By Atty. Antonio P. Pekas
I am taking off from my column story last week about the effectiveness of an intelligentsia in curbing corruption. Sure, it is effective but not if the people composing the same are mainly characterized by cowardice and lack of determination. That would mean they are just good in talking but no action. For they can only criticize, nothing more.
As we have seen our corrupt officials, no amount of criticism will be effective to them. No delicadesa. “Mahiya naman kayo!” is nothing to them. That is how greedy they are.
And they can get away with it. For what can intellectuals do? They are just a lot of big talk. The only way intellectuals can be effective is if they start acting to threaten politicians of their hold on power.
What do I mean by that? You can be active in campaigning against corrupt politicians. But most of them are too greedy to care about criticisms, if not all of them. True, but there will always be those who are better than others. Choose the lesser evil if that is the best you can do under the circumstances.
If the only people you can influence is your family or other relatives, so be it. Am sure though you will have other spheres of influence if you really try.
Or if you are a member of the media, or belong to a profession whose members are known for being loquacious, then there is a wider circle of people you can convince. Go for it. You can create a storm as those you convince can convince others, so forth and so on. Before you know it, you would have already fully spread your position or convinced so many others like wild-fire.
If you are a teacher, even better. You have a strong influence on your students and on the community. You can actually make or break a politician’s dreams.
The problem with us is we often underestimate what we can do. Let us be positive about it and we will be able to accomplish great things.
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