‘Ahora mismo’ call in public service

LACK OF school buildings, lack of teachers, lack of classrooms and lack of desks are problems that face the Department of Education every time school year opens. These problems should not have become perennial had the powers-that-be paid attention to the urgent needs of the country. It is not that other important national concerns, such as health, security, job creation, and alleviation of the plight of the marginalized sectors of society should be set aside, but the increasing number of our young entering Kindergarten and the clamor for higher salaries for our high school and elementary teachers, the lowest paid creatures in government, should be given paramount attention and importance.

This reminds me of an incident when I was in elementary in the 1930s, in our town of Lagonoy, Camarines Sur, where more often than not classes were held under the big Acacia tree or inside the ruins of the Catholic Church convent due to the lack of classrooms. It was only in 1938 when two new school buildings were built in our town.

Because of the Spanish mañana habit prevalent in our bureaucracy, instead of attending immediately to problems, the government waits for another day, allowing the tentacles of graft and corrupt to control the solutions. Thus, so much public funds, a good portion of them coming from the pork barrel of our lawmakers, have been wasted on unfinished or abandoned projects in the countryside. Those funds could have been channeled to the Department of Education if only our congressmen really cared about the needs of the schools in their districts. But how would they know when they don’t go around their districts except during election time.

Not only that, after the school opening comes the rainy season. In Daet, Camarines Norte, several barangays, particularly Barangay Camambugan where our very own Rep. Elmer E. Panotes resides, need canals and drainage systems to bring rain waters to nearby Daet River. Without the canals and drainage, the barangays always get flooded.
Let us now discard from government service that mañana habit and replace it with the ahora mismo (right now) attitude.

GODOFREDO O. PETEZA SR.,
JP Rizal Street,
Barangay Camambugan,
Daet, Camarines Norte 4600