“What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: Our life is the creation of our mind. “ — Albert Einstein

(Click the photos for their large-sized versions)

Amid the strong assertion of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s rhetorics of a better Philippine economy, we may yet to begin this uphill climb to fully analyze that ironic picture she has in mind — in contrast to what we are seeing around us.

This is the inevitable: to see her government’s end-results by 2010. Now plagued with “prostituted deals” and hounded by a kind of déjà vu: a pack of masked and sheep-clothed wolves in our midnight cabinets; “cash gifts” galore; and widespread corruption bar none. We depart from them and look into the innards and the depressing waterfronts of our dear cities.

One cannot discount this disparaging thought of milky promise, bubbling up to the surface: Change in times of greed and political turmoil. GMA even “vowed to translate economic gains to real benefits of the people.” But exactly, who are “these people” she’s referring to? Clearly, it’s a questionable claim. What about the alienated poor? For instance, these photos reveal an instant flak to her statements: in your face poverty!

The President cited the international auditing firm Grant Thornton’s study that the Philippines, during the three-year period beginning 2006, [have] topped the survey on business confidence.

 

“This means the government is well on track in sustaining the economic growth that resulted from the implementation of economic reforms that strengthened investors’ confidence and increased revenue collection,” she said.

That is a tout assurance of an Arroyo governance plus her silly holiday switches. She’s missing something. There is a big, searing rift between the dog-eat-dog worlds of unemployment, crass commercialism, environmental and sanitation issues, and crippling poverty right on our shores.

In a desperate attempt to free this country from the clutches of poverty, GMA has painted a different vibrant picture. One that is dubious. We all know it by heart: this kind of rose painting is just canvas-deep.

Inquirer.net recently reported in an article that “Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, said that a ‘convergence of bearers of truths’ could save the country.”

Further:

Lagdameo told reporters after meeting with about 50 civic, student and business groups that the massive anticorruption movement that ousted President Joseph Estrada in 2001 was a disappointment because it “installed a President who later on was judged by surveys as the most corrupt president.”

 

Lagdameo was apparently referring to Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who became President after Estrada was ousted.

 

“We went from one frying pan to a worse frying pan,” he said.

Look around again and see where we should begin this change and what really needs to be done. Our leaders encouraged us that, “we can make a difference if we help solve these problems little by little.” Ha! The problems are the leaders themselves.

In this country, change is your typical manong’s sizzling nightmare.

It is a horrible graphic battle — exposed and sculpted in all its epic proportions and mighty splendor — out there, including the national disease that is called tuberculosis, where only a select few can benefit the government’s dire claims of this so-called, CHANGE.

Here is an interesting snippet by Cher Jimenez, from this page:

Mutated poliovirus resurfaces in polio-free RP

 

The Philippines was the only country in the Western Pacific region certified as a polio-free country in 2000, but the Department of Health recently reported three cases of “mutated” poliovirus affecting children aged between eight and 14 months. The health secretary explained that the new strain of poliovirus may have come from the antipolio vaccine that has mutated. Its recurrence may also be attributed to a low immunization rate of children similar to that of Egypt, Haiti and Dominican Republic who experienced the same phenomenon previously.

Where, then, is our free immunization, Madam President?

The chase of every politician’s thrill comes from many forms, of course. Why bother, you wanted to ask? Sounds familiar, but politics in this putrid country, as one should really take into a level of consciousness–raising effort, is an art. Politics (in the Philippines) is the stimulating, fine art to run and steal, a far cry from this scenario: where the petty cellphone thief, splattered in the morning tabloids and flanked by two off-duty policemen, is nothing but a second-rate, trying-hard, copycat-cum-laughingstock. And when the world watches us through CNN, we all become one, big happy family: Laughingstock species, copying each other’s notes, from one People Power to the next! History becomes a mere Xerox machine.

Politics is a kind of stimulant, perhaps the opium of the elite. This kind of lifestyle makes it difficult to maintain meaningful relationships, and even harder to provide our ordinary citizens, all hard-beaten to find decent living, particularly the grassroots and the underdogs, with sustainable growth and livelihood.

Poor and alienated from the government? In your city, who’s telling the truth now?

The politician junkies are busy fattening their short-lived careers and pork barrels up; chasing the next inquiries and dead ringer cumbersome controversies; (or flogging themselves with hilarious, in your face scandals). The real Filipino is left somewhere in the outskirts of decrepit and lack… often he is left behind in the darkness, ignored from the glaring bright lights of breakneck technological advances, among the nagging shadows of difficulties. In silence.

 

Advertise Your Business At CebuAsia.com