By Alex P. Vidal
“A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.” —John F. Kennedy
THE true “state of our nation” mirrors the way the people think and live—their economic well-being, health, employment opportunities or livelihood, and quality of life in general.
If people are satisfied and happy it’s a reflection of the true state of the nation where they live.
An urban developer from Iloilo City in the Philippines once argued that the best barometer whether the economy is “alive and kicking” or in a tailspin is the number of carinderia, a food stall with a small seating area, typically in a market or at a roadside, in the villages.
“Kon naga damu ang carinderia buot silingon pigado mga tawo kay halos tanan gusto na lang mag baligya sud-an (If carinderias mushroom in the villages that means many people are in dire straits because most of them think they can survive by selling viands),” said the Ilonggo urban planner, who unsuccessfully ran for city councilor four times in as many attempts.
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Sad to say, the realities in the Philippines’ state of the nation are the following:
- Most of those who are in power — president, vice president, senators, congressmen, governors, mayors (and even some barangay captains) are now billionaires and millionaires who don’t live a frugal life and aren’t role models for the hoi polloi;
- Graft and corruption has depleted our resources and we have become the object of derision and unsavory spiels by observers from other countries. No corrupt public official has been jailed or literally shot in public (the most abused campaign promise of politicians);
- Poverty, unemployment, overpopulation, ignorance have spawned more social maladies such as squatter, child and adult prostitution, criminality, drug addiction, suicide, insanity, cult fanaticism, religious dogmatism, poor sanitation and garbage disposal, among other serious health and environmental problems;
- “Pork barrel” will not be eliminated. Politicians, who will swim and sink with this budgetary cellulite, will only change its name but it will continue to be inserted in the budget by corrupt legislators and their padrino in the executive branch. This is the biggest source of extra moolah to sustain their extra-curricular activities outside the marital bed and after office hours;
- Women and children are still being exploited in labor, whorehouses, film industry, Internet through cybersex, and in other salacious and prurient activities in the name of livelihood and economic buildup.
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- Criminal elements and organized syndicates–those involved in drug trafficking, kidnapping-for-ransom, human trafficking for prostitution and labor, holdup and hulidup, illegal gambling, akyat bahay, gangsterism, street mugging and mulcting, begging syndicates—continue to make a pile and have not been neutralized. Many of them enjoy protection from corrupt politicians and policemen.
- There is still a culture of impunity. This is like a cancer in every administration. Killing of activists, labor leaders, and crusading journalists has continued unabated owing to the failure of authorities to solve one murder after another. There have been no strong efforts from higher authority to run after and prosecute the perpetrators or the hired killers and their masterminds;
- We are still being bullied by China and other neighboring countries that are numerically and militarily superior, and our unguarded islets and territorial waters are being invaded and “seized” one after the other;
- Our overseas Filipino workers (OFW) continued to be enslaved by exploitative and heartless employers in cahoots with unscrupulous agencies that hired them. Many of them live under sub-human conditions; they receive paltry sum for salary and are treated shabbily if not raped and maltreated by sadistic bosses and unscrupulous embassy consuls.
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two dailies in Iloilo.—Ed)
