The true divide
AS I write this, Commonwealth Avenue is a mess of the wounded and the aggrieved, both from the ranks of protesters and police, who clashed in the course of the serial exercise in democracy and demagoguery known as the “Sona protests.”
Every three years or so, all roads leading to the Batasang Pambansa fill with police in riot gear and protesters in red headbands, armed with placards and huge papier-mâché figures, poking fun and umbrage at sitting officials.
Meanwhile, at the Batasan itself, legislators and their significant others parade through the red carpet leading to the session hall at their fashionable best, even if some Left-leaning members of Congress had apparently prepared to wear their political colors and feelings literally on their sleeves, if not their bodices.
It’s scenes like these that paint in vivid hues, without need of commentary, the true “state of the nation”—the state of divisiveness, rancor and cynicism among our political ranks, and of stubborn hope, maybe even optimism about the directions our country is taking, especially among the business sector.
Maybe that’s the true divide in the Philippines these days: between the hopelessly cynical who cannot believe in even the glimmers of prosperity appearing on the horizon; and the willingly optimistic, who believe we are well on our way not just to recovery but to lasting reform that will finally spring us out of the trap of corruption and poverty we have been mired in.
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AS THIS paper’s editorial stated on Monday, so much more remains on President Aquino’s “to-do” list. It noted that there isn’t much time remaining, midway through P-Noy’s six-year term, to “make good on all of the public’s expectations.”
But remember that when he was elected president, P-Noy laid before us a most ambitious agenda, beginning with the task of correcting the mistakes of his predecessor, and more important, bringing the perpetrators of crimes against the state to justice. That initial task has taken far longer than expected, with the Supreme Court, packed with Arroyo appointees, laying down the first roadblock when it deemed the creation of an anticorruption body unconstitutional.
On the economic front, the P-Noy administration has performed admirably on the first half of the equation: setting the macro conditions aright, and winning the support of the international community with open and transparent policies that leave little room for “wiggle” (read: corruption). This, despite reports of recently surfaced anomalies that show us where a large chunk of government money has gone, or threatens to go.
But the second half: ensuring that the benefits of economic growth and business surge begin to “trickle down” to the poorer classes and lift them up with the rising tide of prosperity, has yet to be achieved. “Inclusive growth” is in fact expected to be one of the key themes in the President’s address. And it is the fulfillment, or frustration, of his pledge to the majority of the citizenry at the start of his term that will be
P-Noy’s biggest and most significant challenge.
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AMONG those taking P-Noy to task for the slow trickling down of economic benefits to the “poor and jobless” are the Catholic bishops, who say the country’s poor “do not feel the good economy” touted by officials.
To be sure, the plight of the poor, the voiceless, the powerless, has always been a focus of the Church, which has sought through the years to leverage its power to balance the interests of the poor against those of the influential and wealthy.
And yet, hasn’t the Church also been implicit in the continuing poverty of many Filipino families? I speak here, of course, of the Reproductive Health Law which is still stuck in the secretive chambers of the Supreme Court after several groups questioned the “constitutionality” of the new legislation.
Although families in the wealthier sectors of society have long decided to keep their families small—they have on the average two to three children each—it is the poorest families, with little or no access to health services or to contraceptive supplies, whose “choice” has been stymied and frustrated. On average, poor couples are having more children, from five to seven, even if they are the least able to meet even the most basic needs of their children.
Even if public opinion polls have shown consistently that Filipinos support reproductive health, and believe family planning is a “right” of every couple, it is still clear that without enabling legislation, so many of them will have little means to fulfill their own reproductive goals and plans. And without power over their own fertility, many couples will be consigned to lives of poverty and hardship, the same fate the Catholic bishops decry.
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ANOTHER issue that awaits discussion and debate in both houses of Congress is the “pork barrel,” which has come under fire recently because of news reports about how this privilege has been abused.
Indeed, it seems rather naïve of commentators to expect legislators—the prime beneficiaries of the pork system—to work for its abolition. The reason so many spend millions to get elected, after all, is because public office allows them to get their hands on millions of public funds.
But it is equally ingenuous of people caught up in the scandal to demand an explanation of how corruption of such magnitude was able to continue, pointing out shortcomings of the Commission on Audit, when they very well know how they were able to pull off such impunity.
Everybody just has to get off their high horse and begin admitting their complicity in the scandal and introducing reforms in the system.
