Unpopular, but makes sense

In his interview with The FREEMAN, Cebu 4th District congressional aspirant Salvador Cariaga suggested that instead of giving out ayuda, the government should focus on providing jobs instead.

“Ayuda should be stopped. It is not the solution to our problem. Ang kinahanglan sa mga tao, dili ayuda, kundi trabaho,” he said.

He cites four reasons for his stand. First, it’s a cheap tactic used by some politicians to get elected. Second, it’s the fallback of incompetent politicians seeking to get votes. Third, it’s only a temporary solution to a long-term problem. And fourth, it reveals that politicians aren’t truly interested in long-term solutions.

We agree with the idea to remove ayuda and prioritize jobs. It is sure to be unpopular among many, but it does make sense.

And to his reasons for dropping ayuda we would like to add two more of our own. Fifth, ayuda is mostly paid for by taxes taken from the hard-earned money of the middle class who never see a cent of ayuda in their lives. And, sixth, ayuda fosters the behavior of long-term dependency on government aid.

With that said, there is no doubt that ayuda has become ingrained in our culture, and some families just can’t see themselves living without it or some form of it.

As opposed to just suddenly pulling out the rug from those who have come to badly depend on ayuda, perhaps it would be more advisable to wean them from it gradually, the same way dependency on something addictive is cured.

Of course, everything is always easier said than done. If you look online there is almost no shortage of employers looking for people to hire. On the other hand you have many people who don’t have a job, but otherwise aren’t qualified or don’t have the skills for many jobs posted.

Because of the changing demands of the modern world, this skill and job mismatch has actually been an issue in the Philippines for a while now. This should be addressed before we can even think of ending ayuda and weaning people off of dependency on government aid.