Right before Holy Week, President Aquino cleverly vetoed a legislation that was designed to help the poor. Well-played, Mr. President! You shot down something that would have benefited the poor masses at a perfect time—that is, right when no one was paying attention to the story because everyone was already looking forward to the extended holidays. In fairness, Aquino is known as a good shot with guns, and he definitely hit the timing bull’s-eye on this one.
However, this was not a good shot for the poor masses who desperately need help from President Aquino and his administration. Well, we have all seen that the Aquino administration has, this far, been neglecting the poor, whether they’re the starving poor victims of Typhoon “Pablo” in Mindanao or the displaced urban poor victims of the August 2012 “habagat” floods in Manila. The Aquino administration has not provided enough funds or assistance, nor has it undertaken working programs and initiatives, to help them. And this recent veto of the Magna Carta for the Poor is just another example how the President is so detached from the poor.
President Aquino, in typical fashion, gave his usual excuse and explanation as to why he vetoed the bill but, again, the alibi only added to his record of failures when it comes to helping the less fortunate in the Philippines. To be clear, Mr. Aquino said the government cannot raise the P3 trillion allocated by the bill for the poor. But let’s be up-front here, we don’t need P3 trillion to help the poor. I’m sure P2 trillion or even just P1 billion would be a lot of help. But the way Mr. Aquino sounded, with the government unable to come up with P3 trillion provided by the bill for the poor, the poor are doomed because without P3 trillion, the poor cannot be helped.
If President Aquino wants to really help the poor, he can.
However, his past actions, as this recent veto has shown again, tell us that he is inclined not to do so. So, Mr. President, don’t give us any more excuses.
—MIKE LOWREY,
det.mike.lowrey@gmail.com