Vinegar for the thirsty.

SABBATICAL NOTES. 22 JUL 2014. TUESDAY. 
Vinegar for the thirsty. 

THERE IS A LOT of things to be worried about in the Philippines. 

One: the president of the republic seems unable to understand that DAP, whatever is the good intention of his office is, is not the way to go. 

Two: there is no clear accounting where the funds went for this DAP thing, and unless there is transparency in its disbursement, expenditure, and public accounting (do we believe the public accountants employed by the supposedly independent COA?), questions will remain, and both the DBM and the Office of the President must come up with a univocal language that explains in full where these monies went.

Three: the reported abuse and misuse of funds is becoming rampant, a commonplace in a country that is wanting for some crumbs for basic services.

Four: while the political leaders wallow in wealth and abundance of public money, the led do not have access to the same things except through a mistaken sense of hitting the jackpot in the lottery, with millions and millions at their disposal as soon as they hit right the winning combination of illusion and desperation. [One can see here, for instance, that reported jacked-up price of the parking lot in Makati and we can only nauseate. We have parking lots for those with cars--and the cost in billions!--and we do not decent housing for the poor!]

Fifth: legislation has gone kaput, with no significant law passed to address the 'normalized' social inequity in the country. What we have got are some semblances of the law that border on charity (paging DSWD!) and exhibition (paging DPWH) and more charity (paging DOH). [We see lots of pictures in the giving out of two kilos of rice, and infrastructure complete, and the sick attended to, and we know we are being taken for a ride.]

Everywhere we go, the best test of the democratized despair of our people is the airport. Go there and ask those people who are going away.

Ask them why they are leaving the Philippines.

Ask the mothers with young children why they are going to Singapore or Hongkong and there expect to be paid P10T per month plus an overdose of abuse from their employers.

Ask the rice farmers who have to deal with the high of farm inputs (seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and all other fancy things one has to use to poison the freshwater system of the fields, and thereby poisoning as well the fish and other things that could have given so much protein to the already protein-deprived people.

The last time my students and I checked, farming is a losing proposition in the Philippines, with so much of the price per kilo of rice for covering the cost of production. Ceteris paribus, practically nothing is left with the food producers, and hence, the usual thousands of metric tons of imports from somewhere else under the guise of food security and that duty of feeding the citizens with imported rice.

Next time around, the OFWs and the farmers and all the poor people should discover the creative power of their rage so that this country will never be the same again.

No, it is not national language and nationalism that will solve our problem; this one is the most expensive lie we have ever sold to our people.

Our people are thirsty for truth, for goodness, for beauty.

Now, let us give them vinegar.

WPH/