In the world of the blind, the one-eyed is king. Congruently, in a country of the uneducated, the moneyed idiots rule. And why not? Who can say they are wrong when nobody knows what is right. And that is how they are kept in power, how the entire nation is placed under their rule, and how the “tiny we who do know” continue to gnash our teeth in desperation.
Consider this recent senate hearing where the top police general, the main law enforcer in the land, tells the whole country he got a luxury car at over 60% discount and then refuses to explain how or why or who he got it from. And then he goes on to admit he owns pieces of land worth millions but he only got them for a song, throttles down the value of all these properties and expects every Filipino to believe his claim of being “malinis na malinis” (cleaner than clean).
Right now, I am in no position to make a judgement on this top law enforcer, because it was not a court of law he was being investigated in, it was a legislative forum where all information are acquired to aid our legislators in crafting laws.
Of course, by now, judging from the latest SWS survey that placed both Senate and Congress at the bottom of the trustworthy ladder, the Filipino people do not really seem to think any better of these congressional hearings.
Why?
Because nothing has really come out of it for the past three decades we have had our so called “freedom from tyranny.” Let me take you back to 2009, when the Senate hearing on Typhoon Ondoy was conducted and how laws should have been made to prevent serious flooding in Metro Manila, the nation’s capital.
A couple of years later Typhoon Pablo hit, submerging the capital under water again. Another congressional hearing.
And then this year alone, Metro Manila has been submerged about five times already and still, nothing!!!
All everyone could do was gnash their teeth and tear their loinclothes, as they would say in the Bible, for the continued ineptitude of our government service and the waste of our money for all the congressional hearings done in aid of legislation.
I watched last Wednesday evening (Oct. 1) as Metro Manila residents walked the 20-kilometer distance of EDSA because there were no public transportation available. The only one usable was the MRT, which could hardly keep up with the sudden pouring of passengers and then they had the gall to close shop at 10:30pm, at the height of the demand for mass transport.
READ: Sudden downpour causes flooding in Metro Manila
I was driving EDSA and I tell you, I almost cried in pity for those commuters, wet and tired and hopelessly walking home. I took in a couple just to help them on their way. But the other thousands, I don’t know.
On a road where the buses would be hogging the lanes causing havoc daily, there was none to be found that night. Why? I asked operators the next day on my daily radio show and the answer was they needed to keep their buses safe from the floods.
And when I called a Senator who fancies himself to be a champion for the riding public just to get some idea how we could address the recent tragedy, but the aide who answered the phone said he was too busy for the law enforcers hearing just then to be bothered with commuters woes.
I have no idea how this flooding will end, or how we can get better leaders, legislators, law enforcers, public servants.
I have seen a few truly honorable civil servants out there. They swear on their children’s name there are more of them than we would like to believe, that they are the majority not the minority. But I just cannot equate that with rational experience.
What I do know is that our people are so mis-educated (as opposed to uneducated) that we put into power the very people we eventually hate because of the misconceptions we have of a true leader or public servant. That the moneyed have a monopoly on leadership and politics and the poor have no chance at all.
Well, in a nation that continues to believe this, we will keep getting leaders that hoodwink us at every turn.
Photo from Manila Bulletin Facebook page
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