Get rid of them, if possible

By Alex P. Vidal

“The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse.”—Edmund Burke

WE support the plan of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to make a shorter list of party-list groups participating in the May 2025 elections.

If possible, we must eliminate party-list groups that siphon millions of taxpayers’ money, but their representatives do not actually contribute to the development and enhancement of the sectors they represent in the House of Representatives.

Many party-list solons, in fact, aren’t assets but real and present liabilities in congress.

We know of some party-list solons who are there only for personal whims and caprices and not for the sectors they claim to champion. One of them is from Iloilo who is very active in the social media promoting the junkets this partyl-list solon has been making.

The party-list in the Philippines has been abused excessively and some of the solons inherit the positions from their parents who coined the idea of organizing party-list groups to shortcut their way to congress.

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There are party-list congresspeople who have enriched themselves in their first term; they also use their positions to junket abroad and receive astronomical allowances and other unnecessary expenses.

They also lobby for kickbacks and act as “liaisons” of corrupt fellow government officials and unscrupulous contractors.

Comelec Chairman George Garcia said the poll body wants to cut down the number of groups who would be fielding bets in the party-list system to around 130 starting in next year’s elections.

A total of 177 party-list organizations participated in the May 2022 polls.

“Hopefully, we can reduce the number of party-list groups to just around 130… so that it will really be representative of the truly marginalized and underrepresented,” Garcia was quoted in the Philippine press.

Kudos and please expedite the chopping blocks.

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ACCESSORIES MAKE THE WOMAN. A well-dressed woman is someone who knows the fine art of accessorizing. Accessories are the finishing touch that gives us our individuality and shows us just how far we can go with a little imagination.

IT’S OUR FAULT. We were created with flat teeth because we are not supposed to be carnivore; therefore, we can’t eat meat but only vegetables. But when Prometheus discovered fire and handed the knowledge to mankind, we learned how to cook and thus we started to eat meat–and started to suffer heart attack due to high cholesterol.

BIG IDEAS. The five biggest ideas in science are: 1. The Atom 2. The Periodic Law 3. The Big Bang 4. Plate Tectonics 5. Evolution. This is according to book authors Charles M. Wynn and Arthur W. Wiggins.

THEY CAN BE REMOVED, AFTER ALL. Tattoos can be removed by skin grafting, by infrared coagulation treatment, or by salabrasion in which table salt is scrubbed into the anesthetized skin. The hypertonic irritant solution disperses the tattoo pigment particles. Scars will be produced.

THE SUN IS OUR SKIN’S NO. 1 ENEMY. We should always make sun protection a priority. Let’s use a sunscreen formulated for our skin along with our moisturizer. Much of the evidence of aging, rough skin, wrinkles, age spots, etc. are really the result of too much sun.

THE REAL McCOY.  Although frequently associated with Darwinism, the phrase “survival of the fittest” was coined by Herbert Spencer, an English sociologist. It is the process by which organisms that are less well-adapted to their environment tend to perish and better-adapted organisms tend to survive.

IGNORE THE EARTHQUAKE SOOTHSAYERS. The test of a hypothesis is whether it makes predictions that are borne out. Unfortunately, geologists do not yet have a clear enough understanding of earthquake phenomena to predict reliably and consistently where and when earthquakes will occur.

STROKE AWARENESS. Facial droop uneven smile? Arm numbness, arm weakness? Slurred speech, difficulty speaking or understanding? It is stroke! Acting fast is key to treating stroke. May is Stroke Awareness Month.

STAND UP STRAIGHT. This sounds so ridiculously simple, but it’s one of the most evidential traits of those women we so admire. Stand against a wall with head, shoulder blades, and heels touching, and buttocks pushed into the wall.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two daily newspapers in Iloilo.—Ed)