No end to the people’s sufferings

By Dionesio C. Grava

What’s that saying again: When it rains it pours? It’s bewildering that this administration that starts off in the wings of widespread popularity from a citizenry desperate for a messiah has since been stumbling over again and again with gargantuan problems, some of them self-inflicted. That is not to say that previous administrations were without their shares of headaches and cans of worms but what the current leadership is facing now may be too huge for our impoverished nation to cope with. And so in times like this when everything seems to be going wrong we grope for explanations and answers from the wisdom of those who came before us or, being religious that most Filipinos are, we sustain ourselves on the strength of hopes and prayers.

Dire poverty and equally pervasive misery have been imbedded into the larger segment of our people ever since a much hated despot transformed the once leading economy in Asia into what it is now, a basket case. Marcos left a legacy of a destroyed democracy, committed our poor nation unto unimaginable foreign indebtedness, and institutionalized corruption in all the agencies and systems of government including the military and the courts and the media on such a scale succeeding leaderships, most of them equally corrupt, have been unable to shake off to this day. He was succeeded by Gloria Arroyo who put into effective use her economic expertise for self interests. It was on her term that the pork barrel system had taken roots. Another unworthy president, Erap Estrada, was preoccupied more with his womanizing, drinking binges, gambling and money making from jueteng he had no idea the nation was on a steep downward plunge.

But are we really dirt poor, a bankrupt nation? Have we always been this way? If so, how come the Napoleses have become so hugely rich and extravagant in their lifestyles by living off from taxpayers money if we don’t have the money in the first place? How come senators and congressmen and other top officials — including, and more so, the president — are allotted so much ‘pork’ money that are impervious to scrutiny if the public treasury is truly impoverished? How come these elected officials are robbing so egregiously the people who are paying for their salaries and perks? How come we were not aware of these scams when it had been going on for so many years and it had to be a civilian to bring them to the open? Are all of them who are entrusted with the future of the nation that hopelessly corrupt?

Is that how they deplete the proceeds of the much ballyhooed economic upsurge in the Noynoy Aquino administration: channeling them to the pockets of conspiring thieves in the bureaucracy? With the dizzying huge amount of money allegedly scammed they could have done much to alleviate the pestering misery of the poor and attend to the other basic needs of the citizenry. Are these officials too isolated in their comfortable offices that they have become insensitive to the cries of our brothers and sisters in need? Are they not even aware of the multitude who live in cardboard boxes under bridges or makeshift structures in riverbeds and other dangerous places? Or, of people who scrounge from thrash bins for the next meal otherwise they slept on empty stomachs at night?

Just imagine how much that stolen money could have been put to good use buying books and repairing dilapidated schoolhouses for our children. Or, irrigating farmlands and constructing roads to make easier the transport of produce to the market. Or, developing alternative sources of energy so that homes and commerce would not be dependent solely on very expensive oil byproducts. Or, attend in earnest to the long mothballed modernization program of our armed forces so that we will no longer be the whipping boy of militarily and economically strong China.

It is a big irony that most of our people are now hollering after the necks of thieving scammers and their cohorts in public offices instead of directing our resolve to helping the less privileged in our midst or against a bullying neighbor. The government could have consolidated its strength and resources and confront threats to its integrity and existence one at a time. As per reports, China not only was able to capture one of our territorial possessions but is now aiming to likewise invade and occupy another one.

The Chinese are also sabotaging our economy and stealing our natural resources from within our country as may be geared from a report in asiasentinel.com. It says that billions of dollars worth of gold are being smuggled out by Chinese miners, many of them illegals. As of now, the report said, of the gold registered as leaving the Philippines, only three percent of the exports are registered with customs officials. The Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources estimated in 2008 that three million tons of mineral ores processed in China were unaccounted for by Philippine authorities. Meanwhile, the environment is left in tatters in their wake.

As if the above problems are not menacing enough for a struggling country to plough through, here comes the Muslim rebellion in prime time news again. A force of more than a hundred armed MNLF rebels aboard pump boats reportedly attacked coastal villages in Zamboanga City at dawn of September 9, engaged military units in shootouts and effectively closing down a city up to this writing. So far two government men and four civilians had been killed, 20 others wounded and more civilians held as hostages/human shields. It appears that President Noynoy’s snub of the MNLF despite the 1996 peace accord just so it could accommodate a rival rebel faction, the MILF, with another treaty has come to haunt him now. Is there no end to the people’s sufferings?