Use intel funds for small folks

The other day as I was driving to my meeting in Makati in the drizzle after a heavy downpour, I spotted an elderly man sitting by the sidewalk as people walked past him with their umbrellas. He was quietly scooping from a small pool of stagnant water beside the sidewalk gutter hole, and washing the grime off his face, then his arms. Of course, this is not a unique sight we find in this country. We see several other things in the streets of how the poorest sector of society cope with living in degradable ways.

So, we squirm to hear our elected officials justify the secrecy accorded intelligence funds as crucial to obtaining peace and security, as if the government’s budget had no better use for taxpayer money.

These public servants could have given thought to giving up their confidential funds for, among others, the Department of Social Welfare and Development to buy necessities for people like that elderly man, such as a plastic pail to lug along and fill with cleaner tap water, or at least catch the rainfall, plus a bar of laundry soap and a small towel so he can wash himself up in a corner with a little dignity in life.

If we have government officials who sport themselves as leaders, can only think of themselves, and do not look beyond and have enough concern about small things needed by small people, what a disgusting society we live in.

Marvel K. Tan,
marvelktan@yahoo.com