With apologies to the author, I take the liberty of freely commenting on his very commendable article. May I just add my 5-cents worth:

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Assuring recovery in the new year by Paulo Alcazaren (The Philippine Star)

        The year 2013 was one of disasters with the Visayas taking the brunt. The twin terrors of the temblor and typhoon Yolanda wrought unfathomable loss of life, heritage structures, and damage to the economy.

        Filipinos are resilient. This is a given, but in the face of the scale and scope of devastation, it is unrealistic to expect quick recovery. The initial rescue and relief have almost run their course, although many areas have yet to get enough attention. In this coming new year, the aspects of recovery and reconstruction will weigh heavy on assuring the Visayas that it will recover and be rebuilt sustainably.

 December 18, 2013

        A Philippine Star article by Thomas Ancheta states that more Filipinos look forward to a better life in the next 12 months.  

        A recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed the net personal optimism rose to a “very high” +35 in September, with 40 percent of the respondents saying they expected the quality of their lives to improve in the next 12 months and six percent claiming otherwise.

        This was higher than the “high” +28 (35 percent optimistic, seven percent pessimistic) recorded in June.

        It is however important to note that this survey was conducted from September 20 to 23, 2013. The expressions of faith and optimism were therefore done before Sept. 16 when charges of plunder, malversation, bribery, graft and corrupt practices were filed in the Office of the Ombudsman against Janet Napoles, Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Ramon Revilla Jr. and Jinggoy Estrada and 34 others and before the Oct. 15 magnitude 7.2 earthquake in Bohol and Cebu and the onslaught of record-breaking Super Typhoon Yolanda in the Visayas.       

        It is therefore confusing that after the series of exposes, man-made and natural disasters took place, selected media and opinion-makers suddenly discovered that PNoy government is ineffective, graph-ridden and needs drastic overhaul.

        Just as surprising is the statement from the Economic Markets Strategy paper of Singapore-based bank DBS saying on December 12 that the Philippine economy remains in a “sweet spot” despite the devastation left by Typhoon Yolanda as strong domestic demand, rising remittances and the prospect of more structural reforms are expected to continue to boost growth.

        HOW MUCH HAS CHANGED?! 

“Since we got hit by Super Typhoon ‘Yolanda’ and the whole world witnessed the Aquino Regime bungling the disaster relief and rescue operations, we said that finally, Pres. Benigno ’PNoy’ Aquino III's backbone program that he calls "Daang Matuwid" has fallen flat on its face. The whole truth about this slogan has now emerged as nothing but mere rhetoric whose only value is propaganda for PNoy. Because of so many things he has done or should I say he has failed to do, this slogan has turned against him to haunt his presidency in his last remaining years.”

-o0o-

“Yes, things are back to normal under the P-Noy administration. While other international airports manage to land an airplane every 30 seconds, I am told that at NAIA it takes 7 minute intervals on the average to bring in a “bird”. Things are so bad that planes hovering over NAIA average 10 to 20 minutes before making their landing.  XXXX

        I’m really glad that the P-Noy government is not corrupt, because their collective incompetence particularly in the Department of Transportation is damaging enough to productivity and profit of private citizens and corporations. If the DOTC Secretary can’t even solve this “traffic problem” in our airports and airspace, he should give the job to someone who can.”

-o0o-

A cousin of mine who is based in a foreign land but who patriotically refers to his email address as “Perlas ng Silangan” has been keeping tabs of what’s going on in his native land. Much of the feedback he is getting is naturally from media (two examples of which are shown above) aside from my futile updates. To show my exasperation, I am presenting 3 excerpts of his emailed comments:

xxxx

OUCH! ARAY! WHY ARE WE WASHING OUR DIRTY LAUNDRY IN FULL VIEW OF THE WORLD AT LARGE?

        Although help is still flowing in, generally media is reinforcing the tag that we have a corrupt government – thus forcing to push a wedge between the government and the governed –THUS STIFLING GROWTH! Why is media shooting ourselves in the foot? I hate to believe the whispers that are going around, because if the rumors are accurate, we must really be a sick country of paid hacks.

We must love to be called corrupt. Is this what is meant by transparency?

BUT I BEG YOUR PARDON.  Paging: Malacanang’s communications group!

