Are you part of the solution, or the problem?

When the whole world is in trouble and our country is facing a major crisis, each Filipino can make a crucial choice; to help find a solution or to become a means to exacerbate the problem.

There is a report from the intelligence community that a militant and leftist organization which is trying to agitate the hungry and angry informal settlers in Metro Manila to undertake illegal assemblies and create chaos in this time of crisis. The president warned them that if they persist in inciting people to sedition, they will reap the decisive action from government. It might not be a shoot-to-kill order but if these agitators take offensive and destructive action that puts the lives of the policemen in grave and imminent danger, then they might get what they deserve. They are making themselves a part of the problem.

The camp of the opposition, including the vice president, chooses to criticize the administration, instead of helping the government address the problem. Officials like Senator Risa Hontiveros (the lone member of the Senate who voted against the law giving the president more budget and more powers to address the COVID-19 crisis) are apparently opting to become a part of the problem, instead of helping the government. Senators are paid millions from the poor taxpayer's money. But in times of crisis, they don’t support the solutions and would rather block the resources needed to help suffering people.

In fairness also, and in the interest of balance, this column likewise bewails the NBI for focusing their attention on and for spending official time trying to summon Mayor Vico Sotto, who was only trying to find a solution to the problem. How could they hold Vico liable for acts done before the effectivity of the Bayanihan Law? Vico, like his uncle, Senate President Tito Sen, understands the meaning of “expost facto law” and I hope the NBI considered that very basic matter. Because of what the NBI did, the massive defense of Vico's supporters and their condemnation of the NBI became viral.

Also, one Commissioner Luna supposedly of PACC was reported to have made a suggestion to investigate the vice president for competing with government in responding to COVID-19. Has the gentleman forgotten that the vice president is a part of government? These are people who think that the president will praise them for such acts of patronizing him. If they know him well because of their proximity to Malacañan, they should have known better than spending government funds in trying to further drive a wedge between the head of state and the number two official of the land.

There are only two kinds of people in our country nowadays; those who make the problems more complicated and those who help lighten the burden on the shoulders of the nation. Regardless of intentions, it is the actions and the words that constitute the distinction between being part of the problem or being part of the solution.