June 30 engraved another footmark in Philippine history as we celebrated the inauguration of President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III. It was a day of answered prayers and atonement of sacrifices. Finally Noynoy has fulfilled his late parents’ dreams on leading the country to an honest and dignified leadership. It all seems like a flashback of the 1980’s as my old folks told so, coalesced the multitude of Filipinos to express the real essence of democracy. P-Noy (President Noynoy) later on stressed that no type of corruption shall be tolerated and neither will he let pass the transgressions against his family. He then told the press that he already forgave those who sin against his family but justice shall be served with its tantamount remedy. A corrupt free country: Can he prove that possible? Skeptics doubted and stated that our president is facing an erring political dilemma. A dilemma between upholding the unblemished reputations of his parents and coordinating subserviently to his subordinates. Philippines have long been a corrupt country. As much as we try to deny it, it is rooted within us passed from generations to generations. Tracing back to a notorious portrayal of the Filipino people through “Juan Tamad”, this character was said to be corrupt himself. As a child, he was eager to get what he wants without working hard for it. The story went on as Juan Tamad found a candy on the street and picked it up and slid it into his pocket. Another child sought for the candy but Juan denied of seeing one. Moral lesson: Even the youth of today have the blood of a corrupt individual tainted by their ancestors. P-Noy may have intentions as pure as spring water but beneath those hollow grounds are corrupt officials as filthy as garbage. To simplify that metaphor, he may have integrity but I doubt his following officers have the same motive. A clean and honest leadership is likened to a beautiful tree, its leaves are green and branches out beautifully. It has a sturdy trunk and is deeply rooted. That’s P-Noy’s promise as the stand ground of what his parents have defended and died for. But what will happen to that tree when you pour into its roots the poison of corruption? It will wither away, its leaves will turn brown and fall to the ground, its roots will no longer hold the soil beneath it and it will eventually fall. What you pictured out in your mind is a cinematic of the Philippines’ downfall with the stench that spelled CORRUPTION.
It’s about time the Philippine political system makes amends. A law should reinforce assets and liabilities check among government officials in all sectors. An old adage says “No one is above the law”, therefore no one should be spared. From the minute government employees following the chain up to the president himself should adhere to rigid compliance. In that way, we filter out sand and gravel from essential minerals and stones needed for a flourishing economy. An extra hand will be needed from non-government agencies to back up this plan with full support and unbiased decisions.
Another pressing issue is the extra-judicial killings of political leaders, freedom defenders and media people. These political leaders get killed because either they’re good individuals with integrity in their obligations or they themselves are corrupt and a bunch of murderers or other politicians are sick and tired of all their mishaps. But our focus on all these extra judicial killings would be most likely the journalists. A number of journalists have been murdered since the reign of Marcos. The “Media” is supposed to be our “medium”, our channel of communication to uphold the truth beneath Philippines darkest secrets. A friend once told me that “there’s a very thin line separating bravery from stupidity”. These media people hoard a lot of courage to cover stories in the middle of turbulent situations way beyond their control. Yes, it’s the right of every citizen to know the naked truth. But wake up! You don’t have to be a martyr to prove your worth in the media. It’s not reasonable for you to be gasping for air when a masked man stabbed you in the abdomen just because you crept in to a hiding house of a notorious drug lord. Let the police do their job (assuming they will) and do your job too. My point: don’t pursue an endeavour that outweighs the benefits versus the risks. There should always be limits setting. Media people shouldn’t pretend to be superman marching unto actual criminals and coup d’etat. We all have the right to live and that is a basic as the constitution pleaded it to be. But of course, you can’t promote life longevity by risking everything and leaving yourself nothing. My call for these endangered journalists is to be responsible citizens. Protect your lives because sometimes the government fails to do so. Just do your job and never beyond the job description because there’s no such thing as a modern Jose Rizal these days. Either you’ll die being regarded as a brave journalist or be forgotten leaving your dead body cloaked under a dug up mound with your family forever mourning for justice that will never come.
