Where are you, President Aquino

The government is in crisis. This fact the Aquino administration should declare now, unless it shows the ability to control the situation immediately.

Violence is in the news every day, in all forms; worse are the continuing acts and attacks of terrorism, done at will by the Moro National Liberation Front right in Zamboanga City, then in Cotabato, and God knows where the next attacks will be, even as the Sabah incident and the Chinese’ creeping occupation of the Spratlys continue to embarrass and haunt us. The New People’s Army has been making its presence felt in several barangays, towns and provinces, while government soldiers are dying with holes in their boots and are surprised at the amount of ammunition at the enemy’s disposal.

Meanwhile, the three branches of government—the executive, legislative and the judiciary—are in chaos. What to do with the pork barrel scandal? People are going out in the streets and on Internet, crying relentlessly for its abolition. Our leaders are faulting each other. Senators and congressmen are now publicly accusing each other of grand theft and plunder of public funds, and exposing each other’s dirty linens, while their staff face charges for the same offenses. The accused ask for evidence to be shown, and they think the public would accept their mere demand as sufficient proof of their innocence. And the entire government is put to shame in the eyes of all the people and the whole world.

How much more proof do we need?!

Meanwhile, the whole country faces continuing and widespread hunger and poverty, and an endless spate of devastating natural and manmade calamities, and all sorts crimes—murders, massacres, thefts, etc. Practically, no government department or agency seems untainted: the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Budget and Management, the Commission on Audit, the Bureau of Customs, the list goes on…

Senators and congressmen, even mayors, are no longer worthy to be called “kagalang-galang.” They have become a disgrace and shame to the Filipino nation in their most expensive homes, cars, suits, galas and all! Today, the highest officials of the land have only the people’s contempt, distrust and disrespect, as the country’s democratic foundations teeter as if on the edge of a cliff, ready to collapse.

Where are you, President Aquino? We saw you in Zamboanga, but we don’t see you in control of the country amid the chaos.

The temporary restraining order on the pork barrel should hold forever, and pork barrel in any form should be abolished! And all guilty parties should be imprisoned and their assets confiscated.

The people, and we who join street rallies and forums for love of country, are earnestly looking for a solution to end this chaotic situation. Now. The radical solution may be to “recall” the President, abolish the Senate and the House of Representatives, declare all elective positions vacant, and call for a snap, emergency election.

God help those who plundered this country and caused this chaos. May the Filipino people remember them in history.

—QUINTIN PAREDES SAN DIEGO, ED BACUNGAN,

Movement Against Dynasty,

August 26 People’s Coalition