Everytime we go through calamitous events like the typhoons that just passed, we end up always wishing the government had done better in its responses. For most of the time, they could have done better. Not because of anything but the bad culture ingrained in the bureaucracy to just do enough to let the day get by, waiting for the 5:00 p.m. bell to ring– time to go home. Usually, there is no urge to excel as there is often no incentive to have or develop that character. The root cause everybody already knows. Absence or non implementation of meritocracy. When it comes to promotion or allocating of assignments and incentives, the rule is always palakasan. Thus, the government has become a syndicate of those favored by the politically powerful and their fair haired boys or girls. Ingenuity and initiative are very seldom appreciated. There is also a defect we ordinary citizens have to admit. We often want the best from government without us lifting a finger or contributing to the cost and the sacrifices required. In spite of the cruelties of life, to fight for what you want has always been the means to getting on an even stage with the privileged. For some reason or another we avoid fighting for what we know deep inside is right. In a way we have become a people of spoiled brats.**