Biggest problem contributors, next to corrupt politicians

Please take a look at any photo of a squatter area and tell me if it does not drive you up the wall. The way I see it, President Aquino can only do so much, especially when people are so uncaring and have no love for or pride in their own country.

I would like to ask, what are the barangay offices good for? Are they not the ones who are supposed to solve the problems in their locality? If each barangay did its job regarding criminality, flooding, traffic and the squatters, would there still be much for P-Noy to do? He can attend to the bigger problems in this country if we don’t count these problems mentioned big enough already.

A few weeks ago, I read in the Inquirer that the mayor of Makati is going to look into the criminal activity on Chino Roces Avenue. I have noticed these for years already—like I cannot step out of my building without being accosted by mulcters and potential bag snatchers—and they noticed it only now?  The photo tells it all. How and when did our “Pearl of the Orient” become this ugly?

The squatters—please don’t call them by that silly name “informal settlers” because they are, plain and simple, squatters—are the biggest contributors to our problems, next to the corrupt politicians. Shouldn’t those responsible for bringing them in and coddling them for political reasons be the ones to pay for their relocation, and not Juan de la Cruz? I hope we have not elected more of them in the last elections.

—SHIRLEY WILSON DE LAS ALAS,

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