PNoy's campaign slogan a monumental failure!

During the height of the Presidential election campaign, Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, III, the Liberal Party (LP) standard Presidential bearer came up with that slogan, “Kung Walang Korrupt, Walang Mahirap.” This is one campaign slogan that has come out as a monumental failure in the annals of Philippine political history for two reasons - corruption has not diminished and worse, poverty even increased in just a year under the PNoy gov’t! Let me say it here that a lot of voters where literally taken for a ride with this slogan and I have already met a lot of pro-PNoy people who come to me woefully sorry for having believed in this yarn.

 I’m not yet saying that Pres. PNoy’s administration is already a total loss. However, nearly 11 months into office, they have proven to be still on that “On-the-Job-Training” (OJT) mode. A case in point is the still unresolved issue of the Aug. 23 hostage crisis, which the Aquino administration wrongly believes has long been forgotten. But months later, there is still no one high enough in the Aquino administration that was removed from office at least for command responsibility for that fiasco. Mind you, this was one of the first incidents that Pres. PNoy could no longer pin the blame on his predecessor.

 A week ago, another fiasco erupted when celebrated convict former Batangas Governor Antonio Leviste was caught outside the New Bilibid Prison, which erupted into a Congressional inquiry. This incident confirmed many rumours flying around that many rich inmates were not truly locked in prison, but rather, they had certain “privileges” that only a corrupted system would allow them to do. These “sleeping out” arrangements has been happening right under our noses, which is sheer proof of the inequality that exists in our country today, that the rich and the powerful can go out anytime he or she likes, while the poor has no choice but to remain in jail.

 While I submit that this was a practice done not only in the New Bilibid Prison, but also in other correctional facilities, but it proves to us that when we have an honest leadership at the top, it doesn’t translate to honesty down the line. Decades ago, I even heard that corrupt officials would “allow” an inmate to go out of jail to assassinate certain personalities for a fee, of course. When those things happened, the police are baffled as their manhunt cannot produce a suspect, simply because the killer is back inside the jail.

 That congressional inquiry ended up with suggestion from our Senators, some sensible, like Sen. Migz Zubiri’s call for the Aquino government to start building a new and modern maximum security compound in an island outside Metro Manila, ala “Alcatraz” in the San Francisco Bay Area. Alas for Sen. Zubiri, he chose the wrong example because Alcatraz was shut down because it wasn’t really that secure, although it was the precursor of the so-called Super Max prisons that have sprouted all over the US.

 But then what good are well-built mortar and stone facilities when it is manned by the corrupt and the damned? I fully agree with Sen. Zubiri that selling the 551 hectare Muntinlupa Prison is the right thing to do, so the money could be used to build a more modern facility. Incidentally, Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago came up with that cockamamie idea of “charging” the rich prisoners hotel rates so they can come up with better accommodations. Such a stupid idea no doubt widens the gap between rich and poor. Sen. Santiago conveniently forgot that Lady Justice is depicted as a blind woman to ensure that there is equal treatment in meting out justice.

 For this latest fiasco, we expect Bureau of Corrections Director Ernest Diokno to tender his resignation, but apparently the man claims no direct responsibility. Therefore, we expect Pres. PNoy Aquino to fire the man. But even that, PNoy is wavering. It shows what a wishy-washy President he is. Fire Diokno and I will have more respect for PNoy!

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 A week ago, we wrote about that glut in Nursing that has resulted in the unemployment of many nursing graduates. Well finally, the Philippine Nursing Association (PNA) has acknowledged that in the past three years, there has been some 287,000 nurses who are either underemployed or totally out of work! If you ask me, this poses the greatest challenge to the Aquino administration, how to make these nursing graduates earn a living.

 I know that a lot of these nursing graduates have been “victimized” by the so many agencies from the United States who make them sign an exclusive contract that they would be hired for jobs in the US. My own daughter almost fell victim into this obvious one-sided deal because in the end, those who signed up cannot go to other agencies anymore, but while they wait for the retrogression to be lifted in the US, they can’t find a job in nursing anywhere. Meanwhile, these nurses are working in the call centers.

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