In the aforesaid book, the statesman and diplomat tells of an incident with “a gentleman of fortune and education” who opposed his appointment as clerk of the General Assembly of the Pennsylvania House. Ben knew that this person could give him trouble later on. And so he aimed to convert an enemy into a friend. He wrote in his time’s British English:

“Having heard that he had in his library a certain very scarce and curious book, I wrote a note to him expressing my desire of perusing that book and requesting he would do me the favour of lending it to me for a few days. 

“He sent it immediately – and I returned it in about a week with another note expressing strongly my sense of the favour. When we next met in the House, he spoke to me (which he had never done before), and with great civility. And he ever afterward manifested a readiness to serve me on all occasions, so that we became great friends, and our friendship continued to his death. 

”This is another instance of the truth of an old maxim I had learned, which says, ‘He that has once done you kindness will be more ready to do you another than he whom you yourself have obliged.’ And it shows how much more profitable it is prudently to remove, than to resent, return, and continue inimical proceedings.”

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BALL IN COURT’S HAND

IN a previous issue, this corner raised the rumored willingness of Panay Electric Co, (PECO) to receive even a portion of the Php 481,842,450 offered by MORE Power as “just compensation” in exchange for the expropriation of the former’s property in Iloilo City, which is now legally owned by the latter in accordance with the law (RA 11212).

There is no danger of MORE Power reneging on that commitment because the money is already stashed away at the Landbank. It’s the Regional Trial Court in Iloilo City (branch 39) that has jurisdiction to rule on the release of the offered “just compensation”.

There is a chance, however, that the city government would interpose an objection in case PECO still owes it millions of pesos in back taxes.

Moreover, if I heard it right from an informant, PECO still owes most of its former customers millions of pesos in unrefunded bill deposits in accordance with the Magna Carta for Residential Electricity Consumers (Section 41 of Republic Act No. 9136).

This law allows the distribution utility to collect from customers a bill deposit equivalent to one month’s power consumption. The deposit may be refunded at the end of the third year that the customer has not incurred non-payment of overdue bill.

The deposit should always be refunded upon termination of power distribution service.

Considering the Covid-19 pandemic, no doubt the aggrieved parties would want to be bill-refunded, especially if they are unable to pay the distribution utility.

Sadya ini kon ang just compensation payable to PECO would not be enough to pay deposit refunds.

Assuming the aggrieved parties file a class suit versus PECO, alawayon na naman ayhan ini sa korte?

Pamangkuton ta abi si Torni Hec.