fantasy

Our country really does live in a fantasy world!

Switch on your TV sets and tune in to any of the two leading networks (2 or 7) during primetime weekdays, and you will find yourself immersed in the fantasy world of "marina" or "mulawin", two of the most popular programs of the networks. I guess the Filipino people are so feed up with the daily problems besetting the country - high cost of living, the shrinking purchasing power of the peso, mass lay-offs, etc- that they are in dire need of a fantasy world. For thirty minutes or so, people are tuning in and getting lost in these world of mermaids and winged creatures. They are wishing, that they too, would overcome problems and hardships with the help of magic and that true love does indeed conquer all.

Now the government seems to be bent on conjuring up the biggest illusion of them all!

In September, the President announced that the country is in deep financial crisis... but right after she said that all levels of government should conduct austerity measures, she flew to China for an offical trip. This alone will not get the ire of the people, but she brought the WHOLE family along... i don't just mean her husband and children, the grandchildren (ages 1 and below), daugthers-in-law and nanny went along too! Now how's that for austerity measures!

There IS NO austerity program in the government... the lower level employees feel it (no bonus, no overtime pay, no salary increase) but for top level management, it's, for lack of a better term, monkey business as usual.

I mean, if there truly is an austerity program in place, why should the government transfer the office of the Department of Agrarian Reform to Iloilo, the Department of Agriculture to Davao, the Department of Tourism to Cebu? These transfer will entail COST! According to reports DAR will spend P400 million to move with the total expenses hitting Php 1 billion! Now remember, this is just ONE department... it does not even take into account the transport / airfare the Heads of the Department need just to attend the weekly cabinet meeting in Manila, nor does it take into account the logistics involved in communicating and transacting business between agencies and department. Instead of doing this, WHY can't the government improve rural and regional services?

Now, barely three months after declaring that the country is in financial crisis, the President announed that the country has made a fiscal turn-around. In an article in the Philippine star the President insisted that the country is definitely out of the critical stage of the fiscal crisis. She attributed this to the people’s unified response to her calls to address the crisis at the soonest possible time. Unless a miracle happend while we were all asleep or going-on with our daily routine, i imagine that what she said is all a lie. I mean, hello! When did this happen? Is the purchasing power of the pesos higher or lower than it was three months ago?

Another illusion is the food coupons as solutions to hunger and poverty. Right after the SWS released its survey results that 15% of the population is going hungry, the government had this crazy knee-jerk reaction of giving out food coupons to address this problem. This would mean that government is going to spend about P5 billion - yup billion- a month for this program.

Yesterday (November 8), the government kicked off its supplemental feeding program by distributing 1-kilo of fortified rice to around 1,700 Grades 1 and 2 students at the Cainta Elementary School in Rizal. Under the "Food for School" program, a total of 49,130 Grades 1 and 2 students from poor families in selected schools will be taking home 1-kilo of rice daily until the end of the school year on March 2005. The rice subsidy is part of the government's response to the SWS survey that showed more filipinos are going hungry. Question is, what happen's after the five month is up? This temporary remedy does not address the main issue!

For a country that is in deep financial crisis, this short term solution could cause more dissatisfaction and make the program open to corruption. Where should the government get the funding for this ambitious project? Isn't it cutting down on its expenditures? and why, why hasn't the President giving up a significant sum of her discretionary funds? Instead of setting an example on austerity, she is the first one to go against it? Leading by example, she is not.

This is what is wrong with our country, instead of having medium to long term solutions to a problem, we tend to go for short term solution. Instead of addressing WHY the problem came about, the government tends to give dole-outs.

Instead of making the country appealing to investors to generate more jobs, the government and the politicians are busy "investigating" issues that they don't even get to resolve. They are more concerned with their "image" and "PR" than addressing the huge problems of the country.

Let us address population control, and take a stand, instead of fearing what the church will say. Let us address decongesting the metropolis and giving farmers and fisher-folks better options, technologies and subsidies to address not only food security but more importantly addressing rural poverty and hunger.

Instead of "papogi" pronouncements, and spinning webs of lies, why can't the government just shape up and do its job? Just shape up and do its job?