When you control the barangay captains then you have the whole nation on the palm of your hand to do whatever you want to do with it. The head of every nook and cranny of the political spectrum which is the barangay would be beholden to you. This must be the goal of the Du30 administration in wanting to appoint all the kapitans from Batanes to Jolo.
Malacanang’s stated reason however is different. Which is because most of the kapitans are allegedly involved in illegal drugs. This is hitching their political star with the popularity of the effects of Operation Tokhang (or Operation Double Barrel Reloaded) which are lower crime rates everywhere. But the attempt to appoint all kapitans is going too far. It is widely seen as PDu30’s capitulating to the temptation of gaining control of the whole country to practically silence any opposition. When that happens, it is called dictatorship that breeds corruption and oppression—a surefire formula for maintaining the backwardness of this country.
The administration should keep its sight on the passage of a law for the establishment of federalism and giving and maintaining its full support to “killer” cabinet secretaries such as Gina Lopez. She is a “killer” in the sense that she went against well established vested interest, the mining industry, controlled by some of the richest supporters of the President who are also in Congress or the Senate or in other politically powerful positions now. She was not and is not afraid, for the sake of the people’s interest, especially those impoverished communities that host mining operations. For it is undisputed that it is only the mining companies’ owners that became rich while the host communities remain impoverished. It is also a fact that the mining companies she ordered closed were operating in watershed areas. Water is life and yet these companies want to continue destroying its sources.
Another very important matter which Du30 should consider as a top priority is to come up with measures on how to redistribute the wealth of, or opportunities in, the Philippines which is doing really great economically but its riches are just going into the pockets of the members of a few extended elite families. These are the chinoy taipans and the traditional rich who are of Spanish descent and who began their road to riches by grabbing our (the indios that we were) lands during the 300 years when they had control over the whole archipelago.
The Dept. of Trade and Industry’s programs for the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) is a good start but these should reach down to the poorest families to enable them to gain economic empowerment or “freedom from dependency” or self-sufficiency. Another is to encourage or support cooperatives instead of choking them to death with more regulations which the big banks are promoting and really pushing.
More of such programs should be conceptualized and implemented.**