Shameless!

There could be one and only one reason alone that will probably convince the Filipino people to approve a CHACHA. That will have to be a provision to abolish Congress for causing so much grief and misery among our people and for shamelessly continuing to do so.

Imagine the savings from the huge pork barrels that these politicians are used to. Imagine the savings even from the energy use that is wasted by those who call themselves Honorable!

Imagine instead the savings that will go directly to the people with no politicians to broker the public funds in their behalf. Imagine a cleaner environment, both physically and symbolically speaking, of a country rid of useless and corrupt officials who use not only one but more vehicles and who are accustomed to stay only in airconditioned rooms for their version of public service.

That Chacha will have to exclude any present official to participate. It will have to specify that only authentic Filipinos, whose integrity and honesty, have been proven and tested can legitimately be part of that Constitutional Convention. No trapos please. No one from any political dynasty please.

Tama na, sobra na! Enough with shameless, selfish officials!

Don't they have eyes to see actual reality? Don't they see the farmers leaving their farms, braving the heat and rains, and overcoming fatigue and hunger, just to directly ask for their right to till their own farms? Don't they see back in their respective provinces and districts how farmers and other food producers are barely existing? And yet, these shameless politicians prioritize CHACHA over Agrarian reform? The whole global economy is reeling and even those in the streets know this is not the best time for business and investment. And yet , the shameless politicians want CHACHA so that they can change the provision that prohibits foreign investors from more involvement and control over our limited natural resources? Why don't they leave our resources for the use and enjoyment of our own people?

Why don't the politicians instead face the growing need for food, jobs, shelter, education and other welfare needs of their constituents? Why are these shameless politicians instead so biased towards policies that will ensure their stay in power? Isn't that the ultimate reason why they want CHACHA so that they do not have to go through another election ( NO-ELection)? Then, with no elections in 2010, their happy days now of perks and privileges will get extended again, at no sweat on their part, except to do a quick CHACHA now? Worse, the politicians and their kind are all over the branches of government, from national down to the grassroots, down to the local level. These shameless politicians and officials continue to clone themselves. Soon, this country will be overcrowded with those who do not know, those who can no longer feel shame!

Fortunately, gratefully, there are those who are different from these shameless kind...

 We have seen a number of them, sadly too few to mention, who despite the reigning rule of the shameless, deserve to be commended and who certainly deserve to walk with heads high because they are truly honorable and respectable. We still have in our midst those who have the genuine welfare and care of the Filipino people as their top priority.

How do these shameless survive? The shameless thrive on power, one that they do not deserve but nevertheless grab. They thrive on public funds, those they have appropriated as their own even as these rightfully belong to the people. They thrive on duplicity, make that multiplicity of faces, of the thick-faced type, of the insincere type. They are adept at putting on public masks, putting on the face of sincerity or the face of sympathy at the cue of cameras and media photo-sessions.

While they know that their type may one day be toppled from power, they also know the meaning of persistence, of not giving up despite losing one, two or more electoral rounds. The shameless have a knack though for staying and holding on to power, regardless of administrations, across time.

Ah, how long must this country suffer from the over-proliferation of the shameless? For as long as they accept and tolerate this shameless type of politicians, the cloning of the shameless will proceed across generations!

What these shameless need is another type of change. Not Charter but Character Change! This nation awaits men and women of sterling character, those sensitive enough to see through the poverty of millions and those who will truly work and sacrifice to lift these millions beyond their present wretched plight.

Where are these genuine honorable public servants? Oh, that they may surface soon enough and may their thrive increase and live on to outlive and outnumber the present huge number of shameless and fake public servants! Thank you to those who find the time to read our columns. For those who asked like Mr. Bill, my columns are twice a week, every Thursday and every Saturday. Thank you sincerely.

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