I write this letter in support of
your Philstar article of September 18, 2013 entitled “Let’s Keep the
Pressure”.
I belong to a high school 1952 batch
that recently celebrated its diamond anniversary. Out of 108 graduates, we
could only account for 70% as the rest have already retired and expired.
I worked hard for over forty years,
paid my taxes and other government remittances faithfully, volunteered at EDSA
and donated my fair share of money, time and artifacts.
Today, as I approach my 80th
birthday, I am deeply saddened when I look at my country, my government and my
impoverished countrymen. I should be grateful for my SSS pension that
approximates the mandated pay of out kasambahay
and for the benefits given to me by the senior citizens card bearing the
signatures of 2 disgraced presidents.
Like Boy Guevara, my contemporaries
and I are aghast at the extent of extreme corruption that came to light some 2 months
ago. As Boo Chanco mentioned, the anger of seniors like us has not abated but
is on the contrary starting to boil over because of fresh revelations such as
the March 2003 privilege speech of Senator Panfilo Locson on this very subject
that detailed the corruptive effects of PDAF.
I remember hearing about Senator
Lacson’s proposal at the time but like most Filipinos then, soon forgot about
it. We had to wait 10 years for this Janet Napoles scam to blow up in our faces
to wake us up. Now that we are fully awake, we are getting more agitated
realizing that this scam has been laid out before all legislators even as early
as March 2003. Legislators can therefore no longer claim innocence nor
ignorance of this opportunity for abuse and misuse of the pork barrel that they
so brazenly tolerated. Some action should have been taken during the early
launching of P-Noy’s daang matuwid.
However, we should be very
skeptical and extra clinical about fresh revelations linking Napoles to P-Noy considering
that bigwigs are now being pushed in a tight squeeze and will try anything to
relieve the pressure from them. We should be reminded that most new revelations
are just coming out AFTER the whistle-blowers started singing and may therefore
be part of the organized diversionary tactics.
Let us continue tightening our
watch and keep up the pressure until the man on the saddle finds a way to
salvage his presidency. We owe him that much. After all, this mess started snow-balling
only after P-Noy had launched his anti-corruption campaign.
Meanwhile, notice that, while
government is distracted by this pervasive scam, the left is already taking the
initiative of trying to take command of the grass-roots upcoming Barangay
elections.