The 3rd concern is the world crisis. The Philippine stock market fluctuates and rises in an unstable manner as oil prices and prices of national commodities climb its way up. Filipinos are said to be happiest people in the world and this “contagious happiness” spreads out to become a pandemic. We become immune to Value Added Taxes and spend more times at the mall. Not knowing, we’re slowly killing our economy by patronizing foreign goods and products. That way, small local Filipino business ventures are left un-watered, still a seed that cannot grow in the realms of Philippine trade industry. Aside from our “social hierarchy obsession” with foreign brands, millions of Filipinos spend a big deal of money to go abroad. These bring forth an army of travel and hiring agencies governed by fraud and deceit. Our OFW’s play a crucial role of raising revenues to boost up our economy but are you happy when other nations look down on us? Our workers abroad are projected by an image of a domestic helper with bruises all over her body with tears running down her cheeks pleading the cry for justice. At times, people will be shocked when instead of a “balikbayan”, a coffin is deported back home with the cold dead body of your mom working abroad. All because the Philippine embassy fails to protect our workers out there, all because our nation cannot sustain jobs to make Filipino workers stay. As you enjoy your monthly dollar allowance, ask yourself if you’re truly happy when your love ones go beyond the eye of a needle to give you a living.
Unemployment rates are also as shocking as the magnitude of the earthquake that shook Chile. A large number comprises the registered nurses of this country. Nursing schools these days branches out faster than banks do. It frantically became a fad, a good business investment all pouring down to the reason that of a promise of greener pastures abroad still brainwashes our poor parents. The image of professional nursing is slowly degrading as many nursing institutions treat it as business and nothing more, Low NLE passing rates, increasing cases of moral turpitudes are enough evidences that reflect substandard nursing education. For those who are going to take up nursing, I would greatly encourage you to weigh your options more critically. I tell you, there’s a very long line of new registered nurses paying hospitals to get experience and some more experience nurses in the queue to work abroad. But sadly, these experienced nurses end up as clinical instructors and the younger ones call center agents for the mean time. Please Mr. President attend to these people’s needs too. There is still a portion of these nurses whole heartedly willing to serve our Filipino people but a bigger problem arises when budgets are cut short to hire more nurses in the government owned hospitals. One nurse per ward jeopardizes public safety and quality care. How do you expect nurses to be competent that way?
4th area of concern would be overpopulation calling for the need of early sex education. This continues to be a baffling problem between the DOH and the Pro-life stand of the church. I was set a backed when a newspaper published on the front page Dr. Cabral’s (current DOH secretary) statement “Sex Education for kindergarten pupils: Why not?” I don’t totally oppose to her suggestion but the decision should lie within the hands of the people with the DOH and the church convening it. There are still parts of the Philippines that are not yet densely populated but over congestion become a major concern. Some of these congested areas contain communities of individuals who have insufficient knowledge regarding reproductive health and family planning. These people are the primary victims of AIDS. How I pity a story of a 15 year old female living in a squatters area in Manila. She didn’t know that “doing it” would make her pregnant. These people didn’t have the privilege to go to school and immensely lack important information. These people should be the target focus of sex education. I salute to the founder of POPCOM (Commission on Population) as she astounded me by her article. Madam, I tell you, you did not fail, but we ALL did. We ourselves failed to instil moral values to our youth. These youth of today hides behind masks of promiscuity and so called “trends of urbanization”. Ironically speaking even if we’re known to be a Christian country, a gaping hole resembles moral degradation. The later sequelae are increasing AIDS victims among young adults. Instead of frivolous unending debates on sex education, the church and DOH should compromise for the best interests of the nation. Knowledge and values should go together to bring about change among these lost Filipino youth. The church and the family should serve as the light to lead them back to the right path. The DOH will merely be the vehicle to make the road easier to travel on.
Last but not the least; I call for all the Filipino youth. I know I’m not alone, I know you have eyes to witness reality, nose to smell the broken integrity, ears to distinguish lies from truth, and most of all the mouth that speaks up in behalf of all the Filipino citizens. I’m quite uncertain if this article be published, but let this be an eye opener even to the single pair of eyes who reads these counts. These issues will continue to linger on if we remain lenient of what’s going on. This is my country, your country and yellow wouldn’t mean anything if you don’t stand up for it. Yellow is for solidarity, for the power in the hands of the people. Don’t just sit there. Do something!