We must reform before the 2016 elections

Cebuanos have everything to thank God for. He heard our prayers and spared us from the wrath of Typhoon Ruby (international code name Hagupit). Fortunately by this time, this typhoon  has downgraded in intensity, no longer a Category 5. However its rains can still cause some damage if we are not careful. But the fact that this typhoon has lost its super typhoon status is enough for us to thank the Lord.

This was the homily of Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma in thanking the Lord for protecting Cebu, saying that our prayers were answered. Alas, some quarters who have no idea about spiritual matters questioned the statement of Bishop Palma that he was being selfish in praying only for Cebu and not for the rest of the country. These people did not even care to read the full text of Bishop Palma’s message…but then we can never understand the ways of God…why he spared some parts of the country and not the rest. Those people do not realize that we did pray for the entire nation in this moment when all that is left for us to do is intensify our prayers.

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I arrived from Davao City last Saturday morning because Cebu Pacific didn’t cancel our flight back to Cebu. Despite the typhoon, it was one of the smoothest flights I have ever taken. So for most of Saturday and Sunday, we just stayed home. By Sunday afternoon, I caught up with Karen Davila’s ANC Forum on Strategic Building and it was probably one of the best discussions on the future of the country that ANC ever came out with.

While I didn’t get to see the start of this show, I heard DPWH’s Secretary Rogelio Singson saying that one of the solutions to the problems in Metro Manila was to disperse the population and build more infrastructure projects in areas like Cagayan de Oro, Iloilo, Bacolod, Davao City and Cebu City. I fully concur with his observations, but then Sec. Singson must act decisively to find ways to fast track those DPWH road projects in Cebu and Mandaue cities. He should realize that road projects in major thoroughfares should be worked on 24 hours a day, 24/7.  Almost all of Cebu’s road projects are more than a year old because DPWH gave it to incompetent contractors!

One of the guests, Mr. Vince Lazatin, director of Accountability & Transparency Network was right when he  said that planning in the Philippines is “Sashay planning,” while Singapore plans for the next 30 years. Again this is due to our current system of governance where politicians get to the polls every three years. Hence all plans for the development of the country are earmarked for only three years. It is for this very reason why we must have real reforms before we go into another election.

Clearly that forum validated what I’ve always believe is happening to this nation…that even the intelligensia is only thinking of the next elections and seeking out who should our next President be. How many columns ago have I written that the Philippines is a 68-year-old bus, brand new when the Americans granted us Independence on July 4, 1946.

Today we have the same bus that is old, rickety and decrepit, yet the bus is so full of passengers, some are already perched on the roof. But everyone is asking, “Who is going to be our next driver?” What we need to do is fix the bus first and things would go better for our country.

This is exactly what the National Transformation Council (NTC) is seeking to do. I was in Davao City to attend the 5th NTC assembly, after Lipa City on Aug. 27, Cebu City on Oct. 1, Butuan City on Nov. 11 and Clark, Pampanga last Dec. 3. The NTC in Davao City was held at the SMX Convention Center, where some 3,000 delegates from all over Mindanao including more than 500 Muslim delegates attended. I met Dr. Mashur Jundam, a retired UP Professor on Islamic Studies and chair of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and his secretary Edmund Gumbali of Jolo.

Basically the Davao NTC Declaration (hosted by Bishop Emeritus Fernando Capalla) echoed all the four previous NTC Declarations, seeking for reforms in the Philippine government because our democracy is no longer working for the benefit of the Filipino people…but rather for the benefit of the politicians who have ruled this nation since the EDSA Revolt. NTC is seeking the resignation of the entire Philippine government especially the elected officials who were elected by the cheating PCOS machines.

When the Davao NTC assembly was done, all the participants lined up to sign this declaration, including the group of Mamatantu “Tanny” Abdula of the Kambantangan Transformation Council of Cotabato City who gave me a copy of their declaration signed by all their members. No doubt the Davao NTC is now a mainstream movement calling for serious reforms and real change. As what Archbishop Ramon Arguelles declared, “Now na!”

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