The 10 worst things in 2015 that should lead us to meaningful change
Dateline: Holy Land. We have written previously on the ten best things that ever happened to our country and people. It is time to give a balanced view, and cite what were the negative developments that emerged in 2015. This is being discussed not with malice or intent to defame, but to learn from experience and resolve to do better in 2016. A nation and a people who never learn from the past are condemned, the sage wrote, to repeat those grave mistakes.
First of all, the worst of them all is the unwitting resurrection of the DAP via what its alleged principal creator, Secretary Butch Abad calls PDAF. It is the same dog with a different collar. The Supreme Court of the land has declared the DAP unconstitutional. The administration that claims it follows the 'DAANG MATUWID'' has chosen to willfully and intentionally refurbish the same banana and call it PDAF. Second, there is a general perception of compartmentalized justice in our country. Opposition stalwarts are being suspended with amazing urgency while plunder cases against administration allies languish in inaction in the files of the prosecution, judicial and quasi-judicial echelons of governance.
Third, there is a notorious lack of inclusiveness in the economic growth in our country. It is a fact, and we admit this, that the economic pie has grown bigger. But who are benefitting from it all? None other but the tycoons who own the giant malls, the taipans who control the factories, the banks and all the means of production and distribution of goods and service. The poor are relegated to starvation wages whose levels are pegged below the living wage. Fourth, There is a total lack of any draconian and strategic measure to address the diaspora of Filipino migrant workers, some five thousand of whom leave the country daily. The OFWs are being murdered, persecuted, raped and trafficked to dirty, dangerous, difficult, degrading, and deceptive jobs abroad.
Fifth, until today, after, Yolanda, Sendong, Lando, Nona, and all calamities, the government and the people are still unprepared to face another wave of disasters, whether they are supertyphoons, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, fires, pestilence or wars, terrorisms, and crimes. The leaders have failed to equip the citizenry with the wherewithal for survival, rescue, rehabilitation, and reentry to normal life. Sixth, the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program is a shameless institutionalization of endemic mendicancy. Instead of teaching the people how to fish, the government contend themselves with distributing fish. And they even bungle it with alarming frequency and unabashed shamelessness. Moreover, the PPPP is being used as political capital for administration bets.
Seventh, the Mamasapano debacle is the greatest embarrassment of this administration which exposed the lack of decisive leadership in the civil and military leadership. Number eight is the naked attempt to ram down the throat of the people and the legislature the BBL proposed attempted fragmentation of the Philippine territory. That law was a product of a hurried draft dictated by the former rebels and our academic ivory tower negotiators who took dictations from Malaysia maligned Prime Minister Razak who interfered with our internal affairs as a sovereign nation. Until the last days of Congress sessions, Malacañan tried to force its way. It's a good thing that the House and the Senate upheld their independence.
Ninth, the horrendous traffic and our transport crisis which is being mishandled by an inexperienced DOTC Secretary whose only legitimacy as a claimant to that highly technical Cabinet portfolio is his being an LP top stalwart. Our airports are still the worst in the world. It has even further deteriorated with the "Tanim Bala'' controversy. Tenth, the blatant attempts by the administration to put pressures on LP opponents by suspending them for cases that have long been pending ad suddenly ressurected. The suspensions of Mayor Mike Rama, former Governor Gwen Garcia, and his brother Dumanjug Mayor Nelson Garcia are outstanding examples of the worse kind of compartmentalized justice that the DAANG MATUWID has imposed on the hapless people. Now that the year is about to end, should we have more of the same? Or should we change the direction of our future? The answer is what really matters most.
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