WHEN P-Noy ends his term as president in 2016, his legacies or what he has accomplished in six years will be the subject of discussions ad nauseam. In the meantime, gigantic problems will continue to hound this poor nation—like the high cost of electricity, the sordid situation of the LRT/MRT, the drug problems, the high crime rate and the worsening situation in the Spratlys.
Indeed, the end of his term can’t be expected to offer even cold comfort to millions of ordinary Filipinos, especially if the band of lightweights composed of incumbent Mayor Herbert Bautista of Quezon City, incumbent vice mayor of Manila Francisco Domagoso (Isko Moreno), actor Dindong Dantes and other brain-dead politicians get elected to the Philippine Senate. In the company of the perennial nonproducer from Pampanga, the plagiarist senator, and the queen of cakes from Makati, this band of lightweights can’t be expected to lighten the heavy albatross that hangs around the neck of the country.
Add to this grim prognosis is the distinct possibility of Manny Pacquiao, the absentee congressman, the tax beat, the crybaby and now the sour loser, getting elected senator come 2016 elections. Then, we have completos recados (complete ingredients) for
legislating government policies that will miss the goal of genuine and encompassing development.
As usual, young people will go on getting their education online from brainless noontime TV shows that are tolerated by the incompetent Movie and Television Review and Classification Board. At the same time, the band of lightweights and newly elected senators will close their eyes to inane and lascivious TV programs that entertain and make the poor temporarily forget their hunger and their anger at their hopeless situation. Similarly, the police and barangay authorities will pay little attention to girls as young as
10 years old who roam around metro streets at night selling sampaguita and ilang-ilang or, worse, sex to strangers for bread for their starving families.
Predictably, if it’s now “fun in the Philippines,” gird yourself up for more “fun” after the 2016 elections when this band of lightweights makes this country funnier, if not more laughable, in the eyes of the world.
—CARLOS ISLES,