The "very good"

Today I met a man with the voice of a lion, a humor of a standup comedian, the experience of a nurse and the knowledge of a scholar. Let’s call him Mr. J. Well that’s not entirely an alias because that was very similar to how informally he introduced himself to me, despite our relationship being very formal. He was a review teacher and I was a student, after all.
Mr J is someone I consider powerful, having been able to keep a class of over a hundred students awake after several hours of lecture in a room so conducive for sleeping. There was something about the way he threw a blue umbrella to the side that gave me a hint that he was somewhat irascible (quick to anger). True enough, this man turns into a curmudgeon when roused with the topic of Philippine politics. He brought to my attention that a meager 260 pesos is the government allotted budget for the health of each Filipino for an entire year. That’s not even a peso a day, while a surprising 30 something million is the pork barrel awarded to each congressman per year. A congressman, by the way, has the privilege of enjoying a term of 6 years, and a maximum of two years. He likened traditional politicians to a cockroach. The latter can have its head cut off and still live for 9 days. A trapo (shortcut for traditional politician) likewise can live for 9 days (or even years) without using his head. It’s safe to say that Mr J has lost his faith in the Philippine government.
Oh his favorite expression is "very good." In fact, he must have uttered that phrase more than a hundred times today.
What is remarkable about Mr J is the fact that even with his lack of faith in the leaders of this country, he continues to educate its people, perhaps in hope of producing better leaders to renew or revive that same lost faith.