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?
