Then it was the jeepney minimum fare hike. Though outraged, the nation can only do so much as submit grudgingly to it. They know that no matter what they say, there is nothing they can do about it. Soon it all came down in torrents; upsurge in the prices of commodities, fare increases for all forms of public transportation looms up ahead, not to mention NAPOCOR’s 100% rate hike… add that to the revised taxing system where tax derivation would shift from net income to gross, and of course, the huge budget deficit that is projected to reach P200.0 billion by yearend. What do we have? A nation slipping into doom.
And in the midst of the budget deficit, we have a government who talks about a charter change. A shift from a presidential form of government to parliamentary. Among others, this form of government takes away from the people the right to elect their leaders and to hand it over to a few who constitute the members of parliament, in this case, the congress. GMA has majority of both the senate and the congress.
We suffer from a ballooning budget deficit, higher taxes and upsurge in prices while salaries remain menial and the government talks about a change in the constitution? When you take away the right from the people to elect their leaders and hand it over to a few, you would expect a corrupt and wealthy official to take the highest post over a competent one. You expect a dynasty, a power play. You expect thieves and liars the likes of husband and wife tagteam Gloria and Mike Arroyo to milk the country out of its resources and leave the country too dry to even bleed.
How does this happen, you ask? The wealthiest and most corrupt official in the land simply buys the parliament members’ votes and we have a thief for a Prime Minister. Sure bribery has always been present in every election, but at least, the poor gets to have a shot at it. Money, in a parliament will circulate only within their ranks. The Prime Minister is then expected to get his returns from where else? Taxes.
GMA promises to do a Robinhood and get from the rich to allocate to the poor. Nice words, but what exactly is rich anyway? Honest taxpayers defined as the middle class. That means the ordinary employees who always suffer the most from government promises and corruption.
Administration claims that this will be beneficial to the country given the loopholes in our present form of government. But what policy, pray tell is absolutely error-free?
Parliamentary works for other countries because they have parties that have clear-cut objectives. A socialist party that is dedicated to socialist issues, democratic party that is concerned with democratic issues, a capitalist party that specializes on capitalist concerns, etc. Doesn’t the recent election show that up to now, we Filipinos aren’t ready for such a shift, for if we are, what is Lito Lapid, Noli de Castro, Jinggoy Estrada, Bong Revilla Jr. and their minions doing in the government? Or rather, why is Macapagal-Arroyo holding the highest position in the land?
The problem is not with the form of government but in the quality of our politicians! As long as we have thieves in the government, raising the taxes and changing our form of government will only make them richer.
Years of foreign domination and three Edsa uprisings, we still haven’t learned our lesson. We are still suckers for empty promises and still get blinded by the glare of monies and lies.
Calling to mind the fraud that was the recent elections and how democracy was suppressed in the senate by a gavel, whether or not we shift from presidential to parliamentary does not matter. What Gloria wants, Gloria gets. While we, as a nation are reduced to nothing more but slaves and muted followers. My WWII veteran granddad died in ’83 and I couldn’t be any happier. He’s better off believing that the freedom he has endured the death march from Bataan to Corregidor for was well worth it---and not lost at the hands of his own countrymen.
