By Atty. Antonio P. Pekas
It could have been easier if I just wrote today’s editorial based on economic and political realities. For their effects on our lives are very clear. That is, even without resorting to the signs of the heavens or galactic influences that can be intractable.
The elections which are just around the corner will cause politicians to disburse a lot of money. Either through the usual legit political spending or illegal techniques such as vote buying. There will be a lot of money in circulation causing inflation. Already, prices of basic commodities, even small sari-sari store items have been galloping of late.
Of course, politicians are not after the long-term interest of the country. They are only after their selfish political interests. Thus, the screwed up national budget.
If they were really after the uplifting of the small people like you and me, the bulk of the budget should have been directed towards financing new MSMEs or making the micro enterprises graduate to the medium level. And priority should have been given to labor intensive ventures.
Looking at the programs of various national government agencies, a good number of them are good. But officials there appear to be only paying lip service to the vaunted intention to create more opportunities.
If there were really sincere efforts towards that end, the bulk of resources such as those for the DPWH should have been used to expand such programs to have more beneficiaries. But politicians will not get much money from such. Their traditional way of getting their hands on big chunks of the people’s money is through big infrastructure projects. As we repeatedly said here. That way of thinking goes all the way to the top.
And a lot of us Filipinos do not know any better. So the practice will continue.
I very well remember a buddy in college who often said, the more hardships Filipinos will face, the better. Perhaps it will finally wake them up to the reality on how our political leaders are exploiting us.
That is, however, based on very wrong premises. Particularly, the assumption we are capable of realizing that. With our very low quality of education, such realization would be a pie in the sky. So many high school students cannot even read simple sentences. Much less paragraphs.
But our Department of Education is the same as the others. They are always in denial of the low quality of service they are giving the people. So no reforms. The beginning of any serious change can only start with the acceptance of the need for it. Therein lies the rub. No high-ranking government official will admit that for it would mean admission of his incompetence and those of others in the civil service.
For a very long time, there was a ready scape goat. Low salaries of government employees. Their salaries, however, have been continuously upgraded such that theirs became the envy of private employees. Did it result in an efficient bureaucracy? Far from it. Inefficiency is still the norm. And sadly, it still goes all the way to the top.
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