No end yet for unbridled greed; watch out for guns, gold

It used to be thought that with its finite resources the world cannot support its expanding population, but now undisputed—except by the uninformed and the guilty—is the fact that there is enough for every man’s needs but not enough for every man’s greed. This applies worldwide, even in the United States and Wall Street. “Bato-bato sa langit, ang tamaan huwag magagalit.”

The “all-knowing” Conrado de Quiros pontificates that those who want to help the poor do not know how much it takes to raise a family. Required of those who want to raise families and those who would help them are integrity, compassion, justice, technology, information, ethics, morality, common sense and enlightened self-interest.

Some good news. The Commission on Elections, dictated by duty, concerns itself not just with the honest counting of votes but also with the way those votes may be obtained. The total broadcast airtime will be equal for all, but unless this is for free some candidates won’t get a single second because of the cost. Further, every candidate will be interviewed on his record and plans. Well-informed voters have the innate capacity to discern right from wrong, but not necessarily up to the level of their academic credentials.

As demonstrated by the results of elections before martial law, corrupt administrations were booted out but, unfortunately, by even worse ones, formally and highly schooled but unprincipled, having learned and surpassed Goebbels’ expertise in twisting facts, in concocting falsities and in wielding guns, goons and gold. Even with the “daang matuwid” as the Aquino administration’s official highroad of good governance, Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, aware of the corruption in the disbursement of infrastructure funds by local government units, said just before his untimely death that the LGUs should be divested of this power.

—TIERRY F. GARCIA, MD,

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