In the Philippines, the ability to get by on very little -- called "abilidad" -- has long been an everyday necessity. This has fostered a culture of imitation, but there are signs that the Internet may open the way to innovation -- and a more important place at the table. PNS associate editor Rene Ciria-Cruz, together with photographer Rick Rocamora, is on special assignment in the Philippines for New California Media and the San Francisco Examiner. Ciria-Cruz is a long-time editor of Filipinas Magazine. Photographs are available to PNS subscribers on request (e-mail slouie@pacificnews.org). This is the first of two stories.

MANILA -- Alleged Love Bug creator Onel de Guzman has become a modern hero to his compatriots. They marvel at his "abilidad," -- the knack for wringing gainful possibilities from any opportunity that presents itself.

There are signs of "abilidad" -- an aptitude born in the culture of scarcity -- everywhere.

Take "Bill's Gate Cyber Central" on once-genteel, now-seedy, Escolta Street, a clean, well-lighted storefront that could be taken for a world-class Information Technology establishment, except that Bill Gates has nothing to do with it.

It's one of hundreds of walk-in Internet access facilities sprouting in major cities in response to the Filipinos enthusiastic embrace of the Digital Age.

"Bill's Gate," in its blatant attempt to cash in on You-Know-Who's name, is on the shady side of abilidad -- but Filipinos are noted for their eagerness to adopt the latest in modern trends. Fewer than one million of the country's 76 million can afford personal computers, and this presents an opportunity.

Thus, on any weekday, up to 200 students and clerical workers on lunch break take turns at Bill's Gate's banks of computers, paying 20 pesos (50 cents) an hour to visit chat rooms or surf, according to branch manager Sheena So. The scene is repeated in competing facilities that have become as ubiquitous as Starbuck's.

Imitation includes not only name-mooching but homemade-gunsmiths who turn out lethal clones of brand-name handguns, cheap water pump parts copied to gleaming perfection, and ergonomically contoured sandals that look suspiciously like Birkenstocks worn by little girls in the poorest slums.

"We don't have a culture of innovation yet," says Dr. Francisco Nemenzo, president of the University of the Philippines. Imitation prevails -- in the arts, popular entertainment or industry. "We tend to have things like the Elvis Presley of the Philippines, or we copy the Oprah Winfrey or Larry King talk show formats and so on."

"To foster a spirit of innovation," he adds, "you must provide the initial basis for it in education, advanced equipment and commercial demand."

The university's electrical and electronic engineering laboratories hum with research and development activity 24 hours a day, he says. "Students make highly original programs with valuable commercial applications, but only for the purposes of graduating, because there is no channel to private industry for their creations."

Despite this lack of opportunity at home, information technology courses have replaced commerce courses as the most popular routes to jobs after graduation.

"There's heavy recruitment for jobs abroad," says Dr. Roger Posadas, academic director at Systems Technology Institute. "The student who submitted our 'Outstanding Thesis' this year still has to graduate and yet he's already being recruited by Singapore."

For Dr. Nemenzo, all this is connected with the "Love Bug."

"Technological mischief," he says, "is what could happen when you teach technology to thousands without any connections to the economic infrastructure."

But while the hacker underground and abilidad have found each other, no one here expects an outbreak of malicious viruses.

Indeed, other Filipino hackers have dismissed the Love Bug as "amateurish," because it destructively failed to achieve its intended goal and, more important, its creator was traced. One TV newsmagazine featured a hacker, incognito, showing how to steal passwords properly.

Some politicians and pundits profess shame over such activities, but others see pirating computer products as a legitimate option for those trampled by economic globalization.

Columnist Conrado de Quiros wrote that he did not believe in "intellectual property rights" as articulated in current international trade agreements. "The Chinese who have been depicted as the worst pirates of all have a point. What if they charged U.S. and European nationals royalty for every noodle they ate?"

Others lament the failure to harness the talent of young hackers. Sociologist (and former TV talk show host) Randy David says de Guzman's teachers, who rejected his thesis proposal which contained elements of the Love Bug, should have redirected him to research on the weaknesses of existing password systems and how to protect such weak points.

For the first time, says David, the Philippines has "a generation that can create, not just consume, technology."

"It would be a tragic mistake," he adds, "to condemn its talents just because its first impulse has been to make viruses rather than vaccines."