        While conceding that currently we only see 3 people lining up to succeed PNoy, that should not be the root cause for alarm. What we should worry about is that the porkers and their feudal masters will not be out of the way before PNoy exits. We should not simply be asked again to select the lesser evil among the following three frontrunners: one who seems harmless but had not been as effective as many would want him to be, another who is a man of action but with a questionable record on human rights or a traditional politician who cannot seem to shake off allegations of corruption. If we can already see a clear way to finally end the root of corruption in our country, an anointed one, who may or may not be one of the 3, will appear to lend a hand to our rescue before PNoy’s term ends. There is no need to push the panic button.

        After the demise of the “pork barrel”, a very important development should be in place before 2016: an implementable anti-dynasty law to wean the basic masses from the clutches of patronage politics that will allow them to join the ranks of enlightened people fighting to end this decades-old political system. Surprisingly many opinion makers are seen to be in a ”feeding frenzy” against PNoy administration’s normal incompetence and not on the more important abolition of patronage politics. The current issue on the handling and after-effects of Super Typhoon Yolanda presents a perfect but questionable opportunity for diversion and camouflage.

        While our population has breached the 100 million mark and the number of our poor growing as fast as the gap between our one per cent and the rest of the 99, the situation WILL be reversed once endemic corruption is checked.

      From the time we Filipinos found ourselves free from colonial rule to be on our own, successive Philippine presidents have led us gradually down to perdition. We hit a plateau during Martial Law years and exalted in the successful People Power Revolution hoping the spiral had been halted.

       But then the old (latent?) feudalism and political dynasties were resurrected and corruption continued unabated gathering momentum. People power vainly tried to intervene in more than one instance, but we put back in power the same feudal families. The rich got richer and the poor became poorer.

        Then, out of the blue, a neophyte from the same feudal background but personally carrying no dirty linen, promising to tread the “daang matuwid” route, was elected president. He has since put the Philippines on the way to become an Asian Tiger. Unfortunately, his efforts have stirred up enough dust and dirt that forced the then defensive traditional feudal lords to be in offensive mode. The Napoles caper has started to dig up more grime, including why new found growth has not trickled down to the masses.  Ill-gotten money is flowing to defend dirty politics; black propaganda and demolition jobs served to confuse important issues. Many opinion makers are seen to be in a ”feeding frenzy” against PNoy’s administration.

        The current issue on the effects of Super Typhoon Yolanda is a perfect opportunity for diversion and camouflage.

        BUT WHAT IS THE REAL ISSUE HERE? DO WE WANT PNOY TO RESIGN?  WHY? BECAUSE HIS PEOPLE WERE NOT READY TO MITIGATE THE SEVERE DAMAGE CAUSED BY THE SUPER TYPHOON? THEN WHAT?

        The following is a dispassionate statement from UN Habitat:

        “The typhoon, known as Haiyan elsewhere in Asia but called Yolanda in the Philippines, was likely the deadliest natural disaster to beset this poor Southeast Asian nation.

        Yoshinobu Fukasawa, United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN Habitat) regional director for Asia and the Pacific, told the Inquirer that the more than 13 million Filipinos affected by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: “Haiyan”) should stop blaming the government for the slow response to the disaster in order to fast-track the rebuilding of the devastated areas.

        “I want to stress that the people need to reconstruct their hearts, too. At the end of the day, it’s not the government but the people themselves who need the reconstruction,” Fukasawa said.

        “Unless the people recover by themselves, who needs the reconstruction? The government only assists the people to let them regain the power and move on. That is very important,” he said.

        Fukasawa said the Philippine government’s handling of the situation after the disaster was “not bad” at all given the magnitude of the calamity vis-a-vis the government’s limited resources.

        He said that while rich economies could somehow mitigate the impact of disasters like Yolanda, it is, however, difficult for weaker economies, as it would be too costly and not good to the economy.

        He said the Philippines was receiving substantial support from the international community and had implemented an organized way of receiving assistance from donors.

        “Before, the international agencies just fly in without informing the government but this kind of thing does not happen anymore.”

        If foreigners like Fukasawa realize that we are committing national suicide by letting some people to subvert government efforts to eliminate corruption – and of course, the corruptors, I am sure right thinking Filipinos also discern this – unless the lure of dirty money is simply too much to ignore. Can't we wait 2 years to be able to elect OUR right man for the job?