by Ben Serrano
BUTUAN CITY- What’s the use of a new and shining budget office without a budget to alleviate dire poverty at its worst but only served elite politicians (in reality through big bucks of commissions or kickbacks from budgeted government projects earning kickbacks to buy votes during election day)?
This maybe the reason why the regional director like his politician friends are now extremely wealthy with all the adorning luxury vehicles at their disposal while majority of the people are wallowing in poverty and just walked without slippers even.
What’s the use of elegant government offices when its people are dying of hunger, victimized of fraudulent schemes taking chances they profit but ended up bankrupt not only financially but morally?
This happened because supposed government agencies in their “fiduciary duties” are sleeping in their airconditioned rooms not monitoring what Legacy is doing right smack of their faces yet paid by hard –earned taxpayers’ money?
Why are we building edifices only for the comfort of its occupants while the people who feed and clothed them, paid their salaries are living in misery, diseases and dying and government could not even afford sending sickly and the dying to hospital and providing them medicines because it has no budget?
What’s the use of putting Indigenous People’s office when it can’t feed the hungry indigenous people and heal the sick ergo their number is dwindling as they die without even seeing a hospital and swallow medicines, empower them on their right to live, right to educate and right of their ancestral lands?
What’s the use of putting government information offices, radio and television stations at the expense of hard-earned taxpayers’ money when it can’t even informed the rights of people to think, speak and shout aloud their right for education, justice and to survive and defend their lands?
What’s the use of Agriculture, Health, Housing and offices when people die hungry it has no food laid on table with open eyes and houses without roofs?
Maybe it’s now time for reckoning and people asking, demanding what these government workers and agencies have done and are doing not only on press (actually praise) releases but in actual real life?
Maybe it’s now high time to demand people in government hiding in their airconditioned rooms to go out and go where the people needs them whether in the hinterlands or in the mountains where people hardly saw government men and women where their services are needed most.
The power of information in this age of information must be maximize really of whatever form, substance or medium, whether it is, by talking to farmers, fishermen, upland farmers, urban and rural poor through forums and discussions.
The future of any civilizations lies actually to the informed and empowered people, unless government allowed us to be misinformed people forever.
I have long been an advocate of real and thorough auditing perforrnance while revisiting policies to those people in the government budget, accounting offices for they are the most elusive people to media. Look we can’t even asked documents from them which is supposedly public documents and therefore must transparent.
Why are their documents a matter of national security or are they hiding something eheemm?
Look a mediaman (responsible of course not that attack and collect, defend and collect kind) cannot even interview some alleged high handed officials of the Commission of Audit?
Please don’t misinterpret me for I am only telling the truth and if you only go to depressed areas now, one can see how horrible their living conditions are with many uncertainties on how to get their next meal and I know it because my feet is on the ground and I too belongs to the marginalized sector.
Don’t you know that unrepenting government offices are the number recuriter of NPA?
While it is true that the people is the government coining from the word of late U.S. President Kennedy’s “Asked not what your government can do to you but asked what can you do for the government,” the harsh reality and the inconvenient truth is, crocodiles do not only eat people alive especially the poor ones but swallow all in the government coffers too.
As jokes goes in the bureaucracy which includes “not only under the table, side of the table but sometimes including the table.”
Presidentiables for 2010 election were recent Butuan City visitors invited (or inviting their selves?) as guest speakers of this and that government activities. Among presidentiables who came as far as I know were former President Erap, Senators Chiz Escudero and Mar Roxas and recently MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando.
And the number of Presidentiables to visit Caraga Region and Butuan City will increase as the number of days go near for the November 31 (or 30?) deadline in filing their certificate of candidacies.
I hope the COMELEC will sponsor debates among presidentiables and local candidates to get their views how to solve worsening economic crisis of this country. Filipinos can only elect better leaders if they are well-informed not misinformed.
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