“A government that does not do what it is supposed to do when confronted with a situation cannot bring this country anywhere good.”
by Ducky Paredes
Proof that this country is going nowhere is how we have reacted to the World Bank’s disqualifying certain contractors from their funded projects. Instead of trying to honestly find out why this happened, we have our legislators up in arms against the World Bank.
Do our congressmen and senators want the World Bank to stop dealing with us? If that is what our legislators want, I am sure that this will be easy to arrange. Then, of course, this will cut off some of the sources of graft that our leaders have been tapping.
They decry that the WB has provided no proof of chicanery. Precisely, the WB gave us copies of their investigation so that, if we wanted to, we could have had it properly investigated by our National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the Department of Public Works and Highways and any other agencies that we can trust to find out the truth. Instead, we react as guilty persons will anywhere in the world. We are angry that the WB has not given us any proof. We admit that we are so stupid that we do not know what is going on in our own country when in reality if our congressmen would talk to their favored contractors, they would, in an honest conversation, find out that what the WB reports is exactly the way that we do things in this country. But, of course, we do not know that since this is reality and our government lives in an unreal world where no crimes are committed, no laws are ever broken and what ever is reported that is awry is immediately denied and/or papered over.
What did we do with the WB investigative report? Nothing.
So, why is our focus not on why those who were given a copy of the report – the Ombudsman and the Secretary of Finance – did nothing for almost a year after they received the report? After all, should not the Ombudsman have alerted the NBI or whoever has the capability to find out if any of our laws were violated?
The reason they did nothing at all may have been because of the fact that the name of our President’s husband was among those mentioned as having possibly taken a bit of the WB money for projects in this country. But, if they believe in their president and her husband wasn’t the proper procedure would have been to alert them (or at least the President) about the fact that her husband had been cited as being a crook? Why did not the Ombudsman or the Finance Secretary do so? Don’t they realize that by not telling the President about this, they make it look like they believe that the report could actually be true?
A government that does not do what it is supposed to do when confronted with a situation cannot bring this country anywhere good.
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Right now, we ought to be preparing and thinking about what will happen when, as some observers predict, the much-awaited delayed reaction to the world-wide financial crisis – nicknamed “the dragon’s tale” – comes Asia’s way. Yet, our country is still into divisive politics and the President is still gallivanting all over the country and the world, quite aimlessly, one might add. She is already the most traveled of all our presidents. What travel record could she still be aiming for in what is hopefully her last full year and some in the presidency?
Hopefully, whoever will be our next president, it will not be someone we deserve but someone better. Certainly, we (or those of us who thought they knew better than the voters) imposed Gloria on our country needlessly. Sadly, those who are responsible for this cannot accept the fact that they are as guilty as Gloria is because it is they who made her presidency happen. Then, when she did her worst, they stood idly by. Of course, the better ones among them have apologized for their sin but there are so few of these beter ones/
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While our senators may want the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) abrogated, I believe the more proper way to proceed would be to ask our Defense establishment whether having the VFA is advantageous to our defense posture. While not having a US Marine Lance Corporal in the proper correction facility is an absolute outrage, it is not a good enough reason to tear up an agreement.
Our Senate is given the additional task of having the wisdom to worry over our relations with the rest of the world. Our senators ought to regard those relations over whatever the present political passion may be.
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Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro wants it known that he has no ambition to be drafted by any party as a presidential candidate in 2010. He told me so himself. For now, he is concentrated on doing a good job in bringing peace back to Mindanao and meeting the challenges of his job . What he does not need is for his acts to be given any political color or to be regarded as a way of campaigning for the position.
Gilbert is among those I would not mind seeing as President knowing him to be his father’s son. His father ran the Social Security System (SSS) during the Marcos years and ran it properly, cleanly and well. There was not even any talk of anything even just amiss during his father’s stint in the SSS.
See, the son even has delicadeza, a trait sorely missing in most of our politicos
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We have a letter from a reader who informs us that another Pinoy cartoonist who has made it in the United States is Danni Aguila from the University of the Philippines. Danni works in Tennessee.
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hvp 02.18.09)
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