By Atty. Antonio P. Pekas
As long as rice and tuyo (dried fish) are readily affordable to the average Filipino, any hope for a social upheaval or revolution in this country will be farfetched. Unless there is widespread oppression by the political leaders through the police and the military.
As of now there is widespread killings of supposed drug dealers and addicts but the people don’t mind. This attitude is in keeping with PDu30’s having been elected despite his election pronouncements that the fish in water bodies (creeks, esteros, bays, etc.) in Metro Manila will become fat as they will have more than enough rotting human bodies—the murdered “criminals”— to feed on. In short, all his campaign pronouncements boil down to one sentence— I WILL KILL. And the crowd lapped it up.
After two years there are some visible effects. It is safer to walk the streets at night and many corrupt bureaucrats can be scared if you threaten them with a complaint for corruption. There are quite a number of police scalawags who were killed or booted out. Some of them are now facing criminal cases. Those with lighter offenses were sent to Mindanao.
Quite a number of our ASEAN neighbors were backwards compared to us a few decades ago but they economically progressed in so short a time under the tutelage of virtual dictators. I am referring to Dr. Mahathir of Malaysia and Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore. In fact, when Lee Kuan Yew visited the Philippines during the time of Pres. Ramos (if memory serves) he commented that the Philippine problem is too much freedom. In short, we lack discipline.
As a media person, I would be the last to give up our cherished freedoms. But I strongly to the assertion that we lack of discipline.
To make myself clear, here are some examples: (1) I have seen fathers of impoverished families throwing away whatever small money they had in drinking sprees instead of buying a kilo of rice; (2) Similarly, as argued by the Catholic Church in their campaign against jueteng, instead of buying medicine for a kid, the father or mother would instead use the money as a bet in jueteng in the hope of making it much bigger; (3) Look how we throw garbage wherever; (4) Our laborers in factories or other companies are usually reluctant and would often violate simple company rules and regulations; (5) Straight or clean government officers are usually described by relatives as stupid if they were unable to corrupt big money from their responsible positions. Etcetera.
In many ways, we as a people and as individuals are screwed up. Sadly, those who should educate workers or subordinates, for instance, are usually the ones who protect them for their lack of discipline or even illegal activities.
Police officers, for one, don’t get promoted unless they can commit to delivering some amount regularly to their superiors. And where will they get that money? From illegal activities.
How about laborers? Their union officers are their number one protectors whenever they are caught stealing their employers’ properties or assets. Do the union leaders teach them to rely on honest labor and a disciplined life which does not require having to steal or violate company rules? Nope! Because the labor union officers are steeped in vices themselves and in corrupt practices that they often have to steal union funds to finance their lifestyle.
Sometimes the thought lingers that PDu30 might be what this country needs.**
